Test drive Opel Corsa: small, but remote - part 2

 And now for the bad: interior and trunk. Inside you will be greeted by comfortable seats with excellent fabric, soft front panel trim, a little glossy decor, a neatly inscribed 10-inch display, a nice 3-spoke steering wheel. What's wrong with that? The general feeling of spaciousness, or rather, crampedness. I'm a little cramped even in the front seats, I want a little more space above my head, and the central rear-view mirror is completely at eye level. Yes, someone will say - high seating position. But usually it gives room in the back, but the back is also cramped, plus also small doors and narrowed openings. In short, sitting back is not easy, and there is only enough room for a couple of teenagers or small adults. The trunk is also small, but at least it has a good loading opening for large things: after all, a hatchback. At the same time, such a salon is a consequence of the overall small size of the body. And they, in turn, mean ease of parking and maneuvering in the city. The new Opel Corsa is one of the smallest cars that I have in my hands since the beginning of the year: the real king of parking!

It's a shame that in the cabin and in the trunk, besides the general comment on the spaciousness, there are other comments - as they say, "on trifles." For example, on the center console there was room for only one pocket, which only holds a small smartphone - but what about modern “Max-Pro models” with 6-inch displays? Or here's another: there is only one hook for bags in the trunk - did you really regret adding a pair to it? Finally, the touch button for opening the door was found only on the handle on the driver's side - perhaps it was worth adding a button to the passenger side as well?

The interior is made of quality materials and overall elegant, but a little boring - this black and gray realm lacks the bright red accents that delighted the GSi Line version. But most of all, there is not enough space: in front - still on the verge of "sufficient", but behind - it is just "cramped". However, for the price of the Opel Corsa, you can buy other Opel models, much more spacious and oversized (I'll tell you in the section about competitors). Think of the formula of the Opel Corsa interior as "two people in front + a couple of people to give a ride" and everything will be fine. Moreover, the spaciousness of the cabin grows from the small external dimensions - and they, in turn, mean the simplicity of maneuvers and parking in the city. The trunk is small in absolute terms (309 liters), I want more different hooks / clamps for cargo, but it has a large loading opening.

Is there any innovation in the Opel Corsa?

In order not to repeat ourselves, let's return to the previous material from the presentation of the car. In short: the new Opel Corsa is built on the common CMP platform of the PSA group, maximum attention was paid to the lightening of the car (-108 kg declared relative to similar versions of the previous model), and one of the key changes was the 3-cylinder 1.2-liter turbo engine Direct Injection Turbo - like a test car. In fact, under the hood is the same engine that is already well known from the PSA Group cars under the name PureTech. It is paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission of the EAT8 series - also from a common "box" of components of the PSA Group.

The test car was presented in the maximum configuration - and, accordingly, received a lot of high-tech equipment. First of all, the dashboard based on the LCD display: plus - you can choose from several types of information display, minus - the design is too simple and huge side covers to the right / left of the display. In the cabin, there was a place for another display: a 10-inch touchscreen, installed in the center of the front panel. The plus is that it fits neatly into the overall design of the center console and provides good functionality: Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support, OEM navigation, a rear view camera with a circular view function, etc. Minus - the screen area is not always used effectively. So, all pictures, menus, map are drawn under a 7-inch display - the left / right edges usually simply show the temperature and climate settings. Also, the car could offer many driver assistance systems: lane control, road sign recognition, auto-braking function ("Active Safety Brake"). All this is tied to a camera in the upper part of the windshield, it works similarly to the cars of the PSA Group, no comments.