Vauxhall Corsa Electric Review & Prices

The new Vauxhall Corsa Electric is a small electric car with a fresh look that makes it the smartest Corsa yet – by quite some margin. It's also - after a recent price drop - much better value than it was at launch, making it a real alternative to some of the cheapest electric cars you can buy.

Which makes it a lot like an iPhone SE. The regular petrol Corsa is one of the best-selling cars in the UK, so you see them everywhere. But realising that the super-expensive electric version wouldn't serve everyone, an entry-level EV model was introduced to keep the entry point to the range low enough to appeal.

If you’re looking to save cash there are better-value petrol Corsa models available. But if you’re sticking to electric, similarly sized alternatives include the Peugeot e-208, Renault Zoe and the Fiat 500 Electric.

However, for about the same amount of money you can get the brilliant MG4, which goes further on a charge and fits more of your stuff inside. Look at the top-spec Corsa Electric and you could also consider the Renault Megane E-Tech, Citroen e-C4 and Cupra Born, all of which are more practical.

The new Corsa Electric has some stiff competition, then – but being based on one of the UK’s best-selling cars is a strong starting point.

As is the styling. This is the most handsome Corsa ever, with a chunky black strip across the front with slim LED headlights - as seen on the Vauxhall Mokka and Astra already - making it super-stylish. There are some new alloy wheel designs for the 2023 update too, and while not much has changed around the back, it’s a case of not fixing what ain’t broke.

Inside it’s less flashy, but it’s a bit less fussy than before with a smaller gear selector, as well as a new steering wheel and upholstery designs too.

More importantly, there’s a new infotainment system within the 10.0-inch touchscreen, but it’s still pretty sluggish compared with the best in the business (and you get the old 7.0-inch system in entry-level Design models). Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto improve things, though.

Space is good by small car standards for those in the front, but rear seat passengers won’t be so happy, with very limited kneeroom. Practicality is merely fine, with door bins and cup holders that will struggle to fit larger bottles and a small cubby hole in the arm rest, itself only standard on top-spec models.

Boot space is nothing to write home about either. At 267 litres it’s smaller than both the Renault Zoe and Peugeot e-208, though it’s more spacious than the Fiat 500 Electric. And it’s miles off the MG4 and Renault Megane E-Tech.

Things improve when it comes to driving though. Despite being a small car, the Vauxhall Corsa Electric is quiet and refined at motorway speeds, and it handles bumps well around town. The steering is a bit too light to really enjoy twisty roads but it’s no less fun than most other small city cars.

Where the Corsa really excels, though, is its efficiency. We saw 4.4miles/kWh, which makes it one of the most efficient EVs we’ve ever tested. That means you can maximise the battery’s range and save money on charging.

There are two battery and motor combinations to choose from. The more powerful 156hp version is new and has a fractionally bigger battery, with an official range of up to 246 miles, while the less powerful 136hp model can go up to 222 miles. In practice, you'll find the difference to be much larger - we averaged around 200 miles per charge from the more powerful car, but struggled to best 140 miles in the 136hp car.

All in all, the Vauxhall Corsa Electric is good to drive with great efficiency to maximise its battery capacity, but it’s not the most practical EV and it’s expensive for the size. 

However, there are great savings to be had through Carwow, so check out the latest Vauxhall Corsa Electric deals. You can also browse used Corsa Electric models, as well as other used Vauxhalls from our network of trusted dealers. And when it’s time to sell your current car, carwow can help with that too.

There are four trim levels available with the Vauxhall Corsa Electric. A hastily-introduced entry-level model called the Corsa YES Edition slashed the entry price by more than £5,000, making it just fractionally cheaper than the MG4. It's only available with the entry-level motor and battery, though. The next trim up is Design, which costs more than £32,000, while the mid-spec GS is around £1,500 extra. Starting at GS, you can spend another £1,500 or so for the more powerful battery and motor combo, which is well worth doing.

The top-spec Corsa Electric Ultimate is only offered with the most powerful motor and costs more than £38,000 - dangerously close to £40,000 if you add on metallic paint and a sunroof.

Lower down in the range, the Corsa is quite good value - the MG4 is bigger and goes further on a charge than the entry-level Corsa Yes, but it competes favourably with cars like the Fiat 500 Electric. However, at the top end, the £38,500+ Ultimate model is only around £400 cheaper than an entry-level Skoda Enyaq - and more expensive than half a dozen bigger and better cars. It's very hard to justify at that price.

Motorway refinement is decent and low-speed bumps are little fuss, but it’s not great fun on a twisty road

In town

Because of its fairly compact dimensions, the Corsa is well-suited to city life. With the smooth electric motors and light steering, navigating traffic and tight streets takes little effort. 

There are three drive modes that alter power delivery in the Corsa Electric, with Normal and Eco relevant to town driving. You don’t get the full power available in either, but this helps maximise range, particularly in Eco which reduces power quite a bit and also turns down the climate control and in-car displays to further save energy. Normal feels a bit perkier though, so you should only use Eco if you really want to save energy or you’re stuck in heavy traffic.

Your view out of the back isn’t great because of the thick rear pillars, but large wing mirrors do make things a bit easier. Parking is particularly easy if you have an Ultimate model because the new high-definition reversing camera works really well.

Comfort is pretty good, too – it’s a little firm and can jiggle about a bit on particularly rough roads, but it’s generally composed and you don’t get any harsh crashing sounds if you hit a pothole.

On the motorway

Despite its small stature, the Corsa is a comfortable and refined companion for motorway driving. The electric motors are near silent and you barely notice any wind or road noise either. It’s impressive for a car that’s predominantly built for city life.

The 156hp electric motor has the gusto to get you up to speed without much hesitation, and has enough in reserve to pull off overtakes as required. Although Normal and Eco modes limit performance in typical driving situations, they will give you full power if you put your foot down hard on the move, so you don’t have to keep switching to Sport mode to get past slow-moving traffic.

Standard safety kit is useful for motorway driving, with cruise control and a lane-keeping assistant that isn’t annoyingly intrusive. 

On a twisty road

Comfort and refinement are hallmarks of the Corsa driving experience, and while they make for a fairly relaxing drive in most conditions, they do mean it’s not the most exciting car in the bends.

The light steering means it’s tricky to be smooth and precise at speed and you don’t get a great sense of how much grip the tyres have. There’s not much body lean though, so it feels safe and secure – fine, just not the sort of words to get your pulse racing.

Nudge the drive mode switch to Sport and you get full power from the electric motors. It’s not exactly hot hatch quick, and doesn’t have the instant punch we’ve come to expect from EVs, but there’s enough get up and go to enjoy the occasional countryside blast.

Front seat passengers will be comfortable, but there’s very little space in the back and the boot’s on the small side

Front seat space is pretty good, so even taller passengers will be able to get comfortable. The infotainment display makes the dashboard jut out into the passenger footwell just enough to be a bit annoying, but it’s only the long legged who will find their knee space compromised.

Practicality is more average, with door bins and cupholders that will comfortably take a 500ml bottle, but larger containers will be a struggle. There’s a cutout that gives you a useful place to put your keys, and a wireless charging pad ahead of the new gear selector in GS and Ultimate models.

The centre armrest is standard on Ultimate, but it’s a £500 option on the GS as part of the Winter Pack that adds heated seats and steering wheel. All are useful additions, but the armrest’s storage space is small.

Space in the back seats

While those in the front will be comfy, those in the back will be more likely to complain. Kneeroom is the main issue, because even kids will probably find it a bit cramped. In the six-footer-behind-six-footer test, the person in the back will have to spread their knees either side of the seat in front, which is uncomfortable and makes it impossible to put someone in the middle seat. 

Three abreast is tricky at the best of times, because the person in the middle seat has nowhere to put their knees and there’s little space for everyone’s feet. At least the cushion is really comfortable.

Headroom is better, though, and if you opt for the £500 glass roof on Ultimate models, it’s not reduced by enough to be a problem. Having this roof helps make the cabin feel much lighter and less claustrophobic.

Because of this limited space, the Corsa Electric isn’t the best small car to fit a child seat. The ISOFIX points are easily accessed behind zips, but the small gap to the seat in front makes fitting bulkier seats tough.

The door bins are almost too small to be useful, but you do get two USB-C slots between the front seats.

Boot space

Practicality isn’t the Corsa’s strong point, and the Electric actually has a bit less space than the petrol-powered models. With the rear seats up you get 287 litres, which is smaller than the 338 litres in the Renault Zoe and 311 litres in the Peugeot e-208. It’s more than the 185 litres in the Fiat 500 Electric, though.

If you’re looking at the top end of the Corsa Electric range, there are bigger, more spacious cars available for the cash. The Renault Megane E-Tech has the most capacity at 440 litres, but it’s not the most practical shape. The Peugeot e-2008 isn’t far behind with 435 litres and the Cupra Born gets 385 litres. 

Then there’s the MG4, which actually costs less than the Vauxhall and has a 363-litre boot.

At least the Vauxhall’s load space is a useful square shape, and while there is a slightly annoying lip it’s not massive, so lifting heavy items in and out isn’t as tricky as it is in the Megane, for example.

Folding the rear seats is easy, because the boot is shallow so you can reach the levers in the back of the seats. Do this and you get 1,081 litres of space, which is a bit less than the 1,225 litres in the Renault Zoe.

The simple design will appeal to some, but the likes of the Peugeot e-208 certainly have more flair

Much like the safe and secure driving experience, the interior design follows a similar ethos, rather than being inspired by the cool exterior. It’s fairly simple with lots of dark shades that give it a quiet sophistication that will appeal to plenty of buyers.

However, again, price is a sticking point. It’s much easier to be complimentary about the entry-level Corsa Yes, which starts at less than £26,000. But the top-spec Electric we tested is a nearly-£40,000 car, and for that price the materials generally don’t feel fancy enough and the design could do with a bit more drama.

There are some nice touches, such as the Alcantara seat inserts that are replicated on the doors. But it doesn’t take much poking and prodding to find cheaper materials, and there were a few signs that the trim wouldn’t stand up to grabby kids in the long-term.

The infotainment system does claw back a few points for the Corsa’s interior. At 10.0 inches it’s the perfect size for a small car and the graphics are crystal clear. The downside is that it’s pretty laggy and can be quite sluggish, particularly when using the built-in sat nav, for example. But with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, that can largely be avoided.

Electric models also get a 7.0-inch driver’s display as standard, which shows all the relevant information in a fuss-free way. It’s easy to find the menus you need, too. However, it's not particularly visually appealing, and the screen is inset into a huge swathe of black plastic so it looks like an afterthought.

There are two battery and motor combinations available with the Vauxhall Corsa Electric.

The cheaper of the two has the same 136hp motor and 50kWh battery found in the old Corsa Electric. It can go from 0-62mph in 8.9 seconds and has a official range of 222 miles. It’s not available with the Ultimate trim, though. During our time with this car we've found real-world range to top out around a disappointing 140 miles or so, stretching to 160 if you're extremely lightfooted.

More appealing is the more powerful option. It’s a new motor and battery combination that makes 156hp and has a capacity of 51kWh, with a 0-62mph time of 8.2 seconds and a range of up to 246 miles.

What these official stats don’t tell you is that this new technology offers excellent efficiency. During our drive on a route that took in both city traffic and motorways, we achieved 4.4miles/kWh, which is actually a slight improvement on the official figure of 4.2m/kWh. It’s also a bit better than we’ve seen in even the Tesla Model 3, which usually leads the pack for low energy use and makes the Corsa one of the most efficient EVs we’ve tested. What this means is that you will use less electricity than in most other alternatives on any given trip, helping keep running costs low. It also means a real-world range in excess of 200 miles.

Charging speeds top out around 100kW, which isn't incredibly fast but is more than adequate considering the Corsa's smallish battery pack. A 10-80 per cent charge should take around half an hour.

Further helping to make the Corsa Electric cheap to own is the fact that you won’t have to pay road tax, and company car tax will be incredibly low, too.

The Vauxhall Corsa has been safety tested by Euro NCAP and scored four out of five. It was rated well for occupant protection, with 84% and 86% for adults and children respectively. It scored lower in vulnerable user protection and safety assistance.

Standard safety equipment isn’t too bad, though. You get cruise control, a lane-keeping assistance system and automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection. Entry-level cars only have rear parking sensors, but step up to GS and you also get front sensors. These models also get blind spot monitoring, and a new reversing camera that is much higher quality than before. Ultimate models get adaptive LED headlights that automatically avoid blinding other drivers, as well as adaptive cruise control and an enhanced automatic braking system.

The Vauxhall Corsa has a fairly average record for reliability – there are no major red flags, but it’s not perfect. Electric models should go wrong less often than petrol models because their motors are less complex, while Vauxhall parts and repairs are generally not too expensive if something goes wrong.

You get a three-year warranty, with unlimited mileage for the first year but a limit of 60,000 miles by the third year. That makes it one of the less appealing warranty offerings around, and less than you get with the MG4 (seven years/80,000 miles). The Peugeot e-208’s warranty is the same as the Corsa’s, though.