Vauxhall Corsa C SXi
Discussion
I was tasked with finding a car for a new driver in the family, with the criteria being: reliable, cheap to insure, manual, and green. I like Fiestas, but they tend to rust and are usually more expensive to insure. The Clio CB (2nd gen facelift, or phase 2 or whatever people call it) and the Corsas B & C seemed to keep really well. I rarely see a rusty one. After browsing online I realised it was harder to find a good, cheap, Clio than a Corsa - perhaps down to a higher percentage of older folks with Corsas than Clios, and hence looked after a little better.
The Corsa seems to be the vermin of the car world. Ubiquitous, undesirable, and cheap. I found a Corsa C 1.2 SXi in a rank green colour. 53k miles, no rust, and it drove really very well. I paid £800 for it which seemed like good value. It had iffy paint on the O/S/R quarter but given it would probably end up crashed anyway, that wasn't a concern. Mechanically it was excellent.
I must say after driving it home I've completely changed my opinion: what a good little car it is. This is probably the most under-rated car I've ever driven. It isn't a great car, but it's just very good - the shell is really stiff and overall it's pleasant to chuck around. My Mum has a low mileage Sport Clio, the phase 2, and whilst faster, it isn't as nice in the handling or gear change department, plus it's full of rattles. The Corsa feels like a step up in mechanical quality - much more solid.
I wanted to tidy up the car before handing it over. The first step was to address the paint; Corsa paint seems to oxidise heavily. The plastic trim was also sun faded.
I tried some fancy detailing products with the DA, but in the end found that good old G3 with a Rupes blue microfibre (coarse) pad worked really well. I finished with Autogylm and the DA.
Next stop: headlights. These were very yellow.
2000 wet and dry followed by G3 then Autogym did the trick.
The glue on the side repeaters had failed, so the lenses were cleaned up and expoxied back on.
The gear and handbrake gaiters are vinyl. It's common for them to wear out so I bought some aftermarket leather versions.
I found some genuine mats to tidy up the interior.
Full service and replacement of leaky CV boots. I also replaced the perished roof aerial gasket.
Here is the finished result. This was my first time working on a GM product. Some of the packaging and maintenance design is a little strange: access to certain things is not as straightforward as with a Ford, but overall I think the balance of quality vs (original) price is very good.
The final total was around £1000. In my opinion this represented fantastic value for money. The recipient was also very pleased with it.
The Corsa seems to be the vermin of the car world. Ubiquitous, undesirable, and cheap. I found a Corsa C 1.2 SXi in a rank green colour. 53k miles, no rust, and it drove really very well. I paid £800 for it which seemed like good value. It had iffy paint on the O/S/R quarter but given it would probably end up crashed anyway, that wasn't a concern. Mechanically it was excellent.
I must say after driving it home I've completely changed my opinion: what a good little car it is. This is probably the most under-rated car I've ever driven. It isn't a great car, but it's just very good - the shell is really stiff and overall it's pleasant to chuck around. My Mum has a low mileage Sport Clio, the phase 2, and whilst faster, it isn't as nice in the handling or gear change department, plus it's full of rattles. The Corsa feels like a step up in mechanical quality - much more solid.
I wanted to tidy up the car before handing it over. The first step was to address the paint; Corsa paint seems to oxidise heavily. The plastic trim was also sun faded.
I tried some fancy detailing products with the DA, but in the end found that good old G3 with a Rupes blue microfibre (coarse) pad worked really well. I finished with Autogylm and the DA.
Next stop: headlights. These were very yellow.
2000 wet and dry followed by G3 then Autogym did the trick.
The glue on the side repeaters had failed, so the lenses were cleaned up and expoxied back on.
The gear and handbrake gaiters are vinyl. It's common for them to wear out so I bought some aftermarket leather versions.
I found some genuine mats to tidy up the interior.
Full service and replacement of leaky CV boots. I also replaced the perished roof aerial gasket.
Here is the finished result. This was my first time working on a GM product. Some of the packaging and maintenance design is a little strange: access to certain things is not as straightforward as with a Ford, but overall I think the balance of quality vs (original) price is very good.
The final total was around £1000. In my opinion this represented fantastic value for money. The recipient was also very pleased with it.
Thanks all. This was a 2003 with the 1.2 4 cylinder engine. The 1.0 is 3 cylinder, and the 1.2 is 4 cylinder - they are a modular engine classified as small blocks. The 1.4 and upwards are 4 cylinders and classified as medium blocks. The 2.0 Z20LET etc. (wasn't originally fitted to the Corsa) are large blocks.
The story doesn't quite end with the green car. The SXi on 15" wheels was the only car I've driven that left me thinking that I wouldn't change a thing about the suspension for road use. I drive on some terrible country roads - sometimes with rolling undulations a foot deep - but despite the Corsas low ground clearance it just soaks them up with composure, and still manages to turn in well. There's a bit of body roll, but I like that. The rack is electric and its assistance does feel a little bit like a stepper motor at times - not entirely smooth - but it isn't a really big problem as there is plenty of feedback; stones can be felt on the tarmac.
I was watching a Harry's Garage episode at a Goodwood track day where one of his friends was in a Corsa C SXI because "he really likes it". I completely understood why. I had already decided that I wanted a Corsa C for myself albeit with a better engine. My wife liked the size and "the good heater" so what other excuse did I need?
There are many engines available but the pick for me was the 1.8 16v petrol (Z18ZE). 123 bhp, 0-60 mph, 8 secs, and 126 mph. To me that's a warm hatch - quick enough to be entertaining.
I set some criteria:
- 1.8 SXI+ or 1.8 SRi
- Blue, silver, or grey
- 3 Door
- Under 60k miles
- Well looked after
I went to see the first I found advertised as the 1.8's are rare, and I'm not one for waiting around for a car. It was up at £1,899, then reduced to £1,599. It had been looked after at some point in the past but obviously fell into neglect within the past few years, as there was a long list of remedial work required to bring it back to my standard. I offered £1,300 based on the work required, in truth hoping that would be the end of it, and it was - or so I thought...no deal, so I thanked the chap for his time and left. He drove by as I was leaving and said he'd accept the offer. Looks like I had a Corsa!
It was at least grey, but nothing else matched my criteria
Time for some work. I had two weeks of leave over Christmas and set a deadline for completion of a small restoration by the end of that period.
I was watching a Harry's Garage episode at a Goodwood track day where one of his friends was in a Corsa C SXI because "he really likes it". I completely understood why. I had already decided that I wanted a Corsa C for myself albeit with a better engine. My wife liked the size and "the good heater" so what other excuse did I need?
There are many engines available but the pick for me was the 1.8 16v petrol (Z18ZE). 123 bhp, 0-60 mph, 8 secs, and 126 mph. To me that's a warm hatch - quick enough to be entertaining.
I set some criteria:
- 1.8 SXI+ or 1.8 SRi
- Blue, silver, or grey
- 3 Door
- Under 60k miles
- Well looked after
I went to see the first I found advertised as the 1.8's are rare, and I'm not one for waiting around for a car. It was up at £1,899, then reduced to £1,599. It had been looked after at some point in the past but obviously fell into neglect within the past few years, as there was a long list of remedial work required to bring it back to my standard. I offered £1,300 based on the work required, in truth hoping that would be the end of it, and it was - or so I thought...no deal, so I thanked the chap for his time and left. He drove by as I was leaving and said he'd accept the offer. Looks like I had a Corsa!
It was at least grey, but nothing else matched my criteria
Time for some work. I had two weeks of leave over Christmas and set a deadline for completion of a small restoration by the end of that period.
Cosmetic Restoration
I restored all of the black plastic trim on the car as it had become more of a dark grey than black. I also repainted the wiper arms in satin black and fitted new aero blades.
I used BOLL textured trim paint for the plastic parts. It doesn't require a plastic primer, but I use the Mipa clear plastic primer to be sure. Please wear a mask when using the BOLL paint - it's very strong stuff.
The paint was worse than the green car. The horizontal surfaces were heavily oxidised and the vertical sections were dull from washing. The same DA/G3/Autoglym process worked well.
Bulkhead leaks are a common problem. This car was dry, but as a precautionary measure I sealed up the brake servo bracket with seam sealer.
The light output of the facelift headlamps was absolutely terrible. I considered fitting a set of the pre-facelift headlights, but in the end bought a spare pair of facelift headlights, and a pair of 6N2 Polo GTi xenons. I've converted the spare pair of Corsa headlights to the 1" larger Polo projectors, and the 6N2 housings will be used in my Fiesta project.
I struggled to find a set of Corsa C specific sport pedals, and some were advertised at high prices. Instead I picked up a set of pedals from a later Astra, and made some alloy adapter backing plates riveted to the pedals.
New gear and handbrake gaiters. I also repainted the handbrake lever and gearknob.
These caps seem to fall out over time. I fitted some aftermarket versions which are a tighter fit than the originals.
Aftermarket boot mat from eBay. I had to cut a relief along the back edge so that it cleared the seat backrest bracket.
Headlining Retrim
The interior of the Corsa isn't the most inspiring. I don't like the grey/white headlining and roof furniture so I re-trimmed the headlining and pillars, and painted the plastic parts black. It isn't perfect but it's 90% there.
Recaros
I've purchased a set of Recaros from a Zafira A. The plan is to have the centres trimmed to match my interior.
I was fortunate to track down some new OEM Vauxhall SXi fabric. Only 1M x 1.5M was available but it's sufficient to recover the centre of the Recaros.
The headlamps were restored with 2000 wet & dry, G3, and Autoglym. I also colour coded the bumper mouldings and replaced the black rubber SXi mouldings with those from a Design model. These were painted in body colour.
Costs
Here are the costs. I went to town on it really, with all new brakes etc. I managed to raise closed loop MPG from 28 to 36 with a number of fixes including sensors and throttle body cleaning. It was all worth it.
Finished Result
There are some water marks on the paint in these photos. The sun was shining - fancy that? This was a quick two week project and is a bit of fun for a daily so isn't concourse car by any means, but it's presentable, and importantly the mechanical condition is where I need to it to be.
That's all for this car. I gave the clutch job to my local garage as I ran out of time in the two weeks I'd allocated to the project. The release bearing was whining otherwise the clutch itself was OK. The cam belt and water pump were changed last year so I should be good for another 20k miles now. Next will be a suspension refresh. The car was Waxoyl'd from new so no corrosion worries , not that these rust badly.
I'm enjoying the car immensely so it just goes to show that enjoyment isn't always correlated to value. The engine is really sweet and it sounds great, the brakes are good, and it's fun to drive on my local roads. I certainly recommend one of these as a bit of fun.
I restored all of the black plastic trim on the car as it had become more of a dark grey than black. I also repainted the wiper arms in satin black and fitted new aero blades.
I used BOLL textured trim paint for the plastic parts. It doesn't require a plastic primer, but I use the Mipa clear plastic primer to be sure. Please wear a mask when using the BOLL paint - it's very strong stuff.
The paint was worse than the green car. The horizontal surfaces were heavily oxidised and the vertical sections were dull from washing. The same DA/G3/Autoglym process worked well.
Bulkhead leaks are a common problem. This car was dry, but as a precautionary measure I sealed up the brake servo bracket with seam sealer.
The light output of the facelift headlamps was absolutely terrible. I considered fitting a set of the pre-facelift headlights, but in the end bought a spare pair of facelift headlights, and a pair of 6N2 Polo GTi xenons. I've converted the spare pair of Corsa headlights to the 1" larger Polo projectors, and the 6N2 housings will be used in my Fiesta project.
I struggled to find a set of Corsa C specific sport pedals, and some were advertised at high prices. Instead I picked up a set of pedals from a later Astra, and made some alloy adapter backing plates riveted to the pedals.
New gear and handbrake gaiters. I also repainted the handbrake lever and gearknob.
These caps seem to fall out over time. I fitted some aftermarket versions which are a tighter fit than the originals.
Aftermarket boot mat from eBay. I had to cut a relief along the back edge so that it cleared the seat backrest bracket.
Headlining Retrim
The interior of the Corsa isn't the most inspiring. I don't like the grey/white headlining and roof furniture so I re-trimmed the headlining and pillars, and painted the plastic parts black. It isn't perfect but it's 90% there.
Recaros
I've purchased a set of Recaros from a Zafira A. The plan is to have the centres trimmed to match my interior.
I was fortunate to track down some new OEM Vauxhall SXi fabric. Only 1M x 1.5M was available but it's sufficient to recover the centre of the Recaros.
The headlamps were restored with 2000 wet & dry, G3, and Autoglym. I also colour coded the bumper mouldings and replaced the black rubber SXi mouldings with those from a Design model. These were painted in body colour.
Costs
Here are the costs. I went to town on it really, with all new brakes etc. I managed to raise closed loop MPG from 28 to 36 with a number of fixes including sensors and throttle body cleaning. It was all worth it.
Finished Result
There are some water marks on the paint in these photos. The sun was shining - fancy that? This was a quick two week project and is a bit of fun for a daily so isn't concourse car by any means, but it's presentable, and importantly the mechanical condition is where I need to it to be.
That's all for this car. I gave the clutch job to my local garage as I ran out of time in the two weeks I'd allocated to the project. The release bearing was whining otherwise the clutch itself was OK. The cam belt and water pump were changed last year so I should be good for another 20k miles now. Next will be a suspension refresh. The car was Waxoyl'd from new so no corrosion worries , not that these rust badly.
I'm enjoying the car immensely so it just goes to show that enjoyment isn't always correlated to value. The engine is really sweet and it sounds great, the brakes are good, and it's fun to drive on my local roads. I certainly recommend one of these as a bit of fun.
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