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Vauxhall Meriva Exclusiv Limited Edition Review
In addition to electric front windows, dark tinted solar protect glass behind the B pillar and air conditioning found in the Exclusiv the Limited Edition version comes with cruise control, ‘Lead me to the car’ lights, a superb CD400 stereo radio/ CD player featuring MP3 compatibility, USB connection, an auxiliary input socket and graphic information display, front fog lights, Flex Floor multi-level adjustable load compartment, ambient interior lighting and smart 18-inch ‘Bi-Colour’ alloy wheels.
Vauxhall have filled the Meriva with as much safety technology to keep you and your family as safe as possible too. Priced from £18,235 including 12-months road tax, this model’s 99bhp 1.4 16v petrol unit offers outstanding combined fuel economy figure of 46.3mpg.
To get the roomy, user-friendly interior, supermini-MPV buyers were once forced to put up with exterior styling so dull it could induce sleep at 100 paces. Things have improved of late though and today’s Meriva is a far more appealing thing to look at. The designers of this car were given extra room to express themselves with a 240mm increase over the original model that takes the total length close to 4,300mm and the wheelbase to 2,705mm. The sculpted shape follows many of the design themes seen on the Astra hatch with a cutaway section in the flanks and a distinctive front-end sporting huge headlamps that smear back along the edges of the bonnet.
The real innovation with the Meriva comes in its novel door arrangement. From the outside, nothing unusual appears to be going on except that the handles for the front and rear doors are suspiciously close together. Tug the front door handle and it opens as normal but the rear door is hinged on its rear edge and opens in the opposite direction in the manner of a Rolls-Royce Phantom or a Mazda RX-8. The advantage of this design comes when entering and exiting the vehicle as the doors open to an angle of almost 90 degrees and you can step straight out unhindered. It also helps parents when they’re strapping the kids in or fitting child car seats because there’s no door in the way to manoeuvre around.
The interior itself is based around the FlexSpace seating system which allows the rear seats to fold down and slide individually. Splitting the cabin on the plusher models is the FlexRail, a pair of metal runners between the front seats that various modular storage bins and arm-rests can be clipped to and slid along.
Vauxhall is relying on a mixture of brains and brawn to see its Meriva supermini-MPV alright. The latest Meriva is one of the larger cars in the sector but its shapely lines do a good job of disguising that bulk. Intelligent design and some innovative interior solutions give it an edge - particularly in light of the low running costs and manoeuvrability associated with a more compact platform. The Exclusiv 1.4 16v Limited Edition version of the Meriva offers additional appeal at little extra cost. See it now at Moorland Motors Vauxhall on Whitehills Business Park, Lytham St Annes Way, Blackpool, Lancashire FY4 5PQ. Call the sales team on (01253) 696747 to arrange your test drive* and don’t forget that all new Vauxhall’s come complete with the manufacturer’s industry-leading 100,000-mile** ‘Lifetime’ warranty.
Added: 21 July 2011
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