Vauxhall Motors Pyjama Mamas Campaign for the Crossland X is showing the attitude, confidence and swagger to their newest SUV. The advertisement by Mother features confident pyjama clad Mamas strutting their stuff through supermarkets and during the school run. The Isn’t Life Brilliant Strapline which is more than a feeling, it’s an attitude to embrace, ensuring that customers look forward to owning and driving a Vauxhall – with confidence about the future and Vauxhall’s role to take responsibility within it. This sounds like my sort of car for my busy lifestyle.
As a mother of 4 boys I know what it is like to be busy. Even though most of the time I do not go far in the car it really is a necessity for me (believe I tried to do without it!). With school runs (my son’s school is 16 miles away), swimming lessons, Boys brigade meetings, orthodontist/dental/doctors appointments, trips to the supermarket, clothes/shoe shopping and general trips out all adding up. Apart from how far away these things are, and the lack of time – I do not always have the energy!
Those familiar with my blog will know that I am not the most confident of drivers so was interested into how the Vauxhall Crossland X could help me feel more confident – therefore we borrowed it over the recent Bank Holiday Weekend. In fact I ended up doing much more of the driving than I normally do – even though my husband offered to take over on several occasions.
How the Vauxhall Crossland X Helped me Feel More Confident
First of all I really loved just how ergonomic it is. You can fully change the seating position and steering wheel. I particularly liked raising the seat up – which made me feel more like I did when driving a people carrier. It gave me an even clearer view of the road, and all around the car.
Next I really love how it took care of things so that my focus was able to be elsewhere:
- Automatic wipers and lights
- Speed limiting: Put your foot down and not worry about going over the speed limit. But when you need to go faster you can push your foot right down and it will override it.
- Lane Control: The car beeps at you if you go out of a lane without indicating (tad bit annoying when in the roadworks and the lanes cross over but otherwise really useful).
- Cruise Control: Give your right foot a rest, set the speed and just let the car do the work (obviously you still need to keep your attention on the road and take over when needs be). Problem was there isn’t really anywhere to put your foot comfortably when not on the accelerator.
- Changing Gears: I love how it told me when to go up a gear – and this wasn’t just based on speed as the Vauxhall Crossland X recognised inclines – just a shame it didn’t also say when to drop back down a gear but I guess that’s why I have a driving licence and a manual car right!
Other Great Features of the Vauxhall Crossland X
Start/Stop technology: it meant that whenever we were stuck on the motorway or stopped at the lights the engine switched off when putting the car in neutral. As we had the car on the Bank Holiday Weekend you can imagine how great this function was!
Easy access to features with Buttons on the Steering Wheel: I really like these as I tend to swerve the car (and then the lane control feature goes mad) if I try to reach over and fiddle with the radio or something. The buttons include being able to change channels and the volume (plus a mute button), set the speed and to answer the phone.
Child Lock Button: This allows the doors to be unable to be opened by passengers in the back but at a touch of this button they can again. This is really useful when you have adult passengers in the back, or you do not want to risk your child trying to open the door whilst moving but okay for them to do so whilst stationary.
Telling me who has/hasn’t got their seatbelt on and which door isn’t shut properly!
Car Play: Not only is it illegal to touch your mobile phone whilst driving but why would you want to risk it from a safety point of view? The Vauxhall Crossland X has Smartphone voice recognition which means at a touch of a button we could contact Siri and send a text. Really useful if you are stuck in traffic and late for getting somewhere important – like picking the kids up! Carplay also allows text messages to be read out by the car – so you do not have to worry about not being able to read any reply. On the other hand there’s also the option to put all calls on hold. The only problem with Carplay is every time the lightning cable was knocked it would start playing the music from the phone. Charging Points: There are two USB (one of which was connected to Carplay) and two standard 12volt in car charger sockets – meaning there was a lot less arguing about how got to charge their devices!
Of course the best features, and my husband’s favourite, was definitely the 180˚ rear-view camera, “Cause mamas need eyes in the back of their heads.” The Parking Cameras and Sensors were extremely accurate, especially the top-down view, and we found it worked both inside (a multi-storey) and out.
Vauxhall Crossland X Digital Display
The Vauxhall Crossland X Digital Displays shows the speed of the vehicle (in addition to the speedometer) X and the speed limit of the road. The Vauxhall Crossland X can read the road speed signs and changed the display accordingly (including during the variable speed limits on the motorway). This was not always accurate – sometimes taking a little while to register, struggling with the National Speed Limit Symbol and sometimes forgetting that a road had changed its usual speed limit. However, on the whole this was a really useful feature – especially for when distracted (for example by a child sneezing and needing a tissue in the back of the car!). There was also a button marked MEM on the steering wheel that pressed twice would change the remember speed of the vehicle to the new speed limit.
The digital display also showed the directions from the TMC traffic information system as well as on the Infotainment System. This used dynamic route guidance from TMC radio stations from the relevant regions – we found that it did not pick up traffic updates and this may be the reason why. The Vauxhall Crossland X also has a check feature (button in front of the steering wheel) which tells you about tyre pressure, when the next service is due and how long until you need to top up the Ad Blue. Of course the digital display also showed miles per gallon, distance covered, fuel projection, and all the usual features of a trip computer. Both the digital display and the infotainment system were easy to read even with sunglasses on – which isn’t the case with all vehicles.
Vauxhall Crossland X OnStar
Equipped with OnStar, Vauxhall’s latest development in vehicle technology which includes High-speed 4G LTE mobile Wi-Fi hotspot for up to 7 devices (simultaneously – with the option of masking and unmasking your location), and connect you to an advisor (for destination information, roadside assistance (including a flat tyre and running out of fuel), vehicle diagnostics and help with problems with the Wi-Fi, emergency response and Notification and stolen vehicle recovery technology). If the air bag deploys then OnStar will automatically be alerted. They can detect the location, see what parts of the car have been impacted and send the emergency services to you with the key information. OnStar also has an automatic Car Response to check that you are okay. Smartphone users are also able to connect their vehicle remotely with the OnStar app, called ‘MyVauxhall’. The app allows you to contact OnStar, view vehicle diagnostics, remotely lock and unlock the car, locate the car, honk the horn and flash the lights as well as downloading destinations to the in-car navigation system.
The My Vauxhall App (for Apple and Android) allows you to:
- Contact OnStar from anywhere
- Call up important vehicle data such as oil life or tyre pressure
- Remotely lock or unlock the car
- Locate the car online
- Honk the horn and flash the lights
- Quickly download destinations to the in-car navigation system
- Easily manage the vehicle’s built-in Wi-Fi hotspot settings.
The vehicle we took for a Press Drive did have this feature but we had trouble getting it to work. This is probably some basic mistake we were making but there was no way of telling how strong the signal was. There is a helpline number for this but we did not utilise it. We did not use the My Vauxhall App as it wasn’t required but would really useful when I park somewhere and need to remember where the car is parked (I currently take a photo of the road sign).
All in all the Vauxhall Crossland X was a fantastic car to drive and I think especially useful if you have a lot that takes your focus whilst trying to concentrate on driving. We fitted 3 adults and two children into the vehicle including a boaster seat (it also has Isofix for those who need it, plus the option to turn off the passenger airbag in the front). It wasn’t the most spacious of spaces in the back but the child in the middle position did not complain for what was a very long journey. There was also plenty of room in the boot – with an extra layer created when removing the parcel shelf.
Priced from £16,555 on-the-road
We borrowed the Vauxhall Crossland X over the Bank Holiday Weekend for purpose of review. All opinions are honest and that of myself and my husband.
This sounds like it has some fab features. I’m quite fascinated by the automatic wipers and lights, they sound brilliant. Great that there is plenty of space in the back too!
Nat.x
It’s great that this car gave you more confidence with your driving and I think you’re awesome for actually having got in it in your Pyjama’s! I think I had more gripes with this car than you. I’d be curious to try out the Grandland X, which appeals to me a lot more as it’s bigger.
Hand button in wrong place gear lever to far forward for handy gear change. Streeing / suspension very bad. It tell what speed you going and what speed the road is put does not change into red if go over speed limits wing mirrors very bad cannot see side very easy or good. Had as hire car for 3 weeks