Category: Compact MPV 
Price Range: £13,125 to £17,270
Versatile seating, spacious, 1.3 diesel engine
Low gearing, unsettled over bumps
Practical and with brilliant rear seat packaging, Vauxhall shows the way forward for small MPVs
A bit of a let-down. The EuroNCAP crash test results are a reasonably respectable four stars for occupant protection, but a low one star for pedestrian protection. Although all Merivas come with twin front airbags (as does pretty well everything these days) side bags are not available, even as an option, in the entry-level model, and are only standard in the VXR. A bit of an oversight: side airbags really are life-saving devices. There are no additional head- or curtain-style airbags available either, beyond those lower-set side 'bags; many rivals, such as the Renault Modus, offer a much higher level of standard safety kit.
On the plus side, all three rear seats get head restraints and three-point seatbelts, with the outer two having Isofix child seat mounts. ABS anti-lock brakes with electronic brakeforce distribution are also standard, but even so, the Meriva's emergency braking performance from higher speeds isn't outstanding.
All models get remote, two-stage (anti-carjacking) central locking, while Vauxhall's standard deadlocks typically prove robust in anti-theft tests.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Vauxhall Meriva
wrote on 13 09 2007