Used Vauxhall Corsa review: 2014-2019 (Mk4) - Interior comfort and safety

Bigger inside than rivals such as the Volkswagen Polo and Ford Fiesta, the five-door Corsa Mk4 will comfortably seat four adults. If you don’t mind rubbing shoulders with your fellow passengers then you can fit a third person on the back seat, although the one in the middle probably wouldn’t want to travel far. There’s less rear headroom in the three-door Corsa because of the slope of its roof, although you’re not likely to receive too many complaints about that from passengers less than about 5ft 10in tall.

Good soundproofing and generally refined engines make it relatively quiet inside the Corsa Mk4, while the car’s well-controlled suspension provides good ride comfort over most road surfaces.

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What’s the Corsa Mk4 like inside?

Vauxhall’s stylists did an excellent job of the Corsa Mk4’s interior design. The dashboard looks modern and stylish, while a full-width trim piece in the same colour as your car’s paintwork is a neat detail – on bright-coloured cars it lends a sense of fun, and on those of a more sober exterior hue the effect is to add a little extra sophistication. Soft-touch textured plastics for the top of the dashboard and door trims bring panache to the cabin, as do high-gloss plastics in other areas of the interior, and they’re supported in this role by solid build quality.

Most trim grades feature a leather-trimmed steering wheel, the two lateral spokes of which are home to switchgear for the audio system and hands-free phone controls on the right-hand side, cruise control on the left. There’s a clear view through the steering wheel of the speedometer and rev counter dials, both of which have easily read markings. On some trim grades there’s a digital display between those dials, hosting information from the trip computer and other vehicle systems. 

The 7.0-inch colour touchscreen for models fitted with Vauxhall’s IntelliLink multimedia infotainment system is smartly integrated into the centre console, with rotary switches for the heating and ventilation sitting below. If you haven’t been inside a modern supermini, you may be surprised at just how upmarket the Corsa Mk4 looks and feels.

It’s worth noting that although we’ve found no problems with the Vauxhall supermini’s seats, some owners grumble that the front ones are too flat and lumpy, and have insufficient lumbar support. 

What’s on the equipment list?

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All trim grades of the Corsa Mk4 feature body-coloured bumpers, which means that every model looks smart, and also standard across the range are a heated windscreen, electric front windows, remote central locking, Isofix fittings for child seats, electrically adjustable door mirrors, side airbags, a steering wheel adjustable for reach and rake, and lane-keeping assist, a safety system designed to prevent you straying from your lane. 

The entry-level Corsa Mk4 trim grade is Life, which features all the above but nothing else, not even alloy wheels. Sting and Active grades add alloy wheels, cruise control, CD player, remote controls for the audio system, and driver’s seat height adjustment. Design, however, crucially drops air-conditioning into the mix, although it sits on steel wheels – look for an example where the original owner specified alloys as an option.

Sitting above Design in the Corsa Mk4’s trim grade hierarchy are Elite, Excite, Energy, SE, SE Nav, Griffin, Limited Edition, Sport, SRi, SRi Nav, SRi VX-Line, SRi VX-Line Nav Black, GSi and VXR, as well as few other special editions. If we leave aside the GSi and VXR, there’s lots of overlap between trim grades in terms of equipment levels, with air-conditioning, alloy wheels, cruise control, audio remote control and IntelliLink multimedia infotainment system universal – some models have electrically adjustable and heated front seats, others feature sports seats; satellite navigation is included on some grades, parking sensors on others. 

Vauxhall Corsa: old vs new

The easiest way to select from the Corsa Mk4 range is to pick a model you like the colour of as well as the style of its alloy wheels, check that you’re OK with the upholstery fabric (it differs between models), and then study the car’s specification list, including its optional extras, to ensure it’s giving you everything you need.

A few options worth looking out for are a reversing camera to help with parking in tight spaces, the panoramic glass sunroof that adds airiness to the cabin even if it does steal some headroom, and an ingenious integrated bike rack that pulls out of the rear bumper when required.

How safe is the Corsa Mk4?

In its Euro NCAP crash safety test appraisal the Corsa Mk4 was awarded four stars out of five, scoring 79% for its level of adult protection and 77% for child protection. 

In terms of standard safety assistance systems, the Corsa Mk4 features lane-keeping assistance if it looks as though you’re inadvertently straying from your lane, anti-lock brakes, traction control, a heated windscreen and, on later models, autonomous emergency braking if the system detects that you may not have spotted an impending accident. 

Safety assistance features that were available as optional extras include headlights with cornering and automatic high-beam dipping functions, blind-spot warning and collision avoidance warning.