Vauxhall Frontera Review 2025: Price, specs & boot space

Vauxhall says that the Frontera is aimed at young families, and that seems a solid target group. The affordability and space particularly make it a very solid choice for the customer that wants practicality and low running costs, as well as a very affordable up-front cost. Vauxhall is also offering competitive PCP deals and other incentives too, including a discounted home charger or limited free public charging on the electric model.

The electric SUV model’s affordability should be tempting, and although its battery range lags behind some rivals, that’s understandable for the price. A long-range model will follow and will further broaden the appeal.

If you're after something with a premium feel, then the Frontera perhaps isn't for you. In fairness, it's not trying to be luxurious, but the materials are at the lower end of what you'd expect in a modern car.

To start with, the Vauxhall Frontera is available with three power options, of which we’ve tried two so far. You can read more about our experiences with them later in the piece.

Based on what we’ve tried, we’d suggest you go for the electric Vauxhall Frontera if your circumstances allow. The nearly-200-mile range should be fine for most people, as long as you have somewhere to charge it, performance is perfectly adequate and it’s the same price as the entry-level hybrid model. If that doesn’t work for you, then the more powerful hybrid is perfectly decent, but more expensive and with higher running costs.

The small SUV market is pretty packed with competitors, not least from Vauxhall itself – as well as the Frontera, Vauxhall also makes the smaller Mokka and the larger Grandland, which could both be considered viable alternatives. Then there’s the Dacia Duster, which is a similar price, the Citroen C3 and the forthcoming new C3 Aircross, the MG ZS, the Ford Puma, the Hyundai Kona… the list goes on and on, and includes both hybrid and electric rivals. The Frontera’s appeal is chiefly in its affordability, backed up by the fact that it’s rather good, too.

This is a very affordable car and the cost savings have to come from somewhere. That’s apparent in the tactile quality of the materials used. Don’t expect soft-touch plastics and plus upholstery, because it's all very hard and utilitarian, although it’s well offset by the attractive design, and everything feels well screwed together.

As befits the price point, the Frontera’s infotainment system is fairly basic in terms of features, but once again the effort has been focused on where it’s needed. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is included, which immediately takes care of most information and entertainment options by relying on your smartphone. There’s a 10-inch touchscreen through which everything is channelled, and if you do want to use the proprietary systems, navigation is standard.

There are two USB-C charging ports in the front and another two in the rear (plus a fifth if you spec the seven-seat model), and the sound system has six speakers on all models.

At 4380mm in length, the Vauxhall Frontera sits between the Mokka and the Grandland in the Vauxhall SUV range, and is larger than the Crossland it replaces. It’s close in size to yet another rival, the Nissan Qashqai, but it’s a big chunk of change cheaper. There are no space worries up front, even for tall adults, and the back seats are impressively roomy, too, with plenty of legroom and headroom for grown ups. 

There’s also the option of speccing the Vauxhall Frontera with an extra row of seats, for an extra £550. However, so-equipped cars weren’t available at the launch event, so we’ve yet to see how spacious they are. We suspect rather tight, and at the expense of just about all boot space.

Speaking of which, the boot has a capacity of 460 litres without those optional sixth and seventh seats, which is very good for a car of this size – the Dacia Duster has more space, but not many other rivals can compete with the Frontera. The boot size doesn’t change between electric and hybrid models, and it’s a very usable space, too, with a height-adjustable floor and back seats that fold down flat to allow the loading of large objects. In fact, with the back seats folded you get up to 1600 litres of space, which is more than a lot of rivals. 

In terms of general storage, you get two cup holders between the front seats with a wireless phone charger ahead of them. There’s also a fabric strap around the centre console that Vauxhall says can be used to store tablets, although with none on hand during our test drive we’re not clear on exactly how they’d work. There’s a big storage space under the centre armrest, a small tray in front of that, and a good sized glovebox, as well as a rubberised shelf in front of the passenger for odds and ends. The door pockets are a bit small, but that’s about the only complaint. In the back, there are more small door pockets and pockets in the back of the front seats, but no cup holders.

We’ve tried two of the three current powertrain options – the all-electric model and the 136PS mild-hybrid. There’s also a 100PS mild-hybrid available. Both use a 1.2-litre petrol engine with a 48-volt hybrid system and unlike most mild-hybrids, this one can do very short distances on electric power only, which could have a decent impact on your fuel economy around town. It essentially works during very low speed driving – when you’re creeping up to a junction or moving slowly through traffic.

Overall, it works well. The engine is quite gruff when you work it hard, and if you exercise the seven-seat option in the Frontera (only available with the hybrid powertrain) then you could be asking it to pull a fair bit of weight. But the hybrid system’s electric assistance gives it a good amount of grunt to get moving, and the automatic gearbox is smooth-shifting and unobtrusive.

The electric version, which is the same price as the 100PS hybrid. While with 113PS it has less power than the 136PS hybrid, the inherent instant response of an electric motor means it feels more sprightly, even if the actual acceleration is the slowest of the range, not least because it’s the heaviest model. A more powerful version will follow in 2025. It’s nippy and responsive around town, although can feel a little laggy on the motorway.

The Frontera’s 44kWh battery is small by modern standards but is another element that keeps the cost down, and the claimed 186-mile range (WLTP) should be fine for everyday use, unless you’re planning long journeys or have a big commute. The long-range model planned for 2025 will have a larger battery and promises a 248-mile range.

In comparison, the Citroen e-C3 promises up to 199 miles, and while other theoretical rivals can go further still, they're considerably more expensive.

We were very impressed with the low amount of road noise in the Frontera. It really is quiet on the road, especially for a car of this price. Wind noise picks up above about 60mph, particularly around the wing mirrors, but it’s not too bad. Overall, the Frontera is considerably quieter and more refined than we expected at this price point.

Safety organisation Euro NCAP has yet to test the new Vauxhall Frontera, so we’ll update this review once it does. All models come as standard with automatic emergency braking with a pedestrian detection feature, as well as a driver-attention alert system and a rear-view camera with rear parking sensors. There are Isofix child-seat mounting points on the outer rear seats. There’s no adaptive cruise control, which is a shame.

The Frontera, and the platform it’s built on, is too new to give us any meaningful reliability data, but the hybrid system has been used in various other cars from Vauxhall’s parent group, Stellantis, and we’ve not heard of any issues so far.

Vauxhall as a brand has a middling reputation for reliability in independent dependability studies. Actually, that’s being somewhat kind – it placed last in the 29 car makers in the latest HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index, although reliability is only one aspect of the overall ownership experience assessed for that study. Hopefully the new technology underpinning the Frontera will improve its standing.

Vauxhall offers a fairly unremarkable three-year, 60,000-mile warranty on all its new cars. When plenty of rivals are offering five or seven-year warranties, often with unlimited mileage, that feels a little stingy.

Insurance groups for the new Frontera haven’t yet been announced, but we'd be surprised if they’re particularly high, considering the value-for-money positioning of the car.

Go for the electric Frontera right and now you’ll pay no Vehicle Excise Duty. However, that changes in April when new tax rules come in, and electric vehicles will be subject to the same annual flat rate as tax as other cars. That figure’s currently £190 a year, but could go up. The hybrids get a £10 discount.

Vauxhall has kept the choices simple for the new Frontera. Once you’ve chosen what powertrain you want, you can choose from the entry-level Design trim or the GS, with a couple of options on top.

The Design model comes with 16-inch steel wheels (with covers) and black skid plates at the front and rear, with LED headlights, a rear-view camera and rear parking sensors. Cruise control is standard, as is the full infotainment system with wireless phone charger and manual air conditioning.

GS upgrades to 17-inch alloy wheels with a contrasting black roof and LED tail lights, and adds front parking sensors and a blind-spot alert system. The rear windows are tinted and the skid plates are now silver. Inside, there’s automatic air-con.

Options include the Design Style Pack for £400, which gives you a white roof, white steel wheel and roof rails. The Ultimate pack, which is only available on the GS, adds heated front seats, steering wheel and windscreen, as well as roof rails and LED fog lamps, all for £800. The seven-seat option is £550 and only available on the hybrid GS models.