Vauxhall Crossland X review

The Vauxhall Crossland X is a small family SUV for the more adventurous families. If your family holiday is more about tackling hill tops than tanning on beaches, this is for you. Its styling will inspire outings from shopping trips to weekends in the wilds. It’s practical for urban owners too, being compact on the outside and spacious on the inside. It has all the style and trappings of a full SUV without the big bills.

The Crossland has the style of an SUV that’s supposed to spend its time on the road. What we mean is that it handles very much like a car. A raised driving position gives drivers a commanding view of the road but there’s no four-wheel-drive system.  

It shares underpinnings with the lively Peugeot 2008, so along with light steering this makes it a pretty agile performer on twisty roads. Corners aren’t a wallowing ordeal, and rough surfaces and potholes don’t throw the Crossland off course.  

There’s a selection of small petrol and diesel engines, none of which are particularly sporty. The lightweight Crossland certainly feels nippy enough in most situations. 

The Crossland’s interior is similar to many five-door small hatchbacks. At the front is a smart dashboard with a central touchscreen. This controls a DAB stereo, Bluetooth phone connection and the onboard information. It’s just a seven-inch-wide screen that goes up to eight-inches with an optional sat-nav system.   

Later Crossland X models also come with the option to subscribe to a Vauxhall online connectivity service offering real-time info, a call centre and a mobile wi-fi hotspot. Nice if you’re going off-grid yet want to keep a toe in the waters of civilisation.  

There’s some hard durable plastic panels around the cabin, with the top of the dashboard a high-quality softer touch covering. The steering wheel is small and sporty, with multi-function controls on the spokes.  

Compared to small SUVs and crossovers, the Crossland’s head and leg space is good. Compared to rivals it’s more spacious in the back seat. Look for models with the optional sliding back seat – then you can tailor the space to increase head or leg room as required. 

Equipment levels across the range are generous. Standard on-board luxuries include dual-zone climate system and cruise control. 

At the back of the Crossland there’s a decent size square-ish tailgate that you can lift to reveal a fairly average amount of boot space. The rear seats fold, not completely flat, to increase the luggage capacity.  

If you have three kids note that a middle headrest in the three-seater back seat was only an optional extra, so some versions don’t have it. 

All Crosslands come with impressive safety credentials, including sophisticated safety extras like hill-start assist, lane-departure warning and traffic sign recognition, making for a more relaxed driving experience. Automatic headlights and wipers are handy standard features, too. Top spec models can have practical touches like a heated steering wheel for cold winter mornings and rear parking sensors. 

The Crossland only uses normal two-wheel drive so there’s no heavy, complex four-wheel-drive system underneath. This means you won’t get to climb a muddy embankment. You will get fuel economy and running costs closer to hatchbacks than SUVs.  

The selection of small diesel and petrol engines available are economical. Choose the petrols for refinement, diesels for fuel thrift. Servicing and parts are cheap too. 

Vauxhall hasn’t scored well in reliability tests but there have been few issues reported with the Crossland so far, with the main mechanicals being tried and tested Peugeot units. 

The Crossland X has the impact of an inspiring off-roader while being as easy and cheap as a family hatchback to own and drive. It can fit in tight parking spaces and easily seats five. The raised ride height, spacious cabin and generous equipment levels are big pluses.