I drove the new Vauxhall Corsa – it’s fresh, tech-rich and the king of superminis

VAUXHALL and Ford have been slugging it out since forever.

Fiesta v Corsa.

Focus v Astra.

Puma v Mokka.

Kuga v Grandland.

Mondeo v Vectra.

Sierra v Cavalier.

Ka v Adam.

I’m sure you can think of more.

The truth is, it doesn’t really matter if you’re Team Blue or Team Red.

The fierce rivalry between the two pushes them to make better motors for all.

So we all win.

But for reasons I’ll never understand, Ford decided to give Fiesta the bullet and hand the supermini crown to Vauxhall.

And now Corsa is absolutely bossing it.

Priced from under £20k, as it should be. Fun to drive, as it should be.

And now with big-car tech from the Astra. Bonus.

Very soon there’ll be a choice of three engines — petrol, electric or hybrid — which means there’s a Corsa to suit everyone.

No matter where they live, or where they need to get to.

The cheapest Corsa Design at £19,625 is a 1.2-litre petrol with 75 horses.

No turbo. Five-speed manual. Finance from £199 a month.

Hop inside and you’d think you’ve got a free upgrade.

The standard 10in touchscreen features the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon software from Astra.

You can hook up two phones at once. The seats and steering wheel are fully adjustable so it’s easy to get comfy. It’s a nice place to be.

If you want a bit more oomph, the 100hp turbo with six speeds is a grand more.

If you want a bit more oomph with an easy eight-speed auto, that’ll be £22k. It has a new gear selector from Astra.

Vauxhall reckons the 1.2-litre petrol hybrid coming soon will spend half its time around town in EV mode — and it doesn’t have a plug.

That’s likely to be the sweet spot of the range.

Now we come to Corsa Electric.

In a word, expensive.

The cheapest is £32,445, almost £13k more than the petrol. Finance from £375 a month.

But do the maths and the total cost of ownership — including fuel, servicing and tax — works out £1 A DAY more than the 100hp petrol auto.

At least you have a choice.

The car you see here is the new 156hp Corsa Electric. The fastest. But also the most efficient. It’ll do up to 246 miles.

Fresh and fun

The 51kWh battery pack is lighter. The e-motor is from Astra. The wider track improves handling at speed.

You sit nice and low in this car, not on top of it like others. It’s quick. It’s easy. It’s satisfying.

The suspension does a good job of smoothing out bumpy roads.

B-mode adds a bit of range by increasing the lift-off braking regeneration.

Put the electric Corsa next to the petrol and you would struggle to tell them apart.

The charging port is positioned where the fuel cap would be.

So, that’s the new Vauxhall Corsa. Fresh. Tech-rich. Fun. Just pick your engine.

Long live the king of superminis.