You get a lot of car for your money with the Chevrolet Orlando. It’s heavy enough to be a suitable match for some hefty tourers, and if you haggle you should be able to pick one up for well under £20,000.
That buys an impressively roomy seven-seat MPV. Three individual seats in the middle row would be more flexible than the Orlando’s bench, but even those sat in the third row should be comfortable enough for short trips.
With the rearmost seats folded away, we found space for all our holiday luggage. The car comes with a tyre-repair kit, which Chevrolet says can be used for towing if necessary, although a full-sized spare is a £150 option. Sadly, there’s no information on towing in the handbook.
Hitch up and the Orlando is a capable tow car. The 2.0-litre engine can pull car and caravan from 30-60mph in 14.9 seconds. Stability is good up to 70mph, with little caravan movement recorded by the Al-Ko ATC sensors. Through the lane-change test the Orlando started to lose composure at high speeds, but never felt ragged. The Chevy made a decent fist of the hill-start test, too, so long as the handbrake was pulled on firmly. The Orlando is a worthy winner of the Budget MPV Award.