Corsa lacks French flair
WE’LL be testing this attractive little Honda later this month. A 35.5kWh battery gives this all-electric city car a range of 125 miles.
That’s pretty short but adequate, says Honda, for a car designed for city driving. It could be quite fun.
Price: from £26,100 including PiCG. On sale: spring.
ANYONE in the building trade had a customer change his mind halfway through the job?
When they became part of the PSA Group, Vauxhall’s engineers were most of the way through creating a new Corsa.
Then the deal between PSA and General Motors was done and the plans had to be torn up and a new model created based on the Peugeot. That Vauxhall managed to do this in two and a half years is remarkable as a blank sheet new car normally takes about four years from start to showroom.
Your new Corsa will have a badge on its boot that reads “Made for Britain” because unlike the Astra, which will soon get a badge reading “Made in Britain”, the Corsa is in fact made in mainland Europe.
It’s a bit of a marketing ploy to appeal to our patriotic post-EU natures but I’m not sure it’s going to have a big effect – not least because you could argue the Peugeot 208 is also made for Britain because it is right-hand drive and to EU regulations means it’s been built for the UK.
Impressive
A bit of Union Jack badgery is not going to change my opinion that the Corsa doesn’t look as good as its Peugeot sibling. It’s far from ugly and is the best-looking Corsa to date. It just doesn’t have the flair of the French car.
That’s also true of the inside. It lacks, for example, the 3D digital instrument panel of the 208. And the interior doesn’t look as stylish or fresh.
The good news is that the Corsa is an otherwise excellent small car and every bit as good as the 208, and in some areas better. And like the Peugeot you’ll be able to buy the Corsa with an electric powertrain.
It’s called the Corsa-e and, as you might have seen, it’s this car around which Vauxhall is theming its TV advertising campaign.
For more conventional powerplants we have a choice of diesel and two petrol engines. The latter are three-cylinder units – one with a turbocharger that produces 99bhp, and the other a naturally-aspirated version with 75bhp. Since the petrol
HYUNDAI has gone for a more distinctive style for its all-new i10, the cheapest car in its range.
As usual the i10 will be great value for money and come with a host of kit including safety systems that Hyundai claim will make this supermini one of the safest in its class.
Estimated price: from £11,000. On sale: early 2020.
Vauxhall Corsa SRi Nav
REAR MIRROR MONSTER: Attractive, but not as sexy as the Peugeot 208.
BACKSIDE BEAUTY: Especially at back.
PLAYTIME PLEASER: Very simple controls.
NAUGHTY NIGGLES:
The interior lacks
is going to dramatically outsell the diesel this is the engine we tested, in 99bhp form because Vauxhall didn’t bring the less powerful one to the launch. We also had only the choice of cars in SRi Nav and Elite Nav trims and not the entry-level SE.
The SRi Nav, which costs £19,200, is the sportiest Corsa you can buy.
You’ll know it’s an SRi because of a conventional key in your hand. And also because it has an old-school handbrake lever unlike the Elite which has an electronic handbrake.
The SRi also has a sport button that when pressed quickens throttle
THE latest model to sit on Mercedes-Benz’s new A-Class platform is the GLA, Merc’s smallest SUV.
It offers more space inside than the old one and will feature the company’s latest digital instrumentation and infotainment systems.
Estimated price: from £26,000. some sparkle.
TASTY TOUCHES: which I like.
FAST OR LAST: the electric one.
WONGA WONDER: Good value across the range but particularly our test car.
response, firms up the steering and puts an engine noise augmentation system into operation. Plus there’s a strut brace to help keep the front suspension’s geometry constant and sharpen up handling.
It works as I’d say that this version of the Corsa is a bit more fun to drive than the 208 and without question the peppiest and best handling Corsa I’ve driven.
The Elite version is also good to drive, even without the strut towers and sport settings. Both cars are comfortable and soak up bumps, and are impressively quiet at speed.
You start it with a key,
If you want to go fast buy
You sit 28mm lower than in the old Corsa, which adds to the feeling of being connected to the road.
The Corsa lacks almost all of the Peugeot 208’s lovely details such as the metal piano keys that operate the main functions and the wireless phone charging system.
It also has a conventional round steering wheel and not Peugeot’s irritating tiny wheel that apparently its customers like. Vauxhall was on the verge of producing a nice and simple range of Corsas and then complicated matters by adding Nav to the names (you can buy a normal SRi
On sale: spring. and Elite as well as our Nav versions). I’d buy a non-Nav version and then mirror my Smartphone and use the vastly superior Waze or Google maps systems.
The new Vauxhall Corsa is the company’s best small car yet. It’s lighter (by up to 100kg) so it’s more fun to drive and, more importantly, economical. The petrol versions both emit under 99g/km of Co2 and the diesel a hugely impressive 85g/ km that flies in the face of the antidiesel brigade.
My money would go on a 208 but the Corsa is still an excellent choice.