So, I've had two hire cars over the festive season: a Vauxhall Corsa and a Skoda Rapid which I'll report on elsewhere while focussing on the Vauxhall here.
The first thing that hits you with this car is noise: road noise to be specific. There is a roar ambling along at 30, that already makes hearing the appalling sound system a challenge. Increase your speed to motorway cruising level and that roar becomes deafening and the sound system largely irrelevant. I can't understand why an ordinary priced car can be bought by any buyer in 2014/15 with that level of road noise. 2001 Fiat Punto, 1985 VW Polo, Nissan Micra 2003 are all smooth and silent operators compared to this one.
The ride is pretty appalling too. Noisy over bumps, and choppy at motorway speed. OK the steering is light, the handling appears safe. The characteristics of the engine underline why they called this the 'Corsa'. The designers were not thinking of some exotic palm-fringed getaway: simply a good description of a joyless and somewhat noisy engine that neither provides torque nor revs willingly, and which adds its own unpleasant noise to the equation at higher revs.
The inside is full of ghastly plastic trim and the upholstery is so synthetic it charges you up with the efficiency of a Van Der Graaf generator. On recent clear frosty nights blue flashes could be seen when I touched ground having rubbed my wool /cotton mix across the seats on exiting.
If this car has saving grace it might be economy. The gauge doesn't appear to have moved much, but that's only because I'm just not tempted to drive it except when I have to. I measured the mpg and it came out at 30mpg!!! An extraordinary result for a 1.4 l car in 2014! Do people get paid real money to design a car this bad?? And this with the same style of driving that gives me 55mpg in a 2005 Golf 2.0 TDI and 48 mpg in a 1.5l Qashquai diesel......
I recently drove a Dacia Sendero Stepway, and whilst it had its faults, seemed infinitely preferable to this one. And for much less money you could include a decent trim level, sat nav and entertainment system.
In conclusion, I'm still wondering how a major manufacture can remain in business in 2014 producing cars that are this bad. My strong recommendation would be to spend your money on any secondhand VW, or have a look at some of the newer Kias or Hyundais.
The first thing that hits you with this car is noise: road noise to be specific. There is a roar ambling along at 30, that already makes hearing the appalling sound system a challenge. Increase your speed to motorway cruising level and that roar becomes deafening and the sound system largely irrelevant. I can't understand why an ordinary priced car can be bought by any buyer in 2014/15 with that level of road noise. 2001 Fiat Punto, 1985 VW Polo, Nissan Micra 2003 are all smooth and silent operators compared to this one.
The ride is pretty appalling too. Noisy over bumps, and choppy at motorway speed. OK the steering is light, the handling appears safe. The characteristics of the engine underline why they called this the 'Corsa'. The designers were not thinking of some exotic palm-fringed getaway: simply a good description of a joyless and somewhat noisy engine that neither provides torque nor revs willingly, and which adds its own unpleasant noise to the equation at higher revs.
The inside is full of ghastly plastic trim and the upholstery is so synthetic it charges you up with the efficiency of a Van Der Graaf generator. On recent clear frosty nights blue flashes could be seen when I touched ground having rubbed my wool /cotton mix across the seats on exiting.
If this car has saving grace it might be economy. The gauge doesn't appear to have moved much, but that's only because I'm just not tempted to drive it except when I have to. I measured the mpg and it came out at 30mpg!!! An extraordinary result for a 1.4 l car in 2014! Do people get paid real money to design a car this bad?? And this with the same style of driving that gives me 55mpg in a 2005 Golf 2.0 TDI and 48 mpg in a 1.5l Qashquai diesel......
I recently drove a Dacia Sendero Stepway, and whilst it had its faults, seemed infinitely preferable to this one. And for much less money you could include a decent trim level, sat nav and entertainment system.
In conclusion, I'm still wondering how a major manufacture can remain in business in 2014 producing cars that are this bad. My strong recommendation would be to spend your money on any secondhand VW, or have a look at some of the newer Kias or Hyundais.
see my review of the Skoda a Rapid by comparison .....
