1996 Chevrolet Corsica review from North America

There was some upholstery wear and a little cigarette damage on the console. The daytime running lights sensor turned on all the lights all the time, but this resolved by itself after three days. The check engine light came on after I changed the oil and stayed on for a day, then went away.

In 2000, I inherited a 1993 Corsica from my dad that had 36,000 miles on it. I thought I'd use it as cheap transportation, but it started to grow on me. It had the terrible leak into the driver's side, but it was quiet, fuel efficient, and actually had good ergonomics, even though the interior and guages were a little on the spartan side. It wallowed like a porpoise, but I felt there was potential there. I changed the springs, shocks, put in a rear sway bar, and wider tires. Wow, different car. Sounds crazy, but felt very similar to a 3 series BMW. I took it to the autocross and it outperformed over half the cars on race rubber. So I decided to get wider rims and sticky tires. One block from the tire store, I was rear ended and the car was totaled. I decided to get a newer model and transfer the suspension parts. That is how I wound up with the subject car. The interesting observation is that without anything, but tires, the new generation handles almost as well as the modified old one. This car is a cheap sleeper that can be made to perform with the best sport sedans for about $1000 of parts. It's very strange the factory did not offer the required suspension upgrades. The engine pulls hard, and the automatic actually does well in autocross, and of course, is great for highway driving. My other slalom car is a Honda S2000, and I actually think the Corsica will be faster through the cones with the new suspension. It's almost comical to see the same performance in handling for about $5000 versus $32,000. I have always liked the convenience of a four door for utility and easier entry (no barn door to open) and this GM entry has been great. I've always been a big fan of Japanese cars, so I think it's great we can do some good things in this country. I don't know about the durability of the new series, but I put 50,000 trouble free miles on the old one, with the exception of an air conditioner clutch that exploded. That was probably a random act. And I think the car has good classic lines. I'll keep this one.!