Written by Luke Wilkinson Published: 21 October 2024

Seth Walton’s got company for his first six months as a road tester – a 1.2-litre Vauxhall Corsa. One of the UK’s best-loved first cars, it seems a fitting choice, but how well will it hold up after many miles of motorway commuting?

Update one: the introduction

Introducing the Vauxhall Corsa GS Turbo Petrol 1.2 Manual

A new car, for six months! Just a couple of weeks into my career as a road tester and I’ve already been trusted with a long-termer – no pressure. The car itself? A manual 1.2-litre Vauxhall Corsa in mid-range GS trim, finished in a rather fetching crimson red.

My car is the facelifted version that arrived last year, complete with updated technology and a 100hp turbo petrol power unit, which places it in the middle of the Corsa’s engine range. I’ve been running it for several days now, and a few opinions have already started carving themselves out, but let’s kick off with the gearbox.

A manual feels right in this sort of car. I live in central Manchester and so I head south-eastward through the peak district on my commute to the office before turning due south on the A1. Given the modest output of the three-cylinder engine with just 100hp, swift gear changes are occasionally necessary to smoothly manage some of the area’s steeper topography. With a manual, I’m at least able to keep on top of where I am in the Corsa’s rev range, even if it isn’t the slickest in the world.

Though its action is light, the gearbox has a slightly soft-edged vagueness to it, while the throw itself is fairly long. Plus, and this is only a small gripe, the underside of the gear lever head is plated with a piece of cheap-feeling plastic that’s not very comfortable to wrap your fingers around.

All of that notwithstanding, it’s still a highly useable gearbox that’s slick between ratios and with its sixth notch, it’s well suited to motorway cruising, too. That last point is important because after the twists and turns of the Peak District, my commute concludes with an 80-mile motorway slog.

But what about the rest of the Corsa? Well, for just over 23 grand it feels like a lot of car for the money. It’s bigger and roomier than comparable supermini competitors in its class like the Toyota Yaris or the Suzuki Swift, with what feels like a plusher, less scratchy interior.

As previously mentioned, mine is a GS spec car, so it includes sports-style front seats as well as a raft of extra tech features like wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity. Quick and responsive, the infotainment system itself is a breeze to use, and I’ve especially savoured the easy phone connectivity during many early starts.

So, I’m happy with my new long-termer. I’ve already found a couple of niggles but so far they’ve been outweighed by the virtues of what is a sound and honest little car. Stay tuned for my experience with the Corsa over the next five months.

Mileage: 2132 miles
Average fuel economy: 47.8mpg
Claimed average fuel economy: 54.3-55.4mpg

Update two: the big move

Only 150 miles between my current home and my next – should be fine, right?

Ah, nothing like a major, life-changing move across the country to test the luggage capabilities of a car like the Corsa. It really is the litmus test through which a supermini can prove itself to be more than just a city runaround – how well do the seats fold, how conveniently placed is the boot loading lip, how far will I have to contort my neck around various items laid between the front passenger seats. All important facts I was keen to find out and not just as a means to procrastinate endless bag packing.

The Corsa’s got a luggage capacity of 309 litres with the seats up (under the parcel shelf) and 1118 litres with the seats folded. That lands it in a fairly middle-of-the-road position – 23 litres more than the Toyota Yaris but 42 fewer than a VW Polo – both with the seats up.

However, more importantly for my situation, the maximum length with rear seats folded is 1697mm, compared to 1380mm of the Polo, and I used every bit. Luckily the loading lip isn’t especially high and the rear seats fold down well.

In first went my desk (legs removed) that slipped in comfortably, followed by a guitar amp and a guitar case next to it. I was genuinely quite impressed that the Corsa was able to consume them all, followed not-so-neatly by a handful of bin bags with just about everything I own in the world.

How did it drive with all that weight onboard? Pretty well. The car was fully loaded but it didn’t feel excessively heavy, nor prone to roll through the bends like it was about to tip over. I’d probably hire a van next time to reduce two trips between Manchester and the East Midlands down to one, but the Corsa did well for a little car. Just no more packing any time soon, please.

Mileage: 3216 miles
Average fuel consumption: 47 mpg
Claimed average fuel economy: 54.3-55.4mpg

Update three: the hill climb

Impromptu green laning to put the Corsa through some slightly different paces

City car superminis like the Vauxhall Corsa aren’t built to ascend muddy country tracks, but hell – I sent mine up one anyway. The views at the top couldn’t wait, the sun was setting fast and the shadows were growing longer by the minute, so I gunned it.

I was glad to have a manual, just as I was when trying to negotiate some of the steeper climbs out of south east Manchester along the first phase of my old commute. Back in North Wales, though, and doughy as the Corsa’s ‘box may be (yes, that is the best word I’ve come up with in three months to describe its action), it did the job – stood tall where I suspect the auto may have fallen to indecision.

The Corsa doesn’t have tremendous ground clearance – supermini, remember – but it did well to roll the over tough terrain without much difficulty. We’re not talking the green lanes of Mordor here, but tarmac was absent the entire way and I had to move a couple of larger stones out of the road just to save the car from cutting its lip. Tricky turf notwithstanding, the Corsa made it up the route unfussed.

Now, that may not be the most useful consumer journalism as the majority of Corsa owners won’t ever get close to a track like this one, but it was a test all the same, and it adds to the wider context that seems to loom over the car.

It can do a lot of things fairly well, the Corsa, but nothing brilliantly. This has evinced itself over the last three months, as I’ve struggled to really find any fault nor true virtue in it at all. It rides adequately enough, the cabin is banal but not offensive, the gearbox isn’t slick but it does the job – it’s not a model to stir the soul but it’ll damn well do its job and usually without complaint.

Perhaps that’s all you need from a good city car supermini? I’ve certainly felt more at home in the Corsa than I have in some of the harsher cabins from its class – the new Suzuki Swift and Hyundai i20 to name a couple – but still, I don’t lie awake at night dreaming of the next time I’ll get behind the wheel. More testing needed, I’ll think up some more strenuous trials for next month’s report.

Mileage: 4307 miles
Average fuel consumption: 47.8 mpg
Claimed average fuel economy: 54.3-55.4mpg

Update four: the parking bay

At the drop of a hand, I’m looking at the antecedent car’s rear window. Parking has never been so easy.

I’m lucky enough to drive a variety of cars as part of my job, but that privilege does come laden with a few caveats, chief among which being the trouble of parking. I live in an old stone town with a history dating back centuries, a real warren of narrow streets and blind corners. Funnily enough, when the Romans, Normans, Georgians and Victorians were putting my hometown together over the course of a couple millennia, they never thought to factor in the parking agility of a Range Rover Velar – or lack thereof – into the blueprint.

No matter how hard the local gentry tries to write these behemoths into the town’s rich tapestry, the simple matter is, they don’t really fit. But my Corsa does. 

After hopping out of the latest family SUV, the grace and ease with which the Corsa can be manoeuvred hits like a sip of Schweppes Lemonade in the midday August sun. The steering is light enough that you can rotate the wheel quickly and with total dexterity as you negotiate your way in, while at 4,060mm long, it’s only got a short wheelbase for you to contend with. An inch forward, an inch back, you feel in complete control – aided all the while by the raft of assistance systems on offer. 

My GS-spec car has parking sensors all the way around plus a reversing camera for those tight supermarket bays. A 360deg parking system would be a real cherry on the cake, but still the coalition of systems I’ve got on my side do brilliantly in keeping me safe and aware. 

Moreover, the wheels on my Corsa have fairly low-profile tyres, and so their diamond-cut rims are vulnerable to high curbs. Given the car’s narrow width, though, I’ve often found enough room to park a couple of inches away from the pavement while still remaining within the dashed white line running parallel. Excellent. Why don’t we all drive superminis?

Answer: around town, we should. ‘Tight’ parking spaces no longer exist to me in my Corsa. There are simply those that have enough physical space to fit my car in and those that don’t. If I crawl past the former, you best believe I’m getting in it.

Mileage: 6132 miles
Average fuel consumption: 48.6 mpg
Claimed average fuel economy: 54.3-55.4mpg

Update five: the comparison test

10 years and a different face split these two cars, but they share the same name. Time to see how they compare...

A couple of months ago, Paula Cullington from the Parkers ownership content desk revealed to me that she runs a 2013 Corsa as her daily. She’d barely made it through the second syllable before the words ‘COMPARISON FOR LONG TERM REPORT’ came spewing out of my mouth like involuntary vomit. ‘Fire it up,’ I demanded. ‘We’ve got a side by side picture to take.’

Registered in 2013, Paula’s Corsa is a late Corsa D – one of the last facelifted Ds before the arrival of the Corsa E the following year. Stepping out of my facelifted Corsa F and into Paula’s run around, what jumps out to me first is just how many buttons, knobs and dials we relied upon ten years ago. When illuminated at night, I should imagine the whole dash looks like the world’s saddest fruit machine, and while juxtaposed next to hers, the cockpit in my Corsa looks simple, sleek and design-led.  

On the move, it soon becomes clear how the world of superminis has advanced in ten years. The gearbox in Paula’s Corsa has a reasonably pleasant action to it, and if anything is a little less doughy (yep, still using that word) than the effort in my car. But the steering is considerably heavier, as is the clutch, and the ride is perhaps a little less comfortable.

Now of course Paula’s ’13 Corsa is a significantly older car than mine, and so the slickness in a few of its functions may well have deteriorated over the years, but there’s still no denying that Vauxhall’s supermini has become an easier car to drive, while roomier and more tech conscious.

The steering in my car is light, and the whole chassis feels more nimble and better suited to city life, despite its bigger footprint. I also have parking sensors, a rear-view camera and electric mirrors to ease my life (see previous entry), while Paula has little more than a seven-inch monochrome display to tell her which presenter on BBC Radio 1 she’s listening to.

Maybe that’s unfair. Do you even listen to Radio 1?

‘Of course. As the owner of a 2013 Vauxhall Corsa for the past four years, I can confidently say it has served its purpose and has been a reliable first car. No, it may not be equipped with the sleek infotainment system and wireless Apple CarPlay that the latest Corsa features, but it does in fact come with a standard Bluetooth system that you can connect your music to if you get sick of blaring Radio 1.

‘Not bad for a third-generation Corsa, but still nothing in comparison to the newer model with its fancy display screens and built-in navigation systems,’ Paula said.

‘Having driven both the models D and F, I can echo Seth’s thoughts on the heavier steering and differences in the gearbox. But for me, the most notable difference between the two was the ride, jumping into the newer model felt like two worlds apart, I could tell instantly that the suspension was a lot smoother and this made for a far more enjoyable ride on country roads.

‘Now, in defence of my Corsa, it has taken a battering over the years thanks to the many potholes in my area, which hasn’t exactly helped the ride quality. Overall, the suspension is definitely firmer in my older model, making the newer Corsa feel much more refined by comparison.’

So the Vauxhall Corsa has come a long way – from a cheap L plate darling to the sharp, stylish and respectable hatchback it is today. The Corsa F has a grown up mien that’s sportier and more focussed, while the driving experience is considerably easier. I wonder where it’ll stand in another 10 years?

Update six: goodbye

Parting is such sweet sorrow

My time with the Corsa has come to an end. After six months, I’ve learnt to appreciate this little car for what it is – a no frills runaround that won’t set your world on fire, nor electrify your nervous system like you’ve just stuck your finger into a three-pin plug socket, but a reliable and useable hatchback all the same. 

The size and manoeuvrability of the Corsa have really grown on me over the months, and the knife now twists a little more at the thought the hatchback is a dying breed. As the world gets busier and more crowded, I think we may soon rue the day we decided hatchbacks were not worth our time. In some environments, an honest little car is all you need. 

To answer my initial question of how the Corsa holds up after many commuting miles, the answer is… okay. It’s not a car designed to gesture fatigue away, as the Corsa is almost entirely devoid of luxurious feel. I put nearly 7000 miles in my car, and there were certainly some long journeys on which I wished I could be in something more relaxing, but then it is a supermini. Short trips around town are its forte.

So, will I yearn for the Corsa in enduring anguish like one might their first girlfriend or first pet? No. Will I even miss it that much? Probably not. Will I wish to God that I were back in it when attempting a 14-point turn in the latest coupe SUV on a road with cars parked either side and traffic waiting in both directions? I have this horrible feeling I might.