Opel offer a 24-hour test drive of the new Grandland X

Opel’s offer of a 24-hour test drive is a great idea on many levels. We never quite know if a new model totally delivers on all its promises by taking it on just a short run down the road from the garage. No two drivers are exactly the same, and if there is more than one potential user in the house, then it is likely that each will have different needs and neither will like all the same things in any car.

Whether you are tall, rotund, short or skinny, not every car fits every frame. Getting a good seating position alone can affect your posture and may exaggerate some niggling physical ailments. It may also determine if you can find a position that allows maximum visibility.

Apart from the personal factors, there are the functional reason too that determine if a car fits your lifestyle. Does it have the space needed for the family? Will the boot take the buggy and the luggage attached to family motoring? Will it take the golf clubs? Will it fit in the garage? All these are important considerations that can make a real difference to life with your new car.

For me, testing a car over a week and on various roads gives me a gist of what it’s all about and a real chance to measure the other important things like value for money, cost of ownership and driveability over an extended test.

This week, the test car is the Opel Grandland X 1.2-litre, three-cylinder petrol SRi version of the brand’s newest model. Since the Opel’s takeover by PSA (Peugeot/Citroen), they are beginning to use the underpinnings and the running gear of the French brand although holding on to many of the driving traits that has made Opel such an admired car manufacturer over the years.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.