My Corsa CDX 1.4l (Vauxhall Corsa (pre 2000))

Member Name: loulou22

Product:	Vauxhall Corsa (pre 2000)
Date:	10/01/06 (5577 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks Good. fantastic features, alloy wheels. Its My New Car!!

Disadvantages: Can be tempremental!

I HAVE A NEW CAR!!

Up until 21st October 2005 I was the proud owner of my beloved Peugeot 106. This car was my baby. I loved it to bits. Then on that day I was driving into Birmingham to take part in a show at the theatre when **CRASH** I hit the car in front of me L then to make it worse **CRASH AGAIN! ** The car behind me hit the back of me too, completely crumpling my poor little car. The result of this accident… a write off and me car-less and sore with whiplash, my passengers were both fine though.

This was a big problem as I use my car to make deliveries at work (pizza delivery!) so I needed to get myself back on the road ASAP as the works van they lent me was the worst thing ever!

After mopeing around for a few days and trying to sort out insurance I walked round to my nans house and noticed the neighbour was selling their M Reg, Vauxhall Corsa CDX, so I knocked the door and enquired. The nice man said he was selling it for £1200 but because it was me I could have it for £600! Bargain! I gave him a deposit and saved the rest of the money, then bought the car and within three weeks I had it on the road! So this is my experience of the Corsa CDX.


*** Details ***

This version of the CDX is a 1.4l, which I had always thought would mean the car would be quite speedy off the mark, however it is not really compared to my 106, however once it gets going it’ll leave you miles behind me in a trail of dust! Another thing with the bigger engine is the fuel consumption; I had concerns that it was going to consume a lot more fuel than my other car especially as I was going to be doing mainly short runs delivering pizzas. However I was wrong again, the car does use up more fuel, but it is such a small amount you hardly notice. I’m not going to get technical with the miles per gallon thing because I don’t understand it!

My model has 5 doors, which I think is fantastic as when I am out with my mates I don’t have to keep getting out the car to let them in and out! Also these doors have central locking which is great and they also have a deadlocking system which means that if someone smashes a window to try and rob you car, they wouldn’t be able to flick the catch in the lock as it is mega securely protected! So Hands Off My new baby car!

The CDX also comes complete with electric front windows and electric mirrors. The mirrors are also heated to when it rains I can still see through them perfectly! There is a sunroof too! This is manual, but it opens two ways. Either tilted up to let a bit of air in, or completely open to the point of “you can sit on the roof if we go to the safari park!” as pointed out by a friend of mine!

Other features are front and rear speakers, heated back windscreen, general heating system, manual rear windows (great if you have kiddies in the back) and one thing I found amazing, a massive boot space for such a small car! I can easily fit all my camping stuff in! (Yes I’ve been camping in the winter!) Be aware though the boot is large in the sense that it is deep rather than wide, so certain items may not fit in without collapsing the seats first!

The car originally came with a factory fitted stereo CD player, but I don’t know what this was like as the previous owner replaced it with a nice Sony one instead! (Thanks Mr Neighbour!) The speaker quality is fantastic, they are the original ones still in the car and they handle the sound from the new stereo amazingly well!

The CDX also comes with alloy wheels as standard and as these are the Vauxhall factory fitted ones they do not affect your insurance policy.

The car runs on unleaded petrol and as I previously said is reasonably economic.

The interior of the car is great, the seats are a light grey, with a camouflage pattern on them, they are lovely and soft and as my mate (who was too scared to sleep in the tent) advises me, they are comfy as a bed! I’m not too keen on the headrests as they are the type with the hole in the middle and it’s a simple reason of I just don’t like that style. The rest of the interior consists of the came pattern on all the doors and a nice very strong light grey parcel shelf on the back. This can easily be removed if needed, and the back seats fold down with the simple flick of a catch.

The dashboard area is pretty smart too; there is a lockable glove box, with an airbag above it on the passenger side. Then in the centre we have a digital display telling you the time, date and outside temperature. The temperature will flash at you if it is close to or at freezing point. Underneath this there is all the controls for the heating and ventilation and hazard lights, then beneath that is the stereo. This is in a very handy place as it is just right for changing stations/cds when you are changing gear! Just stick your finger out and it’s done! In front of the driver we have a petrol display, which lights up if you hit the red zone, a rev counter, a Speedo, and a temperature gauge. There are also the various dashboard warning lights, which will hopefully tell me if there is a problem! Oh of course there is also the steering wheel! This is leather and has the horn and an airbag in the middle. Just on the end of the dash there are some headlight controls, these include switching on and off, height adjustment, fog lights and brightness of the dashboard lights. The sticks on the steering wheel control the wipers and washers, the indicators and the main beam of the headlights.


*** What Does It Drive Like? ***

As you may know from my 106 review, I’ve been driving a 1.1 for the past 3 and half years, so to suddenly have an accident and then drive a more powerful car was quite daunting for me, however I took it for a few runs around town before using it for work and it only took a couple of days for me to feel comfy in it.

To give a proper impression of what this car is really like to drive I’ll have to give a few examples as it depends on how the car is “feeling”. When I first drove the car it was a November evening, not to cold, but not exactly hot. I had been cleaning the car all day and had had the engine running on and off so the car had been warmed up before moving. This led to me having a quite pleasing (and nerve-wracking) drive home. The next day I got up early with plans to go out and try some high speed roads and country roads to get a proper feel for the car. Well the car had other plans, it was a cold morning and it started fine, however as I headed off down the road, it was very sluggish and reluctant to go above 20mph! This happened for about 10mins, then it crept up to 30, then 40 and so on. Once warmed up and running I had no problems at all, the car gave me a lovely smooth drive, with smooth gears changes all the way.

The following day I tried giving the car a warm up on the drive before moving it anywhere, this worked a bit better, but it was still quite sluggish. Then a friend suggested reversing onto my drive when I park the car, so that the first direction the car goes is forward in the morning as car engines don’t work to well with reverse as their first direction when they are cold. So I tried it… hey presto… it only worked!! My friend is a genius! Problem sorted… I have a moody car!

The gearbox on this car is very close together, this took me a while to get used to, but what took me the most time was the reverse being up next to first! And with a little button you have to lift! I am so used to it being by 5th gear I still get it wrong now! Another gear / clutch thing with me is I am quite short at just 5ft 1in, and this means I have little legs. I have found this a slight problem with this car as I often forget I have to put that bit extra stretch into changing gears or I end up with that lovely crunching sound! My other car was fine so it’s not just me!

Other than the temperamental warm-ups and the “little-leg-syndrome” I find this car a pleasure to drive and would recommend it to anyone. I still don’t trust it quite as much as my other car, but I think in time we will “bond” and I love this one just as much as my other one.


*** Insurance ***

The insurance for me has now increased due to my accident, however not by that much; I am only paying £30 per year extra on this car. But you need to take into account this car is 4 years older than my other one and is also the top of the range model, whereas my other was bottom of the range, so if you put these facts together I think it would work out around the same. I can’t really give you an idea of the actual cost of insurance due to it varying so much on different circumstances. My example is I am 23, female, have had my licence 4 years, have 3 points and 1 accident (sounds quite bad!) and I pay just over £500 per year. Which I think is fantastic. So you can get the idea it’s quite cheap!



*** Any Other Problems? ***

Not really, I did have a problem of my brake light kept flashing up on the dash everytime I turned right, but I soon worked out it was just because I was low on brake fluid so I filled it up and its been fine since.


*** So Would I Recommend You To The CDX? ***

Yes I would! I think this car is a really fantastic little car. It is reliable, safe and economic. It looks good and is quite nippy once it’s started! I think for the age of these models all the features you get are fantastic! My last car was newer than this by 4 years, but it didn’t have even half what this has!

I did get myself a bargain at £600, however I have done a bit of research and for this model of car you can expect to be paying anything from £1200 - £2000! Not bad for everything you get… all the mod cons off the newer cars fro cheaper price and cheaper insurance due to the age of the car!


VAUXHAULL CORSA CDX = 100% RECOMMENDATION!!


Thanks for reading!

Summary: Realiable and safe car that I would 100% recommend

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