2007 Vauxhall Corsa SXI review from UK and Ireland

Noise from door pillars doors; re-aligned under warranty at 5,000miles.

Vibration from dash board above the glove box; sent in for repair under warranty, dealer had the car for 2 days and claimed they could not hear the noise!

Breaks squeal when braking at slow speed eg. parking.

Windscreen wipers hit the pillar on fastest setting.

Odd grinding noise from rear happens once in a while; it can make you jump!

I have a Black 1.7 SXI with climate control, onboard computer, cruise control, 17" wheels in a 3 door. At the time it was the quickest Corsa you could buy; I chose it because it was a diesel and the specs made it out to be quite a sporty car, and I was looking to replace a Fabia vRS. which was a very quick car. I wanted something just as fast, but more modern.

I found the interior quite nice, but it wasn't anything special. I do have to admit I was a little shocked at the finish of the silver on the main console of the dash, as it looked like Vauxhall had sprayed the plastic with a spray can, similar to what you would find in an Essex boy's Nova, but other than that, the interior was fine and the illuminations were very nice when driving at night.

The onboard computer (an optional extra) is a little too old fashioned; the typical Vauxhall orangy kind of font that looks a little like a early 90s digital clock, is a bit much, and the fact it sits in the middle of the dash is another strange thing. Most of my passengers don't care what my fuel consumption is to be honest. I do think the interior computer display could have been made a lot better.

The seating position is high, but that's OK; it makes all other cars seem smaller, so you get an overall impression the car is bigger than it is, similar to driving the god awful Ford Fusion.

The diesel is not quiet, but doesn't rattle like some diesels do. When I first got the car, it drove very oddly, and either I have adapted or somehow the engine has changed, as it had tons of lag and would be very scary at roundabouts. I found that flooring it away made things worse, as you floor it then it would creep forward for a second very slowly, then whoosh the car would fly off, but at 5000 miles or so the car was far more balanced; I have heard lag is caused by the particulate filter.

But anyhow, the drive is fine; it's quite quick, but not a rocket, and has good acceleration from 30- 70mph, but off the mark most things will get you to be honest.

It take corners and roundabouts like a hooligan and has loads of grip. A word of warning; if you do drive this car like you wanna end up in a tree eg. doing 60 mph down one track country lanes, you won't last long as the brakes have some sort of intrusive stability control which is supposed to make you break in a straight line, but I have found they come on when it's not necessary and really cause you to have no control over your direction; very scary when you brake on a corner and the steering goes slack. I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, or can elaborate on what I am trying to describe?

Performance is good, but not thumpy like some other sporty diesels. The ride is very bumpy, but I like a firm ride so no problem.

It takes ages to warm up and there is no temperature gauge, so you only know the car is warmed up by checking the heating, which is not ideal.

General issues with my car:

I get squeaking some times from the brakes at low speed when parking. I also get a vibrating noise coming from the dash above the glove box; the garage had it 2 days and couldn't hear it! But it's so annoying you just wanna cry.

Generally a noisy and creaky ride from the interior trim and seats, due to the stiff suspension and tons of plastic.

And the odd sound of metal grinding against metal coming from the rear; that really unnerves you, but only happens once in a while.

The windscreen wipers are mental; they hit the metal pillar of the car on the fastest setting, which is taking paint off, and once last month whilst I was driving in horrible conditions, they stopped working, but were fine before and have been fine since; I just needed to restart the car.

I know some of the things I have said are a bit critical, but I'm not trying to advertise the car, just stating what I noticed in my ownership so far.

As you would expect from any new car, things like the electric windows and lights work woohoo! So they should in my opinion, and not worth mentioning, but the finish of the car could have been better.