Chevrolet Captiva 2.4 Premium AWD Review

Its origins are rather complicated. It starts life in Korea at the GM-Daewoo factory. Being what it is, the Captiva’s roots go deep into the heart America, where it was designed in conjunction with GM Daewoo Automobile Technologies.

This car, ladies and gentlemen, is the face GM's compact SUV family, built on the Theta platform. The Saturn Vue, a soon to come Vauxhall Antara (that’s Opel for you in UK terms) are just a two of the other cars that are going to be based on this new, modular base.

The Captiva, despite the Chevy branding, will not be sold in America. It is instead, aimed at the Asia-Pacific and, believe it or not, Europe.

Power to the people

Chevrolet gave us the LT – a high spec variant that comes with three-point belts in all seats, side airbags and ESP.  All models get a 2.4-litre, 133bhp petrol engine sourced from Holden in Australia.

This is the same engine that powers the Saturn Sky sports car in America, and the Opel GT in Europe.

The engine is mated to a five-speed automatic transmission that is mated to an all wheel drivetrain and 18 inch wheels wrapped in Yokohama Advan ST SUV specific rubbers.

Not-so-great Expectations

Most Chevys, regardless of American or Korean origin up till recently, have been faulted for rather cheap looking plastics and other cost cutting measures alike.

But all this has changed, especially with the introduction of the new 7.2 litre Corvette. Honestly, we weren’t expecting the Captiva to follow suit with the up in quality, so what a surprise it was then, for us to step into the cavernous cabin, only to let out a huge sigh of relief.