2001 Vauxhall Corsa SXI from UK and Ireland - Comments

Noisy Windscreen Wipers from the start. Now the car is 4 years old, without warning the windscreen wipers stopped working and when I got a mechanic to look at them was told the spindles had seized (common problem apparently)

Rattle from the back quarter drivers side.

Radio went faulty twice causing car to loose all power, radio had to be replaced under warranty to fix the problem. Still have problems with the steering wheel controls, if trying to turn the sound up using them, it jumps onto the CD mode!!

Had problems from the outset with getting the car into first and second gear, finally had this problem resolved by fitting a new gear linkage. Didn't take it in under warranty like I should have, but had a Vauxhall mechanic change it and he told me it is a common fault (this car seems to have a lot of those!)

Has a habit of stalling for no reason when you have just started it up and the service light starts flashing and sometimes stays on! restart the engine and it disappears!

Paintwork doesn't wear well. I have a lot of marks that won't polish out.

Weak shopping handles in the back, broke when only about 6 months old (and they wanted £16 to replace it!)

Left front passenger indicator keeps going, keeps working loose, bulb is fine.

Passenger window seems a bit wobbly when shutting the door if the window is down.

Ran a bit low on oil (no warning light came on and nor did it overheat) but now I have very noisy tapets and have been told it might be the timing chain that is loose, either that or the water pump which I had changed just in case.

When bought, this car seemed very fast for a 1200, but over time it is slowly loosing acceleration and top speed to such an extent that you have to stamp on the peddle to get it to shift (almost like giving it a kick up the bum!)

All this and I have looked after the car believe it or not - it has a full service history and all done at the dealers or at home by a Vauxhall mechanic.

Despite all of the above, it is a very nice car, certainly the best Vauxhall I have ever driven.

It feels heavy, well built (body wise, not mechanically) and for a 1200 engine is very good.

The car handles well round corners, is very stable for such a high car, very little body roll.

My Corsa is now 4 years old and has cost me £250 this month for new tyres, windscreen wipers sorting, and a new water pump, for this reason only, I think it is time to say goodbye to it.

I would buy this car again though especially now as there is a mark II updated version which no doubt will have fixed all the problems.

I will be sad to see the back of this car as I have taken it all over, including abroad, when working fine it is a lovely car to drive and handles brilliantly with reasonable fuel consumption on long journeys.

I have just sold my 2001, 49,000 mile SXi and agree with all the comments you made. Mine was due a new gear linkage so I decided to call it a day and trade it in (don't know how much this would have cost but didn't want to find out as it was also due a service and MoT).

The rattle on mine seemed to come from inside the rear seat and I could never get rid of it. The stalling problem is due to a faulty immobiliser ECU by the way, I had mine replaced after the dealer persuaded Vauxhall not to charge me (quite surprised by this as it was out of warranty). Still an excellent little car overall though and I enjoyed owning it.

I do not agree, the majority of these are fine as I know corsa as I'm in the trade, I think you were just unlucky so are fine and a few are not, a bit like citroens hit and miss, but not as badly made.

Agree with the 'common problem' comments, my daughter's car had the gear linkage fault (£65) the wipers seized (I fixed them) and has had EPS failure which dealer says is £593 + vat for the part.

Too many problems.

Hi your Corsa my feel slower due to dirty injectors which can affect performance if there is a lack of fuel getting into the engine try some injector cleaner or try BP Ultimate I had a 1.6i 16v Renault Scenic with poor performance, an injector cleaner and a few miles Driving on BP Ultimate sorted it and is now running well. Try it you can get the injector cleaner from halfords and I can say it really does work.

I have a Corsa SXi. I bought it in November and I have had problems with it ever since.

It started off with missing gears. Oh by the way it's automatic. As I drove it, the power would just go because it could not find the gear. I took it back to the garage, they took it to a dealership garage. Did not have my car for three weeks. It then came back and they had reset the memory.

About week later, it happens again. The garage took it in again, they drove it around for 60 miles, nothing happened, gave it back to me.

I set the the clock, drove it to 120 miles, started playing up again, took it back to the garage, the boss took it out, with my husband, nothing happened, my husband said he drove it in manual, I always drive it in automatic. Spent three hours there, then brought it home.

Now it's back in the garage again as it has completely broken down. It has a big F on the dash board. I think it says what it is... this has been going on now six months. Oh, by the way, the last break down was last Wednesday.

I AM REALLY FED UP, WISHED I HAD KEPT MY METRO.

I had an old banger before I got my corsa, it cost me £6k and has been nothing, but a pain!

I have had new gear linkages, gear failure, numerous and frequent light bulbs blowing, strange noises, 2x replace the erg valve, lights coming on the dashboard though there is no problem with the car! and my radio turns off as and when it wants to, but not always when I want it to.

I can't wait to sell it!

Hi all - thanks for the above comments they were very useful.

I bought a nearly new 1L - y reg (01) Corsa club 3dr back in 2002 and whilst up to now it has been a good little run around / work horse (for the money), however I seam to be suffering from a number of the faults noted above and more. I have a full service history with dealers.

I am suffering from with a noisy ticking noise when the engine is idling over. Having read the comments above I assume it’s the tappets. The problem is particularly noticeable when the engine has just warmed up and you are stood in traffic. This problem all started when I had an oil leak from the oil level indicator (read below) which seams to confirm the comments above.

Just on the oil level indicator (another common problem) the seal was leaking, but instead of taking it into the garage simply go to Vauxhall dealer and get the replacement part for under a fiver and replace it your self with a adjustable spanner- be sure to put a tray under the car as a small amount of oil will spill and top up with suitable oil.

It is just starting to get difficult to put the car into first and second gear – especially when it’s just been started. So that is probably the gear unit described above.

The left hand indicator sticking does my head in, but you learn to cancel it out.

When the car was nearly three all the dash board power just cut out and all power died this happened twice and the garage agreed to exchange the dashboard under the warranty.

Another friend has a corsa and another apparent common fault is the steering pump.

MY advice would be to buy the car new and if any of the above occur take the car right back to the dealer. Then sell as soon as its out of its warranty. Or when you start to suffer form the above.

I am a driving instructor and I have suffered all the above faults.

Due to my job, my car has covered 130000 miles.

The rattle from the engine that you think could be the tappets is more than likely the timing chain on the 3 cylinder 1 litre engine. I have had to replace mine twice. Both times after about 60000 miles. My dad, who has the same model, has the noise now, and he has just done 70000 miles.

Another problem I have, is that for about a year now, the steering wheel will move in and out from the column by about 2 - 3 cm. The garage cannot find out why, and suggest a new column at huge expense!!!

I find it hard to believe so many faults were not found in testing!

I have a 53 reg Corsa and have only done 25,000 and have had nothing, but problems, I'm already on my second gear box as the first suffered an internal failure which vauxhall said was due to wear an tear. (RUBBISH) And I'm now having problems putting the car into first and second gear which from other comments sounds like the linkage.

I'm also having problems with steering, there seems to be an awful lot of play when you turn the steering wheel, which a mechanic said could be down to the power steering pump.

And when my car is idling it sounds like diesel, my car has been recalled to replace the timing chain so I think it is down to this.

A word of advice, Don't buy a Corsa!!!

Hi. I bought a y reg (2001) corsa sxi less than a month ago and since then I have had numerous problems with my ignition and warning lights coming on. As with above I find it hard to put the car into first and second, I also have had the problem with the radio switching from cd to radio and when I try to turn up the volume using the steering wheel controls it switches to radio-very annoying! I have just finished work and had to leave my car there as it wouldn't start. Please help me as this is my first car- Heeeelllppp!!!

Hi, I just bought my corsa yesterday. Now I don't know everything about cars, but I do know the basics to get me by. I went out of town today with my mates and when I was driving back home, my car kept jumping! Every time I was changing gears, my car kept shaking violently and the exhaust symbol kept coming and going on the dashboard! Also it takes such a long time to actually start the car as well.

Hi I have a 1998 1 litre Corsa and have had no troubles with it in over 1 and a half years of having it. However recently every time I go round a bend to the right, the warning light! appears until I straighten the car up again.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on what is causing this to happen?

Any comments would be much appreciated!

HI, I've had my 2003 1.2 Corsa for 1 month now. Its done 27 tho miles. I thought I had no problems with it until the right hand indicator stopped working for a week, then started working the next week. Now the whole of the right hand side indicators have stopped working. What could be the problem?

Since purchasing a brand new 1.2 Corsa SXi last September, I have noticed that the car becomes very juddery when driving in stop - start traffic conditions. I read a review on another forum where someone had experenced similar problems and it was said that it is a common problem with Vauxhall clutches. My car is under full warranty, so I decided to get it checked out as the juddery ride was becoming very frustrating. The car was kept for several days before the Vauxhall mechanic said they could find anything wrong!... Yet the problem still arises everytime! Anyone else experienced this??

We have recently purchased a 1.2sxi,great fuel consumption, keep forgetting to fill up. just had gear linkage replaced,took 1/2 an hour,£98 inc vat. my daughter's driving school have 8 corsas... need regular gear linkages, rumour has it they are to bring out an uprated one.