VAUXHALL GRAND

Before we bid farewell to the Grandland GS, we put its value for money to the test

- Tom Jervis [e-mail]

OVER the past six months, the Vauxhall Grandland has been strutting about like a celebrity with its shimmering paintwork and Blackpool Illuminations-style badging. For its sendoff, it needed to be joined by something equally, if not more glamorous.

Cue the top-spec Grandland Ultimate... oh, and my partner, Victoria, was there, too.

You might notice that both our GS long-termer and the Ultimate are specified in Impact Copper; Specsavers’ stock price likely soared over the past week as our neighbours raced to get their eyes tested, convinced they were seeing double while the two cars were parked next to each other on our driveway.

However, such a coincidence is the perfect way to illustrate the similarities and differences between the two, and work out whether it’s worth spending the extra – roughly £2,400 - on the Ultimate.

The first thing worth mentioning is that metallic paintwork is an optional extra on the GS, but is included in the Ultimate’s price. The other major exterior styling upgrade is a larger set of 20-inch alloy wheels; Victoria says she prefers the look of these, while I err towards the marginally softer ride of the GS, proving that deciding which is best ‘ultimately’ (pun not intended) is down to personal preference.