Vauxhall Frontera Electric review

Vauxhall knows that most of these will be restricted to inner cities and the odd longer run, so it has wisely set up the Frontera Electric for comfort.

It’s all very relaxed, from the steering (pleasingly well weighted), acceleration (0-62mph takes 12.1 seconds, on to a top speed of 87mph) and brakes (slightly spongy and there’s no adjustable regen either, though a Comfort mode dials it right down).

Having said that, we did notice a fair amount of wind noise at higher speeds, and the lane keep and speed limit warning - which auto activate at the start of every journey - disrupt the peace. Fortunately physical shortcut buttons allow you to quickly switch these off with one press and long hold, and progress is otherwise very serene. Phew.

What's the ride like?

We’re told that Vauxhall’s engineers worked hard to strike the right balance between body control and ride comfort, and sure enough it corners pretty well. This electric one in particular, with the batteries housed under the floor contributing to a lower centre of gravity.

Those batteries add 170kg for a total kerbweight of 1,514kg (versus the hybrid’s 1,344kg), but that’s still pretty low for an electric car, and it certainly feels lighter than some rivals.

You do sit quite high and it does feel as though you are perched on top of the batteries, but for the most part we found it pleasingly comfortable. At least on the smooth roads of Mallorca. Nothing to worry about in the pothole-free UK of course… oh wait.

What about range?

To keep the price down Vauxhall is launching the Frontera with a 44kWh (usable battery) for up to 186 miles of range. That’s identical to what you get in the Citroen e-C3 Aircross, which is of a similar size and shares the same platform.

As ever, wager on about two thirds of that in the real world: we averaged just shy of Vauxhall’s claimed 3.4mi/kWh on our first test drive, which implies less than 150 miles tops. Hmm. A Long Range version will arrive next year, offering up to 248 miles of claimed range.

Oh, and a quick word on charge times: from a 100kW rapid charger, a 20-80 per cent top up takes 26 minutes. For anyone with a home charger, a 20-80 per cent charge will take 3.5 hours. About the same as the longest Lord of the Rings film. Coincidence?! Yes.