Vauxhall Grandland Long Term Review

One of my neighbours was complaining that they had a puncture and it was ridiculous that cars didn’t have spares any more. I patiently explained that they add cost, weight and take away valuable luggage room, and that the average motorist will only have a flat tyre every few years and will typically call out a breakdown service anyway – so it doesn’t make sense. 

Obviously, the next day I just my first puncture in over a decade. It was caused by an enormous shard of what looked to be a smashed alloy wheel rim, which had presumably been victim of the pothole which was a little further down the road. 

Oddly it was the noise and then movement of the car which alerted me – the Grandland’s sensors didn’t seem to notice. This is a shock after other cars which make a real fuss when the pressure drops by a single PSI. 

Anyway, with it established that the tyre was certainly very flat, I tried the bottle of sealant foam and the compressor in the boot, but it didn’t seem to help at all, because it turns out I was doing it wrong.

The next stage was to call the RAC. I thought I’d try pressing the SOS button on the overhead switches, but I fear this connected me to the emergency services. The reception was so bad that I couldn’t hear them, and they couldn’t hear me, so I explained I would call from my phone and tried to hang up. It didn’t work and I was apparently transferred to supervisors or something but couldn’t make much sense. I half expected a rescue helicopter to hover overhead to make sure I was OK.

Once I was using the phone properly, the RAC turned up quickly and explained what I had done wrong with the sealant goo. You should always find the hole and make sure it is at the bottom of the tyre so it flows downwards and blocks the puncture. I really should have known that. 

The patrolman plugged the hole with another temporary bung and I drove home the couple of miles with no issues and ordered a new tyre. As they are an unsual size it took three days, but the old one was amazingly still at the same pressure when the Kwik Fit Mobile man arrived to fit it. 

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I was calling them out again. This time it was a nasty sharp edged pothole and there was no chance of a repair as it chewed the sidewall. I drove a few yards to a layby and called the RAC again. This time I had to wait several hours, as the chap had to go via a Kwik Fit to retrieve his ‘universal’ spare wheel. Once he arrived, it was clear this wasn’t going to fit over the Grandland’s huge brakes, so we had to get towed home.

What I thought was slightly naughty is that on both occasions someone from the RAC called moments after I had asked for assistance to try and sell me a tyre. They claim I might have to wait hours for a patrol, but they could get me back on the road much faster – no doubt for a price. I politely declined, especially as they wouldn’t have the right rubber in stock. 

On the bright side, when I got home I was able to give the Kwik Fit people on the phone the exact stock number for the tyre from the previous invoice which saved a few seconds. Every cloud, I suppose.