Vauxhall Corsa Review & Prices

The Vauxhall Corsa is a bit lonely these days, because it’s one of the few simple, no-frills small hatchbacks left on sale. That’s not to say it feels spartan; it’s well equipped, good-looking and drives well enough, but the interior is a bit dour and it’s not very practical.

Think of the Corsa as a pair of Skechers in a world of Nike, Adidas and New Balance trainers. It’s better than its alternatives in a lot of ways, but unlike the flashy pair of Air Jordans, the Skechers won’t get many compliments from your mates.

It’s not totally alone though, because even if the Peugeot 208, Renault Clio and Mini Cooper are all very style-focused small cars, the trusty Skoda Fabia and Volkswagen Polo are still around to offer simple, fuss-free motoring.

Even though there’s a lack of clout attached to the name, the Corsa is actually quite a good looking little car. You get a sporty front end thanks to Vauxhall’s signature, retro-styled ‘Vizor’ - a strip of black trim adjoining the headlights - and a moody lower air intake, while the two-tone colour options and slim taillights round off an attractive little package.

The interior isn’t quite as attractive though, being one of the plainest you’ll find in a small hatchback these days. Vauxhall has eschewed any retro-styling in here, unlike the Mini Cooper and Fiat 500e, and they haven’t gone for a funky, futuristic look like the Citroen e-C3 either.

You get physical climate controls beneath the dashboard, which are a joy to use. The infotainment system is clear to understand and easy to navigate, and even when using the standard-fit Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, a selection of shortcut buttons remain on the infotainment display. Nice.

There are lots of grey plastics around, with a simple-to-use but rather plain dashboard design. Material quality is largely good, though, and the build quality feels solid. There’s plenty of space up front, but the pedals can feel a bit too close to you to get comfortable, and there isn’t much in the way of storage solutions. The central cupholders feel too shallow to grip a bottle properly, while there isn’t any covered storage beyond the glovebox.

Space in the back is very tight in terms of legroom, and while you’ll just about fit four six-footers in the Corsa, it’ll be an uncomfortable journey for those in the back. Headroom isn’t bad, but there’s no storage except for some small door bins, and at 309 litres, bootspace is nothing to brag about; lagging behind the Skoda Fabia and Peugeot 208.

Around town the Corsa is easy to drive, even in entry-level 1.2-litre petrol trim with a manual gearbox, thanks to the light clutch and easy shift throw. The automatic hybrid model takes even less effort to thread through city streets, but you do get bounced around on rough road sections, even if the Corsa does a good job of soaking up bigger lumps and bumps.

The Corsa feels less at home on the motorway. It’s noisy, not just when you’ve got your foot down, but there’s noticeable wind noise around the mirrors and tyre roar on anything but freshly-laid tarmac. That unsettled ride is amplified at speed, too, shaking you around a little, though country lanes are drama-free with decent grip from the front wheels - just don’t go expecting hot-hatch levels of fun.

Check out the latest Vauxhall Corsa deals on Carwow, or Vauxhall Corsa lease deals instead. There are used Vauxhall Corsas available through our network of trusted dealers, or other used Vauxhalls available if you need more boot space. You can even sell your existing car through Carwow when it’s time to switch.

The Vauxhall Corsa range starts at just over £19,000 in Corsa YES trim with the 1.2-litre, 100hp engine and six-speed manual gearbox. You’ll pay around £2,000 more for Design-spec cars, and roughly the same again for a Corsa in GS trim. The range-topping Corsa Ultimate starts at a whopping £26,500.

Entry level cars come equipped with 16-inch wheels, a heated steering wheel, electric windows, a 7.0-inch driver’s display and 10.0-inch infotainment system as standard. Design cars add a four-way adjustable passenger seat and different colour options, but you lose the heated seats, heated steering wheel and digital driver’s display of the YES model…which doesn’t make much sense.

Top-ring Ultimate cars have an electric parking brake, power fold door mirrors, centre console armrest, electronic climate control, keyless go and 17-inch alloy wheels as standard, but you can get a well-specced Peugeot 208 hybrid in Allure trim for the same price, and it has a much nicer interior than the Corsa - plus the hybrid engine with automatic gearbox is around £1,300 more across all trim levels in the Vauxhall.

The Vauxhall Corsa is good to drive thanks to a strong engine lineup, however it’s not the most fun on a twisty road 

In town

The Vauxhall Corsa shines in town, where its compact dimensions make it very easy to slot through gaps in traffic. 

The large door mirrors give you a good view of the road behind, which is just as well because there’s a bit of a blind spot over your shoulder courtesy of the thick rear pillars. Parking is a piece of cake though thanks to the tight turning circle, and mid-spec GS cars get a reversing camera as standard to make those tight car parks a bit less stressful.  

Any of the three petrol engines work well in the city, with the 100hp 1.2-litre unit offering the best blend of punch and economy. If the vast majority of your driving is done in town, the 75hp engine will be perfectly adequate as well. Those wanting an automatic gearbox will have to splash out for the 130hp 1.2-litre engine. While this does take some of the strain out of stop-start traffic, it can be hesitant when pulling away and the gear changes are sometimes a bit jerky. 

For the best urban experience in the Corsa, you need the electric version. It’s all but completely silent, swift and has a generous range. It also has a ‘B’ mode to regenerate some electricity from the wheels as the car slows, though this isn’t quite as good as the one-pedal driving modes of some EVs.

The only notable point against the Corsa is the fact that it can be a little bit firm over bumps in the road, with larger potholes sending a harsh thud through the cabin. A Volkswagen Polo is more comfortable over rough surfaces. 

On the motorway

It’s when the road opens up that the 75hp petrol engine feels a bit out of its depth power-wise. You’ll have to really thrash it to get up to 70mph, and any overtaking manoeuvres need to be very well thought-out. Again, it's the 100hp engine which is the sweet spot here, offering plenty of performance and good fuel economy. 

Regardless of which engine you go for, the Corsa feels stable and composed on the motorway. You do get a touch of wind noise at speed, but other than that it’s smooth and comfortable. 

If you go for the Ultimate version with an automatic gearbox you also get adaptive cruise control, meaning it can speed up and slow down to keep you a safe distance from the car in front automatically. This makes it a good choice for those who spend most of their time slogging up and down the motorway. 

On a twisty road

Driving the Corsa on a country lane is safe and straightforward. It doesn’t lean too much through the bends and the steering is accurate enough to inspire confidence. 

While there is a sport mode on offer in the two higher trim levels, all it really does is add some weight to the steering. If you’re looking for something which puts a smile on your face on a twisty road, a Seat Ibiza might be a better bet. 

That said, the Corsa strikes a good balance between comfort and control, and the lane keeping assist isn’t too intrusive either, only chiming in when you really need it to. 

While there’s plenty of space up front in the Corsa, those in the rear will be pretty cramped. It’s not the most exciting-looking cabin either 

Those sitting in the front of the Vauxhall Corsa won’t be left wanting for space. There’s plenty of adjustment in the driver’s seat for anyone big or small to find their ideal driving position, and the seats are pretty comfortable as well. The pedals can be a bit awkward for some, but top-spec cars get a massage function for the driver - a feature usually reserved for much more premium models.

That range-topping model also gets Alcantara suede-like upholstery, but it’s a shame that a lot of the Corsa’s cabin is finished in black or grey plastic, and it’s missing the overall design flair of the mechanically-similar Peugeot 208.

When it comes to storage, you have some average-sized door bins, a couple of handy cup holders in the centre console and a tray in front of the gear selector for your phone. The glovebox is pretty tiny though, thanks to the fact the fuse box takes up half of it, and only range-topping cars get a centre armrest. You also only get one USB-C in the front for charging your phone.

Space in the back seats

Those sitting in the back of the Corsa may be wishing for more legroom, as it’s pretty tight. It’ll be fine for kids, but taller adults will find themselves with their knees jammed up against the seat in front. 

There’s just about enough headroom, but it’ll be a squeeze with three in the back because of the way the roof curves inwards. There’s not all that much foot space either thanks to the hump in the floor. 

Fitting a child seat should be a fairly straight-forward task though, because the rear doors open pretty wide. You also get ISOFIX mounts on both outer seats as standard, but the anchor points are hidden behind some fiddly zips. You’ll almost certainly have to move the front seat forward to fit a bulky rear-facing seat as well. 

There are some small door bins in the back to provide some storage, as well as map pockets on the back of the front seats. There aren’t any USB chargers back here though, unless you go for the top-spec Ultimate car. 

Boot space

Adequate is the best word to describe the Corsa’s boot. At 309 litres, dropping to 267 litres in the electric model thanks to some batteries under the floor, it’s slightly larger than the Citroen C3 but some way off the 330 litres offered by the Skoda Fabia. 

There’s a bit of a load lip to lift things over, and when you fold the 60:40 split rear seats there’s a large hump in the floor which makes it tricky to push heavy items to the front. There aren’t too many clever features back there either. You get a couple of bag hooks, and that’s about your lot. 

There is some space under the boot floor to hide a few bits and pieces, as long as you go for one of the petrol-engined models and not the EV, but the load cover won’t fit under there. 

Vauxhall has gone with a restrained, conservative look for the Corsa’s cabin, unlike the Peugeot 208 which has a much more modern and interesting design. It’s fine if all you want is to have the controls and information in functional places, but a bit of added glitz wouldn’t go amiss.

That said, the quality is up there with the best in this class. Everything is really well put together, and there are plenty of soft touch plastics and posh-feeling materials around the place. You do still have some scratchy surfaces on the door tops and dashboard, but that’s to be expected on a car in this class.

Design cars make do with analog dials in front of the driver, with a 3.5-inch display in the middle. There’s nothing wrong with it, the clocks are clear and easy to read and you get all the basic information you need. It’s an odd detail though, as entry-level YES models get a digital display.

Mid-spec GS models and above then get a 7.0-inch digital driver’s display and, while it’s good enough for a car at this price point, it’s not the sharpest screen out there and certainly isn't a patch on the system you get in Volkswagens, for example.

Standard in all Corsa models is a 10.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The graphics are sharp, but it can be quite slow to respond to your inputs which gets frustrating after a while. The menus aren’t the easiest to fathom either, but this isn’t so much of an issue when you’re using smartphone mirroring.

The same can be said for the lack of sat nav on all but the top-spec cars, because in most cases using Waze or Google Maps on your phone will be better than using Vauxhall’s own system anyway.

Nestled below the touchscreen is something of a rarity these days: physical buttons for the climate control. These make it nice and easy to adjust the temperature and fan speed on the move, and it’s just a simple button prod to turn on the heated seats. Much simpler than the touchscreen-based controls you get in the Peugeot 208.

Behind the gear level you have a tray which is handy for storing your phone. There’s only one USB-C slot in the front of the Corsa, however range-topping cars have a wireless charging pad.

There are several engine options for the Vauxhall Corsa, all of them based on a 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine.

The entry-level 100hp version has a six-speed manual gearbox. The 0-60mph time of 9.9 seconds means it feels peppy around town, and it’s not too stressed on the motorway. This version will return 55.4mpg according to the official test, and it emits 121g/km of CO2. We actually achieved 58.7mpg on a motorway trip, with a few A-roads at either end; very impressive.

You can opt for an eight-speed automatic instead of the manual gearbox on upper trim levels, if you want the easiest experience around town.

At the top of the range is the 145hp hybrid option, exclusively available with the automatic gearbox. It will do 0-62mph in 8.7 seconds with economy of 60.1mpg and CO2 emissions of 106g/km, though there’s also a 110hp version of the same hybrid engine available.

All of these options fall into the low-ish road tax brackets, and they all escape the luxury car supplement. Company car drivers are best off opting for a Corsa Electric, for the lowest possible Benefit in Kind cost.

The Corsa scored four stars when it was tested by Euro NCAP in 2019.

In addition to the six airbags fitted to all Corsa models, Vauxhall includes a lane departure warning system with lane keep assist, rear parking sensors, and driver fatigue alert. There’s also forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking, plus cruise control with speed limiter in all models.

The GS gains front parking sensors and a rear-view camera, while the Ultimate has an upgraded reversing camera and adaptive cruise control. This top trim level also gains lane positioning assistance to keep it in the centre of the road, and Vauxhall’s IntelliLux adaptive headlights that give the best view of the road ahead at all times without dazzling drivers in oncoming cars.

Vauxhall provides a three-year/60,000-mile warranty for the Corsa, which makes it one of the less appealing warranty options available, and some way off the more generous offerings from those such as Kia, Hyundai and Toyota.

Reliability is fairly good, though, as Vauxhall came fourth out of 31 manufacturers entered into the 2025 Driver Power survey for owner satisfaction, and Vauxhall repairs and servicing aren’t too expensive.