Wheels of the Week: New Opel Corsa bites and barks

Wow! It zips. It nips. The new Opel Corsa is an energetic puppy that looks harmless but has a surprising bite and bark when least expected. 

Of course, the Corsa has been a familiar name on South African roads for decades. It is known for offering a balance of practicality, affordability, and style.

While the 2024 iteration builds on this legacy, bringing in modern design elements and updated technology, I was more captivated by its performance – a fresh discovery of the familiar.

But let’s look at that styling first. The update sees a sleeker, more modern aesthetic, with Opel’s signature Black Vizor front grille, which integrates with LED headlights to give the car a bold front face.

From the side, it presents a terrier-like stance, with a lower roofline and sculpted side panels, within compact dimensions. That spells out a maneuverability that makes it ideal for city driving and, especially, parking.

The cabin is obviously no business lounge, but it has been thoughtfully designed to maximize space, comfort, and even tech.

The layout is uncluttered, with a driver-centric approach that places controls and displays in ready reach. The new 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system is the most pleasant surprise. It supports both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, with an intuitive interface, crisp graphics and quick response times. It is complemented by a 3.5-inch digital instrument cluster that provides customisable displays.

The infotainment system is complemented by a range of driver assistance technologies, including hill-start assist, lane-keep assist, front pedestrian detection, rear parking sensors, tyre-pressure monitoring, and six airbags.  

An upgrade from the Lite to the Edition would add a 7-inch digital instrument cluster, front parking sensors, a reverse camera, and blind-zone monitoring. Next up the range, the GS offers climate control, driver drowsiness alert, and collision-mitigation braking.

Under the hood, all variants of the 2024 Opel Corsa depend on a tiny 1.2-liter turbocharged petrol engine, available in an entry-level Lite 74 kW model, a 74kW Edition, and the GS at 96 kW, paired with either a 6-speed manual transmission or an 6-speed automatic.

As small as it may be, the 1.2-liter engine offers a good balance of power and efficiency. Minimal noise or vibration under hard acceleration speaks of refinement and translates into a smooth driving experience.

The car is nimble and responsive, with sharp steering and excellent feedback that makes the Corsa particularly enjoyable to drive on busy roads, where its compact size and agility shine.

Like a puppy, it always seems ready to play, and handles anything from quick lane-changes to tight corners with confidence.  But, unlike a hungry canine, it only needs refuelling occasionally.

Opel claims an average fuel consumption of around 5.7-6.3 liters per 100 kilometers for the manual variant, but in our case it came in at just under 7 litres.  That’s still pretty house-trained!

Pricing

The Opel Corsa Lite costs R374,900, the Edition R394,900 and the GS R459,900.

* Arthur Goldstuck is CEO of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on social media on @art2gee.