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
Basic equipment
The basic equipment list includes equipment that is standard across all versions of the Vauxhall Corsa Hatchback (14-19).
3x3 point rear seat belts
ABS
Body coloured bumpers
Cloth seat trim
Driver`s airbag
Front electric windows
Isofix child seat anchor points
PAS
Passenger`s airbag
Remote locking
Service indicator
Side airbags
Steering wheel rake adjustment
Steering wheel reach adjustment
Traction control
Equipment by trim level
To view equipment options for a specific trim level, please select from the following list:
Equipment included on some trim levels
Air conditioning
Alarm
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Climate control
Cruise control
Electric driver`s seat
Electric mirrors
Electric passenger`s seat
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Heated mirrors
Heated seats
Height adjustable drivers seat
Metallic Paint
Parking sensors
Sat Nav
Sports seats
Steel wheels
Active equipment
Active standard equipment
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric mirrors
Folding rear seats
Height adjustable drivers seat
Active optional equipment
None available
Black Edition equipment
Black Edition standard equipment
Air conditioning
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric mirrors
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Heated mirrors
Height adjustable drivers seat
Metallic Paint
Sports seats
Black Edition optional equipment
None available
Design equipment
Design standard equipment
Air conditioning
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric mirrors
Height adjustable drivers seat
Steel wheels
Design optional equipment
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Heated mirrors
Diamond equipment
Diamond standard equipment
Alarm
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
Climate control
Cruise control
Electric driver`s seat
Electric mirrors
Electric passenger`s seat
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Heated mirrors
Heated seats
Height adjustable drivers seat
Parking sensors
Diamond optional equipment
None available
Elite equipment
Elite standard equipment
Alarm
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
Climate control
Cruise control
Electric driver`s seat
Electric mirrors
Electric passenger`s seat
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Heated mirrors
Heated seats
Height adjustable drivers seat
Parking sensors
Elite optional equipment
CD
Energy equipment
Energy standard equipment
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric driver`s seat
Electric passenger`s seat
Heated mirrors
Heated seats
Height adjustable drivers seat
Energy optional equipment
Air conditioning
Electric mirrors
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Sports seats
Excite equipment
Excite standard equipment
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric driver`s seat
Electric mirrors
Electric passenger`s seat
Front fog lights
Heated mirrors
Heated seats
Height adjustable drivers seat
Excite optional equipment
Air conditioning
Griffin equipment
Griffin standard equipment
Air conditioning
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
Cruise control
Electric driver`s seat
Electric passenger`s seat
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Heated seats
Height adjustable drivers seat
Sat Nav
Sports seats
Griffin optional equipment
CD
Electric mirrors
Heated mirrors
GSi equipment
GSi standard equipment
Air conditioning
Alarm
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Folding rear seats
Height adjustable drivers seat
Sports seats
GSi optional equipment
None available
Life equipment
Life standard equipment
Electric mirrors
Heated mirrors
Steel wheels
Life optional equipment
None available
Limited Edition equipment
Limited Edition standard equipment
Air conditioning
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric mirrors
Heated mirrors
Height adjustable drivers seat
Sports seats
Limited Edition optional equipment
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Red Edition equipment
Red Edition standard equipment
Air conditioning
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric mirrors
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Heated mirrors
Height adjustable drivers seat
Sports seats
Red Edition optional equipment
None available
SE equipment
SE standard equipment
Air conditioning
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric driver`s seat
Electric mirrors
Electric passenger`s seat
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Heated mirrors
Heated seats
Height adjustable drivers seat
SE optional equipment
None available
SE Nav equipment
SE Nav standard equipment
Air conditioning
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric driver`s seat
Electric mirrors
Electric passenger`s seat
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Heated mirrors
Heated seats
Height adjustable drivers seat
Parking sensors
Sat Nav
SE Nav optional equipment
None available
Sport equipment
Sport standard equipment
Air conditioning
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric mirrors
Folding rear seats
Heated mirrors
Height adjustable drivers seat
Sports seats
Sport optional equipment
Heated seats
SRi equipment
SRi standard equipment
Air conditioning
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric mirrors
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Heated mirrors
Height adjustable drivers seat
Sports seats
SRi optional equipment
None available
SRi Nav equipment
SRi Nav standard equipment
Air conditioning
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric mirrors
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Heated mirrors
Height adjustable drivers seat
Sat Nav
Sports seats
SRi Nav optional equipment
Heated seats
SRi Vx-line equipment
SRi Vx-line standard equipment
Air conditioning
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric mirrors
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Heated mirrors
Height adjustable drivers seat
Sports seats
SRi Vx-line optional equipment
None available
SRi Vx-line Nav Black equipment
SRi Vx-line Nav Black standard equipment
Air conditioning
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Folding rear seats
Height adjustable drivers seat
Sat Nav
Sports seats
SRi Vx-line Nav Black optional equipment
Electric mirrors
Front fog lights
Heated mirrors
Heated seats
Sting equipment
Sting standard equipment
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric mirrors
Height adjustable drivers seat
Sting optional equipment
Air conditioning
Folding rear seats
Front fog lights
Heated mirrors
Sports seats
Sting R equipment
Sting R standard equipment
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric mirrors
Folding rear seats
Height adjustable drivers seat
Sting R optional equipment
Heated mirrors
Sports seats
White Edition equipment
White Edition standard equipment
Air conditioning
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
CD
Cruise control
Electric mirrors
Folding rear seats
Heated mirrors
Height adjustable drivers seat
Sports seats
White Edition optional equipment
Front fog lights
Euro NCAP Rating – 4 stars
The Vauxhall Corsa Hatchback (14-19) was tested by Euro NCAP in 2014 and was awarded a 4 star overall rating.
This overall rating is calculated from the following individual ratings:
Euro NCAP provides motoring consumers with a realistic and independent assessment of the safety performance of some of the most popular cars sold in Europe.
The safety ratings are determined from a series of vehicle tests, designed and carried out by Euro NCAP.
These tests represent, in a simplified way, important real life accident scenarios that could result in injured or killed car occupants or other road users.