Corsa 1.2 SXI... (First Car)
Discussion
I've been reading a couple of threads here and thought I would do my own one
Acquired the car back in June after spending a whole month looking for a good solid first car, cost my parents £950..
They paid for the car whilst I pay for everything else, for instance my insurance is £3,200..
The car is Silver, has alloy wheels, SXI (?!) Not really sure what the SXI bit indicates or means but it had around 109,500 miles on it when I got it, now sits on 111,125
The first photo I have of the car, is the day after I got it, I hadn't driven it at this point, taken on the 25th June 2014
Fast forward a couple days and it was the weekend. I took it out for my first trip alone, I ended up at Tesco's which is around a 2 mile trip, something small but a good moment...
From the Monday after I drove it to work and back for a couple weeks, and then...
I took it out on the 26th July and ended up 125 miles away in Mayfair, London!
The first time going on the motorway by myself and I took it all the way to London, the photo below was taken at the top of the carpark on South Audley St... Which is a really hard carpark to get around, its really tight and the ramps are both ways...
Since 26th July I've taken it back to that carpark in London twice and its also been to Silverstone..
It's been a fun nearly 6 months with the car, one of the best things is that I hardly use any Fuel, £20 in 3 weeks.. A full tank is £55, which I can get to London and back and only use half of it, its a cheap and easy to drive car
The things I've gotten since June
New window wiper blades
New front tires
A service and MOT
A new stereo unit as the original one stopped reading disks
That's it really,
Some little issues
I find parking it quite hard, as I cant really tell where the car ends and starts but I think thats just me
The front window takes AGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES to defrost
The back window wiper doesnt work
The back window doesnt defrost in the middle part of the window, only defrosts the top and the bottom which is completely useless
I'm hoping to keep it till 150k which will be another couple of years, as hopefully my f
king insurance will be a lot fking cheaper and I will be able to get something nicer...
Taken last week
Acquired the car back in June after spending a whole month looking for a good solid first car, cost my parents £950..
They paid for the car whilst I pay for everything else, for instance my insurance is £3,200..
The car is Silver, has alloy wheels, SXI (?!) Not really sure what the SXI bit indicates or means but it had around 109,500 miles on it when I got it, now sits on 111,125
The first photo I have of the car, is the day after I got it, I hadn't driven it at this point, taken on the 25th June 2014
Fast forward a couple days and it was the weekend. I took it out for my first trip alone, I ended up at Tesco's which is around a 2 mile trip, something small but a good moment...
From the Monday after I drove it to work and back for a couple weeks, and then...
I took it out on the 26th July and ended up 125 miles away in Mayfair, London!
The first time going on the motorway by myself and I took it all the way to London, the photo below was taken at the top of the carpark on South Audley St... Which is a really hard carpark to get around, its really tight and the ramps are both ways...
Since 26th July I've taken it back to that carpark in London twice and its also been to Silverstone..
It's been a fun nearly 6 months with the car, one of the best things is that I hardly use any Fuel, £20 in 3 weeks.. A full tank is £55, which I can get to London and back and only use half of it, its a cheap and easy to drive car
The things I've gotten since June
New window wiper blades
New front tires
A service and MOT
A new stereo unit as the original one stopped reading disks
That's it really,
Some little issues
I find parking it quite hard, as I cant really tell where the car ends and starts but I think thats just me
The front window takes AGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES to defrost
The back window wiper doesnt work
The back window doesnt defrost in the middle part of the window, only defrosts the top and the bottom which is completely useless
I'm hoping to keep it till 150k which will be another couple of years, as hopefully my f
king insurance will be a lot fking cheaper and I will be able to get something nicer...Taken last week
Edited by michael243 on Saturday 13th December 18:43
As much as i dislike them, you can't go far wrong with a corsa as a first car. I am assuming based on the mileage the timing chain has been replaced at some point. If it hasnt and its rattling I'd look into getting it done. Will cost 350 quid or so but gives peace of mind. However if its not rattling happy days.
I have a 2006 one of these as my winter shed. I really can't fault it - very reliable, very efficient, and does what it says on the tin. Not particularly good to drive mind you but that's not why I bought it.
Only common faults are the gear linkages, oil pressure switch leaking and the timing chain.
Only common faults are the gear linkages, oil pressure switch leaking and the timing chain.
As much hatred as there seems to be for these they're decent enough little cars IMO, its the Clarkson effect I suppose. As mentioned above, a timing chain is cheap insurance versus the cost of engine replacement/rebuild.
Can't believe the insurance quote though, the government really needs to stop talking about doing something and begin acting! Fair play for doing it the right way!
Can't believe the insurance quote though, the government really needs to stop talking about doing something and begin acting! Fair play for doing it the right way!
The parking thing will come with experience you will soon know the dimensions of the car like the back of your hand
As far as insurance goes, I cannot believe anybody in the world would pay more than £2000 for insurance. Can you possibly add your parents as named drivers? I can't see why they would refuse seeing as they have no involvement if you're the only one driving it, plus it will allow them the flexibility of using it if ever needed and should reduce the policy considerably. Or seeing as it's not overly 'racey' get a telemetry (black box) policy just for the first year until it drops?
Best of luck!
As far as insurance goes, I cannot believe anybody in the world would pay more than £2000 for insurance. Can you possibly add your parents as named drivers? I can't see why they would refuse seeing as they have no involvement if you're the only one driving it, plus it will allow them the flexibility of using it if ever needed and should reduce the policy considerably. Or seeing as it's not overly 'racey' get a telemetry (black box) policy just for the first year until it drops?
Best of luck!
samj2014 said:
I can't believe that £3,200 is the cheapest he could find though!
I spent around 12 hours looking at all different quotes, different places to keep the car and seeing how that effected it etc and the £3,200 was the cheapest, according to the app on my phone I'm on course for 15% off at renewal, it was 23% until I went on the motorway... well the first 6 months are over now, covered around 1400 miles in it, the other 130 odd have been my dad driving. My first car was a corsa 1.2 sxi as well (admittedly the previous model) and it was £1400 to insure and we're only talking 3 years ago (im 20 now). Was with my dad on the policy and a black box hiding in there admittedly.
In comparison I had a friend start driving in 2014 who was 17 at the time and he insured a c2 vts for £2400 again with a box in the car, so there must be some way of reducing it.
In comparison I had a friend start driving in 2014 who was 17 at the time and he insured a c2 vts for £2400 again with a box in the car, so there must be some way of reducing it.
So glad I learned to drive before these black box things started appearing.
OP good man, enjoy the car. Whatever it is she was the first and you'll always remember her!
Regarding parking, I know the feeling, at least with a hatchback your rear window is roughly where the rear of your car is. A good trick in tight spaces if you have to go in forwards (never the best idea, but sometimes necessary) is have your lights on - the spots they cast will get smaller as you get closer.
If you think that's tricky to park though, my 6 series was probably two or three feet longer than yours and a damn sight wider and you couldn't see the bonnet in that either! Fun times though, you have a life of motoring to look forward to
OP good man, enjoy the car. Whatever it is she was the first and you'll always remember her!
Regarding parking, I know the feeling, at least with a hatchback your rear window is roughly where the rear of your car is. A good trick in tight spaces if you have to go in forwards (never the best idea, but sometimes necessary) is have your lights on - the spots they cast will get smaller as you get closer.
If you think that's tricky to park though, my 6 series was probably two or three feet longer than yours and a damn sight wider and you couldn't see the bonnet in that either! Fun times though, you have a life of motoring to look forward to
philmots said:
Insurance is probably so high as the SXI Corsa is pretty much the default choice for young lads.. Way I see a lot of them driven they probably get stacked quite often. As a result daft insurance.
Bet it'd be cheaper to insure an old 1.8 Mondeo
It was more expensive to insure the 1.0 version! Bet it'd be cheaper to insure an old 1.8 Mondeo
Ooosh, first year insurance is a killer!!! I had a Clio 1.2 as my first car at 17 (£2500 insurance), then I paid £1400 on a focus 1.6 at 19 years old and now I pay £550 on a fabia vrs (which feels about twice as quick as the focus) at age 21!
So don't worry OP, it will go down quite dramatically!
So don't worry OP, it will go down quite dramatically!
jayemm89 said:
So glad I learned to drive before these black box things started appearing.
OP good man, enjoy the car. Whatever it is she was the first and you'll always remember her!
Regarding parking, I know the feeling, at least with a hatchback your rear window is roughly where the rear of your car is. A good trick in tight spaces if you have to go in forwards (never the best idea, but sometimes necessary) is have your lights on - the spots they cast will get smaller as you get closer.
If you think that's tricky to park though, my 6 series was probably two or three feet longer than yours and a damn sight wider and you couldn't see the bonnet in that either! Fun times though, you have a life of motoring to look forward to
It will come with experience, I've never attempted a parallel park in my own car as the thought is just really scary... OP good man, enjoy the car. Whatever it is she was the first and you'll always remember her!
Regarding parking, I know the feeling, at least with a hatchback your rear window is roughly where the rear of your car is. A good trick in tight spaces if you have to go in forwards (never the best idea, but sometimes necessary) is have your lights on - the spots they cast will get smaller as you get closer.
If you think that's tricky to park though, my 6 series was probably two or three feet longer than yours and a damn sight wider and you couldn't see the bonnet in that either! Fun times though, you have a life of motoring to look forward to
I have already reversed into a wall with my car, just a little bump, full lock and reversing is hard, simply as its 1 and 2/3 of a turn to full lock, in a tight space I cant get full lock on fast enough, I've been wedged in between two cars a couple times, the first time it took me around 25 mins to get out the space and not hitting either car etc etc
I didnt think about having the lights on, thats a good idea, thanks
Fantastic cars, I bought a Jan 2006 55 plate , Silver ( as most were ) 1.2 SXI @ Auction in Jan 2009, it was a one owner ( Meter Read ) car with from memory just 20,000 miles. It had a few cosmetic marks and none of the tires matched, but it drove faultlessly.
It handled really well up to around 40,000 miles, by which time the front shocks had had it, the electric power steering was near perfect for feel / feedback, the heater was superb, seats comfy and the fuel consumption was good @ around 46mpg. I loved that car and only very reluctantly sold it in late 2011.
The only thing I loathed was that if the battery went flat it would go into Limp Mode, god knows why Vauxhall designed this into it, as it meant a 10 mph crawl to my local garage to get it plugged into the diagnostics machine.
Brilliant cars and I would have another ( A Plus ) model if one could be found !!
It handled really well up to around 40,000 miles, by which time the front shocks had had it, the electric power steering was near perfect for feel / feedback, the heater was superb, seats comfy and the fuel consumption was good @ around 46mpg. I loved that car and only very reluctantly sold it in late 2011.
The only thing I loathed was that if the battery went flat it would go into Limp Mode, god knows why Vauxhall designed this into it, as it meant a 10 mph crawl to my local garage to get it plugged into the diagnostics machine.
Brilliant cars and I would have another ( A Plus ) model if one could be found !!
I'm so glad I'm not a new driver these days!
I passed at 17 in 2006, paid £2,500 for 3PF&T with parents on as named drivers; but I had a 2.0 Calibra as my first car! Seemed expensive but reasonable at the time, £3200 for a corsa is unbelievable though!!
My sister only passed last year, she paid £850 for an older KA with a black box, but she was 19 when she passed, guess that makes a difference?
I passed at 17 in 2006, paid £2,500 for 3PF&T with parents on as named drivers; but I had a 2.0 Calibra as my first car! Seemed expensive but reasonable at the time, £3200 for a corsa is unbelievable though!!
My sister only passed last year, she paid £850 for an older KA with a black box, but she was 19 when she passed, guess that makes a difference?
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