Corsa 1.0 litre 3 cylnders good or bad

Just_Incredible

I have a 2001 Corsa C ( which is the upgrade to the car your talking about) and they are really not that bad engines, had her when she had 19k on the clock, now it has 85k and still running strong. I'm not a boy racer but I've had my fair share of driving comparisions with my friends cars and I'd say it can keep up with the 1.2 version aswell as smoke 1.25 fiesta's (older model)

In regards to power, it does struggle sometimes on the occasional hill on a motorway but nothing too concerning, city driving is perfect

however I do find it unusual that the 1.3 cdti diesel models have the £35 tax bracket a year yet my 1.0 has a whopping £120 a year!!! but now that I have owned the car for 3 and a half years I feel its time for an upgrade

Diesel44

Lum wrote: »

It's worth noting that Corsas, Saxos etc. are actually quite expensive to insure for youngsters these days because of their popularity in the modified car scene and the resultant crashes they have street racing. I'm too old to have first hand experience any more, but on another car forum I'm on, 17yr olds are reporting getting cheaper insurance on a 1.8 Mondeo, and such a car is likely built to last a lot longer and was probably a repmobile previously and thus more likely to be maintained properly.

I have been swapping cars when doing insurance quotes and the Corsa seems to come and at the lowest price for us, although I have never bothered to try anything as big as a 1.8.
The more you read on forums, the more puzzled you get, someone said Corsa's are good at getting low prices due to the ease of getting parts.
I've just been reading on the insurance forum, that young drivers should aim for something under 1.0 litre to start with.
Thanks anyway.

Lum

That has traditionally always been the case (though I thought the limit was more like 1.4, maybe it's lowered as engines improve since the days when I had to worry about it) but they also take into account things like number of crashes and lets face it there's a lot more 17 yr old chavs hooning about in Corsas than Mondeos, with a resultant increase in crashes that makes the Corsa look like a higher risk.

You'd probably get the same effect if you found some obscure 1.0 hatchback that no-one has ever heard of

King

Hi OP

My first car was a T reg 1 litre corsa, had around 40k on the clock and was the very basic model. No power steering or airbags. I found it was a very good first car to learn in and get some experience about what cars limits are ect from a very basic model ( i think this has a positive influence on driving skills)

It doesn't have as little power as people are mentioning on here, its best in towns cities etc, as its quite loud on motorways.

Efficient on fuel, good on tryes and oil, only problems i had in 2 years were a snapped clutch cable and wear and tear on the backbox.

Once your son gets to around 19/20 (1/2 years no claims) you can move up to something like a MG ZR for very little money and alot of car