Published:
7 May 2015This was Vauxhall’s first chance to make a full lifecycle update to the Corsa VXR since the original’s launch in 2007. You wouldn’t know it.
The same feeling of familiarity we reported of the normal Vauxhall Corsa is reproduced, so that the car’s exterior styling and cabin appointments ostensibly serve as new clothes draped over the same old platform.
These aren’t universally admired clothes, either. Several testers expressed a dislike of the styling, which takes few hostages to subtlety in pursuit of added visual aggression.
More serious, with the long-time selling point of the VXR brand being bang for your buck, an opportunity has been missed to put the Vauxhall Corsa’s case beyond question. The turbocharged 1.6-litre engine from the previous car gets new intake and exhaust manifolds and a new ECU but is otherwise carried over from its state of tune in the outgoing Corsa Clubsport.
It produces the same 202bhp and ‘overboosted’ 207lb ft temporary hit of torque (over a slightly broader rev range). Neither figure is unsurpassed among hot superminis. And weighing in just shy of 1.3 tonnes on our scales, this isn’t one of the lighter hot hatches, either.
The Corsa VXR’s driveline has been more widely overhauled, with a new flywheel and clutch fitted and General Motors’ new MT6 manual gearbox being the only choice.
