Vauxhall Corsa – The Shoebox is Dead! Long Live Style! by Pete Ridgard
Let’s be honest about this; Vauxhall is hardly a ‘glamour’ brand. For as long as I can remember they have been churning out cars that have been…well…a bit underwhelming. The engineers at Vauxhall may be adept at producing comfortable, well performing and reasonably priced vehicles, but they’re hardly setting anyone’s world on fire are they? Until now that is…Enter the new Vauxhall Corsa.
Ok, you can stop cringing and come from behind the sofa; I’m not going to build the Corsa up to be a Zonda F or Lamborghini Gallardo, as it is clearly not. What Vauxhall have done though, is force some much needed ‘OOMPH' into their entry level product. The old Corsa resembled a shoebox on wheels and had all the cool points and street credit of a old woolen jumper. A few carefully designed changes to the bodywork and all of a sudden Vauxhall have created one of the more stylish looking superminis available.
The Corsa comes with a selection of engine options ranging from the bland and rather pathetic 1.0 3 cylinder to the growling 1.6 Turbo VXR, the latter being something of a boy racer’s fantasy. The popularity of the Corsa has some minor drawbacks however. Due to the size, responsive handling, chic looks and cheap running costs, the Corsa has been adopted as the driving teacher’s car of choice. With leading driving school BSM operating a fleet of thousands of Corsas, you’ll be hard pushed to go for a drive in your Corsa without getting stuck behind another Corsa with a big trapezoid with a ‘L’ on top of it. Thus the illusion of cool is mortally ruptured and you end up feeling like a bit of a fool.
The snowball effect aside, you cannot deny that the Corsa probably deserves its popularity. It has taken on the Ford Fiesta, VW Polo and Fiat Panda as the new driver’s first car and is fighting hard. The current market for superminis has found itself in a state of saturation recently, with almost every car manufacturer vying for the precious profit to be made from entry-level vehicles. The Corsa was the 4th bestselling car in the United Kingdom in 2007 (shifting 94,120 units in the UK) and has consistently been in the top 10 selling cars list since its introduction in 1993; quite an achievement in anyone’s book.
My own experience of the Corsa comes in the form of the 1.3 CDTi. During my drive I often felt as though I was sat in a lounge chair, enjoying the comfort of the seats and the relatively elevated driving position. The plastics all felt rigid and of good quality, the only drawback being the stubby indicators which are as responsive as a dead camel. The central console’s screen was a useful addition, despite having a differing opinion to the speedometer regarding the car’s velocity; barely noticeable and nothing to detract from the driving experience too any serious extent.
The engine was punchy without being overly-erratic, though it has to be said that it did often make a lot of noise without actually achieving anything worth shouting about…but I guess that’s smaller diesel engines for you. The engine was also ecologically sound, producing around 57 mpg, which is not only a relief to the consumer, but also the planet. The gearbox was relatively smooth, though often refused to go into third without me resorting to aggression.
The Vauxhall Corsa is more suited to those amongst us who want to feel more involved in the driving experience, rather than just another passenger in the car. This car must have been engineered to be a relaxing drive, but jolts you every now and then to keep you alert. The race for the ultimate supermini hatch is still a race worth running, though it is refreshing that not everyone is automatically heading to their local Ford dealer. Now let’s all rejoice in free market capitalism and the consumers right to choose whatever they want.
