New Vauxhall Mokka review

We’d stop short of calling the Vauxhall Mokka a game-changer, but it has certainly helped change the car market by offering buyers on a budget a high-riding small SUV for a competitive price and with a choice of different engines. 

Indeed, it was one of the first cars to offer buyers the choice of a traditional petrol engine, a mild hybrid petrol and an electric version all as engine choices rather than individual models. Here we're covering the petrol-powered Mokkas – to read about the all-electric model see our Vauxhall Mokka Electric review.

Vauxhall Mokka video review

Underneath, the Mokka is closely related to other Stellantis models – including the Jeep Avenger and Peugeot 2008 – and a recent facelift has boosted its appeal with new styling, an updated infotainment system and new trim levels. 

So is the latest Mokka a better choice than the best small SUV rivals, including the Ford Puma, Skoda Kamiq and Volkswagen T-Roc? Read on to find out...

What was previously the Vauxhall Mokka’s most powerful petrol engine is now the entry-level choice. Badged the 1.2 Turbo 136, it gets 134bhp and can officially sprint from 0-60mph in 8.9 seconds – almost a second faster than the Ford Puma 1.0 Ecoboost and plenty for getting up to motorway speeds briskly. 

As standard, the 1.2 Turbo comes with a six-speed manual gearbox but you can swap that for an eight-speed automatic gearbox. Doing so reduces the power to 128bhp but doesn’t change the 0-60mph sprint time, so you’ll still have more than enough power for everyday driving.

The top-spec engine is the Hybrid 136, which is a mild-hybrid and is also found in versions of the Alfa Romeo Junior, Jeep Avenger and Peugeot 2008. Its light electrical assistance gets the Mokka off the line faster and allows it to drive on electricity alone at slow speeds and for a short period of time. It's automatic as standard, and with a 0-60mph time of 8.2 seconds, it’s the fastest Mokka.

When driven on the kind of long, wavy undulations you find on motorways and A-roads, the Mokka, with its softly sprung suspension, is remarkably comfortable. Around town, though, it feels quite lumpy, with larger abrasions such as potholes and sunken drain covers rocking you around in your seat.

It stops short of being uncomfortable and certainly doesn’t thump or crash over divots as the 2008 can do, but the Skoda Kamiq and VW T-Roc are much more pampering during city driving.

The standard-fit 18in alloy wheels that come with GS and Ultimate trim don’t help matters. We’ve yet to try the entry-level Design trim on 17in wheels but we suspect that version would have a softer edge over potholes and other road imperfections, making it the most comfortable of the bunch.

If you’re looking for a small SUV that'll plaster a smile across your face when the road gets tight and twisty, the Mokka is not the car for you. It's more prone to body lean than an Audi Q2 or Ford Puma even at moderate speeds, and feels a little top-heavy when making quick changes of direction.

That said, it does feel better balanced (and is therefore more confidence-inspiring) through faster bends than a Citroën C3 Aircross. Plus, we prefer the Mokka's steering to the 2008’s: it feels more naturally weighted and linear in its responses, making it easier to place the car accurately on country roads.

Road and suspension noise are well suppressed at speed, and while the 1.2-litre petrol engine makes a thrumming sound as you accelerate, it fades away at a cruise. There's a bit of wind noise around the windscreen pillars at motorway speeds but it's not particularly intrusive.

The manual gearbox doesn’t feel quite as slick as the Puma’s, but it's easy enough to use. Likewise, the automatic is perfectly acceptable and proves smooth most of the time.

The Mokka Hybrid’s dual-clutch automatic gearbox is the slickest of the lot, flicking through the gears quicker and with less hesitation when you ask for a sudden burst of power. It's not a match for the auto in the VW T-Roc though. 

"I found that the high bite point of the manual gearbox’s clutch took a minute to get used to, but once I was, the gearbox was easy to use and the clutch easy to judge." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Like many small SUVs the Vauxhall Mokka isn’t a whole lot taller than a regular hatchback. However, the seats are mounted quite high up to give you more of a commanding view of the road, and the car has a tall bonnet that you can see from the driver’s seat, giving you the impression you’re driving a "proper" SUV. 

You’ll find a good range of adjustment in the driver’s seat and steering wheel, for both reach and height, so you should be able to find a comfortable driving position. To get adjustable lumbar support you need the top-spec Ultimate trim – which is a bit of a shame when you consider that the similarly priced Skoda Kamiq comes with manual lumbar adjustment on all versions. 

The Mokka's dashboard is well laid out and there's a 10in digital driver's display behind the steering wheel. You look through the steering wheel at the display – rather than over it as you do in the Peugeot 2008 – and there are proper physical controls for the climate settings. That means it's less distracting to set the temperature than in cars where the climate controls are on the touchscreen.

The Mokka’s relatively high driving position helps to give you a decent view forwards and to the sides, and that's handy when navigating junctions. However, over-the-shoulder visibility is hampered by a rising window line and chunky rear pillars.

To make parking easier, every Mokka comes with rear parking sensors. Mid-spec GS trim includes a rear-view camera and top-spec Ultimate adds front parking sensors too. 

Bright auto LED headlights with high-beam assist come as standard to aid night-time visibility. On top of that, Ultimate trim also gets LED front foglights and upgraded matrix adaptive LED headlights, which can shape their light output to avoid dazzling other road users while full beam is selected.

All Mokkas now come with a new 10in infotainment touchscreen. It's certainly an improvement over the pre-facelift system, with better graphics and a quicker response to your inputs, making it far easier to use. In fact it’s on par with the systems you’ll find in the Jeep Avenger and Peugeot 2008 – although none of them can match the Lexus LBX system. 

You get plenty of standard features, including DAB radio, Bluetooth and wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Upgrading to Ultimate trim adds sat-nav.

While the Mokka’s interior has a good amount of showroom appeal, poking around quickly reveals that the materials aren’t as plush as the equivalents in the Audi Q2 or Peugeot 2008. Indeed, with the exception of leather inserts on the doors, almost every surface is covered with hard and scratchy plastics.

You get some carbon-fibre looking elements in the entry-level car, which are switched to a pseudo-wood grain effect in other trim levels, but they feel like hollow plastic. The equivalent carbon-fibre-look trim in the 2008 is a soft-touch weave.

It’s also a shame that the buttons, switches and dials (which you touch rather a lot) feel cheaper and more unsubstantial than in rivals.

"Considering that the new Vauxhall Grandland has quite a nice mix of soft-touch materials, it’d be nice to see something similar in the (admittedly cheaper) face-lifted Mokka." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Even a six-footer will have plenty of head and leg room to get comfortable in the front of the Vauxhall Mokka. What’s more, the interior is wide enough that you won’t be rubbing shoulders with your front seat passenger. 

There’s plenty of storage space, including a generously sized glovebox and reasonably sized door bins. You also get a surprisingly large storage tray at the bottom of the dash that’s big enough to take a hefty wallet or a large smartphone.

With its high window line, you do feel a little hemmed in sitting in the back of the Mokka. Even so, unless you’re well over 6ft, you'll have plenty of head room and enough leg room. The middle seat is quite narrow and slightly raised though, so this isn’t the best small SUV for carrying three passengers in the back.

Storage cubbies include a couple of small door bins and map pockets on the back of the seats from GS trim and above, but there's no option of a rear centre armrest. If rear space is your priority, we'd point you towards the much more spacious Skoda Kamiq.

As with the majority of cars in the small SUV class, the Mokka’s rear seat bench splits and folds in a traditional 60/40 configuration.

If you want a car with more carrying flexibility, there are better options out there, such as the Mini Countryman, with its rear bench that folds in a more practical 40/20/40 split, the VW T-Roc with its standard-fit ski hatch, and the smaller VW T-Cross, which has a sliding rear bench. 

Front passenger seat-height adjustment is standard on every Mokka but there's no option of adjustable lumbar support for the passenger on any of the trims.

Boot space in the Mokka is pretty unremarkable by class standards. Indeed, the 350 litres of capacity is enough for a weekly shop or a short family holiday, but the Ford Puma, the Renault Captur, the Seat Arona and especially the Skoda Kamiq offer more space. 

For some extra versatility, top-spec Ultimate comes with a height-adjustable boot floor, allowing you to  separate the boot into two compartments. That’s handy if you want to stop loose or fragile items rolling around in the boot.

At its highest setting, it leaves only a small lip at the boot entrance and means that when you drop the back seats there's not much of a step up in the extended boot floor.

"I found it a shame that only Ultimate trim comes with an adjustable boot floor and that you can’t add it as an option. Without it, there’s a decent drop from the seatbacks to the boot floor." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

If you plan to buy outright, the entry-level Vauxhall Mokka looks like good value, costing around the same as the Jeep Avenger and Skoda Kamiq but undercutting the Audi Q2, Ford Puma, Lexus LBX and Peugeot 2008. 

Better news is that the Mokka is predicted to lose its value more slowly than the 2008 and Kamiq, and at around the same rate as a Puma or Avenger. That helps to keep PCP finance rates competitive against the Mokka’s rivals, especially when you consider that Vauxhall often has plenty of discount offers available. 

Company car drivers will want to stick to the Vauxhall Mokka Electric because it keeps BIK tax to an absolute minimum. The second cheapest version for BIK tax is the mild-hybrid Mokka.

The entry-level Mokka trim – called Design – has all the everyday basics covered, with 17in alloys, cruise control, electronic climate control, electrically adjustable and heated wing mirrors, rain-sensing wipers, rear parking sensors and an infotainment touchscreen. It’s a shame it doesn’t get an alarm though.

For one of those, you’ll need to step up to the mid-spec GS trim. It doesn’t cost all that much more than Design but doesn’t add much more than the alarm, other than larger 18in alloys, front passenger seat-height adjustment and a rear-view camera. We’d stick with Design, unless that alarm is important to you. 

If you want your Mokka to come with all the toys, top-spec Ultimate trim is the one to go for. Along with front parking sensors and an electric driver’s seat with adjustable lumbar support and massage, you also get heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, wireless phone-charging, and keyless entry and start.

The latest Mokka was too new to have featured in the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey but Vauxhall as a manufacturer didn’t fare particularly well at all, finishing 29th out of the 31 brands included – above only Alfa Romeo and MG.

Every new Vauxhall comes with a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty. That’s typical for the class but not as generous as Hyundai, which covers you for five years or Kia which gives you up to seven years.

When it was tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP the Mokka scored four out of five stars. That’s quite disappointing, but it’s hard to compare the Mokka’s score with rival small SUVs because they were tested in different years and under different testing regimes.

Regardless, every Mokka comes with plenty of safety equipment as standard, including the all-important automatic emergency braking (AEB), which gets pedestrian detection as standard, and lane-keeping assistance.

Opting for the top-spec Ultimate trim gets you more safety equipment, including blind-spot monitoring and, on auto versions, a lane-positioning assistant.

"I think it’s interesting that Ultimate trim adds a massage function, which is a rarity in this class, along with adjustable lumbar support." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

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