Final Report: Vauxhall takes its Corsa
We ve had to say goodbye to the Vauxhall Corsa that s been in my possession for the past six months. Due to the coronavirus restrictions, it s not covered the miles it might have done in pre-pandemic times - no M25 trips to the office, no weekends away to stay with relatives, no long treks taking children to distant sporting competitions - but it has made it off the driveway often enough during lockdown, particularly when searching for new countryside walks, for me to know that I ll miss this sporty number .
That s Vauxhall s description for the Corsa in SRi trim, which is how ours came equipped. It s one rung up the specification ladder from SE, which means the interior gets extras such as alloy-effect sports pedals, a Sport mode button, sports-style front seats and tinted rear windows. There s also a sporty-looking flat-bottomed leather steering wheel, although it is standard throughout the range.
4/5
Finally, this family SUV is the car it always should have been. Against fine rivals and with Jaguar going fully electric, is it too late?
17 March 2021 • 5:00am
The driver s choice: the revamped E-Pace has a fluidity that rivals struggle to match
Credit: Mark Fagelson
There’s an old adage in the motor industry that any car, however good, never recovers from a bad launch. Witness Jaguar’s E-Pace, unveiled to the press in June 2017; as chief designer Ian Callum explained back then, for most of its customers “this will be their first-ever Jaguar”.
Yet the chaos of the launch, hurriedly bought forward when Jaguar’s engineering department at Witley announced it had signed off the vehicle early, was a symbol of the appalling communications and corrosive rivalry at the company, where getting one over on another department counted for more than producing a popular and profitable car.
Firm ride
What has changed?
Well, not much, actually, as you can probably tell by the fact the press release announcing the new car was headlined “greater standard specification, lower price”.
As facelifts go, this has to be among the most subtle.
What that means is that there are no real technological or styling changes to hype up, so the biggest thing Seat has to shout about is that it’s fluffed up the Ateca’s standard equipment list.
So now you get an 8.3-inch touchscreen, keyless entry, dual-zone climate control and LED headlamps on the entry-level SE version, while the SE Technology we’ve got here adds bigger wheels and sat nav.
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Top 10 used family SUVs for less than £20,000
Some of the most spacious and desirable family SUVs around can now be had used for less than £20,000. Here we count down our top 10 favourites.
11 Mar 2021 12:08
Buying a used family SUV needn’t cost you the earth.
In fact, you can buy examples often as young as just a few months old for less than £20,000, and these highly practical cars are now cheap enough that they make a huge amount of financial sense as a second-hand purchase.
Most of these SUVs have the raised-up driving position and chunky looks that buyers love, as well as large boots and flexible interiors. That s why many motorists have moved on from traditional family cars such as the Ford Focus, into the likes of the Nissan Qashqai. However, there are so many to choose from for this sort of cash that finding the right car for you can be bewildering. That’s where we come in. We’ve rounded up our 10 favourite family-sized SUVs that you can get for le