Stormtrooper Adam
Since the departure of GM from South Africa, The Opel Group has been on a hard push to introduce new models to the market to ensure that the brand remains relevant. One of those new models was the Crossland X, which we previously tested. A new derivative followed shortly afterwards, this time with a diesel powerplant.
Styling
The Crossland X is based on the Peugeot 2008 platform, and as such has very similar dimensions. The big difference is that the Crossland sports many of the same design cues and characteristics as its smaller sibling, the Opel Adam. This is very evident in the design of the rear quarter and the floating roof attribute.
It may only have been the colour combination of this test car, but I definitely noticed a bit of the old Chevrolet Captiva coming through, as inspiration for some of the lines.
This doesn't mean that the Crossland is an inflated Adam or a rehashed Chevrolet, though. It has many of its own cues and traits: from the front- and rear bumper treatments to the lighting and wheels, the Crossland is its own vehicle.
Its rounded lines, taller stance and slightly stubby width give the Crossland an air of compactness and drivability that has proven appealing to lady drivers (with their male counterparts preferring the beefier Grandland X).
The Drive
Being built on the same platform as the Peugeot 2008 means that the Crossland has some excellent driving dynamics. The ride is compliant, but not soft and wallowy. It is well sprung in the sense that you’re aware that this is not a sports car, and it won’t encourage very aggressive cornering, yet it is comfortable enough to undertake a fairly long road trip.
There is good feedback through the steering wheel, and even if you do treat the car roughly, it remains predictable enough to catch and compensate for its modest grip levels.
Its crossover stance doesn't inspire great deals of confidence when it comes to taking corners at speed, though, with plenty of body lean being the name of the game. Just know that the Crossland is built for comfort, not for speed.
Performance
The main reason for our test on this vehicle was to sample the diesel engine under the bonnet.
The Crossland X employs a 1.6 litre, in-line 4 cylinder, turbo charged unit that delivers 68kW and 230Nm. Power is sent to the wheels via a smooth-shifting 5-speed manual transmission, which gives the Crossland a unique driving feel. It is reasonably quick in a straight line, sprinting from a standstill to 100 km/h in 12 seconds, on the way to its top speed of 180 km/h. Overtaking performance is effortless, however, thanks to that useful torque output.
Space and Comfort
Those crossover proportions and rounded corners make the Crossland X seem smaller than it actually is, when looking at it from the outside. It is in fact much more spacious inside the Crossland X than you would expect.
There is plenty of leg room and shoulder room for passengers and driver alike. The boot area gives you 410 litres of packing space and there are plenty of hidey-holes for the odd assortment of items you may wish to stow. The door cards are oddly shaped, though, and don't take kindly to many types of water bottles.
The interior is also somewhat dull in its construction, the black on black plastic fitment, grey seat material and dark grey headliner make the interior very sombre. The only real colour highlight comes from the Intellilink infotainment system’s touchscreen, which includes Apple Car Play and Android Auto as standard.
It does feel a bit like a parts bin raid has taken place, as many of the cabin’s fittings and switchgear can be found in other Opel and Peugeot models.
Safety
With Opel being part of a Eurocentric brand such as PSA, it naturally conforms to their safety standards as well. The normal litany of three letter abbreviations are standard onboard: ABS, EBD, BAS, Traction Control, Stability Control and Hill start assist are just a few of the items to be found.
The Crossland X is also equipped with 6 airbags, tyre pressure monitoring and a lane departure warning as well as blind spot detection, and comes with a 5-star Euro NCAP rating.
Fuel Consumption
The Crossland X fared very well during our economy tests. Opel claims the Crossland X will use 5.1/100km in an urban setting with its best open road consumption sitting at 4.0/100km. At our absolute worst, sitting in stop start traffic, the Crossland barely cracked 6.1/100km and immediately dropped back down to 4.8 once we got moving again.
We returned well over 1000km on a single tank of fuel, making this car an absolute must have during these tough economic times.
Price
The Crossland X diesel variant comes in at R 349 900 and is packaged with a 3 year / 120 000km Warranty and a 3 year / 60 000km Service plan.
You are able to tick a few options boxes when you buy and that could change the price by a few thousand rand, so speak to your dealer.
Verdict
We do like the tack that Opel has chosen with its model rollout. The diesel variant offers great fuel economy and only a slight performance penalty over its petrol-powered stablemates. Just be careful of the colour combination you choose, as it greatly affects the overall style of the vehicle - and definitely keep the diesel engine on your radar.
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