Revised version of Britain's best-selling supermini is on sale now with prices from less than £20k in petrol form, rising to £38,585 for top-spec Corsa Electric
Vauxhall has confirmed prices for its updated 2023 Corsa, with the newly facelifted car starting from £19,625. On sale now, the first customer deliveries will start in the last quarter of this year, with a wide range of petrol and electric models available to order from launch.
That opening price buys you a 74bhp 1.2-litre naturally-aspirated model, which comes only with a five-speed manual gearbox. The entry-level Design trim features automatic LED headlights, automatic wipers and rear parking sensors. There's a 10-inch infotainment unit with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, autonomous emergency braking and pedestrian detection, lane departure warning with lane keep assist and traffic sign recognition. There's also a 99bhp 1.2-litre turbo model available with either a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic for £20,525 and £22,255 respectively.
The Corsa line-up follows the same trim structure as the Astra and Grandland SUV, with GS the next step up from Design. This sportier model starts from £22,005 for the 74bhp manual powertrain, with the 99bhp 1.2 manual rising to £22,905; the auto adds an extra £2,700 to this car's price, but that's because it's only available with a more powerful 128bhp version of the 1.2 Turbo unit.
GS trim features a sportier look with larger 17-inch alloy wheels (16-inch rims are standard on Design), plus a rear-view camera and a seven-inch digital dash panel.
Ultimate is the top-spec Corsa trim and starts from £25,685. It's not available with the 74bhp unit, just the 99bhp six-speed manual set-up, while prices rise to £28,385 for the 128bhp eight-speed auto powertrain. Ultimate trim benefits from intellilux LED pixel matrix headlights, blind spot alert, adaptive cruise control with lane positioning assist, Alcantara-trimmed heated massage seats in the front, and a heated steering wheel. Keyless entry is also available on petrol and Electric Ultimate model.
The Corsa Electric line-up starts with the 134bhp Design model, which is priced from £32,455 (although this will only be able to order from the 3rd August 2023). This existing powertrain was carried across for the facelifted car and is available in GS trim as well, costing £34,080.
However, Vauxhall has also added a new 152bhp motor option fed by a larger 54kWh battery for more range, with the best claim standing at 246 miles. This is 24 miles more than the 50kWh 134bhp model. This more potent, longer-range option is priced from £35,475 in GS trim, and £38,585 in top-spec Ultimate guise.
EV Corsa models feature some different kit, too. Design models get a seven-inch infotainment screen, while GS-trim cars get a new high-resolution panoramic display and full keyless go if you opt for the 54kWh battery option.
2023 Vauxhall Corsa facelift
The biggest change with this new Corsa is to the car's looks, with Vauxhall tweaking the front-end styling to add its now trademark Vizor grille. The compact five-door model is the last car in Vauxhall's line-up to receive this styling feature, as seen on the British brand's Mokka, Astra and Grandland models.
There's a flush black panel between the headlights, creating a solid look, with the new, slightly more squared-off headlights units (upgraded IntelliLux matrix pixel LED units are available for this new car) flanking the infill panel, which features a new Griffin logo. The rest of the Corsa's body is broadly carried over from its predecessor, with new 'CORSA' badging on the car's tailgate..
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The brand has made more changes inside however, with Vauxhall upgrading the infotainment system to a 10-inch screen that runs a new user interface powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon Cockpit Platform. The Corsa's seven-inch digital dash has also been upgraded with new graphics, while wireless smartphone charging is available for the first time; wireless compatibility for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay is also included.
A new steering wheel design arrives alongside fresh upholstery choices and a new design for the gear selector, while the Corsa also benefits from a new high-resolution, wide-view rear camera to boost safety when manoeuvring. This is on top of the kind of safety and driver assistance systems you'd expect, with adaptive cruise control and autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection also on offer.
Vauxhall Corsa Electric upgrades
As mentioned above, the Corsa Electric receives a new, upgraded powertrain as part of the facelift, with a larger 51kWh (usable) battery and a more powerful 154bhp motor mounted on the car's front axle. Vauxhall claims the upgrades boost range by up to 15 per cent compared with the older 50kWh powertrain, with the Corsa Electric offering up to 255 miles on a full charge.
Some models based on the same CMP/e-CMP platform from sister firms within Stellantis ditched the older 134bhp motor as part of their upgrade cycle (the new DS 3 E-Tense and Peugeot e-2008, for example), but Vauxhall has chosen to retain this option. Offering up to 222 miles of range, according to Vauxhall it will “give customers a wider choice when considering their electric mobility needs.”
The Coras Electric's 100kW rapid charge capability remains unchanged, so a 10-80 per cent top-up will still take around half an hour. Hooked up to a 7kW home wallbox a full charge should take around seven hours and 30 minutes, but with all new-for-2023 Corsa Electric models featuring an 11kW on-board charger as standard, with a suitable feed this time can be cut to five hours and 15 minutes.
Expect the 134bhp Corsa Electric to match the outgoing model's 7.6-second 0-60mph time given the shared powertrain hardware. However, the brand has not yet outlined performance figures for the newer battery and motor set-up.
Other Stellantis models using this tech – including the DS 3 E-Tense – accelerate from 0-60mph in less than nine seconds, so expect the most powerful Corsa Electric to offer a similar level of performance; the potentially slightly slower 0-60mph time for the more powerful model is likely as a result of the larger, heavier battery.
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Sean Carson
Sean’s been writing about cars since 2010, having worked for outlets as diverse as PistonHeads, MSN Cars, Which? Cars, Race Tech – a specialist motorsport publication – and most recently Auto Express and sister titles Carbuyer and DrivingElectric.
Keyword: New 2023 Vauxhall Corsa facelift priced from £19,625