Vauxhall Mokka review

What’s clever about the Mokka’s interior – and yes, both the petrol and electric versions share pretty much every fixture and fitting inside – is how it offers a very simple, common-sense alternative to Peugeot’s wacky angular dashboards, expressive switchgear and the infamous tiny steering wheel.

If you’ve been in a 2008 and liked the drive but didn’t get along with the displays, the driving position, or having to delve into a touchscreen to adjust the heating, the Mokka is basically the same but with the difficulty level turned down to ‘Beginner’. You have knobs and buttons for making it hot or cool. Hurrah! Maybe that’ll catch on. 

The steering wheel is slim-rimmed and regular-sized, Digital dials lurk behind on most specs, but they’re clear, easy to read, and less self-consciously stylish. Though, is it just us or is the ‘two oblong screens in a sea of glossy black plastic’ a bad idea copied from the equally cheap-looking VW Golf Mk8’s interior? 

Some of the plastics are a bit naff in appearance, but it’s all solidly put together and easy to operate. Even the 12-inch touchscreen is notably snappier than Peugeot and Citroen’s. There’s Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and the rubberised wireless charging mat hangs onto your device out of sight. Plenty of common sense in here, yet it’s somehow cheerier and more interesting than a Ford Puma, Skoda Kamiq or VW T-Cross’s innards. Want more colour than this? Try a Nissan Juke.

The centre console is probably the least successful piece of design – not only is it swathed in yet-more wannabe piano wood, but the advantages of using a switch for the handbrake and a small, expensive-feeling gear selector have been squandered by marooning them smack in the middle of the fillet. Why not shift them off to the side, and expand the mean-sized cupholders? Or carve out a cubby for the bulbous key, indeed?
 
Narrow rear door access and pinched kneeroom means your lankier teenager will be even moodier in the back, but it should take care of a young family’s 2.2 children. Even the electric Mokka offers a shallow hidden stowage tray beneath the floor of the 350-litre boot, which expands beyond 1,110 litres with the rear backrests flipped not-quite-flat.