... There was no way I could wait that long to get a car! However, dad continued looking/asking around and found that Vauxhall offered the deal for people aged over 19. In fact it was great timing as Vauxhall was just embarking on their free insurance deals on Corsa's (a car I actually liked!).
So ... Read review
Advantages: Economical, nice looking cars, popular, small enough for a first car, surprisingly "nippy"! Disadvantages: None that I have found so far.
...looking/asking around and found that Vauxhall offered the deal for people aged over 19. In fact it was great timing as Vauxhall was just embarking on their free insurance deals on Corsa's (a car I actually liked!).
So that was that. I was to buy a Corsa. Or rather my dad was to buy it for me and I'm to pay him back over x number of years to suit my income. (My dads nice like that) :-)
So, enough of the background info. ... ...want to double check your Vauxhall garage has the latest one's in stock as I believe some are still selling off the "old" shape.
Vauxhall are generally offering 3 door hatchbacks from £8360. (Or 5 door versions from £9020).
But it is well worth shopping around for the best deal. My dad seems to enjoy haggling (something I personally HATE doing) so he's always a useful man to have around when you're shopping ... more
Well Sarah_Louise is about to embark on something completely new to herself. Something so new she's starting to feel nervous. Like the feeling you get just before going into an exam. You know that "I'm never going to be able to pass this off, I don't know enough about the subject!!" kind of feeling you get?
You see I have never written a review on a car in my life. In fact I've only owned a car for a couple of months of my life. (Which goes someway to explaining why I've never reviewed one before!)
As those of you who read my "Anything that begins with L..." opinion will be aware that I passed my driving test back on January 7th 2004.
I went a number of weeks (just over a month in fact) before I got my first car though.
I was going to buy my own (second hand) car until my dad suggested buying a new car. At first I looked shocked and enquired how on earth he thought I could afford that. (I'm a student after all!) He had a number of reason's for suggesting this option to me. Namely:
(a) A new car would last me longer than a second hand car that has the potential to have problems with it (and no guarantee....) (b) Some companies offered free insurance deals for the first year.
It was this latter point that swayed me!
You see as a new driver under the age of 21, insurance for the first year was working out between £980-£1500 ish. So on top of the price I'd be paying for a relatively decent second hand car I'd still be pretty skint just getting the bloomin' thing insured! My dad certainly had a valid point here.
So, it was time to look into which companies offered free insurance for your first year. Dad found that quite a few offered this deal but most seemed to be for drivers over 21 years of age. I'm 20 which meant I'd have to wait till November 8th before I could claim these. There was no way I could wait that long to get a car! However, dad continued looking/asking around and found that Vauxhall offered the deal for people aged over 19. In fact it was great timing as Vauxhall was just embarking on their free insurance deals on Corsa's (a car I actually liked!).
So that was that. I was to buy a Corsa. Or rather my dad was to buy it for me and I'm to pay him back over x number of years to suit my income. (My dads nice like that) :-)
So, enough of the background info. Onto the scary bit. This is the bit when I actually have to talk about the car itself. EEK! I don't know the first thing about engines or anything like that so I may make the worlds worst car reviewer of all time but you can't blame a gal for trying!
My car is a 3 door, Corsa Life 1.0 litre. I didn't really need any bigger engine (or indeed car). So long as it got me from A to B safely and effectively, I really didn't mind.
Corsa's have recently undergone a minor alteration, mainly in the front bumper being restyled and the lights at the back changing slightly in shape and position. You might want to double check your Vauxhall garage has the latest one's in stock as I believe some are still selling off the "old" shape.
Vauxhall are generally offering 3 door hatchbacks from £8360. (Or 5 door versions from £9020).
But it is well worth shopping around for the best deal. My dad seems to enjoy haggling (something I personally HATE doing) so he's always a useful man to have around when you're shopping around for a bargain too! As an example, here's what it cost us (well him technically, so far at least!):
(Barring in mind that my current car (Corsa 1.0l 12v 3 door hatchback) is advertised at £8360.00)
Our deal worked out as follows:
£6200 + VAT with metallic paint thrown in for free.
(I have "Breeze Blue" metallic paint which would normally set you back a further £325 in itself).
Not to mention 1 years free insurance, 3 years free AA and warranty.
All in all, had I bought this at the listed price, spent the extra £325 for the metallic paint (something I wasn't bothered about until they said they'd throw it in for free!) it would have set me back £8685. Add about £1000 to insure me on top of that alongside the AA cover and we're talking nearly £10,000!
So I'm sure you will agree, a VERY decent saving!
And how did my dad manage it? He simply phoned two garages.
He worked them against one another until one of them (incidentally the one just up the road from us!) came up with the best deal (i.e. they phoned a couple of days later to say they had a car on the forecourt waiting for pick-up and it was in metallic blue....)
Who were we to turn that down? The other garage had dropped their price by £2000 ish too by the end but as this garage was up in Lancashire it would have required us to go up there and would have required me to drive back on my own from that area to North Wales on my own as my mum can't drive. The only way around it was either we went on the train (i.e. I took my dad with me so he could direct me on how the hell I was meant to get home!) or persuade the garage to deliver. They did actually offer to deliver it for us but like I say, the £325 worth of free metallic paint swayed us to stick with the local garage. (Vauxhall Slaters in Colwyn Bay if you're interested).
Like I said earlier, I wasn't at all bothered about metallic paint (in fact I'd not even looked at what metallic colours they offered). Ideally I wanted a car in Aruba Blue (can anyone guess what my favourite colour is?) but at least metallic paint will retain the value of the car a little later in life when I decide to sell/part ex it.
Here's a picture of the car I have (from the Vauxhall website):
My car has the standard "Orleans Charcoal cloth" interior and has the usual dark grey/black plastic interior trimmings.
The Corsa Life has a number of useful key features that come as standard. These include:
~ Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) ~ Remote control central locking ~ Electrically operated front windows ~ CDR 2005 stereo radio/CD player ~ Speed-sensitive electric power steering ~ Door-to door illumination ~ Rear window wash/wipe ~ Body side-protection mouldings ~ Front body-lock seatbelt pretensioners
As any self respecting young person should do, I had to check the sound system was decent! Like the specs above state, a CD player comes as standard in this car (woohoo!).
Another nifty addition to this car is that there are volume switches, switches to change between a CD/radio and a switch to change between radio stations (pre-tuned might I add with all the main BBC stations, the local station(s) and the likes of Classic FM). All these can be found on the steering wheel which not only looks rather swanky but its also extremely useful (and far more safe) compared with having to look around and fiddle around while you're driving.
I won't list ALL the standard features as you can find these for yourself on the website or in the brochures. Instead, I'll just list some of the standard features that aren't always found in some cars:
~ Multi-function display panel showing time, date, audio information and outside air temperature (with ice warning function) ~ Drinks holder and coin holders in centre console ~ Dipping rear-view mirror (which incidentally works REALLY well) ~ Security code protection for audio equipment ~ Hinged luggage compartment cover
Any many other seemingly unimportant features that are actually VERY useful.
And many other safety features that could well save your life.
For those interested in technical details, the car can reach a maximum speed of 96mph (NB. I've not tested this personally!). It takes 15 secs to accelerate from 0-60mph.
Now as this is my first car and I've only ever driven two cars before in my driving lessons (I switched driving schools half way through), I really don't have anything to compare the Corsa too. I don't know about you but I couldn't tell you what the car(s) I learnt to drive in were like to drive. I was too concerned with learning HOW to drive at the time!
However my dad has driven my car. He usually drives much bigger cars. His current car is a VW Passat (couldn't tell you what engine size it is, so lets just say its powerful!) He said he was quite surprised with how "nippy" my car is. Considering 1.0 litre is a mere drop in the ocean in comparison to his cars, he was expecting my car to FEEL slow and unpowerful. I'm assured it doesn't though. It handles well around corners and the likes, accelerates smoothly and is generally a nice drive.
Not only does it feel nice to drive, its also a pleasant car for any passenger. Another thing we all noticed (mum, dad and myself) about my car is that it feels surprisinly roomy inside. As we're used to bigger cars we were expecting it to feel smaller as of course it IS smaller in both length and breadth than my dads' car. But it doesn't *feel* it. You don't feel like you're cramped, leg room is ample for all but the tallest of people and theres plenty of room for luggage in the boot.
It's an economical drive too. I've driven 1320 miles so far and have probably put about £120 in the tank in total. As usual when you get a car from a garage, there was hardly any petrol in at all (just about enough to get me home (5 minute drive) and to the petrol station (a futher 15 minutes). It cost me about £28 to fill it up completely.
So far, I've not had any problems with my car and can't think of any reason to not recommend Corsa's.
I sincerely hope this review is useful for anyone considering buying a Corsa. Like I said from the outset, I don't know a great deal about cars and as this is my first car I don't really have anything to compare it to.
All in all, 10/10 from me!
For more information please see:
www.vauxhall.com
(or call in at your local Vauxhall garage to pick up a brochure).
NB. the ratings above were answered as well as I could so far. Like I say, I can't really compare it to any other cars but they are correct in my mind!
Advantages: Solidly built, well equipped, good suspension and roadhandling Disadvantages: Interior looks dated, rough engine
...(a Xmas pressie for someone?)... Vauxhall are currently trying to shift all the remaining stock of the current Corsa model before they launch the new one, so there's some great deals to be had. I got a massive discount off the list price by shopping around. Vauxhall are also doing a year's Free Fully Comp Insurance on this model. It was really hard work haggling and shopping around. It took a few days and involved lots of phonecalls to dealerships ... ...Clark Vauxhall dealer in Winsford, Cheshire. I got £2,300 off list price (amazing I know) and they even threw in metallic paint for free. But another dealer up the road would only trim £200 off. Big differences. Shop around.
First impressions of the car were simple: it's stunningly good looking on the outside, very modern, with high-mounted rear light clusters. But on the inside it's a very different story: the cabin hasn't been updated radically ...
MrsRichi 10.11.2004
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Vauxhall Corsa Life
The Vauxhall Corsa on the face of it appears a pretty decent car, looks quite nice, quite roomy everything you would want really. In reality it is a nightmare to own and drive, who thought of the puts the fun back in driving advert for this car. Dont believe all what you see its just untrue.
I bought a 51 reg 3door 1.0 Corsa from Carland for what I thought was a good price at £3999 I was just looking for a cheap runaround not expensive or equipped ... ...I took the car to Vauxhall and they told me to fit new ones, I reluctantly paid around £150 to fit new spark plugs. After the lights still where on, I took the car back and they said it must have been the sensor! I was appalled.
The ride is rather bumpy if you drive your Corsa over small potholes in the road the whole car shudders violently and after driving down cobbled road your spine will have turned to a jelly!
The spaciousness is reasonable ...
JBEBAC 27.03.2005
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: helpful Review of Vauxhall Corsa Life
Advantages: low tax and insurance, small, comfy, good petrol consumption, electric windows, cd player with controls on wheel Disadvantages: not a very smooth drive once you've had it for a year or so, no cigarette lighter or sun roof, everyone's got one!
...I had an old Vauxhall Corsa before that and the improvements are amazing.
The car comes with a standard power steering, cd and radio (controllable from the wheel, electric windows, central locking, charger socket, variable windscreen settings and a large boot. It's cheap to tax and considering I'm under 25, with only 2 years no claims, £19 a month insurance is extremely reasonable. I've had no problems in terms of breakdowns and have never had to ... ...to Direct Line afterwards as Vauxhall insurance is not cheap.
It was £200 for spearmint silver metallic paint, but it really is worth it and it looks much better than other non-metallic cars on the road.
On the negative side I find that it's not a very smooth drive compared to other new cars on the market. It's very nippy for a 1 litre though and I would recommend it to anyone, new drivers especially. ...
alimcc21 26.04.2005
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: helpful Review of Vauxhall Corsa Life
Advantages: Looks great Disadvantages: Slow and problematic!
...problem was non existent and Vauxhall had cut costs and abandoned one of the security features where only the drivers door opens on first unlocking, followed by the rest on 2nd key click. It makes you lose confidence in your purchase when the people selling you the car don't know what they are selling you.
Here's a list of the problems I've had thus far:
1. Exhaust has been changed but still very noisy
2. Heater has been changed but still problematic
... ...car overall and I'm sure I would have had less problems if I had bought a second hand car! If you want a trouble Vauxhall may not be the best bet!
I would really appreciate hearing your stories/opinions especially if you have had similar problems with the Corsa Life. ...
soniadua 08.03.2003 (09.03.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: helpful Review of Vauxhall Corsa Life
Advantages: Solid, Reliable, Some Bargains To Be Had Disadvantages: Petrol Consumption
I'm a Vauxhall fan, I make no bones about it. I am a fan of this small, sweet and nippy car and of the Astra Coupe's and Cabriolets.
This is my 2nd Corsa, having been the owner of a Corsa Club. This is very much the same car as the club apart from the fabric of theinterior has been brought into the 21st century on my silver one, although they still market the cream interior quite strongly, it has a basic CD player and radio and electric windows ... ...relatively smooth and comfortabel although Vauxhall still need to deal with the hard seat cushions that plagued my back in the Club model and continue to do so in the Life model.
Another slight snag if you're little like me, is they still have an awful blind spot for reversing if you have the 3 door model, this spot the at the back and all it would take from vauhall is to make the passenger windows slightly bigger and therefore the frame narrower ...
memphisto_chick 27.01.2006
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: helpful Review of Vauxhall Corsa Life
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