Vauxhall Corsa 1.5d Merit

Really good car I have just got on for myself. Good runner, cheap on insurance for a first car and really fun to drive beats the Corsa 1.4 breeze in my eyes.

Ok here is my review of the Vauxhall Corsa [b version 1993-2000] 1.5 diesel, 5 door merit. First off i have always said i would never drive any Corsa period, until i recently needed a cheap car that was good on fuel, had cheap insurance [1.5d merit is group 4 insurance] and cheap to run all round. So i bought this Corsa, the merit version is the base model, so you don't get any toys at all. The 5 door verison is quite good on space, 4 adults and a child can fit in, and plenty of shopping etc will fit in the back, although it is not the largest boot space. Interior and controls are quite well thought out and normally easy to use, also the cloth trim aint bad. Isuzu diesel engines [fitted in some models] are well built, and reliable they have a great life span if not to abused. The non turbo diesel gives great mpg up to 70mpg, but is quite slow, although is faster than the petrol 1litre 3 cylinder version. In the diesel versions you need power steering [heavy engine] without it the steering is known to be very heavy and even i [a keen weight lifter] sometimes can find low speed parking a bit of trouble, so get power steering. Build quality is not the best in terms of everything, bar the engine, electrics are normally ok but can go bad, Rust can be a big problem on older versions, Buttons and controls are cheap and can be broken easy [tho well thought out in terms of ease of use]. Interior is nice but can fall to bits [thats everything]. Being based on the Nova before it [floor pan, supension], It handles bad compared to most cars [even of same period], this was made slightly better by Lotus in 1997 when they tweaked the suspension, but although i said it handles bad it is not the worst and does not have to bad a ride quality once up to speed on a good road, but be careful in wet conditions, diesel models will understeer more in the wet. Supension can get very worn in the front, more so on diesels [due to heavy engine]. So in summary this is a cheap car and not to bad of a car, that is very cheap to run and should be reliable, but don't think for a second it has any quality. Iam british and very proud, but buy a German or Japanese car of the same price and age and you will get a much better car by a bit, even french cars of same age/price [bar the citroen AX] are better and wont rust as bad. Later 2000 onwards Corsas are much better in everyway.