Vauxhall Mokka GSE review: The best of three

The new Vauxhall Mokka GSE is a proper ‘working class hero’ in the spirit of performance-focused Novas, Astras, and Corsas from the brand’s ‘Greatest Hits’ album.

Fact time: Vauxhall is a carmaker that’s a vital part of the nation’s automotive fabric.

After all, your grandad may have owned a Viva during the 1970s. Fast-forward a couple of decades to the ‘90s, and maybe your dad was lucky enough to have an Omega as a company car. Perhaps you, yourself, learned to drive in a Corsa – a car that’s been the UK’s best-selling supermini for pretty much ever.

No surprise, then, that the Vauxhall Mokka Electric is one of the UK’s most popular EVs and for good reason. In cooking form, this crossover offers a real-world range of up to 250 miles, a sharp design, and its distinctive ‘Vizor’ nose wears a badge that can be trusted.

On the used market, you can bag one for under £10k, which, at the time of writing, costs the same as a weekly shop in Aldi. If you’re buying brand new, a Mokka Electric will set you back £31,680, making it sort-of affordable in 2026 terms.

But back to the review. The Vauxhall Mokka GSE isn’t your regular Mokka. It’s Vauxhall’s first model to launch as part of its GSE performance sub-brand, which stands for ‘Grand Sport Electric’ – the successor to Vauxhall’s sporty and beloved GSE, GSi, and VXR nameplates of the past.

It’s no secret that Britain loves a crossover. In fact, the B-segment (to which the Mokka belongs) is amongst the most popular vehicle types in the UK. What’s more, the demand for psicy small EVs is on the up – look at the Alpine A290. And the Cupra Raval. And the Mini Cooper Electric JCW. And the Volkswagen ID Polo GTI.

Then there’s the matter of the Abarth 600e Scorpionissima and the Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce. Don’t forget that these won us over last year at EV Powered, and the Mokka GSE shares several key components with them, not least the chassis.

Having now driven both the Italian cars and the Mokka GSE, the Vauxhall is my pick of the three. Easily. And it’s the cheapest.

Vauxhall Mokka GSE review: Design, interior and technology

The regular Mokka isn’t a bad-looking car, and Vauxhall hasn’t tampered with the GSE’s angles. What it has done, however, is lower the ride height by 10mm and fitted a set of chunky 20-inch wheels to give it a more squat, aggressive aesthetic. Behind them sit a pair of 380mm ventilated brake discs finished in GSE yellow.

To remind you that you’re in a spicy model, Vauxhall has added various bits of GSE branding to the Mokka’s exterior, and an optional black bonnet (a nod to the Opel Ascona and Manta rally cars) is available as a £250 option. Meanwhile, the contrasting black roof can be done away with for free.

Inside, the Mokka GSE doesn’t differ massively from the normal car, and you gradually get the feel that it’s more sleeper than some of its lairy predecessors (see, Corsa and Astra VXR).

There’s a smattering of GSE logos, and the dashboard gets some silver elements, along with door inserts, a thin-rimmed and flat-bottomed Alcantara steering wheel, racy stitching, plus sports seats also trimmed in Alcantara. Otherwise, it’s pretty much business as usual – the cabin won’t blow your socks off in terms of design and visuals, but it’s easy to use. In the era of the touchscreen, what more do you want?

Vauxhall’s use of physical switchgear for the air-conditioning and steering wheel controls is an absolute delight. This shouldn’t be a sentence any of us should have to write, but it’s so nice not to have to think about what sub-menu you need to find for something that should be an intuitive push or a flick away. The ADAS systems are also disabled by pushing a physical button, and then holding it down for an additional three seconds. Again, less is more here.

It’s also worth noting that the Mokka feels much more solidly put together than either the Abarth or the Alfa. This isn’t to cast any stereotypes on Italian build quality, but the Mokka’s dashboard didn’t flap while on the move…

Things aren’t all perfect, though. While Apple CarPlay and Android Auto work fine, the 10-inch touchscreen and the 10-inch driver display still run on parent company Stellantis’s old-gen software – it’s pretty slow, and the graphics lag behind its competitors. The ‘comedy’ Stellantis gear selector remains. It would have been nicer if Vauxhall created something sportier here for the occasion.

However, the yellow GSE graphics and the ‘Performance’ screen displaying live torque distribution, 0-62mph time, and battery management are engaging – if not encouraging – touches for the driver.

Battery, motor and driving

Under the skin, the Mokka GSE rides on Stellantis’s e-CMP platform. Like the Abarth 600e Scorpionissima and the Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce, the Vauxhall has a front-mounted, 277bhp motor, and a 54kWh battery…

… but there’s a catch! If you stick with the standard 225/40 Michelin Pilot Sport EV tyres, you’ll manage an official range of 201 miles. Bolt on the Goodyear Eagle F1s for an extra £100, and the Mokka will manage 209 miles on a single charge. Charging speeds top out at an equally unremarkable 100kW, promising a 20%-80% charge time of between 27 and 32 minutes.

The Mokka GSE’s range is a bit of a double-edged sword, because under the skin, Vauxhall has done some serious work to make the Mokka GSE seriously fun to drive.

Here’s why: The GSE isn’t just a piece of badge engineering. Oh no. Its chassis is derived from Opel Motorsport’s Mokka GSE Rally, a rally car built to the FIA’s eRally5 regulations.

Unsurprisingly, then, it packs all sorts of roadgoing, rally car wizardry including lower, stiffer springs, uprated axles, and a new rear anti-roll bar. Pull everything together, and the GSE is 48% stiffer than the standard Mokka.

Add in the faster steering rack, and Alcon four-piston brakes optimised using “GSE-optimised pedal tune”, and you’ll soon find yourself wanting to drive the Mokka GSE everywhere – and I mean absolutely everywhere – in ‘Sport’ mode.

Do this, and the Mokka GSE’s range takes a hit. In fact, you’ll be looking at between 150 and 170 miles of real-world range. If you’re like me and find it extremely difficult to exercise self-restraint, you’ll also find yourself in ‘Sport’ mode more often than not. I’ll not complain, though, because you don’t buy a hot hatch for its efficiency.

B-roads are where the Mokka’s rally-derived chassis comes alive. It remains planted with very little roll, while the suspension’s hydraulic bump stops prevent the ride from being bone-shatteringly uncomfortable like its gobby Abarth sibling.

With the torque-splitting front differential, it skips along B-roads, biting at corners, and pulling you tightly through them with very little understeer and zero of the torque steer that afflicted hot Vauxhalls of old. If I were of a racing driver persuasion, I would even suggest that when pushing on, it feels like you’re dancing with the car. The whole sensation from behind the wheel is that there is no disconnect between you and the road – it’s a very organic, fluid sensation.

The steering sits somewhere between medium and heavy, and with that thin rim, there’s plenty of feedback and room for shuffling to ensure you won’t get crossed up when driving in a spirited manner. Ultimately, you’ll run out of bottle before the Mokka GSE runs out of grip. It is a wildly entertaining piece of engineering.

Yet unlike the Abarth or the Alfa, when you stick the Vauxhall into either ‘Normal’ or ‘Eco’ mode, it feels like a regular Mokka, albeit one with a slightly firmer ride and plenty of poke.

With 277bhp on tap irrespective of drive mode, Vauxhall claims that the Mokka GSE can do the 0-62mph time in 5.9 seconds. Based on an afternoon with the car, I’ll not argue. Yet to access all of those electric horses, you have to engage ‘Sport’ or plant the throttle beyond the kickdown point.

Vauxhall Mokka GSE review: Price and specification

As with the regular Mokka, Vauxhall has kept the trim levels for the GSE as simple as possible as in there’s just one – unsurprisingly, it’s called GSE.

Prices start from £36,820 OTR, but it qualifies for the £1,500 Electric Car Grant (ECG) bringing costs down to £35,320. This makes it £2,500 cheaper than that Abarth, or a whopping £7,000 cheaper than the Alfa. In fact, the GSE is also £1,100 less than the range-topping Mokka Ultimate, which has half the power and the same amount of standard kit.

As well as the contrasting black bonnet and the Goodyear tyres, the only other option available on the Mokka GSE is the body colour. Beyond the standard Carbon Black, Colibri Blue, Tropical Green, Graphic Grey, Arctic White, and Contrast Grey are all £650 a pop.

Performance bargain à la old school Vauxhall? Absolutely.

Verdict

Bang on. Lovely. Vauxhall has nailed its brief with the Mokka GSE and then some. Not only is it an absolute blast to drive, but you can also use it daily. The Mokka GSE, then, leans into proper ‘working class hero’ status like its predecessors – think Nova GSE, Astra GSi, and Corsa GSi.

Make no mistake – the Mokka GSE’s siblings, the Abarth 600e Scorpionissima and the Alfa Romeo Giulia Veloce, are good. It just so happens that the Vauxhall is simpler to use, more engaging to drive, and easier to live with. That’s what makes it better. Much better.