It quietly replaced the three-door Kadett C City in Opel's lineup, launching GM's supermini fight against the Fiesta and Polo.
Lead trim: 1.0 (45 PS) · up to 100 hp
Opel Corsa A1982–1993
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Opel Corsa A yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactIt quietly replaced the three-door Kadett C City in Opel's lineup, launching GM's supermini fight against the Fiesta and Polo.
The front-wheel drive Opel Corsa was first launched in September 1982, GM Europe's entry into the burgeoning supermini market, built in Zaragoza, Spain, in a transverse-engined, front wheel drive layout in the template of the Fiat 127, VW Polo and Ford Fiesta. The first Corsas were three-door hatchback and two-door saloon models, with four-door and five-door versions added in 1984, and it acted as a de facto replacement for the 3-door "City" version of the Opel Kadett C / Vauxhall Chevette. Power first came from 1.0 L 45 PS, 1.2 L 55 PS and 1.3 L 70 PS petrol engines, all carburetted at first; the engines used the GM Family I design, except for the 1.0 L and early 1.2 L engines, which were based on the venerable Opel OHV engine. At the Frankfurt Motor Show in May 1987 an Isuzu-built 1.5 L turbo diesel and the sporty GSi were added, with a light facelift in September 1987 and a freshening in September 1990; the 1.0-litre models were dropped for the 1992 model year. It was sold in the United Kingdom as the Vauxhall Nova.
Collectors Spotted in the Opel Corsa Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Opel Corsa yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
7 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 (45 PS) | 1982–1991 | 1.0 L Inline-4 | 44 hp | 50 lb-ft | — | FWD | — | — |
| 1.2 (55 PS) | 1982–1993 | 1.2 L Inline-4 | 54 hp | 66 lb-ft | — | FWD | — | — |
| 1.3 (70 PS) | 1982–1988 | 1.3 L Inline-4 | 69 hp | 74 lb-ft | — | FWD | — | — |
| 1.4 (70 PS) | 1988–1993 | 1.4 L Inline-4 | 69 hp | 78 lb-ft | — | FWD | — | — |
| 1.4 multi-point injection (82 PS) | 1987–1993 | 1.4 L Inline-4 | 81 hp | 84 lb-ft | — | FWD | — | — |
| 1.5 turbo diesel Isuzu (67 PS) | 1988–1993 | 1.5 L Inline-4 | 66 hp | 97 lb-ft | — | FWD | — | — |
| 1.6 GSi multi-point injection (101 PS) | 1987–1993 | 1.6 L Inline-4 | 100 hp | 100 lb-ft | — | FWD | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
Its original GM platform died when PSA bought Opel, surviving only as a Buick sedan sold in China.
The last Corsa OPC hid a proper motorsport part behind its badge: an optional Drexler mechanical limited-slip diff on a shopping-trolley hot hatch.
Despite all-new sheet metal, the roof, mirrors and turn-signal repeaters were carried straight over from the Corsa D underneath.
The hardcore Corsa OPC Nürburgring Edition got a mechanical limited-slip diff — in the supermini class, Wikipedia notes only the Mini Cooper JCW had one too.
Designer Dietmar Finger hid a shark drawing on the glovebox hinge in 2004, and Opel left it there on every production car.
Sold in Japan through Yanase as the Opel Vita, a market Opel otherwise barely touched.
South Africa kept building this Corsa B in Lite trim years after Europe moved on, never once offering ABS or airbags.
Holden badged it the Barina, retiring the rebadged Suzuki Swift that had carried that name before it.
It quietly replaced the three-door Kadett C City in Opel's lineup, launching GM's supermini fight against the Fiesta and Polo.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
Japan was a minor market for the Swift: when it passed 2 million sales in 2011, about 39% were in India and 27% in Europe, against roughly 15% at home.
To adapt the Horizon for America, Chrysler bought nearly 100 Volkswagen Rabbits purely to reverse engineer them.
The Mk3 Focus RS's AWD system could send 100 percent of engine power to the rear wheels alone — built not in Ford's home country, but at the Saarlouis plant in Germany.
In June 2003, a Mégane II became the subject of the first ever live televised crash test with a real human driver at the wheel instead of a dummy — filmed by Top Gear.
This Wagon R redesigned its rear doors specifically to kill off the D-pillar — bigger doors with built-in quarter glass solved what earlier generations needed a whole extra pillar for.
The BX was the UK's best-selling diesel car for four years from 1987, and 2,315,739 were built in all.
Six months before Suzuki retired the Fronte name for good, the CN11S's 796cc version was already being built in China under a completely different name: the Anchi 6330.
Built to use up Chrysler-Simca's parts bin, it took its engine and gearbox straight from the front-wheel-drive Simca 1100 but mounted them amidships instead.