Vauxhall Corsa review

The range starts at £19,085 for the Design trim with 74bhp nat-asp petrol – upgrading to the 99bhp engine adds £900 and the automatic transmission another £700 or so. The middle trim adds £2k and the top-spec car starts from £25,120, topping out at £27,820. This is versus the Corsa Electric which costs £33,930 or £36,535 for its two available trims.

Remind me of the trims again.

There are three trim lines on offer here: Design, GS and Ultimate. Design gets the 74bhp and 99bhp engine options, the GS offers all three and the Ultimate trim comes with the 99bhp or 128bhp outputs. 

As standard you get LED headlights, Apple/Android connectivity, cruise control, the 7in touchscreen infotainment set-up, air con, remote central locking and 16in alloys. GS adds LED lights front and rear, rear parking sensors, climate control, auto wipers and lights, an electronic handbrake (but not with the 74bhp engine) and 17in wheels. 

Meanwhile, the top-spec Ultimate car offers adaptive cruise, front parking sensors and a rear-view camera, 10in touchscreen infotainment, heated front seats and steering wheel and a bit of Alcantara trim. 

What are the running costs like?

All of the petrol Corsas are rated for around 55mpg and will manage an easy 50mpg in mixed driving. With electric charging prices as high as they currently are, you’ll have to do some clever maths to see whether it’s really worth making the switch or just sticking with petrol. 

All engines apart from the 99hp manual will cost £210 for the first year of VED – the odd one out creeps down to 109g/km CO2 emissions, which means £185 in the first year. After that they’re all £180. The electric version is of course £0, but the purchase price is that much higher. If you’re getting the Corsa as a company car then the 28/29 per cent Benefit-in-Kind rate of the petrols is pricey next to the 11/12 per cent BIK rate of the EVs.

Which one should I go for? 

The 99bhp engine in GS trim is the pick of the lot: the six-speed manual isn’t the best to use, but we’re not sure we could bring ourselves to spend the extra £2,700 to upgrade to the 128bhp engine with the automatic. The 99bhp unit is the sweet spot in terms of useful performance combined with frugality that gets the most out of the Corsa.