SAIL - A good car. Review on Opel Corsa Sail 1.4

Hi all,

I have using a Corsa Sail 1.4 for more than 6 months now. I bought it early this year. And have used it for 7000 kms.

HOW I FINALISED ON CORSA SAIL

Well, I have been using a Maruti 800 for the last 5 years, and always wanted to upgrade to a bigger better vehicle. I did not have idea whether I wanted a hatch back or sedan. But I wanted to move on to a different vehicle. I just had my budget set to less than 5 lacs. So, every weekend, literally every weekend, I used to visit all showrooms, the marutis, hyundais, palios, indicas, GMs… I looked at every possible vehicle that came within 5 lacs. And then, I started shorlisting vehicles. The options for any maruti vehicles was out (the Swift was not lauched that time). And I did not want to go for ZEN or the WagonR. The final 3 choices I came down to were the Palio 1.2 ELX, Getz GLS and the Sail 1.4. And, then I opted out of Palio, bcos of the kind of service stations we have at Pune. I actually liked the Getz a lot. But then, the final choice came out to be the Sail 1.4, looking at the sturdy body, the overall drive, the AC, and fell for the car.

THE VEHICLE DELIVERY

I got the vehicle from Talera Motors, Pune. I opted for the Cashmere color. I always wanted to buy the BLACK. But then, when it comes to maintenance, specially scratches, the cashmere looked like a good choice. I got a 100% loan from HDFC, I had to literally fight hard for this. I made this point to visit the service station of Talera. And I was pretty impressed with the overall work that seemed to happen there. And the sales team at Talera Motors was really impressive compared to the lazy sales team of other vehicles. The delivery of the vehicle including all the loan processing took around a week. This is quite acceptable.

ABOUT THE VECHICLE

So far so good. I would say that I am pretty impressed with the Sail. It is indeed a good solid sturdy car. The feel inside is pretty decent. The AC works GOOD. The cooling effect has some effect on the rear passengers also. The feel at the steering is also good, the steering being a little big, makes you feel under control. I feel good that I have 88 bhp under that hood, but I find the engine a little sluggish (a little only). But I guess it is a European vehicle and it got this heavy body. The boot space is good. I can easily fit in my travelling bags (I think it is 290 - 300 litres)… good enough.

MY DRIVING EXPERIENCE - THE DRIVE AND MILEAGE

I have used it for 7000 kms so far. I have taken this cute baby for long drives from Pune to Chiplun a couple of times. And this vehicle performed. I was totally impressed. No problems at all (well, it is a new vehicle so should not give any problems also). A few months back, I moved my job to Bangalore and I got it from Pune to Bangalore. And there is where I realized the beauty of the vehicle. Wow, it took me 13.5 hours to reach Bangalore (considering the rains also). I actually crossed the 140 kmph mark on the speedometer. But then, I just stepped down. I wanted to enjoy the drive more than going at high speeds. The mileage I got on the highway was roughly 13kmpl (I kept the A/C on in intervals). Well, in the city of bangalore, where I am right now, I feel good about my drive from home to work and work to home. I get 10-11 kmpl in the city conditions (with the A/C on say 40-50% of the time).

FINAL VERDICT

After 5 years, when I completed with paying all my 60 EMIs, and I have to buy a new vehicle, I would go in for a Corsa (the sedan version), may be the 1.6 l version. On the whole, the Corsa Sail is good car. And in Bangalore, I see a lot of Corsas; a feel good factor for me.

Buy it if you want a good quality drive and a safe car, go for it. The other vehicles in competition to this, are the Palio, Getz and the Swift.

Thanks.