Opel Crossland

The cabin of the 2024 Opel Crossland is on the practical side. The basics are very good. The car gets lots of steering wheel adjustment. The seats are of faux leather and so is the upholstery. The dashboard gets some soft-touch plastics. But hard plastics have been used on the door insides and the central console. The entry-level model gets a 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment unit. That's quite small by contemporary standards. It's similar to Citroen and Peugeot. Higher models get an 8.0-inch unit. The climate control system gets physical knobs that are easy to operate. A small digital screen displays driver information. The 410 litres of boot space can be increased up to 520 litres after split-folding the rear seats. 

The 2024 Opel Crossland looks slightly awkward compared to its previous iteration. But the updated Crossland is much taller. The car sports the Opel vizor in one single sweep across the front. It's closely linked to past Opel cars. It not only enhances the visual appeal but also provides the housing for cameras and sensors that will be required by future cars. Opel's lightning flash emblem dominates the centre. The new dark-tinted taillights look good. The car gets all-round LED lighting. Skid plates at the front and rear are new. The 2024 Opel Crossland runs on 16-inch alloy wheels that seem a bit small in size. The wheels can be upgraded as an accessory. The car gets a stooping roofline, conforming to the latest design trend. But the appearance is unmistakable. It's a rather narrow-looking, bulky-bodied vehicle on relatively small wheels, without much ground clearance. 

Access to the front seats with big doors is good. The seats get lots of headroom and legroom. Both seats get multi-level adjustments. There's plenty of room in the cabin, even for tall passengers. The front seats are nicely bolstered. The space on the rear seat is a bit crammed. It's more suited for two passengers instead of three. Headroom isn't a problem. The rear seat can be pushed back to get more knee room. The suspension absorbs most of the bumps pretty well. Some sharper abrasions do thud through the cabin which makes highway trips annoying.

All models of the 2024 Opel Crossland are hauled by a turbocharged, three-cylinder, 1.2-litre petrol engine that produces 111 PS/250 Nm. The motor is mated to a six-speed automatic. The Crossland is a competent car in city traffic. The light and responsive steering makes it easy to wade through narrow lanes and low-speed manoeuvres. The steering retains its grip and accuracy on highways. There's a bit of body lean though. There's vibration from the three-cylinder engine, particularly on the gear lever. Some road noise enters the cabin and the insulation should have been better. 

The 2024 Opel Crossland has earned a five-star rating in European crash tests. But it still misses out on some key equipment, like autonomous emergency braking. Lane-keep assist and lane-departure warning are standard, along with the e-Call emergency response system on higher models. The car gets parking sensors and multiple airbags.

The 2024 Opel Crossland is a reasonably good car for those looking for practicality instead of premium bits. It doesn't have many features but is still a good car for urban commuting. The Crossland isn't much wide and shoulder room on the rear seat is tight. But it's still one of the most affordably priced crossover SUVs and could be a worthy choice as a daily-use vehicle.