Driven - Vauxhall Mokka GSE: exciting, if you're not going far

Price as tested: £35,495 (with ECG) | On sale: now

The Vauxhall GSE brand got off to a curious start when it was introduced a few years ago. Riffing off historical performance badging like GTE and GSi, it stood for Grand Sport Electric, despite the fact the first cars it was slapped on were predominantly powered...not by electricity.

All were plug-in hybrids – the Vauxhall Astra GSE, Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer GSE and Vauxhall Grandland GSE. None of these is particularly exciting. The new Vauxhall Mokka GSE, however, looks a bit more like it. 

First off, it's fully electric, which ties in with the 'E' bit of GSE much better. It has a single motor producing 280PS and 345Nm of torque, sent to the front wheels via a limited-slip differential. Acceleration from 0-62mph happens in 5.9 seconds.

This is the same setup and identical performance stats to the Abarth 600e Scorpionissima, which sits on the same platform made by the owner of both brands, Stellantis. Except Vauxhall doesn't seem keen to point that out...

We're quite happy to make the comparison, of course. And on that front, the Abarth is the much more aesthetically aggressive of the two. It comes in funkier colours.

For some, the more restrained looks of the Vauxhall Mokka will be preferable. Inside, though – as seems to be the case with all modern Vauxhalls – it's just a bit dreary. 

Things get much spicier when you go for a drive and put it in Sport mode to unlock the full 280PS. Although a fairly modest output by EV performance car standards, the Vauxhall Mokka GSE is also quite light at around 1600kg, meaning it feels plenty punchy when you first put your foot down. As is often the way with EVs, though, it seems a lot less dramatic much beyond that initial burst of acceleration. 

The GSE feels lively and almost a little too powerful for its own good. The limited-slip differential works well, noticeably pulling the car's front end into line if you boot it in the middle of a corner. But it's a shame the electronic stability control steps in so often.

Given the Vauxhall Mokka GSE's impressive traction, we're not sure it's necessary and although you can turn the ESP off, it turns back on again if you go over about 30mph. This is presumably only there to get you off the line in very low grip situations where traction control is counterproductive – snow, for instance. 

Meanwhile, the steering is superbly quick and well-weighted, while the body stays relatively flat even when the car is thrown around. The suspension setup is quite firm at low speeds, with an abruptness to the damping when you're going over speed bumps. But it does settle the faster you go. It's hard to tell without driving it back to back with the Abarth, but we reckon the Vauxhall might be a touch softer. 

We've also had a go in the Vauxhall Mokka GSE on circuit, although we can't imagine many owners booking track days for theirs. It performs better in that setting than you might imagine. Here, you can start to get the car moving around at the rear with a well-timed lift of the accelerator and/or a stab of the brakes. 

As fun as it is, it's still not quite as entertaining as a petrol-powered hot hatch, but the Mokka GSE gets closer than most. The only problem is, if drive it as intended you won't be going far at all. 

That low weight figure we mentioned is made possible by the use of a fairly small battery with a useable capacity of 52kWh. The WLTP range figure is a modest 201 miles, but at one point on our drive on a lovely twisty bit of mountain road, our efficiency dropped to just 1.2 miles per kWh.

That will barely give you more than 60 miles of range and even after a long, more relaxed motorway cruise to finish off the journey, we only climbed back up to 1.7 miles per kWh. That's only enough for around 90 miles. 

It could prove frustrating to buy the hottest Vauxhall Mokka only to leave its potential untapped just to eke out a decent amount of range. If you're unlikely to be going far in it, of course, that matters less.

Should you be tempted, it's good value at £35,495 once the government's electric car grant (ECG) is scrubbed off. That's actually a smidgen cheaper than the Vauxhall Mokka Ultimate.

The Abarth 600e is more appealing on the whole, but it's good to have the more visually restrained option of the Vauxhall, should that be more your bag.

You could, of course, ignore both and go for the similarly priced Alpine A290, but even the most potent version is a lot less powerful than the Stellantis pair, offering a more modest 220PS. 

Looking for a more general look at the Mokka? Check out our full Vauxhall Mokka review.

Engine	52kWh battery, electric motor
Power	280PS
Range	201 miles (WLTP)