Vauxhall Corsa GSE review – a quick hot hatch, but the Alpine A290 needn’t worry

There’s a line-up of Vauxhall hot hatchbacks populating the paddock of Croft Circuit at the launch of the Vauxhall Corsa GSE. Representing the Corsa’s direct ancestors are a crisp white Nova GTE and the most recent turbocharged Corsa VXR, while there are also Mk1 and Mk2 Astra GTEs from the class above, and a dark blue Mk3 Astra GSi 16v.

Every one of them looks fantastic, the Nova’s boxy arches and the Astra GSi’s swirly five-spokes particularly catching the eye, but contemporary road tests and personal experience suggest that most Vauxhall hot hatches have fallen a little short of the mark for driver appeal. I wonder if the fact that the new Corsa GSE parked nearby is quite a handsome device might be raising our hopes too high once again. Maybe Vauxhall should’ve given it mismatched wheels and a goofy buck-tooth grille to temper our expectations.

> Alpine A290 review – does A110 DNA make this a fun electric hatch?

What Vauxhall has actually done is pour some pretty significant engineering into the now seven-year-old Corsa ‘F’ to turn it from a shopping car into a legitimate hot hatchback. Yes, it’s taken that long to make a hot Corsa, but it’s taken Peugeot just as long to launch its E‑208 GTi, which is the Corsa GSE’s cousin on their shared Stellantis CMP underpinnings.

Powertrain and technical highlights

• Fully electric hot hatch with 277bhp
• Sub-six-second 0-62mph time
• Upgraded chassis with stiffer suspension & uprated brakes

And yes, just like the Peugeot, the Vauxhall is fully electric. It seems a bit like wasted years not to have dropped in the 1.6-litre turbocharged engine that you can still get in some Stellantis products and created a hot Corsa half a decade ago, but then even in the early 2020s the market was clearly heading only one way. If Vauxhall, or indeed Peugeot, had launched a petrol hot hatch, it might only have had one or two years of viable sales.

The 1.6 would have needed to be in full Mahle-pistons, RCZ‑R spec to match the output of this electric motor, anyway. Like other hot EVs on the CMP platform, including the Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce, Abarth 600e and Vauxhall’s own Mokka GSE, the Corsa GSE puts 277bhp and 254lb ft to its front wheels through a Torsen limited-slip differential.

There’s quite a bit of weight for that power to drag around (stack a Nova GTE and, say, a Citroën AX GT on top of each other and you’ll about match the GSE’s 1554kg kerb weight) but 0-62mph comes up in the mid-fives, so it’s still quicker than a Golf GTI. Where it won’t match the Golf – even a Mk1 GTI – is top speed, but that doesn’t tend to count so much on the kind of roads we like anyway.

From the ground up, there’s a set of 7.5 x 18-inch alloy wheels wrapped in 215/40 R18 Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tyres, and behind these are 355mm discs with four-pot Alcon calipers at the front, and smaller 268mm discs at the rear. The suspension has been substantially revised compared to the standard Corsa’s: the rear axle is all-new and has stiffer bushes, there are hydraulic bump-stops, and the GSE is 24mm lower at the front and 11mm lower at the rear.

Spring rates are up 67 and 29 per cent front and rear respectively, the tracks are 54mm and 20mm wider, and there’s a girder-like 30.8mm rear anti-roll bar, bumping up rear roll stiffness by 153 per cent. Complementing all this is a new 14.5:1 steering ratio (compared with the standard car’s 16.2:1) thanks to new knuckles, while the turning circle is unchanged, giving the effect of a quicker rack.

There are Eco, Normal and Sport driving modes, doing more or less what you’d expect, but only Normal and Sport give you the full 277bhp, and in Sport mode alone the regen is turned off for the most predictable brake feel, while the ESP allows for more slip. You can, however, reintroduce some regen by switching the transmission to its B mode. Sport also pumps up the piped-in ‘GSE Sport Sound’.

Performance, ride and handling

• Uncomfortable, busy ride 
• Responsive, quick from point-to-point
• Performant on track, lacking on road 

Journos often share a car on launches like this, and I take the first stint as a passenger alongside evo contributor Stephen Dobie. He’s a handy driver, but after a few miles I’m feeling quite ill. The culprit is the car: the brisk acceleration and regen drag in B mode are quite uncomfortable as a passenger, but worse is the ride. It’s unsettled on anything but the smoothest of surfaces, and while it’s not crashy, it’s relentlessly busy and adds an unpredictable up-and-down motion to the nodding-dog effect of acceleration and regen. From the driver’s seat, Dobie remarks that it makes his Hyundai i20 N feel like a limousine.

I’m relieved when we swap, giving my brain a chance to predict the next move, and after the spinning has subsided there’s thankfully a lot to like. Steering weight is very nicely judged and the firm setup and super-stiff rear anti-roll bar give the Corsa a confident, pointy feel with every roll of your wrists. Traction is excellent, and with regen turned off you can make pretty smooth and very swift, if not especially engaging progress with minimal effort. The upgraded GSE seats are spot on for support and comfort too (at least when you’re not being bounced out of them). I even quite like the Sport Sound – usefully present but not intrusive.

It’s more fun on track at Croft though, where the GSE loses none of the feeling of straight-line punch, but a more engaging and biddable chassis comes to the fore. You’re conscious of the extra patience needed to encourage 1.5 tons to hook onto your chosen line, but the looser ESP reins let you almost four-wheel drift through quicker turns. The brake pedal is a little softer than is ideal, but the Alcons don’t struggle for power, with the caveat that each circuit run was a brake-and-tyre-friendly two laps at a time.

Like the other cars on this platform, it’s a shame the Corsa GSE only really shows its best in an arena where few will drive it. A little more on-road personality wouldn’t go amiss, and it might go hand-in-hand with more compliance over bumps, at the expense of some track ability. With 220 miles of range in gentle road driving (232 on the optional Hankook tyres), you’d want the track to have some fast chargers.

Price, specs and rivals

The GSE starts at £34,495, but with a £1500 bung from the government in the UK, the £32,995 on-the-road figure is somewhere in the middle of Alpine A290 post-grant pricing, yet the Vauxhall offers much more pace (and space) for the cash. Along with styling, value has always been another Vauxhall hot hatch strong suit, of course. If you can live with the ride – I couldn’t, sadly – the Corsa GSE justifies a place amongst the brand’s best.

Vauxhall Corsa GSE specs 

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