Opel Corsa 1.4T Review

By Farzana Chaumoo

 Does the Corsa Sport have what it takes to compete with new offerings such as the latest Fiesta and Polo? It’s bound to surprise many, let’s take a look at what it offers.

Styling

While it’s not the most exciting to look at, the Corsa Sport isn’t wildly far from its standard Corsa counterpart. Its fitted with an exterior body kit, that includes front and rear bumper extensions, side skirts, and a sporty exhaust tip. Additionally, there’s a sport suspension and 17-inch dark Titanium alloy wheels and power sunroof as standard.

While my test derivative came in a boring white, and I say boring because I’m not a fan of neutral colours, you can choose between 15 different exterior colours, of which 5 are solid and 10 are metallic.

Standard features include electric windows and mirrors, auto lights and wipers, auto-dimming rear view mirror, 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system with smartphone navigation and app integration, air-conditioning, and a reverse camera with park assist.

Interior

Inside the car hard plastics surround you, but these make it easier to clean. There’s an all-new leather covered flat-bottom sport steering wheel, alloy sports pedals, and a leather gear shift knob taken from the OPC.

The use of 3 colours around the cabin are a nice touch but on the flip side the infotainment screen has a dated look. The radio also aggravated me and every time I would switch to 5FM the sound system would mute. Then after several random taps on the screen trying to figure out what activates it, it would then come back on. I never figured it out and I just didn’t like the system altogether. There is one USB port in the Corsa Sport but no AUX.

The Drive

The Corsa Sport has a smooth gearbox and with the supply of good power, decent fun could be had. Around the city it’s peppy and quick. Many times we speak about a car didn’t have enough power when overtaking, but this is no problem for this model. It packs a punch on the open road too.

There is good all-round visibility from the driver’s seat which is also enhanced by big windows all around the car.

There are 3 different modes in the car that can be switched between its standard mode, ECO and City. You can immediately feel the difference in the steering and through its suspension when switching between modes, but I still felt the Corsa Sport’s overall steering was too loose and requires constant input from the driver.

Performance

The Corsa Sport is powered by a 1.4-litre turbo engine mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox. It puts out 110 kW of power and 220 Nm of torque.

Space and Comfort

Boot space is limited to 265 litres and the rear seats have a 60/40 folding split to enhance storage space if there is no additional passengers.

The steering wheel can only be height adjusted and not adjusted by length. I found the adjuster to be difficult.

The seats weren’t as comfortable as expected, but you won’t leave the car with any pains, so I guess we can say they’re okay. I’m also not sure if it’s because I’m particularly short, but the visor was too small for the driver’s window. It also kept grating the roof because of the sunroof’s panel that comes further out, there was a small hump on the roof. It can be pretty annoying, and after a while it will be damaging the roof lining.

There was good storage space in the doors and beneath the center console, as well as 2 cupholders.

Safety

The Corsa Sport vaunts a host of safety features that include systems such as side blind zone alert, advance park and hill start assist 2 and of course, ABS, ESP and daytime running lights.

Six airbags can be found around the cabin to protect its occupants, as well as ISOFIX fixtures.

For additional convenience, the Corsa Sport also sports Bi-Xenon lights with cornering light control and front fog lamps, auto headlights and rain sensing wipers, along with cruise control.

Fuel Consumption

Opel claims a combined consumption of 5.8 litres/100 km. I cannot confirm or deny any figures as the vehicle’s system does not display this information. However, from the distances I usually cover on a day-to-day basis in the span of a week, I can say that its tank went a long way and it is quite fuel efficient.

Price

The Corsa Sport has a price tag of R297 995 (at the time of publishing) and is covered by Opel for a 3 year/60 000km Service Plan and 5 year/120 000km Warranty

The Verdict

This sporty hatch is great for someone seeking an affordable, economical and fun-to-drive car. Its size makes it easy to manoeuvre, it has “cute” rims and offers a good level of standard spec.