New Corsa wins WHATCAR award

[craig green]

Overall winner of 'car of the year'.

http://www.whatcar.com/news-special-report.aspx?NA=223730&EL=3188095

nice one Vauxhall & a great improvement on the Corsa C.

[wisewood]

... and it's as good to drive as it is to look at.

So that'd be "a bit odd at first, but it'll grow on you eventually, as it's pretty much a clone of every other new cars styling"

[Jack]

May be a good car, but its still ugly as sin.

And "supermini" my backside. They're hardly small (reminds me of how a BMW Bini is larger than a 306 lol), if you want small get an Aygo.

[wisewood]

thats why they're a SUPERmini. They're a small car thats been supersized.

You wouldnt call an Escort a small car, but look at the new breed compared to and old one... Escorts ARE small, we just never noticed lol

[Matt2107]

Aygo's rock.. I'd have one in black

[Dar]

I don't like those Corsa's at all. Was a passenger in one the other day and the fecking thing tryed biting the top off of my little finger as I walked off.(Read was pissed and slamed my little finger in the door as I closed it) Made a right mess :mad:

[Stuart]

lmao you being unable to operate a car safely due to being drunk dosent make it a bad car :p

Im yet to drive one but its got a lot of work to do to impress me more than the current fiesta chassis, even a non st version is a right laugh to drive.

[John]

i drive these most days at work, and frankly i'm unimpressed! I pdi 'd at 1.4 design model today, it's horrible to drive, sitting miles away from the bulkhead and you feel like you sit on it instead of in it! I'm over six foot and found it really "uncomfortable" to drive.
The 1.4 sixteen valve was uninspiring, you really have to wind it up to get it to travel, and the 3cyl 1.0? you'd be quicker walking!
I can only echo wisewod here, the car is big, about the size of an escort, or mk 3 astra, goodness only knows why vauxhall made it this big!

oh, and the 3/4 visibilty is poor, dash tacky, (bright vomit orange dash inserts anyone?) parcel shelf of no use whatsoever, screen wipers useless, etc etc. The only good thing i found is that even on the base models the passenger airbag can be turned off, but even citroen and bmw have been doing this for years. Perhaps vauxhall should have designed their own car, not re-done a punto or clio ( they all share the same floor pan)

I sincerely hope the vxr is better than all the other current corsa variants, the thought of a 200bhp blamanche is scary! review and rant over Lol!!!!

[Philsutton]

just shows how crap the other cars being made are if a corsa wins lol

[craig green]

I'm not sure it was aimed at Nova driving petrol heads. bearing in mind a Nova is & was crap.

I would take the word of a panel of journalists over a forum full of Nova monkeys..no offence.

I agree with Stu the current Fiesta are an utter hoot, I have a 1250 as a company car & it is pretty fast in the right hands.
But as the quality & expectations from small cars is increasing all the time, its not out of the question for the new Corsa to be a class leader, albeit breifly.

It does share the Punto floorpan, but its not a copy, they release it under FIAT first to develop it further & evaluate its performance in the market.

I cant imagine the Clio will have the same chassis somehow, I thought the Nissan/Renault/Vauxhall alliance was for Vans.

edit; The Fiesta driving position feels tall & like you sit 'on' the car esp after coming out of a Nova.

[wisewood]

The clio is a VERY similar size, and shape... wouldn't surprise me to find they were based on the same plans.

The thing is, with this excellent write-up by whatcar ... it's a case of he who pays the piper calls the tune. What WE think IS more important than what a journalist thinks, because you dont know just how independent the review is in a magazine ... how much did vauxhall pay in additional advertising space for whatcar this year for example.

[Stuart]

I went over to roush a little while back and was told to read a review in evo mag on the Mustang 420RE. They were ranting and raving about it being one fo the best handling cars theyve ever driven etc, immediately after reading the article i was taken to the garage where the exact car used in the review was, and I took it out. What a horrid car it was lol

[Matt2107]

Money can be a powerful persuader

[craig green]

I am more than aware that plenty of good press & editorial write ups are biased &/or bought.
However quite why the Corsa would beat all the winners from other categories when marques such as BMW & VW etc can generally not put a foot wrong.

I know I'd have a new Corsa given the chance. I'm very impressed with the Astra mk5 Ive driven, I like the looks of it, though the dash is a bit 'playschool' & as I utterly hate (generally) the 2 predesesors to the Corsa D I think I have an unbiased opinion.

at tyhe end of the day it cant be any worse than the 2 older models & they were very successfull, sales wise & never won any fans in terms of press/road tests.

[Matt2107]

I'd have one if it came with a free puppet thing from the advert. :D

Are they all fitted with the magical extending bike rack from the rear?

[wisewood]

Don't like the new Astra's. It's like being in a boat on a rough sea! Sportier models might be different though.

Driven the old corsa C & D a few times, don't rate it them at all. I don't see any reason to suspect the new corsa will be a genuine car of the year by any stretch of the imagination - in fact, i might go and test-drive one at the weekend and find out.

I've driven the new clio, and though its still a bit cheap inside it's better than the old ones (one of which i have... 04 reg)... so will have something to compare it to :D

[BigStan]

The VXR looks cool

[craig green]

VXR should sell very well, esp if the press like it. Should spawn a whole tuning revolution for the new 1600T motor aswell.

I hate the back end of the VXR model but Ive already been saved by the Irmscher rear bumper with its far sexier rear diffuser. The std bumper is awful IMO.

Astra 5 Ive driven is a 'Design' estate. Awesome grip & poise IMO.

[John]

I'm not sure it was aimed at Nova driving petrol heads. bearing in mind a Nova is & was crap.

I would take the word of a panel of journalists over a forum full of Nova monkeys..no offence.

I agree with Stu the current Fiesta are an utter hoot, I have a 1250 as a company car & it is pretty fast in the right hands.
But as the quality & expectations from small cars is increasing all the time, its not out of the question for the new Corsa to be a class leader, albeit breifly.

It does share the Punto floorpan, but its not a copy, they release it under FIAT first to develop it further & evaluate its performance in the market.

I cant imagine the Clio will have the same chassis somehow, I thought the Nissan/Renault/Vauxhall alliance was for Vans.

edit; The Fiesta driving position feels tall & like you sit 'on' the car esp after coming out of a Nova.

Just for the record craig, the last time i drove my nova was about a year or so ago, and i was Just giving my personal opinion, bearing in mind that i get to drive one of these most days, what with working for vauxhall. I never actually said it was a punto "copy", just that it shares most of it's suspension and some engine components etc etc, i feel that they've not only done this, to like you say craig, to develop the corsa before its launch, but also to keep the cost down, letting it down IMO. My point being that I feel that they should have developed their own car, just as they have done with every other corsa model.
The clio chassis shares some of the suspension components, not engine like the punto.
Modern vauxhall, not only shares its alliance with mentioned models for vans, but for many parts too. eg vectra 1.9cdti is a fiat engine, and punto 1.3jtd is actually an isuzu engine developed for gm.

Oh, and personally i would never trust a panel of overpaid/outspoken car judges. They'll probably never drive one again!

Edit, this is my personal opinion, feel free to abuse as neccesarylol :thumb:

[Matt2107]

Edit, this is my personal opinion, feel free to abuse as neccesarylol :thumb:

Woot woot... free for all abusing opportunity with permission too.

OMG how ****ing stupid are you?... are you some kind of retard?... your views and opinions are completely rediculous... so is your hair!!!

That was supposed to be funny by the way and i didnt even read your opinions :D

[Stuart]

I feel that they should have developed their own car, just as they have done with every other corsa model.

but with GM being in uber uber financial trouble in the US they cant afford to fully devlop a new vehicle.... hell a carry over landrover defender prototype cost ?1/4 million to make,. with the only difference being the transit engine. was an eye opener as to how "valuable" prototyping is.

[wisewood]

Slightly off subject ... but Ford also made a record loss in 2006 too didn't they.

[Stuart]

Loss is modern day profit ;)

[craig green]

Loss is modern day profit ;)

Hence the new Corsa is the way forwards....


VAUXHALL raising the standards.

[wisewood]

http://www.sniffpetrol.com/AdCorsaNew02.jpg

[Jack]

Loss is modern day profit ;)
Pish, tell that to Toyota lol