The Vauxhall Corsa Electric is, in spirit, a Corsa. It looks like one, drives like one, and if you've owned a petrol version at any point in the last decade, getting in will feel entirely unremarkable. Andrew Till spent a full week with the GS mid-range variant, priced at £29,740, covering local errands, a longer run to Southampton and back, and a rapid charge at an Instavolt unit. The tested car is the 136 PS version with a 50 kWh battery and 221 miles of official range. A second variant, the 156 PS with a 51 kWh battery, adds vehicle-to-load capability and reaches 266 miles. He came back with a fair verdict: likeable, honest, and let down primarily by its charging nav.
The Corsa Electric sits on the Stellantis small-EV platform shared with the Peugeot e-208, Citroën e-C3, and Opel Mokka Electric. Its 100 kW DC charging reaches 80% in around 30 minutes, and 11 kW AC home charging is standard. It now competes directly with the Renault 5, on sale from £26,295, and the Hyundai Inster, available from around £22,000 for the entry variant. Both offer more perceived value per pound at similar price points; the Renault 5 includes a heat pump as standard and has a more modern interior feel. The 156 PS Corsa Electric's vehicle-to-load feature, absent from the tested 136 PS car, is increasingly standard on rivals including the Kia EV3. For buyers considering the used market, 71-plate Corsa Electrics with around 24,000 miles are available for roughly £9,700, which changes the value calculation considerably. The GS trim does include wireless charging and physical HVAC buttons, two things that matter on a daily basis, though the wireless charger proved too slow to keep pace with CarPlay's battery draw on the Southampton run.
Real-world efficiency on a mix of A-roads and motorway came in at around 4 miles per kWh, comparable to the Kia e-Niro on the same route, which is a genuine achievement given the Niro's reputation for efficiency. Boot space measured 101 cm wide and 66 cm deep with seats up, 135 cm deep with them folded. The start button requires a notably long press to activate, which felt like a firmware issue more than a design choice. A Zappi home charger compatibility fault is a known problem, with a dealer software update available to resolve it. Charging scheduling allows a start time to be set but not an end time, which matters for anyone on a time-of-use tariff without a smart charger. The sat nav showed two nearby chargers on the route to Southampton but provided no guidance on when or why to stop; for a first-time EV driver, that gap between the car's range and the nav's helpfulness is the most realistic source of anxiety. Stellantis offers an e-routes app for all its EVs, but it costs £4.90 per month or £49 per year, and the reviewer argues that routing to a charger is basic functionality that should not sit behind a subscription.
Bottom line: The Corsa Electric is a solid, unfussy small EV for buyers who want something familiar. The hardware is competent, the efficiency is respectable, and the driving experience is pleasant. But at £29,740 for the tested GS trim, it sits within range of better-equipped competitors, and its failure to guide drivers to charging stops on longer trips is a gap that matters. On the used market at around £9,700, it becomes a much easier recommendation.