THE NEW VAUXHALL CORSA 2020: THE REVIEWS ARE IN

he team at Eden couldn't be more excited about the brand new Corsa, but that's probably a given. We get to lovingly stare at it in the showroom all day, not to mention take them on test drives with customers... and watch them fall in love with the new Corsa. It's not a bad job, really.

But let's throw it over to a select group of people who are a little less biased about the new Corsa than we are: the hyper-meticulous, unapologetic auto journalists whose job is to criticise every last stitch of upholstery and dial on the dashboard.

How did the Corsa get on? Let's do a round-up of the reviews:

“The fifth-generation car is lighter, lower and more efficient than the outgoing model. It’s a beautiful piece of kit... Everything about the car’s switchgear is intuitive, and you sit low down, so it almost feels sporty. [Using the shift paddles] is a real smile-inducer in and out of corners. Of course, you can leave the transmission to do its own thing too. It’s so slick and makes driving effortless, especially around town. Manual gearboxes are also offered, but the auto is so good it’s worth paying extra for.”

“We’ll likely be seeing plenty of Corsas on our roads for years to come”.

- Tim Barnes-Lee, GQ

“Three minutes. That’s all it took to decide this is the best Corsa ever. Actually, I’ll go further. It trumps the 208, Polo and Ibiza. And it goes straight on to my small car podium alongside the Fiesta and Clio. I drove a prototype Corsa in May and back then I thought, ‘Hmmm, this is a bit of all right.’ Now I’ve just driven the finished article and it is exactly what I’d hoped. It’s not just the handling, or the ride quality, or the peppy engine, or the body control, or the lightness, or the low driving position. It’s the combination of all of those things. This little Vauxhall is a joy to drive. And cracking value, too."

- Rob Gill, The Sun

"... extremely composed, even on bucking and broken UK country roads. It hardly gets knocked off course and the damping just soaks it all up. Quick, progressive and natural steering aids the cause. It feels confident and so do you. The presence of hardware controls and instruments is refreshing and makes it super easy to use. There’s still CarPlay/Android on the colour screen, so you’re fully connected and navigated. Just the right balance of usability.

It’s a long time since I’ve tested a car that didn’t have some characteristic or other that really irritated me. This Corsa doesn’t. It just works. That’s not just ‘not bad’. It’s really rather good.

- Paul Horrell, Top Gear

"[The new Corsa] is best looking to date, and in SRi spec it is without question the peppiest and best handling Corsa I’ve ever driven. Sport mode quickens throttle response, firms up the steering and puts an engine noise augmentation system into operation so things sound a bit more rorty. On top of this there’s a strut brace to help keep the front suspension’s geometry constant and sharpen up handling. Regardless of specification, the new Corsa is comfortable and soaks up bumps”while being “impressively quiet at speed. The new Vauxhall Corsa is the company’s best small car yet. It’s lighter than before and that means it’s more fun to drive and economical.”

- Colin Goodwin, Daily Mirror

"Utilising the PSA Group’s many resources has made a lot of difference here – not least with the excellent line-up of new engines. The much improved driving experience makes a big difference, too. Undercutting the Ford Fiesta and being on-par with many rivals, opt for a low or mid spec Corsa and you’ll be grabbing a great buy.”

- Ted Welford, Car Keys

"The Corsa is well sprung, comfortable, firm but supple. It feels like a good car to drive fast and a great car to drive slowly.... You can go looking for similarities with the Peugeot 208 and they are there. But for our money, while not as immediately demonstrative, the new Corsa’s handsome design will look good for longer. The charms of this little Griffin-badged supermini run more than skin deep, with a great set-up and attention to the small details. We think the new Corsa will be a blockbuster in Britain.”

- The Telegraph