2003 Vauxhall Corsa Life 1.3 CDTI
Summary:
Funky, frugal, flawed!
Faults:
Rear seat brackets had excessive play causing the seat to rattle. Adjusted unsatisfactorily, so replaced.
Piece of plastic trim fell off from under driver's seat.
Various rattles and squeaks, dependent on ambient temperature.
Intermittent spluttering around 2,000 rpm in mild weather (approx 16 degrees C).
Rust on driver's door hinge at 30 months old.
Glow plugs at 15,000 miles. Fault occurred the day I collected the car and was off the road for 2 days.
Handbrake ineffective at 18,000 miles so adjusted.
Front suspension bushes greased at same time due to creaking noise.
Alternator pulley at 15,000 miles.
Alternator at 22,000 miles.
Alternator belt tensioner at 23,000 miles.
Knocking through steering developed at 23,000 miles after getting progressively worse. Diagnosis - new steering rack required.
Thankfully it is still under manufacturer's warranty, although this runs out next month.
General Comments:
Despite the catalogue of faults listed above, I still feel that the Corsa is a good car which has many strengths. It is nippy, reasonably quiet for a diesel, and is very cheap to run. It is happy to sit at 70mph on a motorway, where I feel it outperfoms the 1.2 Twinport. Very little changing gear is required, even on steepish hills. Comfort is very good for a basic car. It effortlessly managed a 400 mile round trip in a weekend. Average fuel consumption has been around 58mpg which cannot be faulted.
Dealer service has been very good in general, and I would not hesitate to recommend them to friends and colleagues.
However, the number of faults I have experienced surprises me given the youth and low mileage of the car. I would expect these faults of an old car, not one so new!
Has anyone else had a similar experience of the Corsa, in particular the CDTI? Petrol ones seem to have fewer faults.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 18th August, 2006
22nd Dec 2007, 16:09
Hey, just thought I'd point a couple of things out...
Things break. Fix them? If you're tracking goes out, then your tracking isn't going to come back, now is it?
You have noisy tappets I suspect, well then don't rag your car so much, get the oil done and let the engine warm up in future. I have noticed that all the Corsa's my mates have do suffer from noisy tappets, they have all ragged their cars, from cold.
Don't think for a second that I like Corsa's, or indeed any American cars (other than Escort RS Cosworth), but don't slag them off just because you abuse your car.
I own a 306 with 86k on the clock, it's not going to fall apart. The engine is silky smooth, quiet and pulls ever so well, intermittently the idle bounces up and down, once in a blue moon it cuts out, just needs a new throttle sensor.
Biggest problem is that Peugeot's tend to eat exhausts, I know people that've had to change exhaust annually. This is because Peugeot design the air intake, engine, exhaust to work together and create lovely flat torque curves, unmatched by any other manufacturer. A new exhaust once in a while is a price I'm prepared to pay.