The Corsa VXR's got a little brother, as the new Corsa SRi goes on sale in the UK. It's a lot smarter than the Nova SRis we can remember, too.The gentler hot Corsa will be available with either diesel or petrol engines, and in three- or five-door form.Go for the petrol, and you get a turbocharged 1.6-litre four-pot with 148bhp and 155lb ft that pulls the little hatch to 60mph in 7.6sec and on to 130mph.Choose diesel, and you'll be getting a 1.7-litre 123bhp, 207lb ft unit that takes 9.3sec to get to 60mph, but returns a claimed 58.9mpg.It's reasonably affordable, too, at £13,625 for the three-door petrol and £14,235 for the three-door diesel. The five-doors are £650 more, and insurance is group 13 for the petrol car and group seven for the diesel.But never mind all that sensible stuff. What will interest potential buyers will be the lowered chassis (18mm down at the front and 15mm at the rear), deep front spoiler, side skirts, 17-inch alloys, chromed exhaust and rear spoiler. Neon underbody lighting isn't on the options list, but we're sure you can still fit it if you want.Inside you’re treated to red-detailed seats, alloy pedals and, in true 1980s style, red seatbelts. Sadly an accompanying 1980s-style cassette deck isn't available; you'll have to put up with the standard CD stereo.
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