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Is Corsa Sport the last link?
Here’s a refreshing little car. It’s kinda old school cool while also signalling a big bold future all in one. As a piece of hardware, the Opel Corsa 1.4 Turbo Sport ticks a few important boxes for me.
Bring a bit of a sentimentalist, it reminds me of my youth – days racing little Opels in Group N and while right now the brand is as far from motor racing as Juju is green, this car delivers a pretty cool history lesson. Remember those yellow racing Opels? Seems Sport may just do so too.
It’s pretty handy on the strip – nothing earth shattering but at this price break, an 8-second sprint is not too shabby. It’s not pretentious either – rather quite plain and understated – gets on with the job.
Packing a turbo fourteen-hundred lump that turns out almost as much as that legendary Kadett 2-litre sixteen-valve did 30 years ago – and a bit more torque too, it pays in heft. That old Kadett barely weighed 900kg, this one is a bit over a ton – the cost of safety and sophistication, I suppose.
I like the look – it’s old school enough to step aside from some of these bulbous things that look like old slippers full of water with headlights that make it look running scared. See, old school is quite cool!
But while this little Corsa reminds me so much of the past, it also looks ahead – Opel will completely transform as a brand; freed from the shackles of the poor old General under Peugeot-Citroen’s avant-garde guidance and I am sure what comes next from Opel, will be rather different – and even more exciting.
Watch this space, but enjoy this one’s link with what for some of us, is a quite poignant past – it won’t be there for too long…
QUICK TEST: Opel Corsa 1.4 Turbo Sport
Engine: 110kW 220Nm 1364cc turbo petrol I4
Drive: 6-speed manual FWD
TESTED:
0-100km/h: 8.97 sec
0-160km/h: 122.44 sec
400m: 16.2 sec @ 137km/h
80-120km/h: 6.12 sec
120-160km/h: 10.53 sec
CLAIMED:
VMax: 204km/h
Fuel: 5.8 l/100km
CO2: 133 g/km
Warranty/Service 5y 120K/3y 60Kkm
LIST PRICE: R297K
RATED: 79%