Vauxhall Corsa review

Driving position 

Having sold in the millions, you’d imagine the Vauxhall Corsa to have one of the most refined driving positions in its class, but we found a couple niggles with it. 

Firstly, the driver’s seat angles ever-so-slightly to the left and the pedals sit to the right, which means your body is a bit twisted while driving, like in an old Italian supercar.  

The pedal box is also quite narrow so if you have chunky trainers, it can all get a bit stressful, though that’s more of a poor reflection on our fashion sense than the car... 

We also found the steering wheel, while there is both reach and rake, doesn’t go as high as we’d like it, so if you have longer legs, you may occasionally whack your knee against it. Having said that, it’ll be fine for most people under six foot. 

The wheel itself is wrapped in vegan leather and is very comfortable to hold – the right chunkiness for relaxed and spirited driving. 

It also has an array of buttons located at ‘9’ and ‘3’ to control the volume, change songs and operate the heated steering wheel function, which is far superior to menu diving in the central touchscreen like in some other cars. 

The seats themselves are comfortable and finished in a high-quality cloth along with three-stage heat settings. We find the seat doesn’t go quite low enough for what we’d like (the driver is 6’3”) but there’s plenty of room for adjustment. 

However, no matter which way you sit, there is one glaring annoyance when it comes to reversing.  

When you turn your head to reverse, you’re greeted with an unnecessarily thick C-pillar, which makes it nigh on impossible to see what’s coming to the rear left and right. Without a reversing camera in our YES Edition trim (it’s only available in GS and Ultimate trims), we had some difficulty at times.  

Thankfully, rear parking sensors come as standard on this Vauxhall, so you’re not left totally in the dark. Unlike with our next point... 

Without a sunroof, the cabin is really rather dark and can make you feel almost claustrophobic on a dark and cloudy day. While you do get used to it, you’d be better off with a Picanto or Ford Fiesta if you want a glasshouse-like cabin. 

Tech and features 

The Corsa is far from a technological marvel, but then again, it doesn’t need to be. The reason you’re buying one is to have a car to get you from A to B efficiently and affordably, so any extras are a bonus in our eyes. 

Having said that, you do get a lot for your money, starting with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard across the range, so you don’t need to plug your phone in the whole time. (There is a USB-C port if you do need to charge, though.) 

At first, we thought it was a shame CarPlay didn’t fill up the entire 10-inch touchscreen, but it soon makes sense because it leaves quick access to other car functions, such as the settings, radio and other built-in apps. 

When you have your tunes blasting, the standard speakers do the job just fine, and are impressive for non-branded ones. 

Below the infotainment screen you’ll find the air-con and heater controls, which are all physical buttons (yay).They’re easy to use and even have a nifty orange light on at all times, so you can easily see how hot/cold it is or what the fan speed is set at. 

Engines and power 

Driving around in the Corsa is a breeze. The six-speed manual gearbox (an eight-speed automatic is available) is smooth and nice to use and the 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol engine is smooth and punchy when it needs to be. 

Even though 100hp and 205Nm of torque may not sound like a lot, because it weighs just 1,620kg and has a turbocharger, it gets up to speed in no time, with a 9.9-second 0-62mph time. 

Then when you need to stop, the brakes are proficient and there’s a manual handbrake – a rarity today. 

Stepping up from the YES Edition gets you the option of the 1.2-litre petrol engine with hybrid assistance, adding a further 28hp from an electric motor. This 48V hybrid system helps with overall efficiency, as well as giving you an extra boost of power when needed. 

Vauxhall also sells the Corsa Electric, which we’ve driven separately and reviewed in great detail here.  

Handling and ride comfort 

The Corsa is very compliant over lumps and bumps in the tarmac, making it ideal for British roads. 

This is in part thanks to its small – by today’s standards – 16-inch alloy wheels (17-inch wheels are an option). But it’s also down to the impressive suspension system that helps absorb these road imperfections. 

Around town, the steering is light and nimble, and on faster A- and B-roads, it stiffens up a bit and is generally very enjoyable. 

Boot space 

We were pleasantly surprised by the boot space of the Corsa at 309 litres (267 litres in the Corsa Electric). It’s a deep storage space that goes back far and can easily fit bags for a long weekend away or a big food shop, including some extras.  

Compared to the Fiesta (292 litres), it stacks up well, but falls short of the Renault Clio’s 391 litres. 

Should you wish for more space, the rear seats fold in a 60:40 split to unlock a total of 1,118 litres (1,081 litres in the Corsa Electric). 

The one thing to watch out for is a relatively high loading lip but because the car is so low, this shouldn’t ordinarily be a problem. 

Rear seats 

Rear-seat space is fine for most people, but taller passengers may struggle on longer journeys.  

And due to that thick C-pillar, the rear of the cabin feels very dark, especially as it lacks any smaller windows to let in extra light, unlike the Clio and most other hatchbacks. 

There is of course ISOFIX child seat mounting points on the two outer seats, so if you’re buying this as a small family car, it’s a great option. Have taller teens? You may want to look elsewhere or consider stepping up to an Astra. 

Storage solutions 

Storage in the Corsa is decent, with fairly deep door pockets and lots of central storage for keys and wallets, but there’s no central armrest for added bits and pieces. 

The glovebox is sizeable and quite deep, though it’s not the widest, and while there are plenty of cupholders, they aren’t all the same size, resulting in your passengers needing to hold bulkier bottles. 

Rear-seat storage space isn’t bad, but it isn’t great either. There’s a space in either door for a bottle and that’s about it. No central armrest too. 

Safety 

Safety is really good across the range.  

All models get airbags, hill-start assist, ISOFIX, central remote locking and all the other pieces of safety tech required today. 

You also get lane-keep assist, which can handily be turned off via a button just ahead of the gearstick. Press it once then hold it down and it deactivates straight away. 

It also gets speed warning bongs, as every new car now must have. While it’s not as intrusive as in other cars we’ve tested, it isn’t always accurate.  

On one journey, it told us we were speeding on the motorway (70mph limit) because it thought the road was a 20mph zone. Likewise, in town, it confused a 30mph zone for a 3mph zone – you can’t make this stuff up! 

Fuel economy 

When it comes to running costs, we’re really impressed with the Corsa and its 45-litre fuel tank.  

It claims to return between 52.3 and 53.3mpg and it was spot on with that reading throughout our hundreds of test miles on a mixture of motorways, B-roads and town driving. 

Thanks to the turbocharger, you can leave it in a slightly higher gear and not worry about it struggling to accelerate, so if you’re a bit of an MPG obsessive, you’ll love the manual Corsa. 

While that doesn’t have any drive modes other than Normal and Sport, the automatic cars get ECO mode, which deactivates all unnecessary energy-consuming features, and reduces the top speed, torque and overall performance. 

Reliability 

Being a part of the Stellantis group, the Vauxhall Corsa should be a very dependable car, keeping your worries at bay. 

Every new Corsa comes with a rather standard three-year/60,000-mile warranty, and the Corsa Electric gets an eight-year battery warranty on top of that. 

Buying a used Vauxhall Corsa? You can always look at adding cinchCare to your purchase to increase the longevity of your car and give you added peace of mind – it’s never worth scrimping on car care.