Vauxhall Corsa review

The Vauxhall Corsa is one of those cars that you really don’t have to be a car enthusiast to have heard of. Even if you’ve never glanced inside an issue of What Car? (and frankly, why haven’t you?), the chances are that you’ll be familiar with Vauxhall’s small family hatchback.

Omnipresent on Britain’s streets since 1993, the Corsa can be thanked for giving thousands of new drivers the freedom of the road. Affordable insurance and low running costs makes it ideal for first-time drivers, and its sheer popularity helps to drive down repair costs, should the worst happen.

Like its rivals, the Ford Fiesta, Renault Clio and Peugeot 108, the Corsa has been kept up to date over the years, and the latest model is the most sophisticated yet – a far cry from the bare-bones machines that first wore the name. As well as having up-to-date infotainment and generous standard equipment, the Corsa’s interior finish and build quality is far-improved, too. But, in the presence of such strong rivals, it really has no choice.

It also faces tough competition from the Seat Ibiza on driver appeal, and from the Skoda Fabia, Hyundai I20 and Kia Rio when it comes to practicality and ease of ownership. So, with this much choice available in the small car market, is the Corsa still worth considering?

Over the next few pages, we’ll tell you how it drives, what it’s like inside and how much it’ll cost you to run, so you can make your own mind up. We’ll also tell you which engines and trim levels make the most sense.

After you’ve taken that on board, if the Corsa ticks the right boxes for you, pop over to our New Car Buying pages to find out just how much you could save, without having to haggle.