The Crossland X has an averagely sized steering wheel with what we might consider a ‘bog-standard’ three full turns of pace on its rack – and in both respects, it’s a different sort of drive from Peugeot’s iCockpit-generation 2008 or its 208, both of which are related to the Vauxhall by platform.
It’s a car with a soft-riding gait (albeit not quite as soft as that of Citroën’s C3 Picasso or C4 Cactus), a respectable outright grip level, a decent but far from encouraging kind of handling response, and steering that is light and undemanding but also feels vague, elastic and disconnected – and it isn’t immune from corruption by traction-related forces running up through the suspension from the front tyres.
You can appreciate that Vauxhall’s aim was to produce something comfortable, manoeuvrable, easy to use and secure, but you’ll also note that it has missed its target in a least a couple of respects.
On a well-surfaced road, the car is certainly compliant and yet it has adequate close body control, along with decent high-speed stability and just about enough steering centre feel to make motorway journeys pain-free.
