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Hi
We picked up our Corsa SE 1.3 Diesel last week, we have our cars on a 3 year lease, so have just replaced our Beloved Ford Fiesta Titanium, as the only dealership in our area is Vauxhall my partner insisted that, for convenience,t we use them for our next lease and get a Corsa.
I don't drive the car, as I have a visual disability, so my partner does all the driving, but I wanted to give my impressions from the view of the passenger and the one who has to sort out off the niggles and hassles! She drives, I have to sort out the rest, even navigate (which others find most amusing).
We have only had a car a week or so, so my opinions might get 'modified' over time, but this is my initial impressions.
Ok, so the SE is the Top of the Range model, you would expect certain things to come as standard, as they did on our Fiesta so here is a list that aren't.
Most Notable omission is climate control, why is this an option extra on the top model! Really missing this, if this was my choice it would have been a deal breaker, its a £400 option extra! (its standard on the Fiesta Titanium!)
No folding door mirrors, ok so they are heated and they move, but they don't fold when you lock the car, again this standard on the Fiesta Titanium!
No passenger vanity mirror, I have just about enough sight to use one, but non fitted to this model, might have to stick on my own.
No rear tailgate unlock on key fob, really useful to be able to only unlock the tailgate with out unlocking the car, used this a lot, (on the Fiesta), missing on the Corsa.
The Fiesta came with mats as standard, the Corsa doesn't
No rear privacy glass, on the rear doors or tailgate, so no leaving things on the back seats anymore, these would be hidden from view on the Fiesta.
Other design niggles.
Glovebox, oh dear, that is literal, you can only store gloves in it, its TINY!
The demisting button, actives the front and rear screen as the same time, you might not want that, again the fiesta had separate buttons for front and rear, as you might only need to use the front one, just seems odd.
Really niggling minor point, as I'm in charge of filling up the screen wash, the lid is black, every other car we've had this had been a prominent colour either yellow or blue, so this does make it hard to find (with poor vision!), thankfully I know my way around an engine bay, so I know where NOT to put it
My partner does seem to be struggling with the gearbox the shifter is tight and easy to miss gears as they are hard to engage, sometimes will not engage at all, so she has to find another gear, and the position and trigger switch for reverse is going to take some getting used to, it should be behind 5th like normal cars!
Build Quality, it feels very flimsy, tinny, my partner said, its like driving a tin of beans, her words! On a 150 mile trip to Hampshire and back the car has developed an engine fault, that's poor for a new car in my opinion.
Performance: Well she's new, has a fault, as mentioned before, so we need to get that fixed, but on a run from Devon to Hampshire down the A35 she seemed to go ok, but has no power in 5th, so if you want to over take anything, especially on a hill you have to change to 4th and floor it. On one section of dual carriage way, we were in 5th with the pedal on the floor and just touched 70! As I've said, I think we have a fault, so it'll be going in this week to be checked out, so I hope to be able to report back better things when she's fixed.
Once plus side the seats do seem to be higher than the fiesta, I did find it difficult to get into or out of that car, as the seats were low down, these seem the correct height.
Rain sensitive wipers seem to work well, probably better than the fiestas, which only came on in a monsoon! these seem to detect even when its light rain. But on a downside they are not quiet, you here loud 'donk donk' when they hit their stop marks and seem to smear the screen a bit.
My partner likes the main/dip beam switch, that makes more sense to her, the fiesta's (being a pull toggle) confused her!
The radio system (inteliLink?) seems good, fonts nice a large, large enough for me to read (being tech savy, that's my department), plugged in USB stick and that works fine, paired with my Note 3 and that works well too, radio seems good, DAB is good, like the tone of the sound it produces too, might have to fiddle with it slightly to see if I can get a little more base out of it, but easy to navigate the use, if a little bright, would like to tone that down a little, my partner finds the white display distracting, I would have thought it would be best to leave it in 'night mode' all the time, would save screen burn. Might try to work out where the sensor is and cover it
It also has an odd habit of turning itself on , if I switched off before, then we go for another drive it switches itself back on.
Noticed another plus, if I am not mistaken the our Corsa has discs brakes all round, which is a really nice addition, the Fiesta had drums on the rear.
We picked up my partners' son and his friend, they did say there was more room in the back than the Fiesta, so its got their approval, and it tells us when they haven't put their seatbelts on, as the little b*ggers don't like wearing them!
So to sum up, sadly so far, I'm disappointed, maybe she'll grown on us over the next 3 years, but it does feel like a come down from the Fiesta, which had faultless reliability from day one from the Ford, felt more solidly built and just came with more equipment as standard, it makes me wonder if Vauxhall were paying any attention to the competition.
If I had the choice, and I had to buy one, I'd get the Fiesta, greater value for money, the extras you get are worth the extra £900 in my opinion.
Ford Fiesta Titanium ECOnetic £16,695
http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/Fiesta/Models
Vauxhall Corsa SE 1.3 95Bhp EcoFlex £15,770
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vehicles/vauxhall-range/cars/corsa-5-door/configurator.html#engine
Prices taken from both manufactures website on 22nd June 2015
We picked up our Corsa SE 1.3 Diesel last week, we have our cars on a 3 year lease, so have just replaced our Beloved Ford Fiesta Titanium, as the only dealership in our area is Vauxhall my partner insisted that, for convenience,t we use them for our next lease and get a Corsa.
I don't drive the car, as I have a visual disability, so my partner does all the driving, but I wanted to give my impressions from the view of the passenger and the one who has to sort out off the niggles and hassles! She drives, I have to sort out the rest, even navigate (which others find most amusing).
We have only had a car a week or so, so my opinions might get 'modified' over time, but this is my initial impressions.
Ok, so the SE is the Top of the Range model, you would expect certain things to come as standard, as they did on our Fiesta so here is a list that aren't.
Most Notable omission is climate control, why is this an option extra on the top model! Really missing this, if this was my choice it would have been a deal breaker, its a £400 option extra! (its standard on the Fiesta Titanium!)
No folding door mirrors, ok so they are heated and they move, but they don't fold when you lock the car, again this standard on the Fiesta Titanium!
No passenger vanity mirror, I have just about enough sight to use one, but non fitted to this model, might have to stick on my own.
No rear tailgate unlock on key fob, really useful to be able to only unlock the tailgate with out unlocking the car, used this a lot, (on the Fiesta), missing on the Corsa.
The Fiesta came with mats as standard, the Corsa doesn't
No rear privacy glass, on the rear doors or tailgate, so no leaving things on the back seats anymore, these would be hidden from view on the Fiesta.
Other design niggles.
Glovebox, oh dear, that is literal, you can only store gloves in it, its TINY!
The demisting button, actives the front and rear screen as the same time, you might not want that, again the fiesta had separate buttons for front and rear, as you might only need to use the front one, just seems odd.
Really niggling minor point, as I'm in charge of filling up the screen wash, the lid is black, every other car we've had this had been a prominent colour either yellow or blue, so this does make it hard to find (with poor vision!), thankfully I know my way around an engine bay, so I know where NOT to put it
My partner does seem to be struggling with the gearbox the shifter is tight and easy to miss gears as they are hard to engage, sometimes will not engage at all, so she has to find another gear, and the position and trigger switch for reverse is going to take some getting used to, it should be behind 5th like normal cars!
Build Quality, it feels very flimsy, tinny, my partner said, its like driving a tin of beans, her words! On a 150 mile trip to Hampshire and back the car has developed an engine fault, that's poor for a new car in my opinion.
Performance: Well she's new, has a fault, as mentioned before, so we need to get that fixed, but on a run from Devon to Hampshire down the A35 she seemed to go ok, but has no power in 5th, so if you want to over take anything, especially on a hill you have to change to 4th and floor it. On one section of dual carriage way, we were in 5th with the pedal on the floor and just touched 70! As I've said, I think we have a fault, so it'll be going in this week to be checked out, so I hope to be able to report back better things when she's fixed.
Once plus side the seats do seem to be higher than the fiesta, I did find it difficult to get into or out of that car, as the seats were low down, these seem the correct height.
Rain sensitive wipers seem to work well, probably better than the fiestas, which only came on in a monsoon! these seem to detect even when its light rain. But on a downside they are not quiet, you here loud 'donk donk' when they hit their stop marks and seem to smear the screen a bit.
My partner likes the main/dip beam switch, that makes more sense to her, the fiesta's (being a pull toggle) confused her!
The radio system (inteliLink?) seems good, fonts nice a large, large enough for me to read (being tech savy, that's my department), plugged in USB stick and that works fine, paired with my Note 3 and that works well too, radio seems good, DAB is good, like the tone of the sound it produces too, might have to fiddle with it slightly to see if I can get a little more base out of it, but easy to navigate the use, if a little bright, would like to tone that down a little, my partner finds the white display distracting, I would have thought it would be best to leave it in 'night mode' all the time, would save screen burn. Might try to work out where the sensor is and cover it
Noticed another plus, if I am not mistaken the our Corsa has discs brakes all round, which is a really nice addition, the Fiesta had drums on the rear.
We picked up my partners' son and his friend, they did say there was more room in the back than the Fiesta, so its got their approval, and it tells us when they haven't put their seatbelts on, as the little b*ggers don't like wearing them!
So to sum up, sadly so far, I'm disappointed, maybe she'll grown on us over the next 3 years, but it does feel like a come down from the Fiesta, which had faultless reliability from day one from the Ford, felt more solidly built and just came with more equipment as standard, it makes me wonder if Vauxhall were paying any attention to the competition.
If I had the choice, and I had to buy one, I'd get the Fiesta, greater value for money, the extras you get are worth the extra £900 in my opinion.
Ford Fiesta Titanium ECOnetic £16,695
http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/Fiesta/Models
Vauxhall Corsa SE 1.3 95Bhp EcoFlex £15,770
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vehicles/vauxhall-range/cars/corsa-5-door/configurator.html#engine
Prices taken from both manufactures website on 22nd June 2015