Unlike many of its equally well-established European rivals, the Vauxhall Corsa has never harboured ambitions of being particularly ‘fun to drive’.
Even in VXR-branded form, its reputation for driver appeal has been a bit mixed. That’s largely because Opel-Vauxhall has never been minded to put agility or responsiveness ahead of obliging usability or convenience as key components of the basic car’s motive character. And, given how well the car has sold over the years, conceivably quite rightly so.
Perhaps somewhat predictably when prefaced in that light, this new version handles a little bit like a car of conflicted priorities: one that’s fundamentally better able than its predecessors to distinguish itself for handling precision and general dynamic poise (thanks to its lower body profile and kerb weight) but one that hasn’t been tuned with quite the required agenda to capitalise on it.
In an echo of its slightly stodgy and over-assisted brake pedal, the car’s steering is also quite light and a little disconnected in its feel. It maintains a monotone weighting as you add angle rather than increasing resistance to mimic load building into the suspension and tyre sidewalls, and this is precisely the kind of dynamic trait that Vauxhall might have ‘tuned out’ for UK-market cars under its former General Motors ownership.
