1. Vauxhall Corsa

Vauxhall Corsa (2006 onwards model)

Is this the most dynamic new supermini of 2006? Britain’s best selling small car for the past three years, the all-new Corsa is bigger and brasher.

With none of the subtle good looks of Europe’s best selling car, Fiat’s Grande Punto, the Corsa goes for a bold new look. The appeal is to all age ranges, the three door with sexy coupe looks, and a more practical five door for sensible people. Throw in a wide range of engines, state of the art options and five EuroNCAP stars and you have an undeniably tempting proposition.

The Corsa’s style owes much to the Astra, perhaps too much. It got few glances of new-car surprise on the media launch, even in car-mad Germany. But maybe it’s no bad thing to have a car that looks like something more expensive. Then there’s an interior that is more pleasing than the Astra’s, with a ‘friendly” centre console that Vauxhall would like you to think has a smiley face. Can’t see it myself, but it does look smart, high quality and stylish all at the same time, with some cool ambient background lighting for night time driving.

The Corsa’s a pretty comfortable environment inside, with firm, well-shaped seats and a decent ride. SXi versions, always popular Corsa derivatives, get lower, stiffer suspension that does just what you’d expect to the ride, though not to any uncomfortable degree. The windscreen is pushed a long way forward to give that sleek appearance. As a result the view forward is exceptional, almost as good as in an MPV, though the low fascia might make the front passenger feel more exposed that in rivals.

The Corsa isn’t particularly roomy in the rear, with even less room in the coupe-like three-door model, but what do you really expect in a supermini? It’s practical, though: the boot space is great, deep and well shaped. Top models get a false floor which can be pretty useful for hiding laptops beneath, and this can be lowered to fully open up the maximum capacity when needed.

Vauxhall has played a neat trick with the parcel shelf too, which simply slides down behind the rear seats when not in use. The rear backrests readily flop forward to extend the luggage area and if your Corsa has the false floor, there's a perfectly flat load area from rear sill right the way through to the front seats.

Engines

A wide range of engines, both petrol and diesel is on offer. Forget the bargain-priced £7,495 one-litre Expression – even the 1.2 isn’t man enough to power the heavier Corsa up hills without a thorough thrashing. The 1.4 may have only another 10bhp over the 1.2 – 90 bhp - but it is vastly superior and a very pleasant drive, both smooth and refined. The diesels are noticeably noisier and considerably more expensive, but they make driving a relaxed affair with their extra torque.

As always engine choice is a tricky balance between value for money and longer-term costs. The 1.4 petrol is certainly a good choice, particularly as it saves £700 over the similarly powered 1.3 CDTi. Or there’s a less powerful 1.3 diesel, the 75bhp CDTi, which cuts the premium to £400 and still promises easy diesel performance.

On the road

That the Corsa is also a great drive really adds to the equation, with more powerful versions getting sharpened-up steering. But every version I tried had a great chassis that provides plenty of driving enjoyment. Stick on tyres as wide as those on a Porsche – as Vauxhall did – and the roadholding is bound to be good, but the basic design of the Corsa is so right that whatever the specification there’s a good time to be had.

It can be customised to a larger extent than usual too. Vauxhall is particularly proud of its Flex-Fix integrated bike rack that stores away behind the rear bumper, though at £500 this option may find only a few takers. The same money buys you air conditioning; it’s standard only on the top ‘Design’ trim level.

You can also get headlights that see around corners that, at £250, are something of a bargain. Every Corsa has active brake lights. Brake hard enough to set the ABS into operation and the rear brakes lights don’t just illuminate, they flash to give and extra warning that things are not quite right to following drivers.

Verdict

Characteristics like these show just how far the supermini has moved on since the original Vauxhall Nova. The danger is that the essence of ‘supermini’ is lost somewhere along the way. It’s true that the increase in size of this new Corsa won’t make it as nimble around town and as easy to slot into a tight parking space. The trade off is a big improvement in safety while in all others areas Vauxhall has got it just about spot on. The Corsa deserves a very bright future.