Good initial impression (updated on 16/08/05). Review on Opel Corsa 1.4 GSI

See at the end of the review for update after an year

I bought this car less than a month ago. And this is my first car. So I cant really compare this car with any other cars as an expert. I will give details about my selection process and my first impressions about this car.

I started looking around at a car to buy about three months ago. I had only mid-sized cars in mind with a budget of upto Rs. 6,50,000 on-road. Initially, I had 4 cars in view - Hyundai Accent, Ford Ikon, Opel Corsa and Fiat Sienna.

I have friends who owns these cars. I asked each one of them about their experience with their respective cars. And surprise, every one recommended their cars. So I was sure, which ever car I buy, I wouldn't regret it. I had a ride in each of these cars (sitting in the passenger seat - I didn't know to drive then).

I was the most impressed with the Fiat Sienna (note, this was the old Fiat Sienna, not the new one) followed by the Opel Corsa and the Hyundai Accent. I realized that driver and passenger comfort was what I was looking for. In Ford Ikon, you feel the road very much. So even if it is good from drivers point of view, I dropped it from my list.

I read about the bad experience of people about Fiat Service and dropped Sienna from the list, though I was very much impressed by the car. However, the thing to note is that the recommended service period for the Sienna and the Corsa is one a year unlike once in six months for the Accent. So, unless some unforeseen circumstance occurs, you wont have to visit the service centre too often.

So it came down to the Accent or the Corsa for me. I decided that I would myself test-drive both to judge for myself (I had learned to drive during this period). I test rode the Accent 1.5 GVS and the Corsa 1.4 GSI. Again no clear winners. The Corsa was less spacious and its gear shift lacked the preciseness of the Accent. However, interiors were much better in the Corsa. Also, it seemed more smooth and stable. My friend (an expert driver) accelerated the Corsa and asked me to guess the speed. I guessed 90 kmph. It was 120 kmph!!!

I had also done some research about the cars on the web and auto magazine. One of the magazines listed the NCAP ratings of the cars. Corsa had a rating of 3 (higher better, max 5), while Accent had 1.5. So it seemed that Corsa was a safer car.The magazine also said that the Corsa has a higher fuel efficiency. Also the Corsa is a Euro-III car as against Accent Euro-II (inspite of Hyundai's claims in their new ad). So Corsa was a cleaner and greener car also. Scales tilted in favour of the Corsa.

The final decisive factor was the price. The Corsa came at a price of 5.81 lakhs on road in Bangalore. I added another accessories worth 17k and the final price came to 5.98 lakhs. An equally featured accent's (the new version) final price came to 6.6 lakhs.

Now, I have been driving the car for about three weeks. The problem which I faced with the gear-shift in the test drive car does not exist in my car. The car has a gem of a ride quality. The equipment in the car seems to be of a very good quality and built to last. The tractability of the car is also quite good, though it wont set any speed records!

Overall, I would recommend this car to any one who is planning to buy an entry mid-sized car.

Update after one year

I will try to summarize my observations on my car after one year of use:

Positives:

• Excellent ride quality - No need to describe it again

  
  




• Build and robustness - Once an ambassador car hit us from behind. There was nothing to show for it except a small portion of paint peeled off the bumper. Also no squeaks and rattle after one year. Build quality is impeccable.

  
  




• Turning radius - This was a revelation. No other mid-sizer and very few B segment cars would have a smaller turning radius. Absolutely brilliant.

  
  




• Maintenance - Needed to go to the service station only for the scheduled services only - once after one month and once after one year. Cost of service after one year (note: there was nothing free in this service) approx Rs. 2500. This included the full upholstery cleaning also. And you have to service only once a year.

  
  




• Mileage - I am getting a consistent mileage of 10.5 kmpl for 100% city driving with AC on about 50% of the time. With good driving, I have also obtained 11.5 kmpl a few times. (Note: these are very accurate tests done from full-tank to full-tank of petrol - I fill petrol to full tank each time)

  
  




• Rear view mirror (updated on 16/08/05) - The rear view mirrors on a Corsa are a beauty. They fold backwards unlike other cars. Many a times two wheelers or some other vehicle hits your mirror while overtaking you. This would result in a broken mirror in all other cars that I know. But in a Corsa they fold backwards. My RVMs have taken a blow many a times. But still this feature gives you a peace of mind that you dont have to worry about breaking it. Though a small feature, its value is immense. I am updating this review because I thought this feature needs to be talked about.

  
  

Negatives:

• Body roll - This is the phenomenon where during turning the inner tires are slightly lifted up (Remember, ambassador car driving around hill corners in hindi movies). Though not as prominent as the ambassador car, it is noticable. Especially with the low turning radius, one has to really slow down for sharp corners.

Other observations:

• Tire pressure plays a very major role in getting a good mileage. Once I failed to check the tire pressure and the mileage dropped to 9.5 kmpl

  
  




• Pick is slightly sluggish in the first gear but okay from second gear onwards. Maybe this is due to the Euro-III emission norms. Third gear pick-up is very good.

  
  




• There have been frequent complaints about the less space in a Corsa. My observations are slightly different. Most cars (like Accent and Ikon) taper slightly inwards. So though the seat space is more, the shoulder space is limited. So if you sit in the extreme corner, you have to lean inwards at you are limited by shoulder space. On the other hand, the Corsa does not taper inwards. Hence the shoulder space is almost equivalent to an Accent. To confirm what I am saying, look at all the cars from front or back and try and notice the taper and try and compare the roof width.

  
  

Summarizing it up, at the new prices, the Corsa 1.4 GSI is definitely a steal. I would recommend it whole-heartedly to anyone looking for a C segment or a B+ segment car.