Ford’s Puma will pummel new Vauxhall Crossland into the weeds
In the battle of ‘The Big Pair’ (Vauxhall and Ford) in the UK new car scene, suggests Iain Robertson, while the Corsa may have beaten Fiesta into second place in a stilted month of September sales, come the New Year, the Puma push will be in full flood.
Strong rumours are already circulating around Europe of the ever so obvious backwards slide in the SUV sector. For enough years that I find it worrisome, I had believed that the sport-ute bubble had reached bursting point…only for yet another example to pop-up like an unintroduced pimple and make its blotchy presence known. Thus, if there is any truth in them, the consumer is tiring of the assault and, while familiarity will breed repeat business, many potential ‘buyers’ are starting to look for something else.
The most recent Puma, notably in sporty ST-Line guise, appears to have lurched onto and off dealer forecourts with the alacrity of a polecat. Its jacked-up Focus appearance is a defining victor in the eyes of observers, managing to look both swoopy and moderately engaging simultaneously, while delivering the loftier ride height and easier cabin entry expected of the typical SUV, with a more relaxed, yet pacier profile. In reality, its only notional selling point is a removable 80-litre bucket in the boot, into which a grubby hound might be tossed following a rainy day’s hike around the hills.
On the other rival’s hand is the Crossland, soon to be devoid of its largely meaningless ‘X’, which possesses an ‘evil’ and sinister definition in PSA’s Chinese heartland. I mention this point, because the Sino-funded Parisian that owns Vauxhall-Opel (and is also now in partnership with Fiat-Chrysler too) is forced into playing an appeasing political game that will continue to reveal critical little dangers around every commercial corner. It is also worth highlighting that the all-new Crossland model does not go on sale in the UK until late-2020, with first deliveries (should any be made) in early-2021.
My latter apocryphal comment is made in the full knowledge that Ford Motor Company knows much better than most how to play the competitive game. It is not that reduced-fat Ford is as omnipotent as it once was but, rather, that the remnants of the ‘old dog’ and its frontline guile have been significantly better honed than those of PSA Groupe, where internal confusion reigns supreme and the prospect of building several differently badged, platform-shared products in a single Iberian plant is fast becoming an insurmountable reality.
The PSA-fication of Vauxhall-Opel is all but completed. Whatever brand strengths may have existed in the UK and Europe respectively have been neutered most efficiently by Gallic management strategies. The ‘pram-roof’ prevalent on several VO models is continued on Crossland, which will satisfy the design team headed by Brit, Mark Adams, but is starting to look more than a tad clichéd, when contrasted by the blunter front-end and its new ‘Vizor’ styling quirk, first applied to the forthcoming Mokka (a smaller SUV).
Rest assured, while the interior detailing is a judicious blend of VO and PSA hardware, peering at Crossland’s undergarments reveals strictly PSA underpinnings. This extends to the engine line-up, which includes 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engines in 107 and 127bhp power outputs and both 107 and 117bhp 1.5-litre turbodiesels, all driving through 6-speed manual gearboxes, with the punchiest of both fuel sources being offered a 6-speed auto-box option. For the past couple of decades, PSA has boasted of the frugality and relative cleanliness of its power units and you can expect up to 60.1mpg from the petrols and 80.7mpg from the diesels, accompanied by CO2 emissions from as low as 93g/km (diesels) to a maximum of 112g/km from the petrols.
While you might find it hard to tell the difference, the Vauxhall ‘Griffin’ badge has been modernised (apparently), by almost the same degree of redefinition as the VW equivalent, and it is posited in the middle of the anonymous front grille outline. Naturally, it is replicated on the hatchback but new LED lamps, fore and aft, and the inevitable daytime running lamps signature are new to Crossland. Although much of the main bodywork remains as it was before with the ‘X’-suffix version, new front and rear lower bumper skid plates, chromed door mouldings and a revised range of 16.0 and 17.0-inch diameter alloy wheels add magpie factor. Sportier SRi models (trim only, I am afraid) will feature the larger 17.0-inch alloys and a black roof, complete with a red window accent, which the PR bumpf suggests will help consumers to overcome any model confusion.
Naturally, as mentioned earlier, inside the Crossland an eight-inch touchscreen provides both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, while the specially developed front seats deliver a pleasing mixture of enhanced comfort and better support for longer trips. Typical for the class, the rear seats feature a 60/40 split but also a 150mm reach adjustment, which helps to increase boot space from 410-litres to 520-litres, if the seats are in use. When they are folded forwards, a generous 1,255-litres of practical boot space results, which is average for the class but does not feature the Ford Puma’s ‘bucket’, or anything remotely like it.
As you might imagine, the new Crossland comes with the latest wad of electronic nannying features, including forward collision alert with autonomous emergency braking and pedestrian recognition, driver drowsiness alert and a wide-angle (180-degrees) rear-view camera to help the driver to mash the flower-beds and low walls more effectively. Although I believed that the Crossland X handled averagely well, it has been determined that revised spring and damper rates be introduced and a new steering column intermediate shaft is said to improve both steering feel (a little absent on the new model’s predecessor) and the car’s dynamic balance.
If the Puma effect has not been overwhelming in your locale and a Vauxhall badge is your preference, a new Crossland may be right up your street in the New Year. While there is no confirmation presently about electrification, PSA is clearly keeping an ace up its Mandarin-influenced sleeves, as an expensive plug-in hybrid will join the largely anonymous line-up imminently.
