Opel's integration into the Peugeot group is taking shape: the upcoming, now sixth generation of the Corsa will be the first model of the German brand on the new compact platform from France. First test drives with a pre-series Corsa show that the small car is not only better than its predecessor, but also represents a strategic change.
Admittedly, the comparison is fairly unfair: Here the current Opel Corsa with 90 PS petrol engine and six-speed automatic, because a development model of the successor with 130 lively turbo horses and the eight-speed automatic from the high-end Opel range. You wouldn't have had to test drive to know that there are worlds between the two cars.
This is not only due to the difference in the drive train. The most important reason for the huge leap that the Opel engineers made in the Corsa is the fact that the architecture has not changed between the model that is still available today and its predecessor, i.e. between Corsa E and Corsa D. Engines, chassis and design - everything became different, newer, better. But the technical layout of the car remained. It may have fit in 2006 when the Corsa D came onto the market, but already in 2014 when the Corsa E was launched, it no longer fully accounted for developments in the car market.
In the meantime, people had discovered the SUV, down to the compact and small car classes. Opel also makes offers here, for example the Mokka X. Or the comparably dimensioned Crossland X and the slightly larger Grandland X, both of which come from a cooperation agreed between GM and PSA before the merger. All three Opel SUVs sell very well, and so a small car that also wants to meet certain comfort needs of an aging customer no longer fits so well into the program. Many older people are moving to the SUV camp anyway, where they have come to appreciate the high seating position and the generous headroom. That's why Opel is now turning around the Corsa and building on the old, more sporty virtues of the brand.
The very first Corsa, which was launched on the market in 3,62, measured 1982 meters; over the past five generations it has grown to 4,02 meters and will soon stretch to 4,06 meters. The new model is also five centimeters flatter, and you are now sitting almost three centimeters lower behind the steering wheel. You can tell when you get in that the new Corsa integrates the driver better. "You really feel involved in the vehicle," says chief developer Thomas Wanke. An impression that is reinforced by the now steeper windscreen. Opel does not have to take over the particularly flat steering column with the small steering wheel from Peugeot, the technical basis allows two different designs.
The new Corsa already appears as a more dynamic personality when you get to know it. And if you carefully lift the camouflage ceilings placed over the dashboard to take a look, you will also see a more modern layout inside, especially the larger and higher-placed central display is eye-catching. A relationship to the Opel Astra is recognizable, only the quality of the touch cannot yet be judged - in the pre-series stage, the surfaces of the plastics are smooth and untreated, and less attention is paid to perfect fits.
The first exit leads along country roads of the second and third order. It is a small Opel convoy with Thomas Wanke in the current Corsa in front, then two camouflaged test models follow, and in the end the Corsa E with its turbulent 90 HP clearly has trouble keeping up. Which is not solely due to the better drive of the new. The new Corsa is also superior in its chassis design. At the wheel of the old model you have to let go of the accelerator, for example, when there are bumps in a curve, the car literally lifts it out of its springs and it feels spongy. Not so with the new model: it willingly follows the interaction of accelerator pedal and steering wheel position, it is noticeably rounder and more precise than the predecessor car, and above all it maintains closer contact with the road - which makes a safer impression.
Incidentally, this also applies to the second attempt with other engines: 1,4-liter turbo and 100 hp in the old model, 1,2-liter turbo and also 100 horsepower in the new Corsa. Because the drivetrain of the still current Corsa is not as hopelessly overwhelmed as in the 90 PS automatic model, the car drives overall more harmoniously, but the advantages of the new design remain noticeable.
If you could make a suggestion for fine-tuning, it might be that the Corsa is not overly crisp. This risk exists especially with larger wheels that require lower tire flanks. And as long as there is no extra sporty model like a Corsa OPC, you should resist the temptation to appear too youthful. Especially since the new construction does not have the primary aim of making the Corsa more dynamic. Increasing efficiency was at least as important. Both advantages have the same basis: lightweight construction.
The developers removed up to 108 kilograms of weight from the Corsa - the body-in-white alone weighs 40 kilos less than before. "Our lightest model weighs 980 kilos without a driver," says chief developer Wanke, "that is the new benchmark in the segment." Wanke benefited from the fundamental PSA development in his work: The new CMP architecture (Common Modular Platform) is a priori including high-strength steels that can withstand higher loads with less weight.
In France there are very precise requirements for the CMP platform: the lighter construction material achieves a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 1,2 grams per kilometer, the optimized aerodynamics, for example through a smooth substructure, have 1,5 grams to get, and lighter running tires and axles should be responsible for 2,5 grams. Together with the new engines (nine grams), all CMP-based cars have very good standard consumption. Thomas Wanke says: "All new Corsa emit less CO2 than the best model in today's series." However, Opel has not yet announced specific standard fuel consumption figures.
At the beginning of June, Opel will lift the camouflage of the Corsa and show pictures of the new car, from this point onwards, the Corsa can also be ordered, for an additional charge, with LED matrix light, which is otherwise not available in the small car segment. There will be petrol engines with outputs between 75 and 130 hp and a 100 hp diesel (all from Peugeot), and for the first time Opel is also offering a purely electrically powered Corsa. The CMP platform gives space to both internal combustion engines and electric motors, as well as three different wheelbases, two track widths and three versions of the rear. Not surprisingly, the successor to the Opel Mokka X as an SUV in the Corsa class is already in the works.
Stefan Anker / SP-X
