With car prices going down had shortlisted a few mid size cars...namely ikon, accent and corsa..... Finally a good deal from the dealer led me to purchase the new opel corsa 1.4 gsi in sparkling silver. It came with a dealer fitted car stereo (samsung), power windows, power steering, rear window de-mister, excellent safety features , etc.
A few things I noticed as soon as I got in were;
Plush interiors.Great seat fabric and no nonsense dash.
The left/right indicator was to the left of the steering and needed getting used to.
Cool yellow needles on the tacho and speedometer.
No remote boot and fuel opening thru levers.It opens when you open the driver side door.
Great set of bridgestone tyres.
Body Shaped to pass through narrow lanes and traffic snarls with ease.(The dealer said that its cage was thoroughly crash tested) German engineering is all evident in this car.The ’synpro’ car safety system has sensors which opens up all door locks in case of accidents. The body is sturdy and the car is built like a tank !
Which explains its weight of 1030 odd kg’s.
After a slightly sluggish start (because of the euro 3 norm) the car picked itself up with ease , reached 100 without any effort with the ac on.The much vaunted suspension was a delight and the car glided over potholes and bad roads with consummate ease! The turning radius of the car was a revelation.
Turning around on the narrowest of roads gracefully and would bring smaller cars to shame. Fuel efficiency (Its still in the below 1000 km range) was 10kmpl with ac on in city conditions and should improve. Took it on a hill station drive and loaded with 4 people took the steep climbs at 3rd gear and had no problems in sharp cornering.All in all a great stress free ride.
Excellent for long distance driving although the driver side footwell is slightly cramped and needs getting used to.Backseat space and comfort was an improvement from the older corsa’s and was much better. It reuqires just one service a year or in 10, 000 kms whichever comes first. The glove compartment is a trifle to small but hey you can’t ask for the moon at this price !!