Vauxhall Corsa - What's the 1.2L petrol like?

NeilF

NeilF

NeilF

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Investigating cars for my son, as his first car. Looking at around a 2012 Corsa.

Seems the Corsa 1.2L, 1.4L and 1.3EcoFlex Diesel are all about the same to insure.

The 1.4 petrol and 1.3EcoFlex seem to be pretty few in numbers second hand, with the huge majority being the 1.2L ones.

Anyone tried the 1.2L version compared to the other two? Thoughts on the drive? eg: How painful up hills or down motorways etc?
 
Whenever I've had to drive one they never really felt all that stable at speed. But that could just be due to the total lack of feel through the steering.
 
NeilFawcett said:
Investigating cars for my son, as his first car. Looking at around a 2012 Corsa.

Seems the Corsa 1.2L, 1.4L and 1.3EcoFlex Diesel are all about the same to insure.

The 1.4 petrol and 1.3EcoFlex seem to be pretty few in numbers second hand, with the huge majority being the 1.2L ones.

Anyone tried the 1.2L version compared to the other two? Thoughts on the drive? eg: How painful up hills or down motorways etc?
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What's your budget out of curiosity?
 
NeilFawcett said:
Anyone tried the 1.2L version compared to the other two? Thoughts on the drive? eg: How painful up hills or down motorways etc?
Click to expand...

The 1.2 will be absolutely fine - 84bhp isn't going to set the world on fire, but it's more than enough for a small first car.
(They also do a 64bhp 1.0 version - which will however be dog slow)


Personally I'd rather have the similar age Fiesta as suggested above, having driven both (and both a Focus and Astra of similar age), The Vauxhall's of this era are just so dull and uninspiring to drive - almost feels like the life is being sucked out of you.
 
Armageus said:
The 1.2 will be absolutely fine - 84bhp isn't going to set the world on fire, but it's more than enough for a small first car.
(They also do a 64bhp 1.0 version - which will however be dog slow)

Personally I'd rather have the similar age Fiesta as suggested above, having driven both (and both a Focus and Astra of similar age), The Vauxhall's of this era are just so dull and uninspiring to drive - almost feels like the life is being sucked out of you.
Click to expand...
What size engine in the fiesta is tolerable? Ie: is there a sensible say sub 100hp engine ideal for a new driver?
 
Dogbreath said:
The 1.4L petrol was the smallest engine in the 8th and 9th gen Civic. Civics are not cheap to insure in general; a 1.4 Civic is insurance group 11 to the Corsa's group 6.
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Thanks... So I suspect that means a fairly inflated premium then.

Is that group 6 for the corsa 1.2 or 1.4 ooi?
 
My old 1.4 Astra had 90bhp, it wasn't setting anything alight but was absolutely fine in terms of managing up hills and things and I bet it's a chunk heavier than a corsa.
 
NeilFawcett said:
What size engine in the fiesta is tolerable? Ie: is there a sensible say sub 100hp engine ideal for a new driver?
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82bhp 1.25 or 96bhp 1.4.
64bhp 1.25 is one to avoid.

My wife currently has the 1.4 fiesta and it's plenty quick enough. I've also driven the previous model fiesta with a 1.25 75bhp version and that was still "nippy" enough but I would personally want anything slower.
 
For a first car it really won't matter what it is tbh - just have a play around with insurance on a few cars and if they're cheapest then go buy one (they're absolutely horrid to drive but if choice is limited then so be it)
 
The 1.2 twinport with spanish engines love to snap camshafts. I know two people who had them and the camshaft snapped. I cant remember the engine code for the engines made in spain but needless to say avoid them.

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=56906

My mum had one and her one snapped its cam at <25k miles. We engine swapped it for around 300 quid so not exactly the wnd of the world but still.
 
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