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Living with a Corsa E

650K views 4.6K replies 154 participants last post by  VW2017  
#1 ·
Just thought I'd do a thread on what having a Corsa E is like. I often find test drives and reviews don't really find some of the issues that owners have all the time.

Driving: pretty good. Far more lively than the Leaf. Ride quality is a bit more bobbly and unsettled but it's a lot firmer and less of a blancmange. It's more like the Zoe R90 I had but a bit taughter. It's more eager to get up and go than the Leaf and a lot more eager than the Zoe R110 which seemed subdued compared to the R90. It doesn't hop on bumps like the Zoe either. It seems to be better controlled in the rear.

Interior does have a lot of scratchy cheap plastic. I can't hear any of it squeaking or rattling though yet so that's a bonus. The suspension is more noisy than the Leaf but I have to check all the stuff in the under boot floor section is secure as if the towing eye is in there that might explain the odd noises from the rear. Seat and steering wheel are properly adjustable and there is a foot rest.

First job has been to get the Vauxhall connect app working. The website and app look very like the Nissan one... the connect process is the same. Mine is still in the process of sorting itself out. It can see the car and where it is but there isn't the battery details yet (ie the bit I want). Hopefully that will happen over the weekend.

Most annoying thing found so far is the bluetooth audio seems reluctant to connect and start with that as a source each time. I keep getting the radio :mad: I'm hoping once I've been in it a few times it will stop being thick and just reconnect and carry on where it left off. Annoyingly getting back into the Leaf from having set up the corsa at the showroom the Leaf did exactly that.

The vauxhall website suggests you get 3 years free servicing but there seems to be some doubt with the dealer whether that applies with the ex demo cars. That was one of the reasons I was attracted to the Corsa so it will be annoying if there is that exclusion and the website hasn't made it clear. It does say Corsa E up to 10 months old so I'd expect any sold before the end date should qualify.

There are no mats as they're on back order. I have ordered some normal 2020 corsa ones from amazon to use for now. Dealer has been waiting since the beginning of time for the mats.

I still haven't found out whether you can use the heater/stereo etc while rapid charging either. This is a slight concern as it was on my list of things that would exclude having a model altogether.
 
#31 ·
Yes, thanks I've tried all that.
Key, Bluetooth, Private Mode off.
After 10 days or so the Journeys Tab appeared with some (but not all) of the journeys I'd made but it hasn't updated since.
Climate and Charge are there just blank and "Vehicle cannot complete this Request" when I click refresh.
I tried to get some tech support from @Vauxhall on twitter but they say I have to take the car back to the dealer.
My car is leased so wasn't from the local dealer.
 
#32 ·
Oh. Doesn't sound great. The connectivity system they use seems rather similar to the Nissan one. Sounds like it's lost connection with the car.

There doesn't seem to be a way if checking whether it's got a strong mobile signal. In other connected cars I've had there's always been in info page you can see whether it's connected and the signal is good.

I think a trip to a dealer is probably is probably needed unfortunately.
 
#33 ·
You could try to connect The car to your home wifi and see if that activates the app.
Or turn on your cars wifi and connect your phone to it and see if you are getting anything.

the service book in the car says you are entitled to take the car to any opel / vauhall dealer in europe for warranty business
 
#34 ·
Just had my new Corsa-e delivered. Potato quality photo with door open, oops.

134073


Finding the owners manual particularly awful so far. So I don’t go mad with range anxiety, bottom left is the trip/odo, and bottom right is the predicted range remaining, right?

Had a moment of mild panic thinking that the dealer had delivered me a car with 1 mile of range remaining...they really should add a percentage gauge to the display 😂
 
#35 ·
Yes. The miles on the right is how many you have left and it's got the segment display as well. You can't get a percentage until you get the app working. It's a bit silly as every previous EV owner immediately wants a battery percentage display.

I would have been lucky to have 766 miles to a fill :ROFLMAO:
 
#36 ·
I really like the simple display, but the lack of a percentage is frustrating.
The range "guestimate" is pointless and sometimes distrubing. I've had it show 217 miles at 100% then a couple of days later (after a 120 mile trip with bikes in the roof) showed 155 miles also at 100%.
I've only just discovered how to change the display (using the left hand stalk) to access the trip computer but that does really help either.
 
#38 ·
Hopefully they will add features with updates. Maybe we should find an email address and send requests.

does anyone know how the blind spot assist works? I have it on in settings but have never seen the lights come on on the mirrors. Does it only activate if im indicating or should any car passing in the outside lane activate it? Thanks
 
#39 ·
Yes. Same here. I turned it off and on again and then it did seem to start to work. It's nothing like the Leaf one which is always flashing there's somebody around. I was about to complain it didn't work then saw it flash on a roundabout when someone was in my blind spot..

I haven't been indicating when it's been active yet so I don't know whether it beeps like the Leaf did.
 
#43 ·
I'm not sure about the auto wipers either. They should come on without intervention like all other Auto wiper cars I've had before. It's annoying if they expect you to turn them on when it starts to rain as otherwise they're not really auto...

They've got multiple sensitivity settings I think so maybe they want turning to a more sensitive level? I usually find I need most cars on 4 out of 5 or even 5 out of 5 otherwise they don't make much effort to come on.
 
#45 ·
I plan on giving the car a more thorough drive later today but so far the main remarks from my passenger are the fact the rear has no cup holder :LOL: (I hadn't even thought to check this), and also that the rear USB ports I'd promised are nowhere to be seen.

I find it bizarre the Corsa manual shows rear USB ports and wireless charging, yet neither are included in the Corsa-e's top model. Hey-ho.
yes. Im sure the website says rear cup holders. I did notice their accessories shop has rear cup holders available to buy. Looks like they go in the middle over the bulge. I also thought wireless charging and extra usb ports would be there too. At least i very rarely have people in the back.
Looks like they took anything out that might drain additional battery. Lol
 
#44 ·
I plan on giving the car a more thorough drive later today but so far the main remarks from my passenger are the fact the rear has no cup holder :LOL: (I hadn't even thought to check this), and also that the rear USB ports I'd promised are nowhere to be seen.

I find it bizarre the Corsa manual shows rear USB ports and wireless charging, yet neither are included in the Corsa-e's top model. Hey-ho.
 
#46 ·
Did a ten mile-ish drive this evening to get used to the car. Found it ridiculously easy to drive.
Tried to activate the app, the car shows, says connected and after my journey I got a notification that a new trip was added I can review (though I am yet to find where 😂), battery and preconditioning just says I need to activate, and if I press that activate button it loads a website that says I am already registered for that service and to return to the app...so let’s see if that magically appears and starts working soon.

Rainy (well, light to medium spitting) and windy evening, automatic wipers worked fine for me and I didn’t have to tinker with the sensitivity of it, just had to flick the stalk to put the wipers on to automatic mode.

Can not for the life of me work out the automatic unlocking on the car, so am using the fob. Seemed to unlock fine when I tried to get in the boot, but the drivers side door nothing? 🤷‍♂️

Seemed to be getting a decent mpkwh, but doubt ten miles of night driving around south London at 30mph is enough to know.
First big-ish drive is a 160mi round trip this weekend, will be interesting to see how quickly battery level drops (if I can even see an exact percentage by then 🤪) at motorway speeds.
 
#48 ·
are you using iphone?
I had same thing with the app. After i had done the activation i didnt have option to view trips or precondition car.
When i went back to the app store and it said update available and after that it was fine.
 
#47 ·
Keyless is awkward. Key has to be very close to car or it doesn't work. I've stood there like a twazzock several times trying to get it to lock or unlock. Seems to prefer a press right near the end of the left most end of the dual lines in the handle where they should have just put an actual button.
 
#49 ·
Radio coming on all the time is really peeing me off now.

Auto wipers are crap and don't come on unless you turn them off and on to auto again which is ridiculous. Auto lights don't need to have that done.

Blind spot monitoring is still crap. I don't think it has the rear cross traffic thing of the Leaf either so you can just pull right in front of anyone without it warning when you're a bit close. That used to flash in the blind spot warning area as well in the Leaf.

Tyre pressure monitor started whining all the tyres were underinflated.

There's a really annoying rattle in the driver's door area. Think it's the door bin thing that's a bit loose.

There's no tyre pressure sticker thing anywhere on the B Pillar in either driver's or passenger side so you can't know the tyre pressures. Thought those were mandatory! Had to look in the book to find tyre pressures as 36 all round and 45 at the back if you load it (!)

My usual 54 mile round trip used 32% of the battery compared to the Leaf's usual 42% of its on the same journey. Does mean I can actually do it twice from a full battery rather than only once with any degree of safety. That was mostly in Normal rather than Sport. It's mostly ok in Normal and still feels perkier than the leaf unless you really need some oomph when Sport is much better. That is the one better thing of today as the list of annoyances has grown!

The radio instead of bluetooth is really, really, really annoying. It's my absolute pet hate. I'd rather it was just silent instead of blaring the stupid radio.
 
#50 ·
Radio coming on all the time is really peeing me off now.

The radio instead of bluetooth is really, really, really annoying. It's my absolute pet hate. I'd rather it was just silent instead of blaring the stupid radio.


I wonder whats going on there. mine just seems to come on with whatever I had last. if I was using CarPlay and then don't plug it in the next time it just comes up with the icon for CarPlay and I have to press sources and then select radio. thinking about it even when I have had the radio on it still doesn't come on next time automatically.

Don't forget it is the first edition of a brand new system. im sure they will release fixes. (they better had anyway)
 
#51 ·
Mine continually defaults to radio no matter what. If it had nothing it would be far better but it doesn't. No idea why mine is stuck on it. It's weird.

I have at least worked out to unlock the boot without needing the key fob button. There's a button right up under the badge...I had to read the manual :ROFLMAO:
 
#52 ·
I've worked out how it's got stuck on radio. I had to read the infotainment manual! Basically if you use the radio with the car off it sticks it on radio whenever you start the car up.

I'm hoping started up the radio and changing source will unstick it from such stupidity but I'm not hopeful. AV unit may have to be started up without the car on and turned off again before turning off the car to make it default to nothing. Or choosing car play or having to use a usb stick. Why it can't just default back to bluetooth and mute until it reconnects is beyond me.

I did plug in car play and try and make it default to car play (phone won't be plugged in') so I'm hoping it will either stick with car play and not bother me or it will suddenly use bluetooth and stop being stupid.

If you mute before switching the car off then it does start muted again but you are still on radio and then have to choose bluetooth rather than it just working like you'd expect.
 
#57 ·
I plugged the stick in. It moaned about lack of music then it popped up an update screen. I chose the EU map as that was only one. It had a go at it for a few seconds then it gave up.

I might have to try a different unzip tool as win zip for Windows has an option that needs to be off and the archive tool on a Mac which I'm using has no options at all.

Found the full instructions to save clicking through:

 
#58 ·
Just tried my update. same as you. started update then a few seconds later says map update failed.
I use my mac to unzip. let me know if you have any look.
Do we need the license file? its says on my link to download the map update and license file but there is no license file download.
there is for the firmware update that i dd though.
 
#59 ·
The main update page doesn't mention a licence file. Wonder if they've cocked it up and either missed it off or the instructions aren't really complete and you have to get a licence file from somewhere else?

This should be simple!
 
#60 ·
This car is definitely weird.

Started it up today after it had been on charge and it went to Ready much quicker than it normally does... I had put a USB stick into the USB slot to try and force it off radio and it still went to Radio but skipped onto the USB within a second or so. Bluetooth was also available far quicker than before.

It will be interesting to see whether it starts with bluetooth immediately next time or goes for the USB stick first.
 
#62 ·
My app has also randomly started working for charge percentage though frustratingly (and this is not Vauxhall’s fault) I cant see charge level and progress in my car park as it’s a phone signal no spot. There is WiFi down there, but I assume I can’t connect the car to WiFi?
How do I access the trip log?
 
#63 ·
trip log should show soon. Mine didnt show until i updated the app.

i think you can connect car to wifi. I saw a wifi setting while playing in my drive and it picked up my home wifi. Didnt bother connecting it though.
 
#64 ·
Mine doesn't see any wifi even though my phone sees a few. Will have to try it again.

Downloaded the map update again while I'm not using the Mac. Going to try a 64GB stick in case it does something like copying the entire old map onto the stick then copying the new one into the car. Would need bigger than 32GB recommended as the new map is 18 GB so you'd need double plus the FAT32 overhead which usually wastes a few more GB.