As if the SUV Crossover market was not tough enough already, Opel has decided to throw a spanner in the woods with the new stylish Mokka.
After what felt like the most torturing flight to Cape Town at 7 in the morning, a clump of grumpy journos and influencers were met by the warmest team from Opel upon arrival. As with any trip to the Mother City, Cape Town remains the only city in our country that makes you feel like you have not even scrapped the surface when it comes to exploring its diversity and myriad offerings.
A short presentation was done to introduce us to Opel’s new smile keeper, the Mokka. Available in two trim levels at a starting price of R469,900, while the more premium option the GS Line starts at R519,900, it is clearly suitable for the ideal crossover lover who still wants to feel like they are in a cool comfortable car. With exceptional individual looks, which are augmented along by short overhangs, the Mokka immediately stands out in the crossover crowd. A glance at the narrow LED headlights simply give the Mokka a truly stunning approach.
There are a few bright colour options, including a red, blue and a bright green. I immediately jumped into the bright green GS line, because what is a test drive in the mountainous routes without a dramatic SUV as your companion? We set out into the road to see what this new fella had to offer. Being a compact crossover makes it so nimble and easy to maneuver across the city. As opposed to it being a no-nonsense mountain goat of a car that you attack the thick fields with. What it has is loads of cheeky street styling character that premiered with the GTX Experience concept car.
What is interesting is that the Mokka is also the first Opel locally to feature the new design language. Its ‘Visor’ front end is like a full-face helmet with a protective visor covering the front of the car that combines the grille, LED headlights and the new logo with the Opel lightning bolt. The overall look combined with funky colours certainly catches the eye, making it a striking addition to the compact SUV segment that makes up one out of four passenger cars sold.
You can tell that technology was one of the biggest intended highlight during the design phase. The Mokka is fitted with an impressive array of safety features including forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, lane assist, ABS and EBD. Now those were really cool. It’s fitted with the latest matrix LED lighting technology that provides a number of impressive features including surround lighting when you’re reversing into a tight space at night.
Inside, Opel has gone to great lengths to declutter the Mokka’s cockpit. This strategy has become the norm, driving information is therefore presented via screen instead of mechanical dials; while another display to the centre of the dashboard provides infotainment and – in the GS Line – navigation. The gear selector is a circuit breaker-style slider instead of a lever and the designers have smartly opted to leave five physical shortcut buttons below the centre screen that fast-track sub-menu selection.
After breaking bread with the lovely team, we took the Mokka to one final test on our way to Cape Town International Airport. With no number plates printed on the cars, you can already guess that none of us held back as we meandered through the Cape Town traffic, making it to the airport seconds before peak hour.
Am I happy with the new Mokka, definitely. Do I think it’ll outshine its competitors in the game, not too sure. I still think the price may be a little steep, especially for a vehicle without a sunroof. But I am prone to be biased to sunroofs anyway. Try out the new Mokka to make your own observations on the car. I can assure you that you are in for a really great treat.
BY SIPHO “Alphi” MKHWANAZI
