Business Car trailblazers Vauxhall Frontera
The Frontera is back for 2025, but it has morphed into an EV and hybrid C-SUV. A good excuse to look back at the last Frontera then, a mid-size off-roader.
Martyn Collins
With the hottest hatches almost impossible to insure thanks to joyriders, the early nineties saw manufacturers turn to mid-size off-roaders as an alternative. Vauxhall’s solution was the Frontera, available in three-door ‘Sport,’ or more practical five-door estate body styles. With the choice of proven Vauxhall petrol and turbo diesel engines. The similarities between the new Frontera and its sister car, the Citroen C3 Aircross, are obvious. The story was much the same when the original was launched in 1991, as the first Frontera wasn’t all-new, but was based on the ‘MU’ (Mysterious Utility) model, from Isuzu. This was down to Isuzu’s long relationship with Vauxhall’s owner at the time, General Motors.
Built in the UK at the Luton plant, the Frontera was also sold as an Opel in Europe – and even exported to Australia as a Holden. With its ladder chassis, and proper transfer box on some models, it offered some off-road ability – with prices starting from as low as £13,500. In fact, in 1993 and 1994, the Frontera is claimed as being best-selling off-roader in Europe, with the largest single market aparently being Germany! While the Frontera was okay off-road, on-road the dynamics left a lot to be desired – with its bouncy, unsettled ride, and the pedestrian performance of turbo-diesel versions. The second-generation Frontera followed in 1998, with a sleeker look, plus new 2.2-litre
turbodiesel and 3.2-litre V6 engine choices, with an automatic option for both. Better on the road, with improved ride, handling, and safety, there were changes to its off-road performance too. The ‘No-Stop All-Wheel Drive’ system allowed the driver to switch between rear and four-wheel drive. The only Frontera I drove before the latest one, was the second-generation ‘Sport’ three-door. It was newly fitted with the 3.2 V6 engine, and it was one of the first of the more powerful test cars I was able to drive at a quarter of a century old! The novelty of the big engine wore off after I drove it out of London, and when it needed fuel!
The V6 engine was certainly quick enough, but it wasn’t really at home in this Frontera, as there was loads of body roll in the corners. My overdraft was looking far worse after a weekend in this Vauxhall’s company too, as it must have been doing around 20mpg! Unsurprisingly, the V6 version of the Frontera wasn’t a big seller in the UK, but the Vauxhall off-roader carried on until 2004.
If you can find one (there are rumoured to less than 3,000 left in the UK), prices for the earliest Frontera we could find (a 1993 Sport) start at £900, with almost 200,000 miles on the clock!
50 | March/April 2025 |
www.businesscar.co.uk
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