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 with any luxuries (I mean do you need air con in the UK with our weather ?) and I drove away on the same day.
The car inside is actually really quite tacky, give the top of your dash a thump and you get the reassuring tinny sound of very cheap plastic, the interior is black and the so is the dash. The car is equipped very sparsely 2 electric front windows, radio CD, 4 speed fan and that is about it!
The car drives OK once you get going but when your under 30 MPH it will handle horribly, the clutch is feather light and it is very hard to judge when it is going to bite so the car jerks alot making you feel rather sick. The handling is reasonable Ive never had any slides or loss of control but with the 1.0 engine you wont be going anywhere in a rush.
You can expect to get an MPG of atleast 30 in the town and upto around 45 on a long trip, pretty reasonable but I was expecting slightly more considering how small the engine is.
The engine provides adequete power to the front wheels but you have to rev very hard to get moving, I used to find myself revving at 5000 RPM in 1st gear otherwise when I changed up the car would shudder horribly.
The car I had was very mainly reliable apart from one thing, the spark plug lights where on all the time, 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 you can get 2 adults in the front and 2 in the back, or 2 in the front and 3 kids in the back and carry enough luggage for a weekend away.
The car isnt head turning but it looks pretty good with its high back lights, stylish headlamps and an overall trim neat figure which is pleasing to the eye.
Unfortunately the Corsa didnt please me very much and the following year I sold it and now I own a very good Honda Jazz which in my opinion is the best small car in the world. The Corsa may have been better with a better engine and the auto box but I wouldnt trust it again.
More details
Purchase Price
£3999
Reliability
Satisfactory
Spaciousness
Good
Customer service
Poor
Features
Satisfactory
Fuel consumption
Satisfactory
Evaluate this review
How helpful would this review be to someone making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
very helpful
helpful
helpful
