Cotterik's Corsa SXI

[Cotterik]

Hi all. As some of you may know I passed my driving test early in April. Which immediately led to the inevitable - buying my first car. After waiting most of my childhood for this moment I was surprised to find it to be one of the most stressful and unenjoyable times I can remember. We viewed around 20 cars before we finally found this one. Travelling all over the north of the country only to find that cars have been falsely advertised etc.

Anyway we stumbled across a gem of a car eventually. Its a 51 reg (2001) Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 16v SXI 1229cc 80hp. Its had 3 previous owners. The last of which since 2005 has only done 3,000 miles in the car. Before hand the car had only done 28,000 miles. Which in 8 years shows the car has hardly been used. Since by average the car should have done around 100K by now. Its silver. With the SXI sport trim (bucket seats, air conditioning, wheel audio controls, air conditioning, electric windows + mirrors, power steering, 15" alloy wheels, black trim along the bottom of the car.) The only extra it doesnt have is leather seats. After market spoiler as shown in the photos is the only modification. Its a great drive. The steering feels very responsive and it builds up speed quite quickly when you want it to. These cars are very popular with guys my age since they are sporty yet arent higher in insurance since the engine is untouched from the standard 1.2 corsa. Its pretty much spotless inside and out. Overall am very happy with it. No problems have occured yet other than the front wiper loses voltage so there isnt any fluid spraying onto the windscreen. But I'm waiting for an auto electrician to sort that out later in the week. I did a short photoshoot with it this afternoon so here's a few photos. I havent recieved my UCP window stickers yet but they will go on each rear side window when they arrive:

[Ferrer]

I've always liked the looks of this gen Corsa, but the rear spoiler has to go.

Congratulations and enjoy it.

[Cotterik]

Thanks I didnt actually notice the spoiler was aftermarket at first. The standard SXI begins to look a bit bald without it I think. Its only a subtle spoiler however. I wouldnt consider anything bigger.

more photographs:

[Cotterik]

last photos:

[Dantera22B]

And now we await the inevitable "Lower It!" Nice car though dude!

[Cotterik]

the ride on all corsas is pretty hard anyway I'm not risking having it any harder

[Waugh-terfall]

niice, I gave up on Corsas not long into my search as I was getting ridiculous insurance quotes! Smart cars. Ooh, it has a key? How quaint! haha, Good to see it still has the standard head unit, they look terrible with aftermarket items in...
Ps. I bet you're glad you didn't get Bay Parking on your test eh?

[Cotterik]

Originally Posted by Waugh-terfall

niice, I gave up on Corsas not long into my search as I was getting ridiculous insurance quotes! Smart cars. Ooh, it has a key? How quaint! haha, Good to see it still has the standard head unit, they look terrible with aftermarket items in...
Ps. I bet you're glad you didn't get Bay Parking on your test eh?

Yeah the insurance is pretty standard with corsas. You probably got a similar quote on your megane which is a different class of car altogether. The problem is that they are appealing to under 25's. So more of them buy one. More of them crash one. Insurance goes up. Bad times.

What do you mean by the head unit? But yeah. The entire car is in out-of-factory state apart from the rear spoiler. Which sadly is a rare thing to find on an SXI. Very happy with it though! Its a great little thing to drive. Very proud of it since I no longer have to bike to work in a flourescent jacket its a big step up

P.S it was a closed car park so i could park for effect

[Rockefella]

Lower it

[Waugh-terfall]

Originally Posted by Cotterik

Yeah the insurance is pretty standard with corsas. You probably got a similar quote on your megane which is a different class of car altogether. The problem is that they are appealing to under 25's. So more of them buy one. More of them crash one. Insurance goes up. Bad times.

What do you mean by the head unit? But yeah. The entire car is in out-of-factory state apart from the rear spoiler. Which sadly is a rare thing to find on an SXI. Very happy with it though! Its a great little thing to drive. Very proud of it since I no longer have to bike to work in a flourescent jacket its a big step up

P.S it was a closed car park so i could park for effect

As in like, noone has added say a Pioneer CD player from Halfords in place of the panel with your buttons on and added a huuuuge blanking panel to fill the gap left. My insurance is £900, I almost went for a black 05-reg 5dr 1.2 Twinport Energy but I was quoted £1550!

[cmcpokey]

Originally Posted by Dantera22B

And now we await the inevitable "Lower It!" Nice car though dude!

Originally Posted by Rockefella

Lower it

This.

[Blue Supra]

Looks nice man! I like the spoiler keep it

[whiteballz]

yup, spoiler looks good.

Nice find rik.

[Clivey]

That's a nice example you have there Rik. Happy motoring!

Personally, I'm indifferent to the spoiler: There are better ones, but there are also a LOT worse.

Originally Posted by Cotterik

The steering feels very responsive and it builds up speed quite quickly when you want it to.

The steering may be very quick, but IMO the electronic assistance is over zealous, making it far too light and robbing you of any kind of steering feel (this was probably done deliberately as it makes the car extremely easy to manoeuvre around urban areas). If you're inclined to drive in a "sporty" manner, get used to not being able to get a feel for what the front wheels are doing and watch for the front tyres scrubbing into severe understeer under hard cornering.

In other words: Tuck the nose into a corner and give the front-end a chance to find grip before asking too much of it.

Originally Posted by Cotterik

the ride on all corsas is pretty hard anyway I'm not risking having it any harder

You do realise that you have what Vauxhall refer to as "Lowered and uprated sports suspension"(lowered by 15mm compared to a non-SXi/SRi)?

Actually, compared with some rivals, the ride is quite good. It is just a small car though - so it will get bounced around a bit!

Originally Posted by Waugh-terfall

niice, I gave up on Corsas not long into my search as I was getting ridiculous insurance quotes! Smart cars.

I must say that I still don't understand this...Corsas are usually cheaper to insure than many of their rivals due to having low insurance groups and good security ratings. Rik's will either fall into group 3E or 4E (I seem to remember that 1.2 SXis with Air Conditioning were in 4E).

Originally Posted by Waugh-terfall

As in like, noone has added say a Pioneer CD player from Halfords in place of the panel with your buttons on and added a huuuuge blanking panel to fill the gap left.

Converting a double-DIN sized gap into two singles can be done without using a crappy blanking plate...you could, for example have the headunit on top and then a CD-changer underneath. VW do this with the Polo.

[Cotterik]

Originally Posted by Waugh-terfall

As in like, noone has added say a Pioneer CD player from Halfords in place of the panel with your buttons on and added a huuuuge blanking panel to fill the gap left. My insurance is £900, I almost went for a black 05-reg 5dr 1.2 Twinport Energy but I was quoted £1550!

Yeah since the car had all the extras to begin with it seems it hasnt had bad taste written all over it. Combined with the fact its previous owners have been mature drivers too.

As for the insurance. Well I didn't expect it to be that THAT different :P although how many years no-claims do you have? I looked at fiestas, puntos etc on insurance and they were all the same. Seems a little silly that smaller cars should be higher on insurance but i guess its a direct result of it previously being cheaper for younger drivers and now the tables have turned..

Originally Posted by Rockefella

Lower it

never!

@Blue & WB: Thanks! I agree.

@ Clivey:

I didn't know the SXi was lowered by 15mm. That's quite interesting. I didn't really notice that great a difference in ride following a test drive in 1.0L Comfort. But thats interesting. I know the SXi/Sri seems lower because of its underneath black trim.

As for steering feel. Its not as responsive as say.. my dads Golf GT-Sport. But it feels about the same to drive as my mums Fiesta Zetec S. Most small cars I drive favour handling at low speeds (manouvres & city driving). But I'll take into account your advise on how to handle it.

Also you're right about the insurance. My Group is 3E. Maybe they didnt take into account the AC! They were cheaper to insure on my quotes than a Clio but more expensive than a fiesta. But corsas in the range I was looking at were more expensive than the other cars, because they seem to be more desirable for young drivers so they hold their value at around £3K. And since its so hard to find them in good condition at that age the price also stays up. Our budget went up by £1.5K, and then a further £1K when we realised what the market for corsas is like. Which is why it was so stressful to find..

Thanks for the advise! Currently waiting for a phonecall from an auto electrician to rewire my front washers..