Opel Corsa. To the average person in the street it’s just another new brand and model adding to the vast choice of cars available to Aussie car buyers.
But as car enthusiasts will already know, Opel is not only one of the world’s oldest car makers, but has effectively been sold in Australia for more than 30 years disguised behind our best-known brand, Holden. Corsa was sold between 1994 and 2005 as the Holden Barina, arguably our best-known small car nameplate.
Holden’s decision to get most of its small to medium vehicles from GM Korea (formerly Daewoo) has opened up the opportunity for Opel to sell cars here in its own right.
Opel is keen to sell itself as a semi-prestige Euro brand. To this end it has adopted an approach similar to Audi and Volkswagen by using a German slogan, ‘Wir Leben Autos’ (We Love Cars).
The current Opel Corsa is the next generation on from the Corsa/Barina that was removed from the Australian market in 2005. It’s been around since 2006, albeit with regular facelifts to keep it up to date.
Price and looks are the two biggest factors in the youth-dominated small hatch market and Corsa’s styling is neat and contemporary with wide headlamps and grille, dipping roof line and a wide, square stance.
While it doesn’t stand out from its crowd of competitors in appearance it does stand out in terms of price, but for the wrong reasons — it’s between $2000 and $3000 dearer than its main rivals.
Although Opel Corsa is available as a three-door hatch ($16,990 with manual transmission) most buyers are now looking for the convenience of rear doors. The manual Opel Enjoy 1.4-litre five-door is priced at $18,990.
We’ve been able to test drive Corsa on a variety of conditions.
The 1.4-litre engine is capable enough in the suburban environment and on the freeway but struggled in hilly conditions.
There’s good interior space.
