► Vauxhall's sharp new Mokka joins the fleet
► Jake liked it on launch, will he still over time?
► Ours is a tri-colour SRi Nav Premium
Go big or go home. That's what you must do if you want the attention of small crossover buyers. There are so many of them out there that they need to be wildly styled and snazzy-looking on a dealer forecourt or TV ad. That's why the Peugeot 2008 is one of the top 10 best-selling small SUVs in Europe right now.
So Vauxhall is having another, much braver crack of the Mokka whip second time round. And what a whipcrack it's turned out to be. This thing looks brilliant. I used to sneer at the Mk1 Mokka for being so utterly bland – I'm not sneering any more. The bluff face with its Zorro-mask 'Vizor'... the shallow glasshouse and floating roof... the honeycomb wheels... the flecks of red across the sides. This is how to design a small family car. I've gotten the keys right as Vauxhall rolls out a massive ad campaign for the new model. Passers-by have been eyeing it up with surprise and curiosity – especially when they read the 'MOKKA' lettering plastered across the flat rear end.
The interior, too, is thoroughly up to date. Flashes of red in the seats and dashboard, and Vauxhall's new 'Pure Panel' display layout connecting the drivers' instruments and infotainment display are refreshing. It is a bit of a shame the Mokka runs Groupe PSA-era infotainment, though – I've never really got on with it on other test cars. I'm hoping I might warm to it over this longer test.
There are some oddities and evidence of cost saving, like the almost completely flat centre console with a little finger-pull toggle for the auto 'box and plenty of hard plastics lower down, but the interior layout is sensible. It's neither plush nor wacky. And it continues the very subtle tradition of incorporating a shark graphic somewhere in each car Opel/Vauxhall makes – in my Mokka, there's one etched into the cubby underneath the air-con controls.
Ours is in SRi Nav Premium trim, which on paper is mid-range but has a huge amount of kit: adaptive cruise and active lane keeping, parking camera and all-round sensors, LED headlights, traffic sign recognition... The only option on this car is the £320 White Jade paint to contrast with those red streaks that are unique to the SRi trim. My colleague Curtis Moldrich calls it the 'red velvet cake' colour combo.
I think we have the best combination of spec, paint and powertrain. It has a fizzy 128bhp three-cylinder petrol engine and eight-speed auto, but I'll aim to get some real time behind the wheel of the all-electric Mokka-e for a powertrain comparison.
By Jake Groves
Logbook: Vauxhall Mokka SRi Nav Premium
Price £27,455 (£27,775 as tested)
Performance 1199cc turbocharged three-cylinder, 128bhp, 9.2sec 0-62mph, 124mph
Efficiency 47.1mpg (official), 36.2mpg (tested), 137g/km CO2
Energy cost 17.5p per mile
Miles this month 1235
Total miles 2999