VAUXHALL MOKKA

It looks the part, but has it displayed the real-world substance to underpin that?

- JACK WARRICK

WHY WE RAN IT

To see if Vauxhall’s revamped compact SUV excites in a congested vehicle class

Of all the cars that have been on my driveway, I’ve yet to have one that sparked quite as much curiosity as the Vauxhall Mokka. That means I’m in a great position to answer our original question: can the firm’s second model under Stellantis ownership stand out and excite in what is quite possibly the most crowded vehicle segment right now?

I won’t give my full conclusion yet (although, spoiler, it’ll be a positive one) but let’s start with the styling. The previous Mokka was rather uninspiring in most departments and had frumpy, bulbous looks. It wasn’t the worst car in the world, but this new, second-generation model is a completely different proposition. Months into my Mokka ‘ownership’, I would still find myself climbing in and thinking: “Yep, that’s still a great looking car.” Chief sub-editor Kris Culmer, also a custodian of the car, was a fan of the updated styling, too.

On several occasions, interested bystanders came up to me and asked, in a roundabout way, what I liked and loathed about it. I always found there was far more to say about its good points than its bad.

Driving the Mokka was a mostly relaxing experience and our car has certainly been up, down and around. I took it to Yorkshire, Cornwall, Lanarkshire and Perthshire, the very centre of London (after a typical England penalty shootout performance) and just about everywhere in between. Kris took it to Belgium, where it completed the final few of its 7987 miles with the Autocar team at the wheel.