The new Captiva SUV clearly looks the part and is practical too. Featuring Chevrolet’s first diesel engine and with seating for up to seven people it should do well here.
Captiva has been on sale in Europe for about a year now and is a success for the General Motors-owned company. Sold side by side in many markets with Opel’s Antara SUV (another GM company) Captiva is built on the same platform.
Chevrolet has kept a bit of distance from its sibling by offering seven seats on all but the entry-level petrol and diesel versions. Opel will only sell five seat cars when it launches Antara here and is targeting the more style conscious user.
Despite looking like it can go anywhere only higher-end Captivas have on-demand four-wheel drive set ups. Sadly two-wheel drive versions are far cheaper and what overtaxed Irish buyers can afford. Captiva uses the same four-wheel drive system that’s found in the Toyota Rav4, so the car drives in two-wheel drive until traction is lost and then all-wheel drive kicks in.
Captiva is chunky and well proportioned for a classic looking SUV. The bold Chevrolet badgering let’s me buy into the whole Americana thing, without killing the planet.
The cabin is spacious and the dash layout quite logical. The materials used are good and the build quality is impressive. The seven-seat set up features two pop up seats at the rear that when in place rob all the boot space and despite plenty of headroom you’ll find your knees begging for mercy on anything other than a short trip. So the rear two seats are occasional in a ‘five plus two’ sort of way. The kids will easily fit without complaints and there are even embossed footprints that point to where their feet should go.
Power comes from a 2.4 petrol and two diesels, a 127bhp (FWD) and 150bhp (AWD), both are 2 litre. Automatic and manual gearboxes are available. The auto would be my choice and is only available with four-wheel drive versions. The five-speed box has a manual override option and is very smooth. The manual will be more popular but the shift is a little coarse although it is light and easy to use.
On the road the Captiva is refined and quiet. My 150bhp test car was a little wanting when it came to kick-down grunt. Like most turbo-diesels the engine has a sweet spot where power is delivered well, but outside this point the car can lack zip.
Cornering proved interesting, which is a nice way of saying the car can’t go around bends without plenty of steering input. 16-inch alloys are standard but larger alloys are fitted the higher up the range you go. The top spec LTX version rolled less and had more responsive steering thanks to tasty 18-inch alloys and variable power-assisted steering.
Never designed to be a sports car the Captiva could benefit from faster-geared steering and maybe some thick anti roll bars. ESP is standard on four-wheel drive Captivas.
In everyday driving the Captiva is as refined as anything in its class.
Michael Sheridan
