If the combination of style and substance help denote the quality of a car then the new Mokka is well worth a look
Style wise more than anything it has had a revamp that is indicative of a bold visual move to make the car really stand out. A face lift that works. The car has leaner lines and is more visually bold at the front. It appears wider and more aerodynamic – squatter but aesthetically pleasing as well. Certainly, compared with the design of its predecessor it looks to have a better centre of gravity. Less bony and tall perhaps. It’s quite a bit shorter than the old model, at around 120mm, in fact. The front-end styling is completely fresh – a new headlight and grille treatment that Vauxhall calls the Vizor, and something that it appears we may well see on almost all of the firm’s models in the years ahead. The Mokka’s wheelbase has also been stretched – giving it a slightly sportier stance. In terms of the market competition we are probably looking at Hyundai Kona and Nissan Juke in what is self evidently a congested market/range. The Juke is competitive in the looks stakes but the Kona feels less so in my view. Sale of previous editions of the Mokka were already impressive for a car less than easy on the eye. Loan rates and decent sales promotion deals were probably a factor in the Mokka sales. As well as a certain sense of no-nonsense reliability engine wise. But now with this new wow factor look there is a more compelling argument to mull the Mokka over. The Vauxhall Mokka has lots of equipment and plenty of personalisation options, and there’s a range of modestly priced engines to choose from. Step up to Elite Nav version and you get access to blind spot monitoring, a useful addition to prompt when cars are by the side and this gives an added sense of security on busy motorway traffic. A good old look over the shoulder does no harm of course but this saves a cricked neck. Front and rear parking sensors ensure you can safely squeeze into the smallest spots. Engine wise this performed pretty well. Perhaps as little sluggish to get going. With 129bhp the Mokka will accelerate from 0-60mph in a … reasonable 9.1 seconds. And was pretty good on fuel economy too. As standard both petrol’s come with a six-speed manual gearbox, but the 130 Turbo comes with the option of an eight-speed automatic. The Mokka rests on a platform called CMP, the same platform as the Vauxhall Corsa, Peugeot 208 and even Citroen’s new C4. That means, of course, that the car can be offered with a choice of petrol, diesel or fully-electric power. In the cockpit your view is dominated by a huge twin-screen layout that combines displays for the instrument panel and the info-tainment system. In higher-end versions you get a 12-inch digital dash and a 10-inch central screen for the mapping and audio. The interface also shows the cabin temperature settings, but these are operable remotely too by simple buttons. This gives the car a versatility through ease off use combined with modernity. The mixture of tech and decent interior trim give the car some credence in that mid-market space. To sum up, this both drives and looks like an improvement to the previous brand – and with that performing so competitively back then, sales wise there are only good things to look forward to with this sleeker, sportier-looking model.
