2015 Vauxhall Corsa VXR UK first drive

The new Vauxhall Corsa VXR may look a bit under-endowed next to its bigger-engined VXR siblings, but it sits pretty at the top of an important notional pyramid for its maker.

Volker Strycek, performance director for the VXR brand and former DTM champion himself, says despite the lower-order standing that its price and power level implies, the Corsa is actually the most hardcore model in the VXR range.

And that’s the way VXR owners like it, apparently. “The market research tells us that Astra and Insignia buyers expect more comfort, refinement and ease of use,” says Volker, “but the Corsa VXR owners are the real enthusiasts. It’s great fun making cars for customers like that.”

It’s also plenty of fun driving the car that Nürburgring ace Volker has made for customers like that. Not, perhaps, the most delicate, subtle or precise sort of fun you’ll ever have at the wheel of hot hatchback, but a visceral giggle, undoubtedly – and a particularly purposeful and involving one if you’ve got the forearms, and the budget, for it.

The new Corsa VXR isn't a vastly different prospect from its various special-edition predecessors. It does, however, feel like a car that has matured over the several stages of development delivered by the Nürburgring and Clubsport versions. There’s now enough sophistication about the normal, series-production VXR car, and choice about the ordering process, that it can serve tastes as lukewarm or as specialised as Vauxhall is likely to find.

The car’s 1.6-litre turbo engine benefits from a new air intake and an exhaust with less back pressure, liberating modest improvements in power, torque, fuel economy and emissions. It’s a four-pot with a smidgen more grunt than the class norm and a linear, fairly crisp kind of performance routine that only really wants for a bit of endearing aural character.

The 207lb ft of torque it serves is available for full-throttle bursts of only five seconds, but that should be enough to convince most owners that they’ve bought just about the most potent car they could afford - a key pillar of appeal for the VXR brand, you’d guess.

The car’s six-speed manual gearbox is new, too. Particular emphasis has been placed on shift quality, which is short and staccato but could be slicker. More annoying is the yawning gap between third and fourth gears that trips you up regularly at typical UK country road speeds. Thankfully, the engine’s generous spread of torque earns the car a ready-made get-out-of-jail-free card on that front.

The Corsa VXR’s chassis, updated with a new torsion beam rear suspension set-up and the optional 18in alloy wheels of our test car, provided plenty of traction and lateral grip and a pleasing mix of agile steering response, mid-corner balance, handling adjustability and high-speed stability and precision.

A Ford Fiesta ST has a more natural sense of directional poise and better steering feedback, but the Corsa’s handling would take some beating by anything else in the class. Equally impressive, it’s married to a more supple, civil ride than that of the Ford, one that wouldn’t wear on your senses like some.