2019 Vauxhall Corsa prototype: first drive

When the Corsa goes on sale at the end of the year, it will be the third car to arrive on the CMP platform, following the DS 3 Crossback, which we’ve already driven, and the Peugeot 208, which we haven’t.

The critical numbers will see the Corsa grow by around 40mm in length, to 4.06m, although with a 28mm-longer wheelbase and some 50mm taken out of the front overhang. It’s lower, too, by nearly 50mm, which is “important for reducing drag”, says Perez-Freije, and a lower driver’s hip point means head room is marginally improved.

But the biggest claimed improvement is in weight. Thanks to a body-in-white some 40kg lighter than before, engines averaging a 15kg reduction and ancillary weight cuts elsewhere, the lightest Corsa will weigh just 980kg, engineers tell us. All new Corsas will have a lower CO2 rating than the most frugal current Vauxhall Corsa.

As with other CMP cars, there will be petrol, diesel and battery-electric (BEV) options. A 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol offers between 75bhp and 128bhp, with a 99bhp 1.5-litre diesel at launch and the BEV following shortly afterwards.

The development Corsas you see here are 1.2 turbo petrols: one developing 99bhp and driving through a six-speed manual; the other, which won’t be coming to the UK, 128bhp via an eight-speed auto. They’re under heavy disguise, even to the point that their rear doors are hidden and can’t be opened and their interiors are bagged over.

They were built in January this year, as the second of four preproduction build phases. They’ve recently been used for ride and handling development and have just come off of the back of a validation drive where senior management have tried the cars.

Thomas Wanke, global lead development engineer, reckons the ride and handling are 80% complete, but the team has been small. After initial development work, between January and late last month, just three dynamicists – one damper and two steering specialists – have been on the roads of southern France fine-tuning the chassis. There will be three chassis tunes, to fit differing weights of powertrains, but the idea is that you and I can’t tell the difference between them.

Assessing the chassis is chiefly what this test is for, given how far from finished things like the interior are. Peek beneath the carpets and you’ll note lots of unfinished plastics, but also, ergonomically, good news in that although the infotainment system is PSA-sourced, there are separate, rotary controls for things like the heating and ventilation. Vauxhall-Opel has retained a large degree of engineering autonomy, and inside it shows.

That’s true of the car’s dynamic make-up, too: the Corsa doesn’t feel like a PSA supermini to drive. Elements of what I have experienced in the 3 Crossback are here: I seem to sit right where the B-pillars are, and rear accommodation, when I scooch into the back seats from the front, isn’t that generous. But the Corsa drives really nicely, and distinctly from a typical PSA product.

Wanke talks about making sure the Corsa is stable at autobahn speeds – frequently a key difference between German-engineered cars and those from other countries – but he knows that steering response is something we care about in the UK. He also knows we have a unique set of roads, so the Corsa is scheduled to undergo fine-tuning in Britain before its launch.

Already, though, it has a well-balanced ride and handling set-up. There’s a weight difference between the manual and automatic 1.2s we try and, curiously, it’s the automatic’s chassis that feels more settled, more sophisticated.

But in either form, it’s respectably agile and well controlled, while the tuning is such that firm edges are knocked comfortably aside. Riding on 17in wheels with 205/45 Michelin Pilot Sport tyres, these Corsas are on the biggest of the wheel sizes (15-17in) the car will get.

The steering’s relatively light, but accurate, and there are a few key distinctions between different cars. Wanke likes the more direct, responsive set-up over another car’s, which has more friction. I agree, but neither feels quite as natural in response, to me, as, say, a Ford Fiesta’s steering, but it’s engaging enough. Already, the ride and handling and steering could trouble the top cars in the class.

Away from the chassis, the engines are strong and responsive and the new eight-speed gearbox, with standard flappy paddles, is smooth. The manual shift is slick, too, especially compared with PSA’s typical shifts. The clutch is still too light and vague, but the shift itself is less gritty and obstinate than it is in most Peugeots or Citroëns. PSA identifies centres of competence for key engineering areas and it’s no surprise that PSA’s manual transmission specialists are now Rüsselsheim’s.