LIFE COACH (some text hidden) SECTIONED_new_vauxhallvivarolifeelectric_2025

By Jonathan Crouch

Vauxhall's largest People Carrier, the Vivaro Life Electric, now makes more sense with a larger 75kWh battery. Jonathan Crouch drives it.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 91

Need a really large MPV? Perhaps you need a full-electric one? Here's Vauxhall's take on this concept, the Vivaro Life Electric, now improved with a larger 75kWh battery. This model is, as its name suggests, based on the marque's medium-sized Vivaro van but it's actually pretty sophisticated as well as being light, airy, and seriously spacious, with room for up to 9 people, depending on variant. If anything, its commercial vehicle roots serve as a strength and the huge interior, tough build and uncomplicated design might prove ideal for family buyers.

Backgroundword count: 188

These days, virtually all really large People Carriers are based on vans - and it's easy to see why. Starting with an LCV design is the obvious solution to maximise interior space. One LCV design in the case of most sales in this segment, which come from four nearly identically-engineered models, the Citroen e-SpaceTourer, the Peugeot E-Traveller, the Toyota Proace Verso EV and the subject of our test here, the Vauxhall Vivaro Life. As all those names suggest, these People Carriers are all primarily EVs these days, though each was originally launched back in the last decade with the diesel power that many family and business buyers might still wish they could have. But Stellantis, and here Vauxhall in particular, wants you to have an EV, which wasn't a particularly attractive option with the earlier feeble-ranging 50kWh version of this model. It might now make more sense though, with the bigger 75kWh battery that the brand standardised as part of the 2024 model year update that created the car we're going to look at here, an enhancement which also smartened the exterior styling and upgraded the cabin screens

Driving Experienceword count: 272

Vauxhall now restricts this Vivaro Life Electric to the largest battery it can offer in this LCV design - which is 75kWh in size, offering a WLTP-rated range of 219 miles. Unfortunately though, the same 136hp motor as was used for the old 50kWh model must power it along; yes, basically the same one as is used by the brand's Corsa Electric supermini weighing 600kgs less. So, as you can imagine, given that just 260Nm of torque must thrust nearly 2.2-tonnes of squarical MPV through the air, performance is somewhat lethargic. We can't remember driving an EV that took as long as 14.3s to reach 62mph, by which time you'll be pretty close to the modest 81mph maximum. Motorway speeding tickets will be rare. And it gets even worse if you engage the 'Eco' mode that'll be necessary to get anywhere near the quoted range stat because this reduces power output to just 80hp. The other drive settings are 'Normal' and 'Power'. As part of the changes made to this updated model, a three-stage brake regen system has been added, operable via these steering wheel paddles. The fiercest setting makes a difference to frugality but stops well short of offering the currently fashionable 'one-pedal' style of EV driving. Through the corners, as you would expect, there's plenty of body roll if, rather unwisely, you start throwing the thing about. If you can ignore both that and the slightly vague steering and find yourself absolutely having to push on, you'll find that there's reasonable grip and traction. The power steering is now electrically assisted (instead of electro-hydraulic) to reduce effort and improve manoeuvrability.

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