There's a rumour that when PSA took over Opel from GM, Opel had almost finished developing their new Corsa.
What the French then said however, was 'thanks for the effort, but we're doing something different.'
And I'm leaning towards believing that rumour, based on this very car. This is the fully electric Opel Corsa-e.
PSA's idea was to build their small hatchbacks in a way, that the same production line produces diesels, petrol-versions...
and electrically powered cars. And you aren't really supposed to see what's what from the outside. We already know the e-208,
so today is all about the Corsa-e.
Like I already said, it's very hard to see that it's an electric car. Even the boot doesn't give it away. Sure, it's a tad smaller,
267 litres versus 309 litres. But that's because Opel measures the space underneath the floor of the petrol-version as well.
That's not possible in here, because this doesn't have anything underneath the floor. But how much do you even use that space?
Anyway, 267 isn't groundbreaking for this class, and the same goes for the rear seat. You're able to sit there with 1.80 m., like me.
However, getting in is kind of hard because of the small door, and when you're in, you're pretty cramped as well.
So it's decent, but again: not groundbreaking.
In the front, they've tried to give it a typical Opel-signature. It uses a lot of technology of PSA, but where Peugeot has aimed...
at the futuristic, funky and distinctive design, the Opel is much more conventional. That also means it...
doesn't take as much getting used to. Also because you don't have the i-Cockpit to get used to.
Other than that, it looks pretty good. Except for the digital instrument cluster, that's still a bit messy. But are you able to tell it's...
an electrical car from the outside? Well, there's one thing that gives it away, and this is a nerdy thing to spot.
If you stand next to it and look at the rear wheel, you'll see that it's not exactly in the middle. That's because the wheelbase...
is a tad longer, so they could fit the battery pack.
Right, so what's the Corsa-e like to drive? Well, let's start with the electrical stuff. The front wheels are powered by a 136 horsepower...
electric motor, so it produces exactly 100 kW. That's in Sport-mode, because the Drive Mode Selector let's you change to Normal or Eco...
if you want, which reduces the power by 20 kW and 40 Nm per mode. So in its most conservative state, it produces 80 horsepower...
and 180 Nm of torque. This Corsa weighs 1.500 kg, so 80 horsepower doesn't sound like a lot, but it's pretty good actually.
The power is available immediately, seemless acceleration, quiet, so the drive is very good. It even regenerates automatically.
It does so in two modes. Drive or B, which stands for 'Brake'. In the latter, it slows down at 1.3 metre per second squared, which is the maximum...
amount of braking allowed before the brake lights have to go on. If you then push the brakes, it'll brake on the electric motor first...
before the disc brakes kick in. You can't really feel the change, which is good. So it's not like putting your foot down further...
will suddenly bring the car to a stop. However, it does feel a tad spongy. Not dramatically or anything, but it could be improved.
Also, a missed chance if you ask me, the strongest regeneration mode still isn't very strong. You will never come to a full stop.
It would've been pleasant if you had some kind of flappy paddles to increase the amount of regenerative braking.
That way, you would've been able to do everything on the electric motor instead of actually using the brakes.
No breaking points, but they could be improved.
Then, the performance. In Eco-mode, it's all good. Not a racing monster or anything, but good nonetheless.
If you put it in Sport however, it's nice and rapid. It does 0-100 km/h in 8,1 seconds and that's pretty quick.
Especially the inbetween sprints are very fun. Just put your foot down and let the torque kick in. And you're off.
So what does it mean for the range? Well, it has a 50 kWh-battery pack, which Opel says can reach 337 km on a single charge according to the WLTP.
I don't think you'll get that kind of figures, but if you really try and you keep the heat pump turned off, you should be able to get 300 km.
Not a whole lot, the Renault Zoe does that better. On the other hand, this has more ways to charge up, and 300 km should be enough for our country.
If you want to charge it up, you can do that on a normal electrical circuit. You do have to choose though. It comes with 32 ampère-compatiblity...
as standard, but you can only use single phase charging. That's a maximum of 7,2 kW, and 32 ampère is relatively rare.
If you spend another €1.000, you can get a three phase-charging compatible charging system. However, that only charges up to 16 ampère.
That's only 11 kW. So I asked them, why not both? And they rolled out a story about costs and the fact that it fully charges in 5,5 hours and such.
If you would've doubled it to 22 kW, the time would be halved, but in both cases the car is full in the morning if you plug it in at night.
That would've made it a few hundred Euro's more expensive, but we wanted to invest that money in other charging ways, like quickcharging...
up to 100 kW. Right. It's not a completely undefendable story, but if you have a 22 kW-charger at home, it'd be nice to use the full potential.
However, for that also goes that it's not a breaking point. It's not optimal either, but quickcharging up to 100 kW is very good.
If you compare it with what the competition does... A Renault ZOE gets further but is charges up slower. The Mini Cooper Electric is fast,
but is less practical and has a very limited range. You could think of a Nissan Leaf, but it's a very dated car.
So it kind of establishes its own place in the world. When you drive it, you feel it's a lot heavier. So they've had to do all sorts of things...
to process the extra weight. Sturdier springs, sturdier dampers, and the reason the rear wheel isn't exactly in the middle,
is because the rear wheel-construction has been changed completely. It now has a Panhard-bar, which is the simple brother of the...
Watt's link, found on the Opel Astra. And I have to say, it's a very sturdy car because of the weight, so it's a bit...
dribbly on wet surfaces, but it's not too hard or uncomfortable. And the grip? Well, it does very well.
You can push it pretty far before it starts understeering. However, the centre of gravity lies lower than in the combustion version,
which means it's more rigid. That means it doesn't really roll so it's hard to find the limit. But when you reach it, it does slide away from you.
It could surprise you, but when you reach that limit, you've been pushing hard already. So you won't encounter it very often.
Like I said, it all does what it needs to do in a very neat way. It drives very well and deserves its own place compared to its rivals.
All of that for a very good price as well. Prices start at €30.499, which is the single phase-charging one.
If you spend another €1.000, you have three phase-charging. That's a total of €31.500, which also means you have cruise control, Apple CarPlay,
climate control... Not bad at all. If you want additional options like alloys, a heated steering wheel, you name it,
you'll have to pay around €34.000 or €35.000 for a very complete car. Lots of money for a Corsa, but not a lot for an electrical car.
Especially if you consider the fact they've developed this car twice for that money.