The Vauxhall Corsa 1.6 VXR can truly be called a ‘hot hatch’: it sports a sleek, sexy interior, and the Corsa’s cabin has several pluses. We at Car-Advise like the clarity of the dashboard, think the standard-fit Recaro front seats (complete with side airbags) are superb, and appreciate the strong basic packaging of the three-door Corsa bodyshell, including its roomy rear seats and boot.
However, some of the minor details, most of which have been applied in the name of VXR branding, are less successful. The deeply naffed VXR-logoed gear lever and the gimmicky flat-bottomed steering wheel, which neither looks nor feels anything like the steering wheel of a Golf GTi, is among them.
Then again, you can’t really argue against the VXR’s showroom appeal, its basic value for money, OR the level of standard equipment it provides compared with similarly priced rivals. You get air conditioning, those beefy Recaro front seats, and a high-end stereo as standard for your £15,595. Yes, that makes the VXR almost £500 cheaper than its key rivals from Renault and Mini, neither of which is as well ornamented.
At the heart of the VXR is a 1598cc turbocharged engine that produces 189bhp at 5850rpm and a maximum of 192lb ft from 1980-5800rpm for 15-second bursts. Even without overboost, the engine still has 169lb ft. All this is sufficient to propel the 1255kg Corsa VXR to 60mph in well under 7.0 seconds, to 100mph in 16.8 seconds, and to a top speed of 136mph.
In the higher gears at middling revs it has more urgency than the 197, and you only need to look at the 50-70mph times in top for the proof.
Of course, all of this would amount to nothing if the VXR didn’t handle, ride, stop and steer properly, especially since these are areas in which previous VXRs have done poorly in comparison to their rivals. Vauxhall’s engineers have, in their own words, “gone to town” on the VXR’s underpinnings.
The ride height, for instance, is 19mm lower at the back and 12mm lower at the front due to stiffer springs and uprated dampers. The anti-roll bar is 25% stiffer than a regular Corsa’s, the brakes are ENORMOUS by comparison (308mm ventilated discs at the front, 264mm discs at the back). Even the ESP system has been completely recalibrated to allow a small amount of leeway; and if you turn it off completely, says Vauxhall, the chassis has been set up to allow a degree of “controllable” lift-off oversteer that should please the wannabe McRaes.
The most disappointing feature of the Corsa is, unsurprisingly, the steering. The speed of the steering rack (and its level of power assistance) varies between 11 and 13.1, depending on how fast you’re travelling and how rapidly you turn the wheel. The VXR might have super-light steering at parking speeds, but on the move it’s neither as precise nor as well weighted as it could be.
On the other hand, the VXR does have a very natural, well judged sense of balance mid-corner when you’re going for it. Plus, it provides superior comfortability over virtually any road surface. However, in its attempt to liberate the Corsa VXR from some of the Astra VXR’s less desirable traits, Vauxhall may have gone a step too far. Other than a small amount of torque steer, the Corsa is almost too well behaved for its own good.
To be fair though, the faster the speed, the better the Corsa VXR behaves, and that’s only achieved because the chassis is so well balanced. Around a smooth, fast, flowing corner, the amount of grip on offer is genuinely eye-opening. And because the rear is so well tied down you can exploit the grip, you’re safe in the knowledge that when the tires start to give in, they do so progressively and only at the front in the form of mild understeer.
Lurid lift-off oversteer simply isn’t in this car’s vocabulary, no matter what Luton’s engineers may wish you to believe, and mostly that’s a very good thing. Once again, the ‘feel’ of the pedal is not a particularly strong point, but there is no arguing with the power of retardation on offer. Neither can one argue with how the anti-lock system operates so subtly in conjunction with the ESP.