Chevrolet Captiva 2.0d LTX

Road Test

Your Say

Chevrolet Captiva 2.0d LTX

Test date 27 June 2007 Price as tested £23,783

For Striking yet modest styling, seven-seat flexibility, equipment, space

AgainstBland interior, engine noise, price in top LTX specification

Chevrolet’s all-new Captiva is a very clear indicator of what the new Vauxhall Antara will be like when it goes on sale in a few months’ time.

How so? Because the Antara is unashamedly based upon the Captiva; both are made on the same production line in Korea and, apart from one or two tweaks, they are essentially one and the same car.

Chevrolet as a brand is beginning to work quite well in the UK, crafting itself a niche for well made, good-value-for-money products that have more than a whiff of originality to their styling.

The model we test here, the top-of-the-range LTX 2.0-litre diesel auto, may not entirely hit the target when it comes to VFM: it costs a steep-sounding £24,920. But it’s certainly good looking. Question is, is it as good as it looks?

On the road the Captiva looks fresh, muscular and compact for a seven-seat, four-wheel-drive soft-roader. If you consider how much more road space vehicles such as the Audi Q7 occupy, you get a clear idea of how well packaged the Captiva is.

Mechanically, it’s neither behind the times nor state-of-the-art. Having said that, this is Chevrolet’s first ever diesel, and technically the 1991cc common-rail unit hits all the right buttons. It’s turbocharged, as you’d expect given the Captiva’s load-lugging brief, and a Bosch direct injection system helps it to produce 147bhp at 4000rpm and a promising 236lb ft at just 2000rpm.

In this instance power is channelled to all four wheels on a part-time basis via a five-speed automatic gearbox, but a manual is also available for £1180 less. In normal running the Captiva is front-wheel drive, but when the car’s On Demand All-Wheel Drive system detects any slip whatsoever, the rear axle is deployed and it automatically becomes 4wd.

The suspension set-up is struts at the front and a four-link axle at the rear, and as well as ESP the Captiva has hydraulic brake assist and a version of Land Rover’s once-pioneering hill descent control.