Vauxhall's big selling Meriva range was given a thorough going over a while back to keep things fresh. Andy Enright assesses the work in progress...
Preview
The Vauxhall Meriva is a small MPV based on the Corsa supermini with a clever rear seating arrangement that helps you get the most out of its generous interior space. Well constructed from sturdy materials and both comfortable and responsive on the road, it's a very accomplished package.
Some manufacturers make a great deal of fuss about cars that few of us really deign to purchase. They'll issue tonnes of press releases, myriad tiny revisions and attempt futile publicity stunts in a desperate bid to get their mediocre product noticed. Others will bring a very good car to market and leave it to the public to figure out how good it is. Such is the case with the Vauxhall Meriva, a supermini MPV that's quietly gone about racking up some very respectable sales. Introduced in Spring 2003, the Meriva has in recent times been treated to a facelift and a few tweaks across the model line up to keep it at the top of its game.
The first change is rather predictable. Take a look at any modern Vauxhall and they'll all wear a very prominent V-shaped front grille and this frontal treatment works its way onto the Meriva along with a reprofiled bumper. Move to the rear end and the Meriva gets dark rear lamp lenses and a chromed strip across the tailgate. Drivers following you with their main beam lights on will get a nasty surprise! Vauxhall have widened the colour palette for exterior paint finishes and have also unveiled some interesting alloy wheel designs for the latest car. The interior has had a mild makeover too with additional chrome detailing lifting the rather sombre cabin. Revised fabrics are both more attractive and harder wearing.
The Meriva drives very well for a small MPV. Its compact, tall shape leads you to expect a leaning sensation when cornering but the Meriva feels flat and controlled unless you really throw it about. The range-topping VXR version gets up-rated suspension to cope with the higher speeds being generated but the standard cars are very comfortable and smooth under everyday driving conditions and most will find this preferable to the firmness of the VXR. Providing the power are 1.4, 1.6 or 1.8-litre units as well as the 1.6-litre turbo in the VXR. The diesel options are 1.3-litre and 1.7-litre in capacity. The 1.3-litre in particular is a good match for this family-focused vehicle.
The VXR is the fastest Meriva by a margin thanks to its 178bhp output. It makes for a 0-60mph sprint time of under 8s, indecently quick for a compact MPV. The entry-level 89bhp 1.4-litre model produces something more akin to MPV performance - 13.9s is the 0-60mph time. The 1.3-litre diesel is notably slower to hit 60mph but doesn't feel as lethargic on the road as 16.6s suggests as a result of its high torque output. The 1.7-litre diesel performs a similar trick with its big torque figure, although its 12.4s showing for the sprint is only bettered by the 1.8-litre petrol and the VXR.
Although the details have been finessed, the fundamentals haven't changed. The Meriva's based on an old-shape Corsa platform, making it a good deal smaller than a Zafira, which rides on Astra mechanicals. At 4,042mm in total length, it's still a tad shorter than an Astra, but with its wheel at each corner stance and its high roofline, the General Motors designers responsible for the Meriva have been able to create an interior that's supremely spacious.
Most of the time, the Meriva functions as a conventional five seat supermini-MPV, but many of us have tried travelling five up in cars like these and it can feel a bit of a pinch. The Meriva goes some way to alleviating the problem by offering one of the widest rear passenger shoulder width measurements in its class, but the real benefit comes when travelling with four rather than five aboard. The centre seat can fold flat into the footwell, leaving the two remaining seats at liberty to slide independently, not only backwards and forwards, but also on runners from side to side. This makes the Meriva feel extremely spacious indeed. But why stop at four? Vauxhall have equipped the Meriva with the capacity for all of the passenger seats to fold flat, freeing up an enormous 1,300 litres of available space. Even with the rear seats in position, there's a creditable 560 litres available.
PRICES: £13,125-£18,060 - on the road
The trim level range is Life, Club, Design and VXR but Vauxhall is never adverse to a few special editions to sweeten the value proposition.
Vauxhall have cleverly built a lot of big-car features into the Meriva but have done so in a way that doesn't radically bump up the asking price. Take the Adaptive Forward Lighting system as an example. Many executive cars now feature this kind of facility whereby the headlamps angle their beams according to speed and steering input, effectively lighting the way round a corner. The difference here is that the Meriva uses a conventional halogen light setup to keep costs manageable instead of the fiendishly expensive xenon units. Other convenient features include a power release tailgate and interior lighting that can be operated from the keyfob, showing the way to the car in a dark parking lot. An optional Bluetooth interface is also available so that you can hook your mobile up hands free.
The smallest diesel engine and the one likely to prove most popular is the 1.3-litre CDTi. The key figure to bear in mind here is 57mpg, the figure this Meriva can achieve on the combined cycle. On a longer run it will nudge closer to 66mpg. Even in stop start city traffic, the figure will rarely dip much below 42mpg. Compare that to the 44mpg average economy of even the modest 1.4-litre petrol and the diesel's advantage in running costs is obvious but there's a premium of £800 upgrade to one from the 1.4. The second most economical Meriva is the second diesel with its 53mpg economy. The VXR can only manage 36mpg.
The Meriva feels well built throughout and should stand the test of time well. As a less common and more practical alternative to the Corsa, it should perform reasonable well on the used market. Insurance groups range from 3 for the 1.4-litre petrol and 1.3-litre diesel to 12 for the VXR.
We recognised the Vauxhall Meriva as a winner the day it was first unveiled and it's still a real favourite of ours. The latest set of changes only reinforce that belief. Vauxhall has a really strong product portfolio at the moment and the Meriva is a car with few credible rivals.
You have to admire the Meriva's build quality and the amount of interior space it manages to cram into a relatively compact package. Vauxhall's FlexSpace seating system remains one of the simplest and most usable solutions on the market bringing even greater versatility and the little Vauxhall is a tidy performer on the road too. If you're after a small five-seater MPV, the Meriva must figure at or near the top of your list.
