The Corsa and Punto may share floorpans, chassis pressings, suspension and power steering systems, but this car has been developed mostly in Germany and the UK. You’d be hard pressed to tell that there are any shared parts.
Around town, the Corsa is very quiet and the ride is isolated across poor urban surfaces. It remains compliant as speeds rise, too. Motorway noise levels are as low as any in the class; a couple of years ago they would have been good enough for the class above.
In general driving, the controls have a consistent, detached weight, but for a small car it’s disappointing that they’re not more positive. The electric power steering is over-light, though direct and accurate, while the brakes are over-servoed at the top of their travel, so this can be a hard car to drive smoothly.
Which makes what happens when you take the Corsa by the scruff of the neck even more remarkable. Our Corsa wasn't on stiffer SXi suspension, but it became clear that it has an unflappable chassis when driven with gusto, displaying outstanding body control and a decent dose of adjustability. Which makes it even more frustrating that there’s so little interaction between driver and controls. Still, it bodes well for the VXR model.
Fast, though, this Corsa is not. Vauxhall claims 60mph in 11.8sec, but we took 12.0sec, and it feels slower than that. Fancy overtaking in fourth gear? Plan well: 50-70mph takes 13.1sec. Third, then? You’re still looking at 7.7sec. A 1.4-litre Clio is half a second quicker to 60mph and will accelerate from 50-70mph in fourth in 9.8sec.
We returned a 36.6mpg average over our test, with a best of 46.0mpg on a touring route, which is competitive but still not brilliant for a small car.
We’ve no complaints about the Corsa’s brakes, though. The 2.63sec it takes from 60mph to rest is excellent, as is a 48-metre stopping distance from 70mph. They proved immune to fade, too.