Opel Corsa review: Modern marvels in a compact package

This might come as something of a shock to Gen-Z-ers or Millennials, but there was a time in the not so distant past when cars came with few of the creature comforts and safety features that are taken for granted today.

Back in the 1970’s, Toyota made a huge impact on the Irish market by selling versions of the Corolla which – gasp – came as standard with a heater; not only that but – roll of drums – it was also fitted with a radio.

Such a situation might seem preposterous in the modern era in which cars come with all sorts of electronic driver aids, safety features that will stop you crashing into pretty much anything; then you’ve got all the telecommunications gizmos, paddle-shift gearboxes, torque sensing differentials and all sorts of computer-aided mechanicals.

Back in the day you were haunted if you got an ashtray and a cigarette lighter, both of which are now, of course, consigned to history.

I mention all this by way of illustrating the kaleidoscopic specification sheet that now comes with even diminutive cars such as this week’s tester – the new Opel Corsa with a 1.2 petrol engine and mild hybrid technology.

Standard kit on this supermini includes a bewilderment of stuff: it has an electronic stability programme and electronic brake distribution, while also boasting automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control with an intelligent speed limiter, blind spot assist, hill start assist and lane keep assist.

As if that wasn’t enough the entry level model to the Opel range also has a heated steering wheel on which there are controls for the phone/audio/cruise control, electronic climate, control, and door mirrors which are electronically controlled, heated and power folding.

Jeez. It used to be the case that you were lucky if you got dust caps on the tyre valves – or hubcaps, for that matter.

Nowadays we couldn’t live without our front and rear parking sensors, 180 degree panoramic rear view camera, or the electrochrome anti-dazzle rear view mirror, or the automatic lights or wipers.

This latest Corsa is the newest iteration of a car which, on its debut in 2020, got a rare five-star rating in these columns. That was largely down to a relief in this quarter that the Opel brand had been saved from extinction by its purchase by the PSA Peugeot/Citroen group who got it for half nothing from its previous owners, General Motors.

Having witnessed the sad demise of such as Saab (another GM failure) pretty much the entire British industry (Rover, Reilly, Hillman, Sunbeam, Morris etc. etc) and a raft of American ones (Plymouth, Fisker, Mercury, Pontiac etc. etc.) we feared Opel would go the same way, but the French outfit came to the rescue in Opel’s case, before being itself subsumed into the newly created Stellantis company.

The 2020 Corsa, therefore, gave us reason to cheer and the fact it was an excellent little supermini helped it achieve its five-star status in our eyes.

Opel has gone from strength to strength, what with new Astra, Mokka and Grandland model ranges and now this latest Corsa aims to further solidify the brand’s successful re-emergence into the automotive world. And it will.

Aside altogether from the cosmetic elements of this new model – it is a fine looking car, by the way – it characterises all the elements that go to make up a serious contender in a market segment that looked for a while like it was going to vanish altogether.

With Ford ceasing to make the Fiesta and others looking to make city cars which are EV-only, it looked like there might be a dearth of small five-door cars in the not too distant. But thankfully that will not come to pass as manufacturers have hit the realisation that such things are actually still good for business.

The Corsa, then, joins such as the VW Polo, SEAT Ibiza, Skoda Fabia, Peugeot 208, Citroen C3, Toyota Yaris, Nissan Micra, Hyundai i20 and many more in a competitive marketplace. And it is up there with the best of them.

The interior is bright and airy – and roomy too. The GS model we tested has a digital instrument binnacle and there’s a 10” infotainment screen that controls a lot of functions except the climate, which is worked by various dials and buttons.

Seating is comfortable and well adjustable and while room in the back might be a bit tight for lanky people, it is good for the segment. The boot too is commodious to a point.

On the road it provides a balanced and sturdy proposition and the powertrain design is pretty state-of-the-art hybrid motoring which give you the potential to drive for 50% of the time on electricity only when in urban or low-speed settings.

The system is self-charging and the transfer of power from EV to ICE is pretty seamless, although the car is not the quickest (10.7 second 0-100 km/h) in acceleration terms it can most certainly hold its own at motorway speeds and has a good turn of foot for passing manoeuvres.

It is economical as well and if you’re modest with the application of your right boot, you should see a return from the three-cylinder engine in the region of 5.0 l/100km (56 mpg), despite there being some 100 bhp on tap.

You have the usual choice of Eco, Normal and Sport driving settings to choose from and while the latter probably holds onto any of the six gears on offer with the auto ‘box that’s standard here, it does give you a bit of necessary pep when required.

The handling is surefooted and the ride is well capable of dealing with the Irish road network, while the steering is sharp and weights up nicely as you pick up speed. For the class, this is as good as it gets in all three of those departments.

Opel, yet again, has done a good job here with the tools at its disposal and I am thrilled that the Russelsheim outfit has found a home where it is treated with due respect and its engineers and designers allowed the freedom to create cars that the public might actually want – unlike its previous owners.

While I may have been a little too excited about the Corsa’s revival when we saw and drove it back in 2020, what with that five-star rating, this is still one of the best superminis around and the hybrid choices in the line-up not only give it green credentials and an appeal to the more eco-conscious among us, but make it hugely economic as well.

All that considered, it still easily warrants a four-star rating and that’s right up there with the best in class – a class which is now unrecognisable from those cars which first had the ‘supermini’ label attached to them all those years ago.