RE: Vauxhall Corsa SRi | Shed of the Week
Discussion
Bloody hell yhou lot got out the wrong side of bed this morning! Its a £10k car new - it isn't going to be like a 40k bmw is it?!
Is it because even in the south east we had frosty windows today?
I had one, missus wanted a fast car but didn't want the recaro seats etc of the VXR, so up popped a demo sri at our dealership, she test drove it liked it (coming from a citroen c2 with that awful auto gear box) the corsa was a revelation.
Anyway, roll forward 6 months after ordering a brand new one and paying for the thing, we go to the london motorshow (think) and there is the fiesta in Magenta colour which she then decided she had to have.
Anyway she bought a 2nd hand one of the fiesta, I then bought the SRI off her - we were offered 8k trade in by ford at 6 months old, I gave her £10k.Paid £14k for the corsa (had a few options added).
Anyway - for me the sri corsa seemed better built than the fiesta at the time, felt less flimsy, felt better on the motorway (fiesta was better around town), I had it remapped. I had a superchips map, car was rolling roaded at regal pushing out 222 bhp and around 233 tourque think it was (graph is in my loft)
Anyway, then had serviced at regal (4 years old along with new EBC brakes fitted) where they said I had clutch slip, so suggested there super dooper racing clutch system (just launched) which I had fitted when the car was in for gearbox bearing replacement at 22k miles, by 24kmiles I traded the car in, gearbox was whining again, Regal said i should pay to have it fixed again. Would never touch regal again, i felt very shafted tbh.
Funnily enough, someone bought it, then the gearbox on the way home exploded, so new gearbox from Vauxhall was fitted, still remember the number plate and the car is still alive, LA08BTE.
I actually quite enjoyed the car and tbh it was more fun than my mash the accelerator and go golf r. I had the milltek decat downpipe fitted (cat not needed to pass mot), so had the odd pop from the exhaust etc, never fitted the rest of the milltek exhaust.
Or maybe its just my rose tinted glasses when I could go for a drive whenever I wanted (less traffic) and use to go and see my gran just because I would leave early and drive around the surrey hills then pick up a A24 (they have now ruined that road!), down to Littlehampton where she lived.
Is it because even in the south east we had frosty windows today?
I had one, missus wanted a fast car but didn't want the recaro seats etc of the VXR, so up popped a demo sri at our dealership, she test drove it liked it (coming from a citroen c2 with that awful auto gear box) the corsa was a revelation.
Anyway, roll forward 6 months after ordering a brand new one and paying for the thing, we go to the london motorshow (think) and there is the fiesta in Magenta colour which she then decided she had to have.
Anyway she bought a 2nd hand one of the fiesta, I then bought the SRI off her - we were offered 8k trade in by ford at 6 months old, I gave her £10k.Paid £14k for the corsa (had a few options added).
Anyway - for me the sri corsa seemed better built than the fiesta at the time, felt less flimsy, felt better on the motorway (fiesta was better around town), I had it remapped. I had a superchips map, car was rolling roaded at regal pushing out 222 bhp and around 233 tourque think it was (graph is in my loft)
Anyway, then had serviced at regal (4 years old along with new EBC brakes fitted) where they said I had clutch slip, so suggested there super dooper racing clutch system (just launched) which I had fitted when the car was in for gearbox bearing replacement at 22k miles, by 24kmiles I traded the car in, gearbox was whining again, Regal said i should pay to have it fixed again. Would never touch regal again, i felt very shafted tbh.
Funnily enough, someone bought it, then the gearbox on the way home exploded, so new gearbox from Vauxhall was fitted, still remember the number plate and the car is still alive, LA08BTE.
I actually quite enjoyed the car and tbh it was more fun than my mash the accelerator and go golf r. I had the milltek decat downpipe fitted (cat not needed to pass mot), so had the odd pop from the exhaust etc, never fitted the rest of the milltek exhaust.
Or maybe its just my rose tinted glasses when I could go for a drive whenever I wanted (less traffic) and use to go and see my gran just because I would leave early and drive around the surrey hills then pick up a A24 (they have now ruined that road!), down to Littlehampton where she lived.
Edited by gazza5 on Friday 8th November 08:58
StuE39 said:
Can anyone actually quantify why these are such terrible cars, compared to other offerings of the time? I'm not talking about in comparison to a Fiesta ST for example - as I think at the time the VXR was the competitor to the ST.
What actually makes this car bad? Not just, it's dull or it's boring.
It's a Vauxhall. Which by definition to the PH massive means it is beyond crap. The end.What actually makes this car bad? Not just, it's dull or it's boring.
Lots of people saying they wouldn't touch this as it's a Vauxhall, but as a first car a Corsa had some street cred once upon a time.
Had a C SRI as a first car and it was boring to drive and didn't handle well, but was bearable on longer journeys and had half decent looks. Had an older B 1.6 afterwards and that was much better. Had a few "tasteful" modifications and the thing went like a little rocket!
Someone has already mentioned that there was indeed a B GSI. Knew a friend who had one also. Cracking looking car and went well for the time (think they had about 130bhp which seemed like loads for a 1.6 of the time).
The Fiesta ST of the time will obviously be a better, more sorted car but this is a good lower cost alternative. Stop being snobs!
Had a C SRI as a first car and it was boring to drive and didn't handle well, but was bearable on longer journeys and had half decent looks. Had an older B 1.6 afterwards and that was much better. Had a few "tasteful" modifications and the thing went like a little rocket!
Someone has already mentioned that there was indeed a B GSI. Knew a friend who had one also. Cracking looking car and went well for the time (think they had about 130bhp which seemed like loads for a 1.6 of the time).
The Fiesta ST of the time will obviously be a better, more sorted car but this is a good lower cost alternative. Stop being snobs!
Fairly dull, but they never seemed that poorly made or even a 'bad' car. I'd rather have a VXR of course, but the cheapest of those are rough.
As mentioned, the Corsa B had 'sporting' variants, like the 1.4 16v (debatable) and 1.6 GSi. Modest power now, but in line with the Mk4 Fiesta Zetec S.
As mentioned, the Corsa B had 'sporting' variants, like the 1.4 16v (debatable) and 1.6 GSi. Modest power now, but in line with the Mk4 Fiesta Zetec S.
StuE39 said:
Can anyone actually quantify why these are such terrible cars, compared to other offerings of the time? I'm not talking about in comparison to a Fiesta ST for example - as I think at the time the VXR was the competitor to the ST.
What actually makes this car bad? Not just, it's dull or it's boring.
Ok I'll have a crack at it. There is no passion there. No soul. It's like the people who build them would rather be building white goods than cars. Even Fords which aren't the premium brand in the same league as BMW, you can tell the people who design them want to do the absolute best with what they have. What actually makes this car bad? Not just, it's dull or it's boring.
Vauxhall just seems like "We'll slap this stuff together and then go to the pub and look at the Bosch dishwasher website on our phones." The other half has an Astra company car, and it's just so poorly thought out. The rear vision is terrible, the driving position is almost impossible to get right unless you're exactly Mr Average and its flat, dull and bits keep falling off of it. The touch screen reacts with the same speed as an Apple newton, and it adds nothing to the car that you can't do from the normal controls. The engine sounds like they've put a chainsaw in a soundproofed box. The brakes have no feel and are extremely difficult to modulate. The steering is lifeless and like turning a wooden spoon in a bowl of porridge. The seats are like someone described a car seat to someone else who had never seen one, and then decided that it should be made out of cardboard with concrete instead of foam. The paint scratches when you breathe on it.
I wanted to write some good points about it, but I'm really struggling to think to be honest. The radio... works? It tends to start when you turn the key? To be honest after over 100 years of car manufacturing, you should be able to hold cars to a higher standard than that.
alex.baker89 said:
Someone has already mentioned that there was indeed a B GSI. Knew a friend who had one also. Cracking looking car and went well for the time (think they had about 130bhp which seemed like loads for a 1.6 of the time).
They only 105 bhp mate! Still, they were under a tonne...MarJay said:
I've said it before and I'll say it again, and I won't be shaken from my belief:
Vauxhalls are for people who know nothing about cars.
There, I said it.
I'll amend that to Modern vauxhalls are for drivers that know nothing or have little interest in cars .Vauxhalls are for people who know nothing about cars.
There, I said it.
In the past us Vauxhall fans were safe in the knowledge that our favourites were pretty good at what they did . Then the competition built a few lemmons and G M chased the big sales and combined with the tight fisted accountants everything got bland . At the same time Vauxhall stopped it's support and involvement in motorsport.
My last vauxhall was a C Corsa and it was very bland and certainly had dropped into white goods territory, later models haven't improved.
alex.baker89 said:
Someone has already mentioned that there was indeed a B GSI. Knew a friend who had one also. Cracking looking car and went well for the time (think they had about 130bhp which seemed like loads for a 1.6 of the time.
105bhp from what I can find. Even 130bhp from a 1.6 would’ve been pretty lame, Honda were selling 135bhp 1.6s 10 years earlier and by the time of the Corsa B 160bhp. In ‘96 it was 185bhp with other Japanese manufacturers doing similar. I haven't driven this generation of Corsa, but I have driven the previous generation and I was very pleasantly surprised by it.
I do really like the VXR version of this generation. I've never had a Vauxhall but I'd be happy to have one though, and I really like the look of the current Insignia.
I do really like the VXR version of this generation. I've never had a Vauxhall but I'd be happy to have one though, and I really like the look of the current Insignia.
My sister has a 2008 Corsa, albeit a lowly 1.2. She’s owned it from new, and looked after it.
It’s now done 80k and has become the most unreliable pile of junk imaginable over the past couple of years. I don’t think there’s an engine sensor that hasn’t been replaced at some point, it’s left her at the roadside more times than I can count, has had loads of electrical faults, broken coil springs, various bits of the front suspension replaced, and now the clutch slave has failed. It is basically knackered at 80,000 miles, despite being outwardly immaculate, carefully driven and religiously serviced.
Whatever else you think about Vauxhalls, they at least used to be reliable and dependable. The only saving grace it has is that parts are cheap, so getting the thing back on the road isn’t usually too expensive.
I wouldn’t touch a Corsa of this era with a bargepole.
It’s now done 80k and has become the most unreliable pile of junk imaginable over the past couple of years. I don’t think there’s an engine sensor that hasn’t been replaced at some point, it’s left her at the roadside more times than I can count, has had loads of electrical faults, broken coil springs, various bits of the front suspension replaced, and now the clutch slave has failed. It is basically knackered at 80,000 miles, despite being outwardly immaculate, carefully driven and religiously serviced.
Whatever else you think about Vauxhalls, they at least used to be reliable and dependable. The only saving grace it has is that parts are cheap, so getting the thing back on the road isn’t usually too expensive.
I wouldn’t touch a Corsa of this era with a bargepole.
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