In the economy stakes the Captiva and Antara are head to head. They fare reasonably well against the competition giving a combined fuel economy rating of 7.6 litres/100km (37.2mpg). That's still a bit lower than the performance of the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4, which lead the field significantly with a figure of 6.5litres/100km (43mpg) for the CR-V.

I found that these economy figures were difficult to achieve during my test drive. That may be a function of the type of driving of was doing. The seven seat Captiva is marginally heavier than the Opel Antara and that may be the reason for my fuel economy perception.

The Chevrolet message is one of value for money. You can test that by comparing the Captiva and the Opel Antara prices. The entry diesel powered Captiva with an equivalent 4x4 system costs €40,995 before delivery charges, compared with €41,350 for the Opel version. That's not much of a value difference for almost identical SUVs with a different brand name.

For Captiva drivers the extra value is the two extra seats, which are flexible and easy to use. They do not interfere with load space when folded in the floor, so in a sense that's the real extra bonus.

In driving terms, there is little to separate them. For those who pull trailers for boats or horses the Captiva has a towing rating of 2 tonnes with a braked trailer, only the new Nissan X-Trail beats it marginally in this respect.

SUVs such as the Captiva and Opel Antara do come well specified with a full safety kit, which includes Electronic Stability Control (ESP). That's the feature that you need to have in any SUV type vehicle with a high ground clearance and its standard with the Captiva and Antara as significant pluses in their favour.

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