Vauxhall Meriva 1.8 Range Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Vauxhall Meriva 1.8-litre range
Prices: £14,870 - £15,075 – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 6E-7E
Emissions: 196g/km
Performance: Max Speed 118mph / 0-60mph 10.9s
Fuel Consumption: (average) 34mpg
Safety: Twin front airbags, ABS with EBD, Emergency Brake Assist, Front seatbelt force limiters, side impact protection.
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height mm 4042/1694/1624

VIVA MERIVA

Our Rating: 6.9 / 10

Vauxhall’s Meriva Is More About Space Than Pace But For Buyers Who Want A Little Extra Get Up And Go There’s Always The 1.8-Litre Version. Steve Walker Reports.

Sleek, aggressive, flamboyant, sporty, the Vauxhall Meriva is patently none of the above. The appeal of this car comes in a groundbreaking interior with contortionist seats that can be manoeuvred into a position for almost any occasion. Many a keen driver has been forced into a mini-MPV because a hot-hatchback is too uneconomical or the pushchair won’t fit into that roadster and Vauxhall are known to sympathise with this predicament. They did, after all, begin the fast MPV craze with the 189bhp Zafira GSi.

The Meriva’s 1.8-litre engine falls a long way shy of the turbocharged 1.6-litre lump in Vauxhall’s bonkers Meriva VXR and it can’t transform the car’s basic character but it might provide a certain solace for drivers whose family commitments form a millstone around their motoring necks.

The 200 cubic centimetres of engine capacity that the Meriva’s 1.8 holds over the normally-aspirated 104bhp 1.6-litre unit that sits below it in the range don’t transform the car into a fire-breathing monster but with a 10.9-second time for the 0-60mph sprint, they do help it pick up its heels a bit. If you go for the 1.6-litre 16-valve, 0-60mph takes 12.9 seconds while the 1.7-litre CDTi can do the same in 13.4s, so the 1.8 is comfortably the most rapid mainstream Meriva on the market. The range-topping Meriva VXR could never be called mainstream with a 180bhp 1.6-litre turbo engine but it’s idea for the mother or father who is perennially late dropping their kids off at school.

With 125bhp on tap the Meriva’s 1.8-litre engine can also reach a top speed of 118mph where conditions allow and the engine produces decent torque for in-gear exploits, even though it’s not as flexible as the gutsy CDTi diesels. The Meriva inherits a good chassis from its Corsa sister vehicle and it copes with the power of the 1.8-litre unit well – much better than it does with the 180bhp in the VXR. It is a car that you can have fun driving but don’t expect miracles, it’s still an MPV.

Discussing the 0-60mph performance and handling of a Vauxhall Meriva is missing the point somewhat, even with this sprightly 1.8-litre version. It just isn’t that kind of car. Issues of fuel consumption and price are far more salient to a product like this, so here goes. None of the petrol Merivas can get anywhere remotely close to the combined cycle fuel consumption of over 50mpg that’s possible in the CDTi models but with 34mpg, the 1.8 has a respectable stab at frugality. The 1.6-litre unit manages 42mpg and the 1.4-litre twinport returns 44mpg, so there isn’t a huge trade-off for the extra performance of the 1.8-litre. On price, this larger engine holds up well too, at £14,870 it’s only around £700 more than a 1.6-litre model with the equivalent trim – not a massive price to pay if you value that extra urge off the line and higher top-end. The diesels are actually more expensive but then that 50mpg fuel consumption will be an irresistible draw for some buyers.

Your £14,870 will get you a Club specification 1.8-litre Meriva but there’s also a Design for around £200 more. Design focuses on the look of the car by including styling add-ons like 15-inch alloys, a leather covered steering wheel and front fog lights along with body-coloured side protection strips, door handles and tailgate handle. All models get a CD player, twin front airbags, an immobiliser and a heated rear window with wash/wipe, so equipment levels are generally very high.

We’ve looked at the advantages of the feisty 1.8-litre Meriva in comparison to the other engine options but the real selling point of this car is a feature shared by all the models in the range – the FlexSpace seating system. Most of the time, the Meriva functions as a conventional five seat supermini-MPV, but many of us have tried travelling five up in cars like these and it can feel a bit of a pinch. The Meriva goes some way to alleviating the problem by offering one of the widest rear passenger shoulder width measurements in