Can anyone please comment on whether a Vauxhall Corsa with an automatic gearbox is likely to be any good in terms of performance, economy, reliablilty etc. The prospective car will be low mileage (<10000 miles), under a year old, and between £7000 to £7500 for a Design or Elegance trim on a late 2003/ early 2004 plate. It's the 1.4 auto, not the easytronic BTW. Has anyone driven or owned one and care to let me know what they are like? I recently read the article comparing the Polo, Fiesta and Micra in WC and they said the Micra was the best, although HJ mentioned that it was not so good. They said the Polo is too slow and I believe the Fiesta is too dear at £11000+. I may go for an Astra instead but that would be quite a basic 1.6 old shape model of the same age
Anyone have any thoughts on what is best?
Cheers
Paulie
|
|
From what I have read on other threads round here, a 1.4 automatic is not really worth considering... performance-wise anyway. It's probably fairly economical though. I guess you need to decide what's most important to you.
|
If you real want an auto then try a Clio or Corsa 1.2 you can get them new in sporty trim etc for ~£7.5k.
A mate has just bout a 1.2 Clio Dynamic for £7.3k Uk spec from a normal dealer and everything.
Have a look at diesels as well its not all about hp in cars.
|
|
|
|
I was quite impressed with a 1,4 Corsa auto on the M25 in the wet, it felt like more like a mid-size car and had reasonable overtaking speed ( all things considered ).
In the county lanes though the 4-speed auto box was too easily fooled; especially up hills.
I was suprised at this as auto is reasonably sophisticated in it's design for a supermini, I'm sure it has at least snow button and possibly a sports mode. So to sum up:
For town and the odd bit of motorway work, I would be interested.
For "enjoyable driving" - give it a miss.
The one I drove was ex-BSM and around that price - I'm not sure I'd pay that sort of money for an ex-driving school car, if you are thinking of doing that as I'm sure it would knock the value when its passed on.
Insurance permittng and given an reasonable annual milage I would go for either an older bigger auto or spend less on a smaller, cheaper car (old model micra or possibly early Yaris 1.3)
P.S Believe me, the Polo is too slow!
|
I have owned two old model Corsa automatics (P and V regs); I think the same gearbox is on the latest model.
The P reg was bought new and was used only for motorway miles; after 33,000 miles the transmission ECU warning light came on and Vauxhall suggested a new transmission to cure.
The V reg was bought as a NetworkQ car with 10,000 miles on the clock. Despite the '103 point check' the tranmission failed on the drive home (stuck in 3rd gear)! Needed a new gearbox under warranty...got my money back through small claims court.
So no more vauxhall autos for me.
|
|
oh dear - I always thought that one thing V'hall DID get right was its auto design, and think I recall someone (Aprilia?) saying tt GM auto boxes were amongst the best ... I had 5 Cavalier autos and never had a prob over 16 years.
|
|
|
|
