Chevrolet Captiva SUV sports a modern, global unitary body platform, with an American brand name, as Chevrolet is distributing GM's Daewoo models in Europe. It looks great with a tall and chunky appearance. Roof rails and plastic side mouldings give it real off-road credibility. The neatly designed dashboard and centre console look good. And although hard cabin plastics are the order of the day, solid build quality and generous equipment compensate. Unfortunately, the heating panel and stereo are positioned far too low, while a needless storage cubby occupies the more desirable location higher up.

 

 The 2.0 litre four cylinder 150PS diesel is the first of an all-new family of diesel engines that have been developed jointly by GM Powertrain and GMDAT with Italian firm VM Motori. It has aluminium cylinder heads, sophisticated injection systems and a variable geometry turbocharger for smooth turbo intervention from low rev levels.

 

The suspension settings on Captiva were developed for Europe at GM’s Millbrook Proving ground in Bedfordshire in England. The suspension is fully independent for excellent on-road performance but the ground clearance and wheel travel ensure that Captiva is more than capable off-road. It consists of a MacPherson strut configuration at the front and an independent four link set up at the rear.

 

It has enough space for five adults in comfort; it is 4.6m long, 1.8m wide and 1.7m high, with a 2.7m wheelbase. The third row of seats can accommodate two teenagers and even adults for shorter journeys. The LT models come with just the 150PS diesel engine and comes fitted with 17” alloy wheels, levelling suspension, half leather trim, heated windscreen and ESP, the electronic stability control programme. Other standard features include a load restraining net, front passenger underseat stowage and a facia deposit box for coins or maps and a cooled glove box. In addition, LT models come with side airbags as standard.

 

Electronic Stability Programme(ESP) is fitted as standard with the all-wheel drive package. All-wheel drive acts seamlessly with ESP and engages when the conditions become slippery and more challenging. It monitors information from the steering wheel, tyres, brakes and accelerator pedal to automatically make any necessary adjustments, controlling traction particularly when conditions are less than ideal.

 

But there are some drawbacks like notchy manual five-speed transmission and firm ride quality. However, the suspension set-up does give the Captiva decent body control for such a tall vehicle, and roll is relatively well contained, too. Overall, it is a well proportioned and feature packed SUV with good off-road capabilities.

Here is a TV Commercial of Captiva... we found it on You Tube...