New Vauxhall Corsa ecoFLEX – Vauxhall’s most economical car

The new Vauxhall Corsa ecoFLEX - Vauxhall's most economical car

It’s been a bit of a Vauxhall week. Last week saw the first details and pictures of the New Vauxhall Astra (preceded by teaser shots of the Astra), and news that Vauxhall are now offering off-the-shelf Vauxhall Insignia Sports Tourer police cars in the UK. And now comes the news that Vauxhall has released its most economical car ever – the Vauxhall Corsa ecoFLEX.

The ecoFLEX joins the rest of the current Corsa range, which is actually a pretty good car. It’s decent looking (as, much to our surprise, are pretty much all Vauxhall models these days), it’s well priced, has a decent level of spec and some good options. Yes, it’s a little tight on space, but overall it’s a competitive car and not a bad choice at all.

So what has Vauxhall done to make this new Corsa ecoFLEX so economical? Well, they haven’t gone the route of stripping out everything they can find to throw away to lose weight. Yes, they’ve managed to drop the weight by around 100lbs, but the car is still well-finished and equipped. Instead, they’ve worked on the oily bits to squeeze every bit of help they can to lower emissions and improve economy. They’ve made fourth and fifth gear longer to reduce consumption, but they’ve actually shortened second to improve driveability around town (which is where most Corsas get used).

They’ve dropped the ride height by 20mm, improved airflow and fitted narrower, low-rolling resistance tyres on lighter, steel rims. All this reduces the Co2 output to just 105g/km, and increases economy to an impressive 85.6mpg.

The new Corsa ecoFLEX is available in either Life or Club trim, with prices starting from £11,295. But if your old car is eligible you can knock the £2,000 Scrappage allowance off the price, which makes the car a great deal.

You could do a lot worse than the new Vauxhall Corsa ecoFLEX if you’re looking for a relatively cheap, well made city car that doesn’t sacrifice everything in the name of ‘Eco’. And it looks likely to remain Vauxhall’s most economical car, at least until the Vauxhall Ampera sees the light of day.