VAUXHALL CORSA HATCHBACK REVIEW

My car

We bought this after the Mervia. We wanted a diesel car, for the cheap tax, insurance and the savings that can be had, and this does exactly what it says on the tin. What can I say. I love the car.

We bought it brand new. The car drives well and is nippy, though it can feel laboured at speed.

The space in the car is abpout average for the size. It is ok as our second car, as it will very rarely have a full load of people, and generally it is just me and the kids. But even with two adults and two kids the space is ok. I wouldn't want to be in there for a long journey as the seats can feel a bit hard. Touch wood as of yet no major problems, had a first service and was ok. I would say roughly that £10 of diesel does 100 miles. And a full tank costs about £45. We got the boot shelf, which means that we can store stuff under it and the shopping sits in top, this sometimes can make the parcel shelf not sit flush, but this is an option and I think it is worth it. We are realy pleased with this car and at oly £35 a year in tax and the insurance costing pennies it was well worth it.

My car

Bought 2nd hand from Vauxhall dealers with network q guarantee. Had problems with noisy brakes, a juddering cluth and creaking rear suspension, dealer sorted out brakes but claimed could find no fault with suspension or clutch. Also the 1.2 is not particularly economical and not really a powerful enough engine for such a heavy car. Parking is extremely difficult, due to poor visibility.

My car

Bought pre-reg with delivery miles as I needed a cheap car for commuting to a temporary job in Scotland. Cost £7500 at 5 wks old with 10 miles on clock. Dirty inside on back seat & carpet, oil level half way down dip-stick, and grossly under-inflated tyres, no evidence of pre-delivery inspection or valet despite salesman saying it had been. Complained to Vauxhall who just referred back to dealer, so customer service not a strong point. Only bought from this dealer as car would be handy for collection, but definitely wouldn't use them again. Popularity of car means similar deals on offer at garages all over UK. Car has pretty good build quality. Only issues are a rattling from osf suspension on bumps, and it failed to start after lying for 5 days in cold temperatures at Christmas - AA cover came free with car and got it going. 1.0 engine not bad for its size - slow, but keeps up fine with other traffic. Handling is fine and my only criticisms are the baulky gear-change and overly-sensitive 'intelligent' indicators. It's pretty economical, achieving 45.5mpg and servicing every 20k if I were to keep it that long. Overall a good car, useless dealer, and although I'll be selling it at 9 months old when my temp contract finishes, I don't doubt it would be a very cheap car for longer term ownership.

My car

I run a 2007 Vauxhall Corsa SXi CDTi 90 3dr having owned the car from new i am generally happy with its overall capabilities! i especially like the running costs the car feels solidly bult and handles very well and is a good motorway cruiser and in town too! i would say this probably the best engine to go for as the smaller petrol engines that i had a drive off felt too slow and my friends vxr version was very quick however very thirsty this is very torquey and feels quicker than 1.3 although it can be slow until the turbo kicks in! my main problems are the rear seat access, i feel the pull handle on the drivers/passengers seat to slide the seat forward on the 3door models is such a pain! once you have pulled the flimsy handle and then go to slide the seat back it goes to a position so close to the steering wheel no one would be able to drive which means adjusting this every time you do this! another problem is the amount of dust that seems to collect on the dash and also the reflection of the dash on the windscreen! apart from that though there is no other problem and i would happily buy another Corsa