1999 Vauxhall Corsa trip review from UK and Ireland

1. vauxhall recall to fix seat rails and seatbelt (no cost)

2. cat bracket broke; shouted at vaux help desk over phone and they gave me a whole new cat at no cost to me even though it was out of warranty; I recommend anyone else who's had this problem to try this one

3. exhaust back box had to be replaced after 3 years, 60 pounds at vaux dealer

4. mid-section silencer replaced after 4 years; 60 pounds at ats (versus vauxhall

dealer quote of120 pounds!)

5. oil pressure switch leaked oil, replaced, fitted myself to avoid dealer rip-off charge; switch itself only costs

a couple of pounds and takes 5 minutes to fit, dealer quoted me 30 pounds.

6. throttle idle control motor failed and had to be replaced (70 pounds just for the new part), dealer ripped me off 40 pounds to read ECU fault code with their TECH2 meter, I watched him do it, literally about 2 minutes work!!!

What a rip off! I fitted the idle motor myself (about 20 minutes work) after they quoted me and additional 60 pounds labour charge.

7. fuse mysteriously blew, replaced and

hasn't blown again

8. needs new cartridge fuel filter every

two years (another 30 pounds or so)

9. dash backlight bulb blew; bought a new bulb for 1 pound and fitted myself,

the dealer quoted me 60 pounds to do the work (it took me about 15 minutes)

10. Put new spark plugs in at 4 years,

fitted myself to avoid exhorbitant dealer labour charge

11. irritating squeak from behind drivers seat while driving, don't know what the cause is

12. putting into reverse is always difficult, often crunches gears; I get

round it by putting it into 1st and then

swiftly moving the lever to reverse in one combined movement, which works OK

(try it, you'll be surprised, I was)

13. you can't put this car into 1st if it's moving forwards at all, you really have to stop the car moving to be able

to get it into 1st.

The 'trip' is the base model, ie no

power steering or central locking or

aircon, so there's a lot less to go wrong, and I'd recommend this configuration if you want low repair costs and least reliability hassle

(power steering, central locking and

aircon always seem to need fixing).

The 1L engine is so small and light that

power steering really isn't needed,

especially if you choose the right tyres

(see remark below).

Steering with the factory fitted tyres

(michelin mks) was a bit heavy, however since recently putting new front michlin energy's on with new tread pattern (central gap in tread pattern), steering is now nice and light, I recommend this to anyone as a cheap upgrade if you don't have power steering, you'll notice a big improvement.

Original factory tyres lasted 40K miles before changed, not bad. Still on original front brake pads with 5mm of brake material still present (probably my driving style). Still on original

rear tyres.

Not marvellous to drive especially long

distance; suspension and handling not very good, car bounces around far too much, shakes rattles and have to slow

right up to get round roundabout because

of body roll. Considered lowering springs, but don't know if worth the money. It's pretty noisy when driving,

lots of low-frequency road noise. Seats are reasonably comfortable up to about 100 miles in one journey.

Although some magazines say this 1 litre

3 cylinder engine is only for town use I

find it absolutely fine on motorway, it

cruises at 70 or 80 fine without much

additional noise. It runs out of steam

above 80 though.

The engine can feel a bit underpowered

for normal driving, but the only time I

really notice it is pulling away from lights or at a roundabout. I usually

drop down to 4th or occasionally 3rd to get onto motorway from slip road, just in case I need the acceleration. It actually accelerates not too badly in 3rd during normal driving.

The main good thing about this car is good fuel consumption; I get on average over 50 mpg all year round, up to 56 in summer and down to say 46 minimum in mid

winter, so fuel costs are low. Group 2 insurance is also not too bad.

Biggest problem is extortionate cost of vauxhall parts and labour if anything goes wrong; for example, I've been told a new ECU is 500 pounds just for the part, plus labour. A new catalytic

convertor is something like 400 pounds.

After a few years these cars are only worth a couple of thousand pounds, so it

rapidly gets to the stage where it isn't

worth fixing. And I really, really object to being ripped off 40-50 pounds for the dealer to read the ECU fault codes, which really does take the technician only a couple of minutes if you watch them do it.

Despite the long list of problems I've given above, the car is generally reliable and always starts first time.

The exhaust/silencer life is on par with

similar models.