Review of the new Chevrolet Captiva - Family View

As a family, mine are getting pretty used to living with a seven-seater family-sized 4x4. Not too long ago, we spent a year in the company of a luxurious but very thirsty Audi Q7. When I could bear the fuel bills no longer, I decreed it was time for a change and a Chevrolet Captiva appeared in our driveway to replace it.

Initially, as you might imagine, this made me a tad unpopular back home. My wife was rather partial to beating GTi hot hatches away from the traffic lights in our 4.2-litre V8 Q7. She liked the heated leather seats too and all the many electric and technical gizmos that Q7owners take for granted but other 4x4 motorists generally crave. No matter, I told her: she'd simply have to adjust to the Captiva.

This of course is in no way a comparably priced vehicle to the Audi. Rather than having a price tag of around £50,000, it competes in the £20,000-£25,000 family 4x4 sector where obvious 7-seater rivals like Hyundai's Santa Fe, Peugeot's 4007, Citroen's C-Crosser and Mitsubishi's Outlander reside. Open up your search to include 5-seater vehicles like Vauxhall's Antara (mechanically identical to the Chevy) and you'll have an even wider choice.

I chose the Captiva on the basis of value for money (a traditional Chevy virtue), strong equipment levels and stylish looks. Had my priority been ultimate off road ability, I probably wouldn't have gone this route - but then, I wouldn't have chosen any of the Chevrolet's obvious rivals on this basis either: I've been stuck in several of them. Fortunately, from the Captiva's point of view, my actual priorities were those of nearly all potential customers: space, versatility, low running costs and a modicum of 4WD ability for things like towing and getting out of slimy carparks. In all these things, it's been developed to excel.

Our acclimatisation from luxury 4x4 to family 4x4 has been eased considerably by choosing the top LT-X spec on our car which, for around £23,000, includes full leather upholstery with heated front seats, 18-inch alloy wheels, automatic lighting control and rain-sensing wipers, cruise control, a multi-function display panel, a six-CD changer stereo with MP3 capability, climate control with air quality system, silver-coloured front and rear skid plates, stainless steel sill plates, power-folding heated door mirrors with integrated turn signals and a visible twin-pipe exhaust system with chrome detailing. In comparison with a range topping Honda CR-V, this represents a better equipped, bigger car for around £1,000 less.

"A few months into Captiva ownership and I have to admit that the car is growing on me."

If you can't stretch to an LT-X, it's worth remembering that all Captivas are pretty well equipped, with even the LT version that most customers go for including 17-inch alloy wheels, front fog lamps, a leather-trimmed steering wheel and gearknob, an eight-speaker CD stereo with MP3 capability, a glove box cooling system and a passenger side under-seat storage drawer.

This car is certainly pretty spacious which is just as well from my point of view. With a small family of three girls (Caris aged 9, Ellie aged 6 and Amy aged two), I need a practical, versatile family car with a dash of image, extra seats for when the children invite their friends home from school and build quality that means interior fixtures and fittings aren't always coming off in my hands. You wouldn't think that was asking too much from a modern £20,000 car but I've lost count of the number of times when family models have disappointed in all these respects over the years.

The Captiva achieves the kind of roomy passenger accommodation you'd expect in a vehicle measuring 4.6m in length with a 2.7m wheelbase. There's 1.8m in width to play with as well and headroom isn't a problem as this car measures in at 1.7m from rubber to roof rails. Interior durability is another must in a family vehicle where inquisitive little fingers are going to give the fixtures and fittings hell. The Captiva aims for toughness but with quality fabrics and materials for an impressive all-round ambience.

Chevrolet supplied me with a press pack several inches thick proclaiming the virtues of this car's 2.0-litre 150bhp diesel engine. It's a common-rail direct injection diesel that has been developed jointly by GM Powertrain and VM Motori. Using a 16-valve layout, it's capable of producing its 310Nm maximum torque at a usefully low 2,000rpm with peak power unleashed at 4,000rpm. Which means plenty of pulling power, if not much of a sporty feel. Still, we've been getting close to Chevrolet's claimed combined economy figure of 37.1mpg, which isn't half bad for a vehicle of this kind.

I have to confess that with recent rain waterlogging our local fields, I haven't been brave enough to put the Captiva's off road prowess to the test. Supposedly, it should be quite competent. The car features an on-demand all-wheel-drive system which instantly diverts drive to the rear axle when the front wheels lose traction. It also offers the ESP electronic stability programme and HDC hill decent control to help negotiate particularly difficult terrain. Should the worst come to the worst, there's Chevrolet's ARP active rollover protection to keep passengers safe.

Depreciation is a tougher thing to pin down. While the Chevrolet badge will help residuals, the market for this sort of vehicle is stuffed with more well-known and established contenders. That said, the excellent warranty arrangement offered by Chevrolet could help prop up values. Insurance is reasonable and repair costs are said to be among the industry's most competitive.

A few months into Captiva ownership and I have to admit that the car is growing on me as a dependable family workhorse that isn't averse to either the odd trip across the grass or to having its interior showered with crisps and bits of cake, these items being then ground into the carpet as youngsters fight over who's going to sit in the rearmost row of seats. This car is on its way back to Chevrolet in a few months' time and I have to say that I'll miss it.

TOP 4 CAPTIVA DEALS

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Chevrolet Captiva 2.2 VCDi LT 5dr [7 Seats] Diesel Estate
Price £21,850 Read Captiva Reviews	Save £5,830
Chevrolet Captiva 2.2 VCDi LT 5dr Auto [7 Seats] Diesel Estate
Price £23,286 Read Captiva Reviews	Save £5,929
Chevrolet Captiva 2.2 VCDi LTZ 5dr [7 Seats] Diesel Estate
Price £24,242 Read Captiva Reviews	Save £6,038
Chevrolet Captiva 2.2 VCDi LTZ 5dr Auto [7 Seats] Diesel Estate
Price £25,678 Read Captiva Reviews	Save £6,137
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