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I collected my car at lunchtime today but haven't had a chance to go anywhere scenic for some decent pictures so they will follow over the weekend. I thought I'd put these up now to show you quite how different the colour is in real life compared to the configurator. My wife and I both love the colour and it is certainly distinctive, different and very bright! but it is in no way, shape or form 'green' or anything like the colour shown on the VX website!
Despite my only driving in her (she is named Dafny by the way, I know it is spelt wrong but it actually refers to a piece of software as well as a girls name) from the dealer back to home and then another run out later this afternoon I've managed to rack up 75 miles today already!
It will take me a while to get used to driving her as I've mostly driven large rear wheel drive diesel 4x4 pickup trucks and classic Land Rovers for 25 years and not driven a petrol car for the last 15 years. Thankfully the 1.4T is just what I'd hoped for, very diesel like in its power and torque delivery which means within a few miles I was already loving it
It does suffer from quite some torque steer under hard acceleration on roundabouts (compared to zero from my rear wheel drive trucks) but when driven gently it cruises in 6th gear from far lower speeds than I would have imagined and showed no signs of being laboured.
Out of the 75 miles done today, 15 miles were in horrendous traffic jams and slow moving town centre traffic through Grimsby and Cleethorpes due to roadworks. I did one end of Grimsby to the other end of Cleethorpes twice today in heavy traffic and the rest was a mix of country lanes and A road. I have already got upto 51mpg average which is simply astonishing for a new engine and a petrol one at that considering all the traffic jams etc.
The sports chassis is not as firm as I had feared which means it rides beautifully over bumps and is actually far more comfortable than my old pickup truck.
The engine is quiet even at speed however the car is very noisy compared to the old pickup truck. The road noise is dreadful on concrete motorways and still pretty bad on decent tarmac. This is entirely down to the wide tyres and naff continental tyres. I will swap to bridgestones once these wear out.
The steering is also very twitchy and the car feels nervous at speed but that is not the Corsas fault, all short wheelbase vehicles suffer from this especially when fitted with wide tyres. My pickup truck has a very long wheelbase and sits for hundreds of miles with barely a touch of correction needed whereas the Corsa required regular steering input to keep it in a straight line on straight road. The steering is also too light and too sensitive really, it needs to be heavier at higher speeds but then I'm used to trucks and Land Rovers, most of which have no power steering at all.
The interior is lovely, seats are comfortable and the limelight green dash insert really sets the car off nicely. The trip computer and its display are also excellent. The stereo is however rubbish, the sound quality is very poor and the car will definately need new speakers (as has every vehicle I've ever bought) and a decent head unit to replace the intellilink. The DAB radio worked OK but it is very fiddly to change stations and you end up taking your eyes off the road for too long. An old fashioned head unit with buttons is far safer as you can 'feel' the buttons while keeping your eyes on the road.
Overall though the car drives beautifully and far exceeds my expectations of a small hatchback. (The last time I drove a car this small was 20 years ago and that was my girlfriends Nova). My gut instinct about the engine was correct and the higher torque of the 1.4T definately looks like it will give me 55+mpg on my commute to work once run in, it cruises beautifully on the main roads and has serious grunt on hills. The car also feels alot bigger than it is and makes me feel far happier to be in it than I was expecting considering the big drop in size from my previous truck.
![Wheel Tire Car Vehicle Sky]()
![Car Wheel Tire Vehicle Hood]()
![Car Speedometer Gauge Odometer Vehicle]()
Despite my only driving in her (she is named Dafny by the way, I know it is spelt wrong but it actually refers to a piece of software as well as a girls name) from the dealer back to home and then another run out later this afternoon I've managed to rack up 75 miles today already!
It will take me a while to get used to driving her as I've mostly driven large rear wheel drive diesel 4x4 pickup trucks and classic Land Rovers for 25 years and not driven a petrol car for the last 15 years. Thankfully the 1.4T is just what I'd hoped for, very diesel like in its power and torque delivery which means within a few miles I was already loving it
It does suffer from quite some torque steer under hard acceleration on roundabouts (compared to zero from my rear wheel drive trucks) but when driven gently it cruises in 6th gear from far lower speeds than I would have imagined and showed no signs of being laboured.Out of the 75 miles done today, 15 miles were in horrendous traffic jams and slow moving town centre traffic through Grimsby and Cleethorpes due to roadworks. I did one end of Grimsby to the other end of Cleethorpes twice today in heavy traffic and the rest was a mix of country lanes and A road. I have already got upto 51mpg average which is simply astonishing for a new engine and a petrol one at that considering all the traffic jams etc.
The sports chassis is not as firm as I had feared which means it rides beautifully over bumps and is actually far more comfortable than my old pickup truck.
The engine is quiet even at speed however the car is very noisy compared to the old pickup truck. The road noise is dreadful on concrete motorways and still pretty bad on decent tarmac. This is entirely down to the wide tyres and naff continental tyres. I will swap to bridgestones once these wear out.
The steering is also very twitchy and the car feels nervous at speed but that is not the Corsas fault, all short wheelbase vehicles suffer from this especially when fitted with wide tyres. My pickup truck has a very long wheelbase and sits for hundreds of miles with barely a touch of correction needed whereas the Corsa required regular steering input to keep it in a straight line on straight road. The steering is also too light and too sensitive really, it needs to be heavier at higher speeds but then I'm used to trucks and Land Rovers, most of which have no power steering at all.
The interior is lovely, seats are comfortable and the limelight green dash insert really sets the car off nicely. The trip computer and its display are also excellent. The stereo is however rubbish, the sound quality is very poor and the car will definately need new speakers (as has every vehicle I've ever bought) and a decent head unit to replace the intellilink. The DAB radio worked OK but it is very fiddly to change stations and you end up taking your eyes off the road for too long. An old fashioned head unit with buttons is far safer as you can 'feel' the buttons while keeping your eyes on the road.
Overall though the car drives beautifully and far exceeds my expectations of a small hatchback. (The last time I drove a car this small was 20 years ago and that was my girlfriends Nova). My gut instinct about the engine was correct and the higher torque of the 1.4T definately looks like it will give me 55+mpg on my commute to work once run in, it cruises beautifully on the main roads and has serious grunt on hills. The car also feels alot bigger than it is and makes me feel far happier to be in it than I was expecting considering the big drop in size from my previous truck.
