Vauxhall Corsa Hatchback (2014 - 2019) practicality

Small cars are never going to be vast carry-alls capable of carrying home enormous boxes of Scandinavian flat-pack, but despite its carry-over cabin space, Vauxhall Corsa practicality remains reasonably good.

Yes, it’s spacious enough for four adults to inhabit the interior relatively comfortably, with storage for a few odds and ends in the front door bins and within the remodelled dashboard.

There’re no practicality party tricks like a flip-forward front passenger seat to allow the Corsa to accept longer loads with greater ease, aside from the Flex Fix rack. This optional device slides out like a cassette from the rear bumper revealing an in-built bike rack, complete with supplementary rear lights for visibility and legality.

We were disappointed that only the higher-priced SE Nav (and discontinued Elite) models come with a 60:40 split rear seat as standard, compromising the Corsa’s flexibility.

Boot space itself though is reasonable, at 285 litres with the seats up and 1,050 litres with the back ones tumbled over.

Safety

• Rated four stars by Euro NCAP
• Nose design absorbs impacts better
• Plenty of safety kit on board to help

Vauxhall says the Euro NCAP test is more rigorous than before, which is why this Corsa has a four-star rating compared with its predecessor’s five. That was back in 2014, though, and the standards have been raised further since then - consequently, a car scoring four stars in the current tougher test is likely to be notably safer than the Corsa.

Its longer nose gives better absorption of energy in the unfortunate event of a frontal accident, while each Corsa is packed with six airbags to further cushion the blow in the event of a crash.

Further safety measures include Bluetooth connectivity for mobile phones and LED day-running lights up front to ensure you’re seen more easily. Front foglights are standard on higher spec models too, with bi-xenon headlamps featuring on VXR models.

Lots of safety kit in the Vauxhall Corsa options list

While the latest Corsa is bristling with standard equipment, much of it is to do with making life more convenient than being safety-specific.

If you want your small Vauxhall fitted with safety-enhancing headlamps with cornering function, collision avoidance warning, blindspot warning and lane departure notifications, you’ll have to tick away at the options box.

One safety and convenience feature you will welcome on frosty mornings is the electrically-heated windscreen, installed as standard on all Corsas.

It’s also worth noting that with the Performance Pack the phased-out VXR is a lively little thing, especially on greasy roads. The limited-slip differential tugs at the steering, meaning you need to be on the ball at all times. If this doesn’t sound like much fun, you probably want to consider the standard car instead. The flipside is that the Performance Pack includes better brakes and tyres, so it’ll stop and grip better than standard cars.

WATCH: Vauxhall Corsa Euro NCAP crash test