It took a while for Vauxhall to catch up to the rest of the market with regards to three-cylinder turbo engines. While Ford has been raking in sales and plaudits for the EcoBoost, the Corsa’s headlining turbo has been a 1.4-litre unit. Not a bad engine, but for insurance, tax and emission purposes, the 1.4-litre unit doesn’t really make sense for such a small car.
We have already driven Vauxhall’s new 1.0-litre 113bhp turbo in the Vauxhall ADAM and when doing so all we could think was – “I bet this would be great in the new Corsa.” So is it?
Start it up in the morning and it takes a bit of time to properly wake-up, with the turbo’s presence feeling almost non-existent. You probably shouldn’t be gunning it from a cold start anyway, so the 10 minutes or so it takes to stretch its legs should go relatively unnoticed.
When it has limbered-up properly, this engine is great. Floor it and you will feel the turbo coming in at just under 3,000rpm, allowing you to reach the 62mph mark from a standing start in just 10.3 seconds. Like many other three-cylinder turbos though, it feels faster than it claims it is on paper. Performance wise, this engine sits in-between Ford’s EcoBoost units in the Fiesta (the 1.0-litre and 1.25-litre units available).
The availability of a six-speed manual gearbox with this engine is a massive bonus. Many 1.0-litre petrols are only available with five gears, which leaves you longing for an extra gear, especially when it comes to motorway driving. Thankfully this isn’t the case with the 1.0-litre Corsa.
The only thing that lets it down slightly is its frugality. With CO2 emissions starting from 112g/km, it is behind the Fiesta’s sub 100g/km offerings, which is a shame. Average fuel economy is quoted at just over 55mpg, but with small turbo units, these figures fluctuate quite a bit. If you are after a small turbo engine and are really crunching the figures though, that 112g/km stat is going to stick out, even if it only means an extra £30 a year in road tax.
As our model was the SRi VX-Line, it had a few minor tweaks, the most significant (on paper that is) being ‘Sports suspension’. We didn’t find this made any difference to the Corsa’s drive, which was a little disappointing. This means our model drove just like all the other new Corsa’s, with sharp steering and a comfortable ride.
Pricing wise, the 1.0-litre 113bhp Corsa can be yours for £14,430, that’s if you go for the Energy A/C three door model. Go for the same trim in the five door and prices start from £15,030.
The new 1.0-litre turbo definitely offers the same appeal as the likes of the EcoBoost when it comes to performance, with surprising amounts of power on tap that can easily put a smile on your face. But its economy figures let it down slightly – something which will no doubt be tweaked by Vauxhall in the near future.
