But what’s coming next?
Practicality Design
ANY parent will tell you that securing an unfamiliar child seat into a car using the seatbelt can be a fiddly job. But the Isofix system removes this difficulty – as well as the possibility of incorrectly fitting the seat – by providing metal brackets, located with standardised spacings – in the seats of a car. Compatible child seats simply click into place on the brackets, which are typically hidden beneath covers at the base of the seats.
Factoid:
WHILE making cars safer is a collaborative goal that all manufacturers work towards, Volvo and Mercedes have been behind many significant protective features that have emerged over the years. So where do these firms think the next big developments will come from?
Well, Volvo is targeting three pillars of safety: speed, distraction, and intoxication. As a result, all Volvos will be limited to 112mph from 2021, while distraction and intoxication will be addressed by in-car cameras and sensors that will be able to tell if someone is unfit to drive. The system will warn them not to do so, and potentially limit the car’s speed, stop it all together, or alert Volvo’s assistance team if the driver does not pull over. The tech will be installed in all Volvos built on the firm’s SPA2 platform “in the early 2020s”. The firm wants to consider whether car makers have “the right or maybe even an obligation” to use technology to change driver behaviour.
Mercedes, meanwhile, is using cutting-edge computing and automation to improve safety. Key to this is a recent partnership with computing giant Nvidia, which will see a new “software-defined computing architecture” rolled out in new Mercedes models from 2024. This will create a “perpetually upgradeable machine”, with cars becoming “high-performance, updateable computing devices” that can be improved with new safety features as they’re developed, with systems added via over-the-air updates.
This will allow updates to be installed throughout the life of a car, giving it the latest safety features. The tech will also allow cars to drive regular routes autonomously “from address to address”, removing opportunities for driver error.
Power/range 134bhp/209 miles
Practicality Boot (seats up/down) 309/1,118 litres
the added weight is certainly felt with enthusiastic cornering; the Corsa-e begins to understeer earlier compared with the somewhat nimble petrol-powered version. That characteristic is nothing out of the ordinary for a small electric car, however.
Elsewhere, the steering has been tweaked, but as in the regular Corsa, it’s pretty lifeless and uninspiring. The level of braking regeneration can be altered on the move via the drive selector, and, by and large, the Corsa-e’s brake pedal feels pretty natural, and compares well with petrol versions.
What impresses most about the Corsa-e is the main event: the electric powertrain, and the charging technology that it supports. The 50kWh battery isn’t the largest you’ll find in a car of this size and price, but it’ll
“What impresses most about the Corsa-e is the electric powertrain and charging technology”
Price:
Battery:
Power/torque:
Transmission: 0-60mph:
Top speed:
Range:
CO2:
onsaLe
£30,310 (After PiCG) 50kWh battery, single e-motor 134bhp/260Nm
Single-speed automatic, front-wheel-drive 7.6 seconds 93mph 209 miles 0g/km
now
Battery packaging doesn’t affect the Corsa-e’s passenger space, but it’s still not the most roomy second row available in a supermini probably be big enough for most people, enabling a range of 209 miles, according to the latest WLTP standard. It’s backed up by an electric motor system that’s powerful, refined and adaptable to the driver’s needs.
Three drive modes are presented to you on a rocker-style switch placed beside the drive selector on the centre console. Start the Corsa-e and it will default to Normal, and you should manage a real-world range of around 180 miles on a full charge. In
Elite Nav cars ride on 17-inch wheels as standard, with 16-inch designs on SE Nav models. The Corsa-e offers a bright and varied range of colours for buyers to choose from
Normal mode the power output is capped to 108bhp. It’s a well judged baseline setting, nailing the trade-off between efficiency and power, so you can drive away without feeling the urge to toggle the car into Sport mode.
Do that and the range will tumble, but you’ll get 134bhp going to the front wheels. That makes it zippy, turning the greenest version of the Corsa into the fastest variant off the line by far, dashing off the
SIBLING RIVALRY
If the Corsa-e doesn’t take your fancy, Vauxhall’s new Mokka SUV uses the same underpinnings, and is also available with an electric powertrain