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Vauxhall hopes its new Corsa will be young drivers' first car for longer. James Griffiths drives it.

In much of the press information, Vauxhall writes out the name of its most recent addition as the “New Corsa”, with a capital letter on each. In all fairness, the Corsa has been resigned from the ground-up – it’s on a completely new platform, with completely fresh suspension design at both ends.

The new Corsa is also riddled with technology referred to by three letter acronyms; so much so that in the press information pack, Vauxhall has seen fit to include a specialised dictionary. There are 14 entries in total and six in the “E” section alone. When questioned (and without referring to the dictionary), the group of representatives from the company whom I asked were able to give the correct full term for all but two of them.

It’s hard to decide whether huge reams of acronyms being reeled off when talking about a car means that it is very impressive indeed, or if it’s all just a bit smoke and mirrors, but what is for sure is that of these 14 acronyms, only nine of them are “carry over” – systems which have been seen before on a Corsa – meaning that there are at least five quite significant technological advances available on the new Corsa which have never been offered before.

It's still very much cheap, cheerful and colourful, but the new Corsa also has a serious amount of new technology, and a much more serious safety rating

Of these, the most immediately recognisable in terms of making a difference to how the car handles relates to the electronic power steering. The sportier CXi versions of the new Corsa come equipped with “variable progressive power steering”, which is an enhancement over regular power steering, similar in the way that it alters the feel of the steering based on how quickly the car is moving, but more advanced in that it also changes the steering ratio in conjunction with the way in which the wheel is turned. The ratio gets quicker (reducing from 13:1 to 12:1) as the steering wheel angle increases to create a sports-car-like feel.

In the first 90 degrees of turn, the car reacts much more sharply, which makes cornering a more responsive and involving affair. After this initial turn, however, the system will cut itself out to ensure that the car will not overreact in a situation where the driver has to make a very sharp or fast turn.

When driving at very low speeds, however, the system will adjust to soften up the steering to make parking easier, which, seeing as this is a car designed mainly for city driving is a clever and welcome addition.

The front subframe is, according to Vauxhall, three times stiffer than before, and is mounted into a “tauter, laser-welded bodyshell”, which in addition to helping to improve safety also delivers sharper chassis control.

On the subject of safety, the new Corsa has recently received a full, five stars in the Euro NCAP ratings, showing huge improvements over the previous model, especially in terms of side impact (the new Corsa scored 100 per cent in this category) and pedestrian safety, which is now three stars as compared to the earlier Corsa’s one star.

Common sense dictates that being involved in a side-on collision is not something you would want to aim for. However, if it does happen, there are worse places to be than inside the new Corsa.

However, it is interesting to note that although both cars tested were three-door hatchback versions, the new Corsa when tested weighed over 200 kg more than the previous version.

Weight is an issue for the new Corsa. The new cars according to Vauxhall are, on average, 50 kg heavier like-for-like across the range, and the NCAP results show that this can be much greater. However, at launch, all are using the same engines with the same power outputs as before. The three petrol engines comprise a 1.0-litre, 60 PS (44 kW) unit, a 1.2-litre 80 PS (58 kW) unit and a 1.4-litre 90 PS (66 kW) engine, all of which feature GM’s “Twinport” technology, with two intake ports for each cylinder, one of which will close under limited throttle loads resulting less wasted petrol and savings of “up to ten per cent” in fuel consumption.

Efforts have been made to save weight in the engine and chassis, as all the petrol engines have a lightweight aluminium cylinder head acting to offset slightly the heavier cast iron block, and the crankshaft and camshafts are both hollowed out to save weight, but even with these measures, none of the cars feel remotely quick, and the 1.0-litre’s 0-60 time of 17 full seconds is particularly sobering.

The diesel units fare little better, with the two 1.3-litre CDTi units available at launch offering 75 PS (55 kW) or 90 PS (66 kW), but do at least have the benefit of significantly higher fuel economy – 61.4 mpg (4.60 l/100 km) for both, compared to 48.7 and 47.9 for the similar petrol engines. The 1.7-litre 125 PS CDTi will bring the 0-60 time down to 10.0 seconds.

There will be a choice of transmission for petrol versions but standard equipment will be five-speed manuals, which is also standard on the 75 PS diesel model, but the 90 and 125 PS diesel models will come with six-speed manual shifts.

This is the 1.3 CDTi, which comes in 70 and 90PS versions. Both will do 0-60 in under 14s, with good mpg. But Thrust Supersonic could hit 600mph in the 17s it takes the 1.0-litre petrol version to reach 60.

Top speed and acceleration are not, of course, necessarily the main points to consider in the supermini section, but Vauxhall has said that with the new models it is trying to reach a slightly wider and older section of the young market. Young people who have recently passed their test (and interestingly, the Corsa is the number one car for actually taking and passing your test in) may buy a Corsa initially, but will quickly change it in for something sportier as they get older. If Vauxhall wants to keep this young demographic for longer, the present units are not going to help.

That’s not to say that the picture for the future is bleak. The new Corsa is better looking and more customisable than ever before, although Vauxhall admits that personalisation is still “not quite at Mini levels”, and more importantly than that, there are several new units planned, including an obscene 1.6-litre 200 PS (148 kW) VXR version in March next year. The gaps between the current engines and the top of the range VXR will then also be slowly filled in to cater for all tastes.

The other point to mention in terms of handling and driver enjoyment is that the CXi version tested with the variable progressive power steering provided a surprisingly exciting ride. The car still took time to get up to speed, but once there, it nipped, tucked and rolled into corners with surprising agility, offering much more feedback and involvement than would ever be expected. If this shows what a combination of the improved steering and chassis can offer, then there is real potential for the quicker units to do exactly what Vauxhall is hoping, and provide sound reason for younger drivers to hold onto their first car a little longer, or make a simple trade-up whilst keeping it in the family.

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*The two acronyms that the team couldn’t get, by the way, were “EPS” (electronic power steering) and “EMU” (electronic management unit) – although one of them did hazard a guess at “something to do with Rod Hull”.