Corsa proves that less is more

road surface with ease, producing levels of comfort you’d expect in a car costing twice as much.

That was a revelation for me, because my late (and very much unlamented) Opel Kadett in the 1980s managed to combine soggy handling with a crashing ride.

The latest Corsas are all wellequipped (six airbags are standard) and have the sort of niceties you have a right to expect in a car costing more than R200 000. That may sound like a lot of money, but when you stand up our test car (under R220 000) against a R250 000 Honda Jazz (slower and less economical and with only drum brakes at the rear), the Opel starts to look like good value.

The Corsa’s infotainment system (which operates through a good-sized touch screen in the centre console) is one of the best around: intuitive and simple to use. Like a good smartphone…

On the accommodation side, rear legroom is decent and the boot is about par for the course in this segment.

What really reminded me that life has recently moved up a few gears, though, was the fuel consumption. We easily got less than 7 litres per 100km in urban conditions and on a run to Pretoria and back on the highway (in quite heavy traffic) and averaging 98km/h, the Corsa showed an almost unbelievable consumption of 4.8l/100km. For a petrol car!

If you’re looking for a small hatch, don’t decide until you’ve taken a Corsa for a spin. I guarantee you’ll be pleasantly surprised…