SECTOR: MPV   PRICE: €11,800–€17,800 (approx.) FUEL: 4.1–7.2l/100km CO2: 109–169g/km

The current Meriva has been with us since 2010 and Opel/Vauxhall is keeping up the pressure with a facelift. It’s based around the arrival of Euro 6 compliant engines – hence the slightly bigger front grille to improve cooling capacity for the diesels. The same basic body shell is retained and a good thing too as the wide opening front and rear doors ease access for young families strapping children into seats and older drivers. The spacious interior and raised seating position is good news for fleet drivers spending a lot of time at the wheel too.

There are LED daytime running lights to go with the new headlamps – bi-xenon lights are no longer available but halogen projector lamps are standard, with steering, adaptive forward lighting on the options list to ‘curve’ main and dipped beams around corners and make night driving safer.

There's a revised IntelliLink infotainment system available with a 7-inch touchscreen. Rear seat passengers get an improved FlexSpace seating system, offering one, two or three seats, depending on the seats needed and the amount of baggage space required.

There’s a comprehensive Euro 6 compliant engine range including four, 1.4-litre variable valve timing petrol engines, offering 100hp, 120hp and 140hp. Manual transmission is standard, while the 120hp engine is available with automatic transmission too. CO2 emissions range from 140g/km to 169g/km and combined fuel consumption ranges from 5.9-7.2l/100km.

Big news for the diesel range is the arrival of Opel/Vauxhall's impressive 136hp 1.6CDTi diesel. It’s available in ecoFLEX Start/Stop low emissions form only, giving 116g/km CO2 with 4.4l/100km. There are 75hp and 95hp variants of the 1.3-litre CDTi diesel. The 75hp variant is not the lowest emitter with 124g/km CO2, but offers a respectable combined 4.7l/100km. The two 95hp variants come with ecoFLEX and ecoFLEX Start/Stop reducing CO2 emissions to 119 and 109g/km respectively and combined consumption to 4.4 and 4.1l/100km respectively. All come with manual transmission. Then there’s the 110hp 1.7CDTi engine with automatic transmission at 160g/km. The good news in running cost terms is that diesel models like the 1.6CDTi do not need SCR emissions control, keeping purchase cost down and there's no need for AdBlue either.

Perceived quality inside the car moves up a notch or two. It feels well assembled and the materials look and feel of better quality than before. If it stands up as well to heavy use, that would be good for residual values. The 1.6-litre diesel is as impressive in the Meriva as it has proved in the Zafira Tourer. It is probably the most impressive 1.6-litre diesel available with low noise levels, note-worthy flexibility, responsive performance and low fuel consumption. It will be the engine of choice, and not just for fleets. It will appear in Astra next.

Verdict:

The 1.6-litre diesel with the Meriva's flexibility is a very competitive package and well worth considering. Potential low runnings costs are attractive too.