BUYER’S FILE
There are no selectable settings for the suspension – but you’ll need the car in Sport mode to extract the best performance from it. Normal and Eco modes switch the focus more towards elongating the range from the battery.
Officially, 209 miles is how far the Corsa-e can go between recharges – very similar to the 211-mile e-208. It’s also farther than the 162 miles that the Mii Electric will travel, although the Zoe has an official range of up to 245 miles – easily the best of the electric cars in this price bracket. So the Corsa-e is comfortably in the middle of the pack in this respect.
Recharging the battery from empty to 100% using a wallbox at home (which Vauxhall will supply and fit for you as part of the asking price) takes seven and a half hours – fine for an overnight charge. However, the Corsa-e is also capable of charging at a rate of up to 100kw – as long as you can find a suitable rapid charger in the UK – and this will get it from zero to 80% in just 30 minutes. You can charge it from a domestic three-pin socket as well, but this takes more than 24 hours and you have to pay extra to get that cable.
Inside, the design has about as much character as a corporate airport hotel room.
There’s little wrong with the quality, which is robust throughout, but it looks especially sober compared with the exuberant interior of the e-208. The infotainment system’s graphics also look quite Windows 95 and the screen doesn’t have the swish, easy responsiveness of the best touchscreens. At least the air-con controls aren’t hidden within several sub-menus on the touchscreen like in its Peugeot cousin. Instead, the Corsa-e has simple physical dials.
Despite having to house a big battery, there has been no compromise on space for occupants in the Corsa-e compared with the standard Corsa. The main boot area is the same size, too, although there’s no longer any underfloor storage space. So, although the Corsa-e has more luggage space than a Mini Electric, the Zoe’s boot is bigger. In the back,
Vauxhall Corsa-e SE Nav Price meanwhile, it compares pretty favourably with those rivals, offering more head room than either and good leg room as well.
There are only two trim levels, but they are both pretty well equipped. SE Nav has sat-nav, smartphone mirroring (both Apple Carplay and Android Auto) and climate control, while Elite Nav adds heated seats and LED headlights.
This is no earth-shattering electric car gamechanger. Neither its pricing nor its range is special enough for that to be the case – although it does strike a better balance than expensive rivals with smaller ranges, such as the Mini Electric and Honda E. So it is still a good car in this electric car class, with a usefully longer range than smaller, cheaper rivals such as the Mii Electric, but it doesn’t quite match the all-round ability of the class-leading e-208. Still, this is certainly the most compelling version of the new Corsa yet.
‘The Corsa-e strikes a better balance between price and range than some rivals’