Vauxhall Grandland (2017-2024) - Interior, design and technology

Just so you know, this is an older review of the 2017-2024 Vauxhall Grandland. If you are interested in information about the interior of the latest Vauxhall Grandland, or news of upcoming Vauxhall models, please follow the links provided.

The Vauxhall Grandland is a practical and well-built mid-size SUV, but alongside more stylish models (including the Peugeot 3008, with which it shares a platform), it was looking a bit drab – both inside and out. A facelift in 2021 brought a sharper look, with the Grandland now featuring Vauxhall's signature 'Vizor' front end, along with new bumpers, body-coloured trim and upgraded technology.

The exterior design can be livened up further by choosing either Carmin Red or the free Arctic White, but grey or black are still available to allow your Grandland to fade into the sea of SUVs that populate the UK’s roads.

The interior includes a dual-screen layout called ‘Pure Panel’ that feels much more modern than the pre-facelifted car's setup. The single Ultimate trim includes a 12-inch digital instrument display and a 10-inch touchscreen, although these modern screens look a little out of place against the Grandland’s older steering wheel design. At least the wheel includes physical controls that are easier to use than touch-sensitive alternatives. 

Because Ultimate comes loaded with equipment, buyers won't feel too short-changed. Along with LED headlights, and front and rear parking sensors, there are bigger 19-inch rims, an adaptive cruise control system, a heated steering wheel, a wireless smartphone charging pad, a 360-degree camera system, an automatic tailgate, and upgraded upholstery.

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Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment 

Every Vauxhall Grandland gets a 10-inch colour touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity to go with the digital dash, which is also standard. 

Both the 10-inch central touchscreen and the 12-inch digital instrument cluster look sharp and colourful. The digital dials can show a range of driving and trip details, however the fonts are small and surrounded by lots of blank space. We also found that if you turn on the headlights, both screens dim quite dramatically; this is fine at night, but they’re hard to read during the day. We struggled to find a way of changing this in the settings, just one thing which confirms that some of the sub-menus and functions aren’t very logically laid out once you dig into the system. We found it easier to just use apps form our phone using the standard smartphone connectivity rather than the standard touchscreen interface.

A DAB radio and Bluetooth come as standard, and Vauxhall deserves praise for sticking with physical climate controls; the temperature knobs are quite small, but are still less fiddly than touch-sensitive keys. If you run out of mobile data, then sat-nav comes as part of the Multimedia Nav Pro screen, which you can get live traffic updates and road safety alerts if you pay for a subscription.