Tracing Jane Austen’s Tracks Aboard An Electric Vauxhall

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Do you know a landaulette from a barouche? Jane Austen wrote about both in her novels

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Tracing Jane Austen's Tracks Aboard An Electric Vauxhall

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of one of the greats of English literature. Motoring editor Jeremy Taylor and Jessica Talbot-Ponsonby follow in the author’s carriage tracks around Bath aboard the Vauxhall Grandland Electric.

Car Review: Vauxhall Grandland Electric

JT — ‘To be fond of driving was a certain step towards falling in love’.

J-TP — I’m certain Austen wrote about ‘dancing’ not ‘driving’ in Pride and Prejudice! Cars weren’t invented in 1813.

Yes, but had they been, would she have opted for a flash set of wheels, or something more modest, like our Vauxhall Grandland Electric?

She didn’t make a fortune from writing during her lifetime but for an unmarried woman in her social standing, Austen’s wealth was significant. Apparently, income from her first four books was £600 – roughly £45,000 today.

More than enough to buy the latest Grandland EV then. Even in range-topping Ultimate spec, Vauxhall’s classy SUV tops out at £39,995. That beats the government’s new ‘Expensive Car Supplement’, which now adds over £2,000 in road tax to every battery-electric vehicle.

Let’s hope the Chancellor will use all the extra tax revenue to fill pot holes. That’s a great deal from Vauxhall.

All electric Vauxhall’s are priced under £40,000. The brand’s new ‘Electric All In’ package also offers eight years roadside assistance and a raft of other charging benefits.

This is Vauxhall’s second generation Grandland, a beautifully-equipped car capable of some 318 miles between charges. Enough for a return drive from Regency Bath to Austen’s enchanting cottage at Chawton in Hampshire, too.

More than enough. In fact, unlike some EVs, the range calculator for the Grandland’s 73 kWh battery is very good indeed. Austen would have made the 80-mile journey in a horse-drawn carriage, although likely not a swanky barouche or landaulette, both designed for shorter jaunts around town.

She might have welcomed the Ultimate version’s 10-way adjustable seats with massage function on the cobbled stretch around The Royal Crescent in Bath, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The latest Grandland may not have the cache of a Mercedes or BMW but ours didn’t look out of place pulling up at the Bath Royal Crescent Hotel. The luxury venue didn’t open until the 1950s but the Palladian-style terrace was certainly built when Austen lived in Bath from 1801.

And while her carriage horses would have needed an overnight nosebag for fuel, Bath City Council is busy installing more EV chargers, as well as operating a Clean Air Zone.

Driving around the city in the well-furnished Grandland – now with larger boot, sparkling ‘Intelli-Lux’ HD headlights and tasteful trim – there is plenty of opportunity to stop and express your inner Mr Darcy.

Or Elinor Dashwood. Visit the Jane Austen Centre, where costumed guides reveal more about her life, or enjoy ‘Tea with Mr Darcy’ upstairs. Otherwise, drink the healing spa waters in the Pump Room, or simply promenade through the town in your finest frock or top hat.

And a Grandland would have a very amiable companion on any jaunt.

‘The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good SUV, must be intolerably stupid’.

She didn’t write that either!