New Vauxhall Mokka GSE 2025 review: fast, capable and fun

Verdict

The Vauxhall Mokka GSE defies the small SUV’s humble underpinnings to provide a genuinely fun driving experience. It’s fast and very capable in bends, although it ultimately lacks the polish of the best hot hatches. We have questions about refinement and range, but if you can overlook these, you’ll find the car a real hoot. The best compliment we can pay the car is that it’s got us looking forward to future GSE models with genuine enthusiasm. 

Even Vauxhall has admitted to us that the GSE brand has been something of a false dawn so far, with the fairly tepid plug-in hybrid Astra and previous-generation Grandland. The Mokka GSE promises much more, being the first all-electric GSE and thus better fulfilling the ‘electric’ part of the Grand Sport Electric moniker. 

Vauxhall doesn’t claim the GSE is the new GTE, GSi or VXR, although it does occupy similar territory as the sporty range-topper within the brand’s line-up. More GSEs will follow the Mokka, with the Corsa set to become an all-electric hot hatch next year. 

Our focus right now is on the Mokka, however, and it’s brought us just north of Madrid to try the GSE on the road at the historic Jarama circuit, once home to the Spanish Grand Prix. 

Used - available now

2022 Vauxhall

Mokka

9,344 milesAutomaticPetrol1.2L

Cash £16,900

View Mokka

2024 Vauxhall

Mokka

16,951 milesAutomaticPetrol1.2L

Cash £17,495

View Mokka

2023 Vauxhall

Mokka

31,814 milesAutomaticPetrol1.2L

Cash £15,635

View Mokka

2022 Vauxhall

Mokka

28,306 milesManualPetrol1.2L

Cash £14,343

View Mokka

A Mokka on an F1 circuit might sound like a fish out of water, but run through the technical details and things start to make sense. First off, the platform is the same as you’ll find on the Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce and Abarth 600e. That means the eCMP architecture has been revised to what Stellantis stablemate Abarth calls ‘Perfo-eCMP’. 

The crux of it is the regular Mokka’s 54kWh battery sends juice to a much more powerful electric motor on the front axle with 276bhp and 345Nm of torque. As with the Alfa, there’s no 240bhp option – something that is offered on the Abarth. The 0-62mph sprint takes half a second less than the old petrol-powered Corsa VXR, at 5.9 seconds, and it’ll top out at 124mph. 

The chassis has been tweaked, too. Specific changes over the Alfa and Abarth weren’t shared by Vauxhall, although we were told the Mokka GSE does get bespoke tuning. Either way, the new model features massive four-piston Alcon brakes, a mechanical limited-slip differential, new rear anti-roll bars that are almost twice as stiff, and lowered and firmed-up suspension. In addition, the steering has been recalibrated and the throttle mapping altered to suit the extra power as well. 

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Customers of the regular Mokka Electric aren’t really the target for the GSE. The range stands at only 209 miles – around 50 miles off the standard Mokka EV. You’ll have to really want to enjoy blasting around in the GSE to put up with that kind of figure, although as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N has proven, a happy balance between fun and efficiency for sporting EVs is achievable.

During our test route we saw a cruising efficiency of 2.7 miles per kWh, which is exactly what we achieved with the Abarth 600e. That would give us around 145 miles of range, while a quick trip around Madrid’s suburban streets saw us reach 3.0 miles per kWh, equating to only around 162 miles. As standard, you get Michelin Pilot Sport EV tyres, although Goodyear Eagle F1 rubber is an alternative as a £100 option. Weirdly, it’s the Goodyears that provide the maximum range, with the Michelins rated for 201 miles. 

Sitting above the Ultimate trim level of the Mokka Electric, the GSE gets all of its kit and more. On top of the standard-fit heated front seats, wireless smartphone charger and heated leather steering wheel, the GSE adds Alcantara bucket seats, Alcantara door inserts and alloy-effect pedals. 

To help the GSE stand out visually from lesser Mokkas, there are also 20-inch alloy wheels, plus bespoke interior stitching and a new front bumper that’s unique to the model. However, overall it doesn’t really have the outlandish boy-racer looks of the Abarth, nor the fine detailing of the Alfa. Indeed, in the grey and black bonnet colourway of our car, you could argue it looks rather understated. That theme continues to the interior, which looks like the standard Mokka’s and is pretty dull compared with its Italian cousins. 

This continues when you ‘fire up’ the GSE. Unlike the Abarth, which has a booming exterior speaker, the Vauxhall is silent. In fact, besides the bucket seats, the GSE feels mostly like a regular Mokka at first. Around town the steering is light and the throttle response isn’t too eager, nor are those massive brakes too keen to bite. 

The main indication that this is a performance-focused version when driving the car normally is the overall lack of refinement. The wheels thud occasionally, thanks to precious little tyre profile, and wind and road noise are both quite prominent. We’ll have to wait until we drive the Mokka GSE on UK roads to give a definitive verdict on the ride, but it does seem more compliant than the bone-shaking Abarth 600e.  

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You start to forgive the foibles and firmness of the Mokka GSE when you get on to a good bit of road. There’s more than enough power here, and torque is available immediately too. From a standstill there’s a slight hesitation to get away and at very high speeds (experienced on track) the GSE’s acceleration wilted a bit, although in between this the straight-line punch impressed us. 

The defining feature of the Mokke GSE is its limited-slip differential. At first it seems aggressive, and makes you wonder how exactly to extract the car’s performance in a fluid manner. In fact, the GSE is best approached quite brutishly – wrestle the car into a bend, get the steering sorted nice and early, then experience the differential almost locking the front wheels in place as the Mokka pulls you out the other side. If you’re too keen it’s quite easy to understeer into a corner, and if you’re not physical enough with the steering, it’ll want to self-centre too early. 

The steering itself is a plus point, though. There’s not a whole lot of communication, even on the limit, but the response is quick and you can build confidence in higher-speed corners as well as dart into tighter bends safe in the knowledge you’ll have enough mid-corner grip. 

Heading on to the Jarama circuit gave us an opportunity to be better-acquainted with the Mokka GSE’s limits. Even after the first few corners, the playful nature of the car was apparent. Chuck it in and you can correct a loss of rear traction either by utilising the front-end grip or with some instant torque. While there’s no fancy independent rear suspension system (the Mokka instead retains a simple twist-beam rear axle), it’s all telegraphed pretty early and we didn’t experience any nasty snaps of instability. This was all done with a very unintrusive traction control system as well (which turns back on immediately after you turn it off).  

However, one aspect that we weren’t too enamoured with was the braking. The stopping power is sensational and fade was never an issue. Pedal feel, however, isn’t great – there’s a notable distance you have to prod before those big yellow brakes scrub off speed. Also, brake regen has just one mode, and it’s fairly weak – we opted to leave it off as it didn’t replicate engine braking either. 

Pricing for the Mokka GSE starts at £36,995 which drops to £35,495 when you factor in the Government’s £1,500 Electric Car Grant. There is the less-powerful 216bhp Alpine A290 to contend with at £34,500, but compared to the more powerful Scorpionissma version of the Abarth 600e (£39,885) and the Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce (£42,305), the Vauxhall looks a bit of a bargain.

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