No truly great hot hatch can be referred to as such without sporting a suitably tasty interior, and the Corsa’s cabin is as good in some areas as it is bad in others. We like the clarity of the dashboard, think the standard-fit Recaro front seats (complete with side airbags) are superb, and appreciate the strong basic packaging of the three-door Corsa bodyshell, including its roomy rear seats and boot. But some of the minor details, most of which have been applied in the name of VXR branding, are less successful. Such as the deeply naff VXR-logoed gear lever and the gimmicky flat-bottomed steering wheel, which neither looks nor feels anything like the steering wheel of a Golf GTi.
Then again, you can’t really argue against the VXR’s showroom appeal, its basic value for money or the level of standard equipment it provides compared with similarly priced rivals. You get air conditioning, those beefy Recaro front seats and a high-end stereo as standard for your £15,595, and that makes the VXR almost £500 cheaper than its key rivals from Renault and Mini, neither of which is as well specified.
Effectively this means you can choose those £400 18in wheels and still not spend as much money as you would on a Clio 197 or Mini Cooper S.
