Opel Corsa OPC will arrive in South Africa late 2015
The fifth generation of the Opel Corsa OPC has once again been honed around the Nurburgring but the public will have to wait for their first sighting at the Geneva Motor Show. Opel say the new model is a car suited to cruise in comfort or push to extremes around a racetrack. We’ve heard those claims before…
Styling sticks to the regular places, except for a small scoop in the bonnet and a choice between two rear spoilers – the small one being standard but a bigger one (with questionable downforce improvements) is optional. Twin pipes (replacing the trapezoidal centre one of old) are acoustically crafted by Remus and as a general rule the Corsa OPC shadows the bigger Astra OPC in more ways. Here at SACarFan we’ve always given a nod to the styling. The new one appears to be better still.
The Opel Corsa OPC come fitted with the same 1.6-litre turbo engine but with the power you’d only previously get by opting for the Nurburgring edition. No sandbagging here. That means 152kW and 245Nm for 0-100km/h in 6.8 seconds. That’s slightly more power than you’d get in a Fiesta ST or 208 GTi. Even VW’s upcoming Polo GTi is likely to have less. Opel claim they’ve improved the delivery of torque.
The mechanical limited slip differential which you get on the Nurburgring edition now forms part of an Optional Performance Package. Would we bother? Not really, it made the car a real handful, especially on wet roads. The rest of the package has more value with high performance Michelin tyres, better chassis tuning and 330mm Brembo brakes.
Where the previous Corsa OPC lost points was the interior. Before were too many buttons, horrible orange fonts and complicated menus. It was the worst layout of any small car. To the rescue is Opel’s IntelliLink system which cleans up the clutter and provides crystal images and text, together with more connectivity. It’s quite literally gone from being the worst to possibly the best. Recaro seats, flat bottom wheel and aluminium pedals are items worth repeating in the new model.
The Corsa OPC will arrive in Q3 2015. The old Nurburgring edition was horribly priced but if they get this around R290 000 things will get heated. Best looking small hatch by a mile, now with a modern interior.
