No matter how you analyze it, this Opel Grandland GSe PHEV 4x4 is a kind of unicorn, a unique species that you will hardly find a reason for, but it runs like a devil and you want to drive every day.
I've never been an advocate of sporty-oriented family SUVs; neither of sports cars that have as much power as kilos; nor do I think that a fast car – this Opel Grandland GSe is, and boy is it – has to be necessarily sporty. With all these arguments, including a price that makes it an exotic piece in the eyes of a customer with minimal common sense, we are facing a car that would hardly find a reason for being, except for the fact that, since you start driving with it, becomes the main satisfaction of this car: the good general feel that it offers when you use it in normal traffic and daily driving, and where its chassis has the same positive influence as its powerful —and efficient if you get involved— system propulsion.
Outside of this environment, it is a very fast car, without more, to which you will begin to find weaknesses due to its own characteristics —height, weight, and above all, some tires that do not measure up—, and not because it is poorly conceived or properly tuned up.
FLY, LITERALLY
Like almost all PHEV or plug-in hybrids, the overall performance of this car depends on the battery charge. As you can imagine, this is the case if you want to move with electricity, although it also has an influence on its benefits. With this type of car, we always acquire data with a flat battery... but we are always curious and exhausted the battery with some first "test" batches in which the Grandland GSe got into unusual times, lowering the 0 -100 km/h that we finally validated in two tenths and in about half a second the long acceleration up to 1,000 meters.
His times are as stratospheric as is the instantaneous and powerful response in recovery exercises, and I assure you that he runs so much that in pure performance you will not notice whether or not there is still some charge in his batteries, except that reaches - hardly, on the open road - its "stress point": when you demand so much from the system and there is no possibility of regeneration, the benefits can be "restricted" momentarily. In such a case, the Grandland GSe does not exceed 185 km/h when in normal acceleration the kilometer ends at 195 km/h and with the reserve to continue pushing hard. It is enough to let it roll so that the energy recovery effect returns to minimally tune the batteries and the three-motor system can close the "energy circle".
At high speed, by the way, the rear engine disengages from thrust, so in reality, the system doesn't consistently deliver the promised 300bhp. But it is on the open road, surrounded by the rest of the traffic, where you notice the true power offered by the Grandland GSe, and where we also contemplate other added values that are also greatly appreciated: high refinement, maximum smoothness to move at urban or medium speeds and a low noise level, in part, due to the excellent insulation of the passenger compartment.
Spending a lot or a little will depend on you, how much you worry about keeping the battery charged. This is somewhat larger than the front-wheel drive models and promises 4 km more of electric autonomy, 63 km in total, although very favorable conditions must be given to cover such a number of kilometers. Put on average about 50 km of the radius of action in electric mode or a contribution to the system of more or less double if you select the hybrid mode from the start. Finally, we have considered 6.6 l/100 km the optimal consumption moving regularly with and without a stored battery -always at legal rates-, but that data, as you can imagine, you can easily lower if you make shorter journeys with a charged battery or go up if you travel very fast in a sustained way; That is the weak point, in terms of efficiency, of this car.
KONI VS E-PRIMACY
Do not expect a total metamorphosis compared to the rest of the Grandlands, already good cars in dynamic terms. For my taste, sensations win here. This car has some Koni FSD -the variable frequency with mechanical adjustment- that work wonderfully, a recalibrated steering, and more permissive stability control. Although all these "steps" on the asphalt with tires do not measure up on a vehicle with this orientation, there are two situations in which you clearly notice it when you drive "on attack" on mountain roads or very twisty: entering in and out of a curve.
In the first case, because the understeer is not natural, but rather causes certain rebounds in the front end which, in turn, cause resonance in the steering; in the second case, because you have to carefully measure the pressure you exert on the accelerator to avoid loss of traction. Without a doubt, it is an effect of the low grip of the tire that, as you sense, has an "easy" solution. So, as it leaves the factory, it is a car that is much more at home on the open road if you want to drive fast, although, for me, the real aftertaste that this car has given me is how "mechanical" its chassis seems, how well the Koni tune the damping stiffness in each case, though they don't eliminate body roll.
That said, it is a car capable of turning a boring trip to work into a most pleasant experience if you like to feel that there is some "connection" with the car or, simply, that you have plenty of horsepower under your right foot. In terms of investment, this unicorn is not exactly... blue.
ECOSYSTEM, OPEL'S
MOST POWERFUL CARS
The E is the origin of everything in Opel when we talk about sports models... GSE, specifically not GS/E, was coined by Commodore and Manta, in reference to electronic injection, in German, of course. The Monza GSE had the honor of becoming the fastest car of the moment for the brand thanks to the in-line cylinder engine with 2,969 cm3 and 180 CV! And now this new Grandland GSe, honoring electrification, becomes the most powerful model in the brand's catalog. Extreme cars and technologies over time, have a meeting point, at least in terms of body format or family philosophy of the model, but with other mythical acronyms that the brand seems to want to forget about OPC.
Zafira, now reduced to a commercial vehicle, can well be considered the forerunner of the Grandland GSe, today more powerful but less radical than that Zafira OPC, the unquestionably fastest minivan of its time thanks to its 192 hp 2.0 turbo in its first generation and 241 hp! in the second. Gaston car, yes; insufferable on a daily basis due to its rigid suspensions, too —the second generation also mounted an innovative piloted damping system—; but as happened with the GSi saga of Kaddet and Astra, the OPCs once again showed that Opel has some magic when it comes to manufacturing engines that made their sports cars fly although they were almost always above the possibilities of the chassis. In a way, Grandland GSe is a look back.
CONCLUSION: NICE TO
MEET ME
Cars like this reveal to me: this driving for the sake of driving continues to be a true pleasure for the senses. Is it an interesting car? Not at all. Is it sporty? Not at all. Cash? Not as much as it could be with other tires. But give me horsepower, quick acceleration, and the kind of suspension that reminds you that you're driving a chassis with some talent and flair, and you'll beat me the easy way. If it also had a nice mechanical noise... although not doing so implies consuming electricity, cutting emissions, and moving with very low usage costs.
OUR MEASUREMENTS TO THE OPEL GRANDLAND GSE PHEV 4X4
- Acceleration 0-50 km/h: 2.38 s
- Acceleration 0-80 km/h: 4.24 s.
- Acceleration 0-100 km/h: 5.91 s.
- Acceleration 0-120 km/h: 8.0 s.
- Acceleration 0-140 km/h: 10.6 s.
- Acceleration 0-400 m. 2:17 p.m.
- Acceleration 0-1000 m: 26.11 s (Start speed: 195.75 km/h)
- Overtaking 20-50 km/h: 2.01 s.
- Overtaking 20-120 km/h: 10.63 s.
- Overtaking 60-120 km/h: 4.9 s.
- Overtaking 80-120 km/h: 3.7 s
- Braking 140-0 km/h: 72.5 m.
- Braking 120-0 km/h: 57.1 m.
- Braking 100-0 km/h: 39.9 m.
- Braking 80-0 km/h: 25.3 m.
- Braking 50-0 km/h: 8.9 m.
- Loudness at 50 km/h: 58.8 dB.
- Loudness at 80 km/h: 64.8 dB.
- Loudness at 100 km/h: 68.6 dB.
- Loudness at 120 km/h: 72.6 dB.
- Loudness at 140 km/h: 73.7 dB.
- Average consumption in the test: 6.6 l/100 km.
- Average EV range: 50 km.
- Tires unit tests: Michelin e-Primacy 225/50 R19.
- Regenerative braking deceleration in D: 0.43 m/s2.
- Regenerative braking deceleration at B: 0.98 m/s2
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