It's always good to be surprised from time to time and that's exactly what happened when I drove the Chevrolet Captiva recently.
As with the versatile Orlando that I drove a few months ago, I knew very little about the Captiva other than what I'd read in Chevrolet's promotional material, but here I was thinking great things about this car within minutes of setting off on a first drive.
First and foremost it's a big family car. Don't think compact crossover or anything like that. This is a big, high and substantial car with acres of space to play with inside and a high and commanding driving position when sitting in those traffic jams.
There's a very versatile 2-5-7 seating configuration and all the seats front to back are big and comfortable. It must be said though that the rear luggage space was a little limited in the seven-seat configuration. Still enough to fit in the essentials though, all the same.
It drives surprisingly well. Aside from the expected roll that is there in many vehicles of this class it was confident, smooth, refined and the 'Eco' mode on the automatic gearbox worked particularly effectively in both reducing fuel consumption and taming the racing beast in all of us.
Overall fuel consumption figures for a car of this size and specification were particularly impressive. That being said, it's still no slouch. The torquey 2-litre diesel has impressive performance specs and didn't disappoint at all, either motorway touring or on the challenging town and country routes.
Despite its size it is remarkable easy to drive, with excellent all-round visibility, parking sensors as standard and a smooth and refined auto gearbox. Where it really shone was in absorbing all those nasty potholes that in many cars shake and rattle you to the bone. The Captiva, with its 17' wheels and big fat tyres soaked up the worst of them with barely a murmur. This, in particular, reinforced its soft-road rather than off-road genre. The downside of a slightly 'bouncy' ride was more than offset by its smoothness and quietness.
When making comparisons there are several alternatives out there that will give the Captiva a healthy challenge, such as the Kia Sorento, Volkswagen's Tiguan and the Mitsubishi Outlander. Price-wise it's not the cheapest around, but it still offers good value for money in terms of performance and luxury. Whether the Chevrolet marque will establish itself as well in the UK as it has done across the pond remains to be seen, but all-in-all producing good comfortable and competent cars like the Captiva must surely be the way to go about it.
Nigel Crawford
July 2011
Model Driven: Captiva 2.2 VCDI LT Auto
Price on the road at time of writing: £29,655 | 
The Volvo C30
