{"id":220076,"date":"2019-10-08T08:52:42","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T06:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/car\/opel-corsa-gsi-struggles-live-name\/"},"modified":"2020-10-01T14:56:05","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T12:56:05","slug":"opel-corsa-gsi-struggles-live-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/motoring\/2019\/10\/08\/opel-corsa-gsi-struggles-live-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Opel Corsa GSi struggles to live up to name"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Keen automotive enthusiasts from the 70s, 80s and early 90s will remember the Manta B GSi and of course the Kadett GSi which was famously upgraded as part of a homologation programme that would allow the car to compete in the Stannic Group N races, creating the Superboss. I got to grips with the new Opel Corsa GSi, which is currently the only performance-oriented model within Opel&#8217;s local line-up and I suppose might be considered a spiritual successor to the famous Kadett E.<\/p>\n<p><strong>GSi styling<\/strong><\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<p>Opel has hit the proverbial nail on the head, in the styling department, when it comes to the GSi. There&#8217;s a more aggressive body kit with a wider front air intake, a honeycomb grille up front, large 18-inch alloy wheels, a rear spoiler and carbon-look rear-view mirrors. Despite its age, the GSi treatment has managed to make the Corsa an aesthetically more relevant car within the small performance hatchback game.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-238069\" src=\"https:\/\/sandtonchronicle.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2019\/10\/LRM_EXPORT_157829783282123_20190628_183038964.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<p>The interior receives a similarly sporty look, with wonderful Recaro bucket seats, a heated sports steering wheel and an impressive list of standard features such as cruise control, touch-screen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a tyre pressure monitor, traffic sign recognition, automatic wipers and lights to name a few.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Driving GSi<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So far so good with the GSi then, however, performance hatchbacks are all about the driving experience. This is where the GSi, in this writer&#8217;s opinion, is well and truly bested by the latest Suzuki Swift Sport.<\/p>\n<p>Powering the Opel is a 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine, the same unit that has been used so widely throughout the brand&#8217;s product portfolio. Despite being a solid performer and returning reasonable consumption, the engine lacks character and delivers the 110 kW and 220 N.m on offer through a relatively narrow power band, resulting in it running out of puff towards its redline and also exhibiting turbo lag lower down in the rev range.<\/p>\n<p>The typical characteristics of the force-induced engine aren&#8217;t helped by the six-speed manual gearbox that refuses to be rushed. Don&#8217;t expect the typical hot hatch snap changes to be winning you any robot-to-robot encounters. In terms of the suspension and braking system, these have been lifted from the now-defunct OPC model which never even arrived on local shores.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-238070\" src=\"https:\/\/sandtonchronicle.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2019\/10\/LRM_EXPORT_156703813163024_20190628_181118690.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Despite offering good levels of grip and respectable braking performance, the trade-off in terms of ride and handling versus performance and feedback creates a disjointed overall product. As a driver, you&#8217;re left with a car that handles as a hot hatchback should, but one that lacks the engine and gearbox to make it anything spectacular. Add to the fact that at 1 214kg it is nearly 250kg heavier than the Suzuki Swift Sport, you have a product that is thoroughly beaten from a driving experience point of view.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Verdict<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Corsa GSi was a car that left me slightly cold. The good chassis and solid brakes were let down by the lacklustre engine, a hesitant gearbox, the slightly hefty kerb weight and a rather eye-watering price tag.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-238071\" src=\"https:\/\/sandtonchronicle.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2019\/10\/LRM_EXPORT_157343069497822_20190628_182157946.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Service plan and warranty<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Corsa GSi is sold with a three-year\/ 60 000km service plan as well as a three-year\/120 000km warranty.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Price<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>R365\u00a0900<\/p>\n<p><strong>We like<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Exterior styling<\/li>\n<li>Handling and braking<\/li>\n<li>Well-built and appointed interior<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>We dislike<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Price<\/li>\n<li>Engine and gearbox<\/li>\n<li>Ageing Corsa range<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"stream-item stream-item-below-post-content\">\n<div class='tenancy_slot tenancy_slot_1 jannah_ad' style='display: none;' data-query-id='2fd02a5a6f3d2208b0f3449589502338'><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although Opel, within a local context at least, has been the purveyor of somewhat vanilla product offerings over the past decade or so, the brand has a history of performance machines, many of which were badged GSi, which stands for Grand Sport Injection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8257,"featured_media":220077,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"Sean Nurse","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31423],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring"],"amp_enabled":true,"category_labels":{"Category":"Motoring","SubCategory":"Bikes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}