Chalk up another "I passed my test in a Corsa B" - on 30th January 1997. It was the third Corsa B I'd driven at that point - one for an initial assessment, and my instructor changed his part-way through my lessons - also, we had a family friend who let me practice in his MkIII Astra (higher spec than last year's FOTU winner, mind), and my first car was a pov-spec Nova. So by the end of March it'd only been six months since I first sat behind the wheel... and I'd driven five different Vauxhalls. My brother got a raw deal three years later. He passed his test in a Metro. No, I'm not going to call it a Rover 100. It's a Metro and it'll always be a Metro.
This is a car that gives me lot's of memory's. Back in 1993 my grandad asked the local Opel dealer to give him a call when the first Corsa B would arrive. So when he got the call he grabbed 10 year old me, we jumped in his Corsa A and drove off to the dealer. When we arrived they just started cleaning the car to put it in the showroom. It was a steel gray Corsa B 1.2 Swing 5 doors. We had a short look and the first thing my grandad did was taking a stack of money out of his pocket and said to the dealer: I want this one, when can i have it 😁 A small week later he could pick it up, so he was one of the first in Belgium to own a Corsa B.
Ah lovely, I bought a brand new 5 door in 1994 in glorious 'Rainbow Blue' (PURPLE!). IIRC I don't think it had intermittent wipe which at the time, I put down to it being built in Spain 😂
I always liked this model. Here in New Zealand, they were badged as a Holden Barina. The were way way waaaay more luxurious than your Corsa because they had a glove box lid. Fancy
Around 2000 I had an internship at a Opel dealer and these were around a lot. Testdrove pretty much all variants but never saw a poverty spec quite like this. Guess that was limited to some markets. Always kept a soft spot for them.
In 2010 I bought my daughter a Corsa B 'Breezer' edition for her first car. It cost £1000 and we sold it 2 years later for £1000. Great little car without all the fancy rubbish that goes wrong in modern cars.
I'd passed mine four years previously in a rebadged Suzuki Cultus right before they'd started the Geo label here in the US. until last November, it was the smallest thing I'd ever driven.
These were sold in Australia as the Holden Barina. The base model was known as the Swing, then I think the next model up was the CD, maybe? There was a GSI version, and also a cabrio version as well, which, AFAIK, was modified here in Australia.
@HubNut that's really cool! Holden was trying to get the buying public to believe that these were a competitor to the VW Golf Cabrio. Not many people were convinced though, especially considering the 1.4 litre that powered those cars was lethargic at best. I haven't seen one on the road for many years now, but I imagine there's one or two stashed away here and there.
Nostalgia understood, Ian. I took driving lessons and passed my test, first time, in a Renault 5 TL in 1981, and have never had the chance to drive one since then.
I would like to see you rag that round some of your favourite Welsh roads, I am sure it would live up to "Power, less is more". Miss Hubnut clearly comes from fine heritage.
My mum had one of these for years. Hers had the 1.5D engine so it was very slow but very economical. It was eventually scrapped due to corrosion and the last time we saw it it was being used by the local fire station to practice cutting people out of cars!
I remember also taking my driving lessons in one of these back in the late 90s. BSM use to upgrade their cars every six months at the time. My instructor one day turned up with the upgraded Corsa, which had the air bag, power steering and a bit more bhp being a 1.4. We still didn't get ABS on it, suppose you couldn't have everything. Now drive a 16 plate Corsa sting 1.2 and being rather base you still don't get a light in the boot!
Back in 2013, when I was living in Spain, I too made a long roadtrip in a borrowed Corsa B (but an Opel, naturally). Me and my then wife borrowed it from a friend of ours in Girona to go via the Cote Azur down to the outskirts of Rome, where the would-be boy-friend of our little Italian Greyhound girl lived. The journey was long and quite tiresome, but one of those I will never forget - the road was absolutely breathtaking all the way! The doggy boy-friend, though very eager, could not do his part of the deal and there were no puppies made... The Corsa on the other hand was the perfect car for the small Italian town we visited - any larger and it would have been impossible to navigate the streets or find a parkingspot. - I still dream of taking a trip on the same road again - but maybe not in a Corsa B the next time. 😅
Sold in Australia as the Holden Barina. A popular car. My old boss had one, we nick named it the "golf cart" as it always had a set of golf clubs in the back. I think his was a 1.5L. a fun car car to drive just not exceptionally quick.
Passed my test in a Corsa B in 1997 and it was also an R reg. Red, iirc. Lovely and calming driving instructor, spent much of my test blocked in by a refuse lorry that had got stuck down a narrow lane
I had one of these, but with a Courtney Sport tuned C20LET Calibra turbo engine and F28 6 speed gearbox. It was an absolute beast and could beat most things to 100mph, it actually handled the power very well for a car that was never meant to have that engine in it. Great 90's sleeper fun!
Funny story about Chevy and the spark to be precise If you lower a Mk1 Fabia vrs like me then the original drop links no longer fit and instead you are required to use Chevy spark drop links as they have the same mounting bracket’s but slightly shorter
I had one of these! Exactly the same - colour, spec, everything; although here in Australia it was the Holden Barina. Great ride quality and very frugal fuel consumption (650-700 km on a tank). It even had the blanking plate on the boot light and the worn out gear lever “scrotum” (we also later had a Holden/Vauxhall Astra with the same problem (feature?). Those little vents on the interior door handle actually hid tiny tweeters, which I discovered when I upgraded the audio. I also installed a glovebox door I found at the scrapyard! A lovely little trip down memory lane, thank you!
Love the Corsa B. From the owner of the blue one who was at your social earlier in the year and whose son passed his test 2 weeks ago and is currently out cruising the mean streets of Berkshire in it.
We also owned a R reg white Corsa Merit 1.2 8v in 5 door guise. I remember the engine being fairly torquey. It would quite happily pull along at 30 MPH in top gear. I passed my test in a 1.4 8v ls Corsa.
Noice. 👍 Very suitable steed for FOTU. We hired a Cavalier in UK in 1995. I really enjoyed driving it. Lovely 5 speed change. BTW. Ads have appeared mid way through your videos now. Been like that for a while. One group of 2 ads in this one. I guess you changed your settings but just letting you know in case RUclips has snuck them in without your knowledge.
Had the non-turbo diesels as pool cars at work. Had a few heart stopping moments when I had forgotten that fast pulling away isn't a thing when you have no turbo! Went to the moon and back on a tank of diesel though.
My grandmother went from a Volvo 940 estate to one of these, the automatic versions. Was always fun seeing her thrash the little Vauxhall at every traffic light trying to imitate the more powerful Volvo and never quite achieving it. She had it for 7 years and apart from an oil change I don’t believe she ever needed to do anything else on it.
One of a long series of cars badged as a Holden Barina in Australia. The Suzuki Swift based first ones established a good reputation fir the car. The rep drifted down just a bit with the Corsa based ones but took a massive dive from the Daewoo based cars. The curse of sourcing cars from Daewoo being a very large part of the reason Holden collapsed. Not retaining customers in the growing market segments that the Daewoo sourced cars were to represent Holden in.
Amazing to see a Corsa that made it through the "max power" period completely unmolested! My mate had a black Corsa of the same period but I dont think I ever heard the engine over the cherry bomb exhaust and twin 12" subwoofers in the boot!! Great times!
Its semi independent rear suspension which allowed a slightly lower boot floor pan.Thats the reason for the ability to have the full size steel or alloy spare wheel.
My now wife had a Nova when we first me, I christened it 'nasty' as my feet would catch on the lower steering column on the floor as I drove. But later on we had a mk1 Tigra 1.4 16 valve, what an absolute hoot to drive, stuck to the road like glue, bright red and just brilliant. One of many Vauxhall cars for us. Great run down of pure original cars. Great camera work too from Mrs Hubnut 👍👍👍👍
This takes me back aswell Ian. I actually learned and passed my test in 1998 in a brand new "R" reg corsa exactly like this in white but had the 1.4 engine as my instructor had just got it from the dealer 2 days prior. Also i started and had my first lesson on my 17th birthday 😊😊
@@HubNut Even more disappointing the Fact that Almost every other Japanese car is quite frequently seen on UK roads. Went to Simply Japanese at Beaulieu last week. Over 1,500 cars attended, NOT ONE Corolla Gti
I had a ‘94 diesel van (if you can call it that!) about a decade ago. Was a total lifeline at the time enabling me to start a business. £350. Ran amazingly well. 😊
The 5 door ones also had different rear lights and possibly a smaller rear wiper though I would have to certainly bow to the wiper oracle that is yourself for expertise in this subject.
Oh my, I actually guessed it! And this is pretty much the same spec and colour as my dad's P-reg 5-door one, even down to the radio-only tunes!!! And yes, those are the wrong hubcaps, if I recall they were just little black plastic jobs that fit in the wheel centre... That one ended up mostly being the stepmother's car, as my dad was usually sporting his bangernomics cars that were less than reliable sometimes, and as a young passenger in the rear, I found the seats to be rather hard, oh and the horn was as weak as the current PM, even sat right behind me once, the stepmother tooting away to get my attention at the bus stop on my way to school, it sounded like it was two streets away!! P515 YJR, dropped off the DVLA's system now (though shows up in their MOT lookup, oddly), but it was "an car", peppered with rust spots owing to being pelted by the gritters in winter, last saw it being traded in for a Hyundai Lantra (no Elantra!) estate that had a starter motor that was more a lottery some days... :P
Usually when they show up on the MOT history and nothing else they've been scrapped. Last keeper change in 2002. No MOT history so it's had no MOTs since 2006. I'd assume scrapped. Doubt it's on a private plate because the website where I checked usually shows the new plate but nothing at all. Up until a few years ago cars were often scrapped yet weren't recorded as such.
@@SuperFIFTHGEAR Oh I'm positive it's scrap, it used to be on the enquiry tool as "Untaxed" and "MOT Due" for a long time, and now it's just not there, so they probably had a data purge at DVLA HQ at somepoint, the car probably ended on a back-lot after it was traded in for the lantra cos it wasn't all that great condition-wise (needed a repaint from the rust spots everywhere from gritter damage) so probably just used, abused and binned as they were back then...
My first car was a T plate corsa, 5dr 1.2i 16v with allegedly 69bhp I think, it was a club trim which meant sunroof and rev counter as far as i could tell, slightly different to this one in that by 99 they had steering airbag and a stereo with the display on top of the dash with the clock/temp etc. You will never smile fondly after getting out of one of these but as a machine they work well enough with little drama.
Yours had an airbag and dashtop display because it was a Club. The Merit was so basic it didn't even have the display binnacle. You'd have thought it would have cost them more money to produce a base model without it. It's typical Germans punishing you for going for the base spec.
Absolutely perfect and poverty White as well. We used to have a 1992 Peugeot 106 1.1 with a 4 speed and it was grand on a long run. Luckily for passengers my Wife and I are 5 feet and 5 feet 4 inches respectively. Boot? Yes it had one.
This was the 1997 facelift mk1 Corsa (the mk2 emerging in 2000). And your right the 1.0 3cyl 12v petrol was added at this time-not being part of the original mk1 range. And yes they messed around with the 1.4 petrol as well. I think 2 diesels were available? A big old 1.7 and a smaller but more modern 1.5tdi…..but I maybe wrong!
Brings back many memories, my partner bought a brand new Corsa Flair back in 93, finished in boring flat white but with a fabulous blue/grey velour interior (looked like an explosion in a paint factory)
Hi hubnut, love the videos, i also have fond memories of this car, back in 2009 when i was 18 my best mate had one of these also in white, i had a bmw e36, anyway we went on holiday with our girlfriends to my grandparents static caravan on the norfolk coast. One day we went to the supermarket about 5 miles down the road 5 of us crammed in this corsa, i was in the front and me and my mate were chatting and he didnt realise that the cars in front had slowed rather quickly we were only doing about 25mph at the time but i said to him, watch out these cars have stopped mate, anyway he could never quite stop in time and no abs didnt help im sure and we slammed straight into the back of a brand new 7 series which the man had only had for 3 days 😂, while my mate was out the car i was trying not to burst out laughing still sitting in the corsa because of all the cars he had to hit that one ,luckily the bmw driver just wiped a white scuff off his back bumper, but the corsa had a bent bonnet and my mate drove it everwhere for 3 more years like it 😂, thanks hubnut for reminding me of the best days of my life
I did a very similar thing also being 18 in 2009! Went into the back of a brand new Mercedes CLS in Tesco car park at about 10mph. I was in my 1993 Fiat Uno with two mates, and it didn’t leave a mark on my car, but shame for the Merc owner he had a dented and scuffed rear bumper. The way he shouted and swore at me he was lucky not to leave with a dented and scuffed face haha!! Good times.
The Corsa B always looked like a happy little car. That's something we have lost the last couple of years. Now it is all angry squinting and heavily creased cars. The completely different bodyshell between the 3- and 4-door model was also done some years later on the 2002-2008 Fiesta mk6
I was behind and next to you all day at FOTU. My dad's wife had one when we first met after my parents divorce and hers was a 1.0 3 cylinder and It just wouldn't die. That car went over 220k miles before it died of rats eating the wiring after it was sat for a while. It was a great little car!
I had a 1996 5 dr Corsa B, a luxury GLS 1.4 16v! Actually preferred the 5dr as it was more stable on the motorway and had more room in the boot for audio gear like subs and amps (I was young!). Still see a few running around as dailies, won't be long before they're pretty much all gone.
Oh boy! I passed my driving test in one of those. It was an Opel Corsa 1.5 D as it was in Portugal. One year before you passed yours! 😅 A few years later, I bought a 1998 1.0 litre, 3 cylinders model, which was very economical but an authentic sewing machine anyways that car did Portugal-Poland and the way back 3 times!
A lovely video Ian and many happy memories of these Corsa’s and the older novas as my dad had three novas including a 1983 launch car I too learnt to drive in one and drove many as hire cars in Spain on holiday and bought in 2000 One of the very last X reg Corsa GLS 5 door in Rio verde it was a fabulous car it had the later 1.2 ecotec 16v and went really well in my opinion they handled well and had a great ride thanks to Vauxhall mini block springs! And had a good specification for the time many happy memories of driving it and so comfortable on long journeys on holiday and commuting that one is a great survivor Having drove the mk3 fiesta there wasn’t much in it really I had forgotten the merit didn’t have the pod on top of the centre stack with radio clock and temp! Have a great time at FOTU and hope you had a great holiday
At some point, the Opel Corsa was a staple in my family. I convinced my dad to buy one and then my sister bought a 1.2 Swing. In Portugal we had that 1.2 in GLS guise - that was my dad's, with 5 doors. My sister had a 3 door in a beautiful metallic blue.
We all love the Corsas we grew up with! I grew up with the Corsa C. Such a soft spot for the SXI with the white dials. Thought they were so cool at the time. Someone had one at work recently. He thought it was rubbish but I thought it was still a good car! Also love the Corsa D. Again in high-spec with the red contrast stitching on the seats and the big alloys. We had one as a hire car and it was my dream first car. Miss being young and enthusiastic about everything. 😂
We ran around 60 1.4 Combo vans back in day, gave us very good service and dead simple to maintain. We also ran many 1.7 diesels as well, they also gave us good service. The item that gave us the most problems was the hazard flasher switch.s kept falling apart.
What an unexceptional car! My dad had a 1999 Chevrolet Corsa Saloon, Wind spec ( middrange?). The 1.6 was a bulletproof engine! Great memories in that car! One of the best GM products made in Argentina.
Passed my driving test in a Vauxhall Corsa in 1997. All the instruction and driving was done in Bournemouth. Due to lack of test placements available at the time, my instructor phoned me on my birthday of 1997 and told me he would be picking me up ' tomorrow' at 11am as he had booked my test in Dorchester for 1pm. Couldn't have worked out better, no time for nerves and it was a pass.
I had in 1993 the 5 doors Corsa B with an 1.4 engine. I took the 5 doors because I liked the model more then the 3 doors. Besides that you had in the 5 doors a bit more head room in the back. Loved it.
Cheerful little boxes, these Corsas. Their unagressive styling and their interior details always give me the feeling of coming home, despite never owning one (we had other Opels in the family though). A friend of mine had an 1.2 16V automatic for years which was old-school _very_ slow. I drove it on occasion - the rare time it was driven more or less normally since said friend is rather erratic driver - and it inspired patience. While far removed from a Peugeot 205's road manners I don't think the Corsa B handled as poorly as it was reputed to be. Eventually that auto developed a fault where the auto selector handle would get stuck and could be made to move only by removing some trim and pushing a yellow lever underneath with a *screwdriver!* I did own a (manual) Corsa C for several years which I found similarly pleasant, and that handled much better, honestly good fun to drive. Too bad there isn't anything that drives like that available anymore.
In argentina the Corsa was sold under the chevrolet badge, as many other opel/vauxhall models (Astra, Vectra, Meriva, etc). Except for chile, because they are different( i guess)
I never owned one of these but the moment you popped the bonnet it took me back to my Mk2 Astra 1.3l and my sister's 1.2i Nova. Hopefully you have better luck with head gaskets than I did
I had a bit of a shock at the reveal, because at first glance (to someone who hasn't lived in the UK for yonks) the grille said Alfa Romeo. But the engine power.... I learned to drive on a Morris Minor 1000 Traveller, and because it was the instructor's personal car, it had twin carburettors. So that was probably about 44 bhp, in 1962. My current Toyota Spade (2012 poverty spec) is positioned at the same place in the market, but gives 108 bhp from 1.5 litres. I really don't think GM were trying.
If I'm not mistaken, the 1.0 was actually more powerful than the 1.2. I have never driven a Corsa B, but I learned to drive in a couple of Corsa C, a 1.2 which felt gutless, and a 1.3 diesel. I much preferred the diesel.
The Corsa B was a lovely design, particularly at the back with the rounded rear lights. I once drove one in Sweden for two weeks and took it on all the single track roads around Kullaberg and Perstorp. It handled really well, but I agree, the gearbox was a bit baggy. Must be because all the linkages are made from plastic.
Chalk up another "I passed my test in a Corsa B" - on 30th January 1997. It was the third Corsa B I'd driven at that point - one for an initial assessment, and my instructor changed his part-way through my lessons - also, we had a family friend who let me practice in his MkIII Astra (higher spec than last year's FOTU winner, mind), and my first car was a pov-spec Nova. So by the end of March it'd only been six months since I first sat behind the wheel... and I'd driven five different Vauxhalls.
My brother got a raw deal three years later. He passed his test in a Metro. No, I'm not going to call it a Rover 100. It's a Metro and it'll always be a Metro.
This is a car that gives me lot's of memory's. Back in 1993 my grandad asked the local Opel dealer to give him a call when the first Corsa B would arrive. So when he got the call he grabbed 10 year old me, we jumped in his Corsa A and drove off to the dealer. When we arrived they just started cleaning the car to put it in the showroom. It was a steel gray Corsa B 1.2 Swing 5 doors. We had a short look and the first thing my grandad did was taking a stack of money out of his pocket and said to the dealer: I want this one, when can i have it 😁 A small week later he could pick it up, so he was one of the first in Belgium to own a Corsa B.
What a fantastic memory, thank you for sharing.
Ah lovely, I bought a brand new 5 door in 1994 in glorious 'Rainbow Blue' (PURPLE!). IIRC I don't think it had intermittent wipe which at the time, I put down to it being built in Spain 😂
I always liked this model. Here in New Zealand, they were badged as a Holden Barina. The were way way waaaay more luxurious than your Corsa because they had a glove box lid. Fancy
Around 2000 I had an internship at a Opel dealer and these were around a lot. Testdrove pretty much all variants but never saw a poverty spec quite like this. Guess that was limited to some markets. Always kept a soft spot for them.
In 2010 I bought my daughter a Corsa B 'Breezer' edition for her first car. It cost £1000 and we sold it 2 years later for £1000. Great little car without all the fancy rubbish that goes wrong in modern cars.
I'd passed mine four years previously in a rebadged Suzuki Cultus right before they'd started the Geo label here in the US. until last November, it was the smallest thing I'd ever driven.
These were sold in Australia as the Holden Barina. The base model was known as the Swing, then I think the next model up was the CD, maybe? There was a GSI version, and also a cabrio version as well, which, AFAIK, was modified here in Australia.
Yes, a couple of those Barina cabriolets have somehow made it to the UK.
@HubNut that's really cool! Holden was trying to get the buying public to believe that these were a competitor to the VW Golf Cabrio. Not many people were convinced though, especially considering the 1.4 litre that powered those cars was lethargic at best. I haven't seen one on the road for many years now, but I imagine there's one or two stashed away here and there.
Nostalgia understood, Ian. I took driving lessons and passed my test, first time, in a Renault 5 TL in 1981, and have never had the chance to drive one since then.
They couldn't sell the Nova under that name in Portugal, because it means 'Doesn't go.' in Portuguese.
I would like to see you rag that round some of your favourite Welsh roads, I am sure it would live up to "Power, less is more". Miss Hubnut clearly comes from fine heritage.
My mum had one of these for years. Hers had the 1.5D engine so it was very slow but very economical. It was eventually scrapped due to corrosion and the last time we saw it it was being used by the local fire station to practice cutting people out of cars!
I remember also taking my driving lessons in one of these back in the late 90s. BSM use to upgrade their cars every six months at the time. My instructor one day turned up with the upgraded Corsa, which had the air bag, power steering and a bit more bhp being a 1.4. We still didn't get ABS on it, suppose you couldn't have everything.
Now drive a 16 plate Corsa sting 1.2 and being rather base you still don't get a light in the boot!
Back in 2013, when I was living in Spain, I too made a long roadtrip in a borrowed Corsa B (but an Opel, naturally). Me and my then wife borrowed it from a friend of ours in Girona to go via the Cote Azur down to the outskirts of Rome, where the would-be boy-friend of our little Italian Greyhound girl lived. The journey was long and quite tiresome, but one of those I will never forget - the road was absolutely breathtaking all the way! The doggy boy-friend, though very eager, could not do his part of the deal and there were no puppies made... The Corsa on the other hand was the perfect car for the small Italian town we visited - any larger and it would have been impossible to navigate the streets or find a parkingspot. - I still dream of taking a trip on the same road again - but maybe not in a Corsa B the next time. 😅
Sold in Australia as the Holden Barina. A popular car. My old boss had one, we nick named it the "golf cart" as it always had a set of golf clubs in the back. I think his was a 1.5L. a fun car car to drive just not exceptionally quick.
Passed my test in a Corsa B in 1997 and it was also an R reg. Red, iirc. Lovely and calming driving instructor, spent much of my test blocked in by a refuse lorry that had got stuck down a narrow lane
I had one of these, but with a Courtney Sport tuned C20LET Calibra turbo engine and F28 6 speed gearbox. It was an absolute beast and could beat most things to 100mph, it actually handled the power very well for a car that was never meant to have that engine in it. Great 90's sleeper fun!
Nice! Snap for learning and passing my test in one (sep 95 to feb 96). Looks at be a comfortable steed!
Lovely little car Ian. I drove a Nova once many years ago.
I had 3 Vauxhalls one after the other. They were Mark 2 Cavaliers.
I'm not much of a modern Vauxhall fan, but I did love this era thereabouts with the Nova, Corsa B, Cavalier and Calibra.
I used to be the same but just picked up a cheap mk6 astra 2.0 cdti, very quick, handles extremely well and smooth ride I was very surprised.
By far the most interesting, knowledgeable and humble automotive reporter/reporter on here definitely. Thank you.
In South America, it's a Chevrolet
And they do a pickup!
We owe it to that old 97 Chevrolet.
Combo van looked like the front half of the Corsa.
Funny story about Chevy and the spark to be precise
If you lower a Mk1 Fabia vrs like me then the original drop links no longer fit and instead you are required to use Chevy spark drop links as they have the same mounting bracket’s but slightly shorter
In Australia a Holden Barina although we might not have got them as late as this one.
I had one of these! Exactly the same - colour, spec, everything; although here in Australia it was the Holden Barina. Great ride quality and very frugal fuel consumption (650-700 km on a tank). It even had the blanking plate on the boot light and the worn out gear lever “scrotum” (we also later had a Holden/Vauxhall Astra with the same problem (feature?). Those little vents on the interior door handle actually hid tiny tweeters, which I discovered when I upgraded the audio. I also installed a glovebox door I found at the scrapyard! A lovely little trip down memory lane, thank you!
Love the Corsa B. From the owner of the blue one who was at your social earlier in the year and whose son passed his test 2 weeks ago and is currently out cruising the mean streets of Berkshire in it.
Congrats to your son! Cruising in style! Love the Corsa B, it was a very popular car around the time I passed my driving test in the mid 2000s.
We also owned a R reg white Corsa Merit 1.2 8v in 5 door guise. I remember the engine being fairly torquey. It would quite happily pull along at 30 MPH in top gear. I passed my test in a 1.4 8v ls Corsa.
Noice. 👍 Very suitable steed for FOTU. We hired a Cavalier in UK in 1995. I really enjoyed driving it. Lovely 5 speed change. BTW. Ads have appeared mid way through your videos now. Been like that for a while. One group of 2 ads in this one. I guess you changed your settings but just letting you know in case RUclips has snuck them in without your knowledge.
Cheers Peter. We have indeed turned on that setting - suspecting the algorithm favours videos with the setting turned on. Bit of a test.
Gear lever scrotum......I shall never look at my gear lever in the same way, thanks Mr H!
How did they manage to get only 44 BHP from 1200cc's?
A very Hub nut car! Lovely condition.
They must be quite well made as there are still quite a few of these on the roads here in Croatia.
Had the non-turbo diesels as pool cars at work. Had a few heart stopping moments when I had forgotten that fast pulling away isn't a thing when you have no turbo! Went to the moon and back on a tank of diesel though.
I must admit at first I thought you were having us all on and it was the Nissan Note in the background!
I thought it was going to be the supermarket trolley 😂
I passed my test in an early K reg in purple 1.5 non turbo diesel....utterly gutless! Brilliant nostalgia video, thanks for sharing!
I am very envious, I would give a lot to drive in the car I passed my test in, a K10 Micra, in 1985. What a brilliant car to have for the FOTU!
Back in 1993 I passed my test in a 2 door Nova saloon, with the offset steering wheel as standard. Good times!
My grandmother went from a Volvo 940 estate to one of these, the automatic versions. Was always fun seeing her thrash the little Vauxhall at every traffic light trying to imitate the more powerful Volvo and never quite achieving it. She had it for 7 years and apart from an oil change I don’t believe she ever needed to do anything else on it.
One of a long series of cars badged as a Holden Barina in Australia. The Suzuki Swift based first ones established a good reputation fir the car. The rep drifted down just a bit with the Corsa based ones but took a massive dive from the Daewoo based cars. The curse of sourcing cars from Daewoo being a very large part of the reason Holden collapsed. Not retaining customers in the growing market segments that the Daewoo sourced cars were to represent Holden in.
Hubnut's quickly becoming one of my favourite YT's.
95, your lucky, 1997 just missed C1 plus 16 seats etc.
Indeed. Have made good use of that! And 7.5 ton trucks.
@@HubNut Yeah, and you can tow big stuff too. It's very annoying!!! Anyway, I'm glad you've got it, I was robbed!!!
Amazing to see a Corsa that made it through the "max power" period completely unmolested! My mate had a black Corsa of the same period but I dont think I ever heard the engine over the cherry bomb exhaust and twin 12" subwoofers in the boot!! Great times!
Its semi independent rear suspension which allowed a slightly lower boot floor pan.Thats the reason for the ability to have the full size steel or alloy spare wheel.
It was badged as a Holden in Australia, with subtle design changes to meet Australian Design Rules and a hotter climate.
Had one as a company car in 97. No rear wiper and even the clock on the dash was missing as the boss wouldn’t pay for the clock… lots of fun
I'm so happy to see a piece of my childhood on the channel.
In 1995 I was driving an n-reg 1.5 diesel van for work. Was quite a good wee van and quite nippy
My now wife had a Nova when we first me, I christened it 'nasty' as my feet would catch on the lower steering column on the floor as I drove. But later on we had a mk1 Tigra 1.4 16 valve, what an absolute hoot to drive, stuck to the road like glue, bright red and just brilliant. One of many Vauxhall cars for us. Great run down of pure original cars. Great camera work too from Mrs Hubnut 👍👍👍👍
This takes me back aswell Ian. I actually learned and passed my test in 1998 in a brand new "R" reg corsa exactly like this in white but had the 1.4 engine as my instructor had just got it from the dealer 2 days prior. Also i started and had my first lesson on my 17th birthday 😊😊
Still miss my Corsa Trip in a funky bronze, with eye melting 90's interior design.
I applied to enter the FoTU but was told that my 1991 Corolla didn't fit the bill
That's disappointing given they had several 90s Japanese cars.
@@HubNut Even more disappointing the Fact that Almost every other Japanese car is quite frequently seen on UK roads. Went to Simply Japanese at Beaulieu last week. Over 1,500 cars attended, NOT ONE Corolla Gti
Plenty of Corolla love over in Ireland, but they are horribly overlooked here.
I was given a scrap L reg one of them, I spent £250 on it and sold it for £475. Winner. 😊
I rented a 2000/01 Corsa B 1.2 16v 5 door when my Fiat Tempra was being tempramental! It performed excellently.
GM tried to sell the Nova in Spanish speaking countries. According to my high-school Spanish no va means doesn't go. Great mane for a car!
They called it Corsa instead. 😉
The clips to take the tension off the seatbelt are fantastic, stops it tightening on your bladder !
Lovely little gem.. Only problem is that these old cars has become so expensive..
I had a ‘94 diesel van (if you can call it that!) about a decade ago. Was a total lifeline at the time enabling me to start a business. £350. Ran amazingly well. 😊
The 5 door ones also had different rear lights and possibly a smaller rear wiper though I would have to certainly bow to the wiper oracle that is yourself for expertise in this subject.
Ooh I had a 93 Corsa B SRi ! Lowered, 3 spoke alloys and a Janspeed backbox - as you did in the 90's 😂
Oh my, I actually guessed it! And this is pretty much the same spec and colour as my dad's P-reg 5-door one, even down to the radio-only tunes!!! And yes, those are the wrong hubcaps, if I recall they were just little black plastic jobs that fit in the wheel centre...
That one ended up mostly being the stepmother's car, as my dad was usually sporting his bangernomics cars that were less than reliable sometimes, and as a young passenger in the rear, I found the seats to be rather hard, oh and the horn was as weak as the current PM, even sat right behind me once, the stepmother tooting away to get my attention at the bus stop on my way to school, it sounded like it was two streets away!!
P515 YJR, dropped off the DVLA's system now (though shows up in their MOT lookup, oddly), but it was "an car", peppered with rust spots owing to being pelted by the gritters in winter, last saw it being traded in for a Hyundai Lantra (no Elantra!) estate that had a starter motor that was more a lottery some days... :P
Me too 🙂
Usually when they show up on the MOT history and nothing else they've been scrapped. Last keeper change in 2002. No MOT history so it's had no MOTs since 2006. I'd assume scrapped. Doubt it's on a private plate because the website where I checked usually shows the new plate but nothing at all. Up until a few years ago cars were often scrapped yet weren't recorded as such.
@@SuperFIFTHGEAR Oh I'm positive it's scrap, it used to be on the enquiry tool as "Untaxed" and "MOT Due" for a long time, and now it's just not there, so they probably had a data purge at DVLA HQ at somepoint, the car probably ended on a back-lot after it was traded in for the lantra cos it wasn't all that great condition-wise (needed a repaint from the rust spots everywhere from gritter damage) so probably just used, abused and binned as they were back then...
That looks good, used to be so common but all gone now..well worth looking after. top stuff. Have fun at the Festival.
My buddy used to have a red one. It was cracking. Thanks both .
My first car was a T plate corsa, 5dr 1.2i 16v with allegedly 69bhp I think, it was a club trim which meant sunroof and rev counter as far as i could tell, slightly different to this one in that by 99 they had steering airbag and a stereo with the display on top of the dash with the clock/temp etc. You will never smile fondly after getting out of one of these but as a machine they work well enough with little drama.
Yours had an airbag and dashtop display because it was a Club. The Merit was so basic it didn't even have the display binnacle. You'd have thought it would have cost them more money to produce a base model without it. It's typical Germans punishing you for going for the base spec.
Absolutely perfect and poverty White as well.
We used to have a 1992 Peugeot 106 1.1 with a 4 speed and it was grand on a long run. Luckily for passengers my Wife and I are 5 feet and 5 feet 4 inches respectively. Boot? Yes it had one.
Directly behind all those blanking plugs, you will often find the necessary wiring powered and enabled for the missing scoped out option components!
The retroness and poverty spec is so HubNut
Excellent, excellent, excellent. Nothing else to say really.
Super car ! Time you had some Vauxhall goodness on the show
This was the 1997 facelift mk1 Corsa (the mk2 emerging in 2000).
And your right the 1.0 3cyl 12v petrol was added at this time-not being part of the original mk1 range. And yes they messed around with the 1.4 petrol as well.
I think 2 diesels were available? A big old 1.7 and a smaller but more modern 1.5tdi…..but I maybe wrong!
Brings back many memories, my partner bought a brand new Corsa Flair back in 93, finished in boring flat white but with a fabulous blue/grey velour interior (looked like an explosion in a paint factory)
I think there are some nice decorative steel wheels under those hubcaps.
Hi hubnut, love the videos, i also have fond memories of this car, back in 2009 when i was 18 my best mate had one of these also in white, i had a bmw e36, anyway we went on holiday with our girlfriends to my grandparents static caravan on the norfolk coast. One day we went to the supermarket about 5 miles down the road 5 of us crammed in this corsa, i was in the front and me and my mate were chatting and he didnt realise that the cars in front had slowed rather quickly we were only doing about 25mph at the time but i said to him, watch out these cars have stopped mate, anyway he could never quite stop in time and no abs didnt help im sure and we slammed straight into the back of a brand new 7 series which the man had only had for 3 days 😂, while my mate was out the car i was trying not to burst out laughing still sitting in the corsa because of all the cars he had to hit that one ,luckily the bmw driver just wiped a white scuff off his back bumper, but the corsa had a bent bonnet and my mate drove it everwhere for 3 more years like it 😂, thanks hubnut for reminding me of the best days of my life
I did a very similar thing also being 18 in 2009! Went into the back of a brand new Mercedes CLS in Tesco car park at about 10mph. I was in my 1993 Fiat Uno with two mates, and it didn’t leave a mark on my car, but shame for the Merc owner he had a dented and scuffed rear bumper. The way he shouted and swore at me he was lucky not to leave with a dented and scuffed face haha!! Good times.
There were a lot of white Corsas here at the coast. They started off red, then became streaky bacon pink beforehand though.
Absaloutly brilliant video Ian miss hubnut ❤👍I used to have the 1l it was very nippy lovely little car brilliant
One of the alternative living channels I watch drove a similar aged Corsa from Portugal to Tyneside and back last Christmas. It never missed a beat.
😊
Starting at Sainsbury's Hangleton as i could see my car in the carpark .
you never cease to amaze me. I'd never think about referring to it as "gear lever scrotum" :'D
The Corsa B always looked like a happy little car. That's something we have lost the last couple of years. Now it is all angry squinting and heavily creased cars.
The completely different bodyshell between the 3- and 4-door model was also done some years later on the 2002-2008 Fiesta mk6
I had a 1.5 TD 5 door GLS. Needed a new gearbox but done under warranty. Went through loads of alternators and starter motors. Lasted till 200k miles.
Missed the premier, but nice car - i will be at FOTU, see you there!
I was behind and next to you all day at FOTU. My dad's wife had one when we first met after my parents divorce and hers was a 1.0 3 cylinder and It just wouldn't die. That car went over 220k miles before it died of rats eating the wiring after it was sat for a while. It was a great little car!
Loved the name on Eileen! I meant to point the camera at her but got slightly distracted. By everything...
@@HubNut if you ever want to review it and have a go in her yourself then let me know I don't want anything in return 👍
I had a 1996 5 dr Corsa B, a luxury GLS 1.4 16v! Actually preferred the 5dr as it was more stable on the motorway and had more room in the boot for audio gear like subs and amps (I was young!). Still see a few running around as dailies, won't be long before they're pretty much all gone.
Oh boy! I passed my driving test in one of those. It was an Opel Corsa 1.5 D as it was in Portugal. One year before you passed yours! 😅 A few years later, I bought a 1998 1.0 litre, 3 cylinders model, which was very economical but an authentic sewing machine anyways that car did Portugal-Poland and the way back 3 times!
A lovely video Ian and many happy memories of these Corsa’s and the older novas as my dad had three novas including a 1983 launch car
I too learnt to drive in one and drove many as hire cars in Spain on holiday and bought in 2000
One of the very last X reg Corsa GLS 5 door in Rio verde it was a fabulous car it had the later 1.2 ecotec 16v and went really well in my opinion they handled well and had a great ride thanks to Vauxhall mini block springs!
And had a good specification for the time many happy memories of driving it and so comfortable on long journeys on holiday and commuting that one is a great survivor
Having drove the mk3 fiesta there wasn’t much in it really
I had forgotten the merit didn’t have the pod on top of the centre stack with radio clock and temp!
Have a great time at FOTU and hope you had a great holiday
At some point, the Opel Corsa was a staple in my family. I convinced my dad to buy one and then my sister bought a 1.2 Swing. In Portugal we had that 1.2 in GLS guise - that was my dad's, with 5 doors. My sister had a 3 door in a beautiful metallic blue.
Holden Barina in Australia.
They had a plug under bonnet to allow use of 91 ron/95 ron fuel.
You could get them with air con in australia.
We all love the Corsas we grew up with! I grew up with the Corsa C. Such a soft spot for the SXI with the white dials. Thought they were so cool at the time. Someone had one at work recently. He thought it was rubbish but I thought it was still a good car! Also love the Corsa D. Again in high-spec with the red contrast stitching on the seats and the big alloys. We had one as a hire car and it was my dream first car. Miss being young and enthusiastic about everything. 😂
We ran around 60 1.4 Combo vans back in day, gave us very good service and dead simple to maintain. We also ran many 1.7 diesels as well, they also gave us good service. The item that gave us the most problems was the hazard flasher switch.s kept falling apart.
What an unexceptional car! My dad had a 1999 Chevrolet Corsa Saloon, Wind spec ( middrange?). The 1.6 was a bulletproof engine! Great memories in that car! One of the best GM products made in Argentina.
Passed my driving test in a Vauxhall Corsa in 1997. All the instruction and driving was done in Bournemouth. Due to lack of test placements available at the time, my instructor phoned me on my birthday of 1997 and told me he would be picking me up ' tomorrow' at 11am as he had booked my test in Dorchester for 1pm. Couldn't have worked out better, no time for nerves and it was a pass.
I had in 1993 the 5 doors Corsa B with an 1.4 engine. I took the 5 doors because I liked the model more then the 3 doors. Besides that you had in the 5 doors a bit more head room in the back. Loved it.
Cheerful little boxes, these Corsas. Their unagressive styling and their interior details always give me the feeling of coming home, despite never owning one (we had other Opels in the family though). A friend of mine had an 1.2 16V automatic for years which was old-school _very_ slow. I drove it on occasion - the rare time it was driven more or less normally since said friend is rather erratic driver - and it inspired patience. While far removed from a Peugeot 205's road manners I don't think the Corsa B handled as poorly as it was reputed to be. Eventually that auto developed a fault where the auto selector handle would get stuck and could be made to move only by removing some trim and pushing a yellow lever underneath with a *screwdriver!*
I did own a (manual) Corsa C for several years which I found similarly pleasant, and that handled much better, honestly good fun to drive. Too bad there isn't anything that drives like that available anymore.
In argentina the Corsa was sold under the chevrolet badge, as many other opel/vauxhall models (Astra, Vectra, Meriva, etc). Except for chile, because they are different( i guess)
Also, regarding the column stalks, if you close your eyes when behind the wheel (obvs not while driving) you can pretend you’re in a Series 1 Elise.
I never owned one of these but the moment you popped the bonnet it took me back to my Mk2 Astra 1.3l and my sister's 1.2i Nova. Hopefully you have better luck with head gaskets than I did
Never heard of this event! I will have to go next year!
It’s never happened before, but it’s love at first sight for me and that simple, elegant and meaty steering wheel.
From the thumb nail I guessed it was a Vauxhall from the Key, Defo meets the FOTU criteria.
I had a bit of a shock at the reveal, because at first glance (to someone who hasn't lived in the UK for yonks) the grille said Alfa Romeo. But the engine power.... I learned to drive on a Morris Minor 1000 Traveller, and because it was the instructor's personal car, it had twin carburettors. So that was probably about 44 bhp, in 1962. My current Toyota Spade (2012 poverty spec) is positioned at the same place in the market, but gives 108 bhp from 1.5 litres. I really don't think GM were trying.
I'll keep a look out for this! Hopefully I can catch you wandering around too
Keep a look out for a 1999 red Polo sat alongside a 2000 green Polo!
I passed my test in 1990, in a brand new Vectra A. Now I still have a Vectra B in my collection.
If I'm not mistaken, the 1.0 was actually more powerful than the 1.2.
I have never driven a Corsa B, but I learned to drive in a couple of Corsa C, a 1.2 which felt gutless, and a 1.3 diesel. I much preferred the diesel.
The Corsa B was a lovely design, particularly at the back with the rounded rear lights. I once drove one in Sweden for two weeks and took it on all the single track roads around Kullaberg and Perstorp. It handled really well, but I agree, the gearbox was a bit baggy. Must be because all the linkages are made from plastic.