Vauxhall Corsa review - Reliability & safety

With independent crash-test body Euro NCAP consistently making its tests more difficult in recent years, the pre-facelift Vauxhall Corsa scored well with a four-star safety rating overall thanks in part to improved safety technology. 

Despite the Vauxhall Corsa’s high sales figures, owner satisfaction could be better. The Corsa last featured in our Driver Power customer satisfaction survey in 2022, when it came 42nd place out of the top 75 cars, beating the Fiesta, which came in 67th at the time. Customers were impressed by the running costs and value of the Corsa.

Vauxhall Corsa reliability

In our 2023 Driver Power survey, the Vauxhall brand’s reliability was average, with 23% of owners reporting an issue within the first 12 months of ownership. That’s slightly better than Renault (25%) and both Volkswagen and Skoda (26%), though the reliability of sister brands Citroen and Peugeot was better with just 14% and 19% of owners reporting an issue in the first year, respectively.

Safety

When crash-tested by Euro NCAP, the Corsa received a four-star rating - the same score as the new Peugeot 208 with which it shares a lot of parts. While the Corsa scored strongly in most areas, with 84% and 86% for adult and child occupant protection respectively, like the 208, the Corsa was marked down for poor whiplash protection for rear-seat adult passengers.

Safety kit is certainly impressive, with features such as front collision warnings and automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, a speed limiter, lane keep assist and traffic sign recognition.