Courtesy cars make you appreciate your own car.

[z8jay]

My Clio is in the bodyshop for some minor repairs after some bint managed to scrape my front bumper with her car. Her insurance company have kindly sorted me out a hire car in the mean time. All good...

I got a '10 plate Corsa 1.2. I expected it to be slow but had no idea just how slow it is. I've never actually owned a vehicle with less than 100bhp. It's actually dangerous imo.

Earlier on I pulled out to lane 2 of a dual carriageway earlier to overtake a car doing ~40mph. There was no other traffic around that I could see at the time. 3rd gear, 40mph, foot down. Nothing happened. Except faster traffic got right up behind me flashing lights and making gestures for me to move over, it was like they came out of nowhere. It seemed like the longest overtake ever. Once I was past the other car I pulled back into lane 1 where the Corsa belongs and remained there for the rest of my journey :dapprove: I honestly don't know why they put such rubbish engines in heavy cars. Going up a hill earlier in a NSL I struggled to stay at 60mph.

So next time you see a Corsa with a 1.2 badge on the back and it's not at the traffic lights revving its puny engine, trying to goad you into a "race" because 'ur clio is well wikkid innit bruv', spare a thought for the driver who is probably trying to make progress but realises that however hard you push the accelerator down, nothing really happens.

I will however f**king love it when I get my Clio back. Not the fastest car in the world but at least it goes pretty quick when you give it some throttle.

 

[16v_paddy]

Courtesy cars turn me into a hooligan :dapprove: they get abused as I use them to vent my frustration at not having & being able to drive my car

 

[Curtis!]

Your complaining about a 1.2 Corsa like it's the bottom turd in the compost heap of s**t. They put a 3 pot 1.0 in those cars you know! :|

You get used to it though, gearing is everything. If you know how to drive a small engined car (a Clio on coils etc atleast - Corsa's are underrrsteer..) it reasonable enought to use on the road. Unless it's Japanese and turbo'd, small engines will never have much give.

 

[Scott™]

I appreciate they may be sluggish but it's about how you drive them. I had the gfs 1ltr corsa for a year and it actuually wasn't bad by the end!

 

[mr.valver]

I had to fight on with my lasses 1.1 Saxo when I used to take it to work. No Brakes, no power and no clutch.

Fine going around town, soon as you get some national speed limit into the mix you become a liability.

 

[Chili Red]

I used to hate going down motorway sliproads when I had a Ka, it was soul-destroying having Fiestas and bog-standard Clios flying past

 

[Tez.]

my clio 1.2 16v is a bit of a nightmare round town and country roads but stangley enuff when im on the motorway its lovely crusies along at 80 to 90 all day long and soaks it all up

i dont get it lol motorway 7/10 anywehre else 5/10

 

[sam_jkelley]

my 1.2 clio can cruise along the motor way at 100 and really isnt that bad to drive bit underpowered but nothing drastic

 

[jonny_rs]

nothing handles like a hire car!

 

[Peperami]

I appreciate they may be sluggish but it's about how you drive them. I had the gfs 1ltr corsa for a year and it actuually wasn't bad by the end!

Spot on. I wouldnt say they were dangerous.

Use a lower gear, endeth the thread!

 

[Neat]

I know exactly where you're coming from z8jay. I recently had a 08 plate 1.2 Corsa Club for a week - awful!

Vague, light, steering, soft wallowy suspension, the way it would dive under braking......and absolutely no grunt! On the motorway you have to think much more about vehicles approaching from behind if you're going to overtake. I really noticed the lack of lowdown torque. I assumed it had no features at all and was roasting on the one hour plus drive home after collecting it.........then realised it actually had air. con. Around town it was ok though.

Began to think a charity should be set up to help people in slow cars like that afford the running costs of quicker cars.

Over the course of a week I kind of got used to it. You have to work the engine more, it's about maintaining momentum.

I started to look for positives. Fuel gauge didn't drop so fast, ride was more comfortable, didn't feel the need to slow down so much for bumps and the like.

Then I got my Clio back. Having had to move it once or twice my sister had always referred to it as being a tank - she found the controls really heavy. I always new the clutch and steering were heavier than most people would expect of a supermini. But after getting used to that Corsa I suddenly appreciated how much heavier, in particular the steering, was. For the first few miles I thought 'how the hell do I drive this thing?' Manoeuvring at low speed required me to put both hands on the wheel.

But I soon got used to it again - and it's so good to have it back

 

[Mr_P]

To be fair you are very priveledge not to have owned a car with less the 100bhp, we are lucky that we own such cars that have the power and handling that we do. wallowy suspension and light steering are the name of the game for small hatchbacks like ours as they are meant for pottering around town and the occasional motorway trip. light steering for ease of parking and soft as sh1te suspension to cope with the speed humps, pot holes and just general rubbish condition of our roads!
Having said that I just picked up the gf's new car (a little 1 litre n reg micra to get her about) and once i got used to not having the immediate response from pressing the throttle pedal it wasn't half bad and you could still have a laugh and some fun with it, though going for an over-take on a 1.4 tigra on a duel carriageway turned out to be a mistake as I got level and the woman just put her foot down after holding me up doing 40 in a 60!

 

[Nickw88]

I haven't read the whole thread, just the first post (please excuse me as i'm being naughty whilst at work ) however i can confirm that the new corsa are indeed highly dangerous!

I have one as a company car, it's an 07 reg 5 door "life" with a 998cc engine...JESUS CHRIST! I've lost count of the amount of times it's nearly killed me pulling out on to busy roads...I do infact believe they stopped doing the spec i have because the engine is so underpowered!

Hopefully you can see why i need the sport in my life!

 

[clio carl]

i had a 1.1 pug 107 as my courtesy car while mine was in having warranty work done, needless to say it was a gutless peice of s**t, that struggled to even get up any hills, and living in a hilly area made it a nightmare to go anywhere whatsoever, sounded like it was made of tin and the f**king noise when it rained on the roof was dreadfull, economical yes but faster to walk lol,
me n the mrs couldnt stop laughing at its sheer patheticness, and the fact it sounded like a fucked hairdryer didnt help my street cred none.

 

[Tez.]

3 cylinders are THE worst engine ive ever known

 

[bondbill]

Ive previously had a 1.4 16v Mk4 Golf and it was dangerously underpowered, 75bhp doesn't sound too bad but the MK4 Golf is heavy!
Mrs used to have a 1.0 polo which is the most underpowered car ive ever been in, 55bhp or pure POWWWERRR

 

[z8jay]

Your complaining about a 1.2 Corsa like it's the bottom turd in the compost heap of s**t. They put a 3 pot 1.0 in those cars you know! :|

You get used to it though, gearing is everything. If you know how to drive a small engined car (a Clio on coils etc atleast - Corsa's are underrrsteer..) it reasonable enought to use on the road. Unless it's Japanese and turbo'd, small engines will never have much give.

Other than the lack of power it's actually quite a nice car. I don't feel all the bumps in the road and it's well soundproofed. When stationary in traffic I keep having to double check that the engine is on It does seem unnecessarily large though. The windscreen is about 4 feet away from the drivers seat. Odd to have that much space after driving my Clio. Guess it's all that safety stuff they have to implement now.

I have tried to rely on momentum but it just doesn't seem to make any difference. I tried revving all the way to the redline, it didn't seem to be any different to if I changed when the 'shift up' light comes on at about 3000rpm. Oh well, I only have to endure it for a few days.

I know exactly where you're coming from z8jay. I recently had a 08 plate 1.2 Corsa Club for a week - awful!

Vague, light, steering, soft wallowy suspension, the way it would dive under braking......and absolutely no grunt! On the motorway you have to think much more about vehicles approaching from behind if you're going to overtake. I really noticed the lack of lowdown torque. I assumed it had no features at all and was roasting on the one hour plus drive home after collecting it.........then realised it actually had air. con. Around town it was ok though.

Began to think a charity should be set up to help people in slow cars like that afford the running costs of quicker cars.

Over the course of a week I kind of got used to it. You have to work the engine more, it's about maintaining momentum.

I started to look for positives. Fuel gauge didn't drop so fast, ride was more comfortable, didn't feel the need to slow down so much for bumps and the like.

Then I got my Clio back. Having had to move it once or twice my sister had always referred to it as being a tank - she found the controls really heavy. I always new the clutch and steering were heavier than most people would expect of a supermini. But after getting used to that Corsa I suddenly appreciated how much heavier, in particular the steering, was. For the first few miles I thought 'how the hell do I drive this thing?' Manoeuvring at low speed required me to put both hands on the wheel.

But I soon got used to it again - and it's so good to have it back

Yeah I've got to drive along a dual carriageway again today. I'm not looking forward to the slip road. I've only merged onto one so far. Never before have I planned a journey by looking at google maps to see which of 2 local sliproads is longer.

Perhaps I will get used to it but I still think it's dangerous. If you were a new driver and you weren't very good at reading distance/speed yet, you could quite easily pull out on someone and cause an accident. Be it on a motorway or just pulling out of a junction.

I thought my old Civic VTi was bad for lack of torque but this takes the piss. At least when the VTi was out of vtec it'd still move along at a reasonable pace. Getting past 50mph in the Corsa is a mission. I am expecting my Clio to feel like a tank when I get it back. I remember when I first got it, going from the Civic with relatively light clutch and steering, it felt like I was driving my old MK2 Golf Gti with no PAS again.

To be fair you are very priveledge not to have owned a car with less the 100bhp, we are lucky that we own such cars that have the power and handling that we do. wallowy suspension and light steering are the name of the game for small hatchbacks like ours as they are meant for pottering around town and the occasional motorway trip. light steering for ease of parking and soft as sh1te suspension to cope with the speed humps, pot holes and just general rubbish condition of our roads!
Having said that I just picked up the gf's new car (a little 1 litre n reg micra to get her about) and once i got used to not having the immediate response from pressing the throttle pedal it wasn't half bad and you could still have a laugh and some fun with it, though going for an over-take on a 1.4 tigra on a duel carriageway turned out to be a mistake as I got level and the woman just put her foot down after holding me up doing 40 in a 60!

I have no problem with it being soft and having light controls, it just needs a tad more grunt. They can't keep increasing the weight of cars and sticking tiny engines in. I'm sure if it was the older shape Corsa it wouldn't be too bad.

 

[Will.]

My 1.0 corsa was epic. Gave 1.2 clios and fiesta's a good seeing too. I got given a 1.3 Toyota Yaris as a courtesy car one time and I swear it didn't feel as quick as the corsa.

 

[Neat]

..........When stationary in traffic I keep having to double check that the engine is on..........

..........Perhaps I will get used to it but I still think it's dangerous. If you were a new driver and you weren't very good at reading distance/speed yet, you could quite easily pull out on someone and cause an accident. Be it on a motorway or just pulling out of a junction..........

..........I am expecting my Clio to feel like a tank when I get it back. I remember when I first got it, going from the Civic with relatively light clutch and steering, it felt like I was driving my old MK2 Golf Gti with no PAS again..........

I don't know how many times I pulled up at lights in that Corsa and thought 'damn, stalled it, how'd I do that?'.......then looked at the rev counter and realised it was still going

Performance cars are safer - they have more grip, can stop quicker, accelerate quicker and usually handle better (often overlooked as a safety feature). Having said that I don't think it's necessarily a good idea for young inexperienced drivers to have access to quick cars. In my opinion the basic driver training in this country doesn't go far enough for that to be a good idea. Although I've no idea what accident statistics actually say on that, I could be completely wrong. A lack of maturity and poor hazard perception means they tend to be involved in lots of accidents. But whether they are actually more likely to have an accident in a quicker car - I don't know......and it all depends on the individual anyway. I think it's probably a good idea to be stuck in a slow car every now and then - puts a different perspective on things.

My Clio controls actually felt light when I first got it - I came from a Nova 1.3SR (and no, it wasn't some chavved-up, jap-bodykitted monster of a thing - completely standard). The steering in that was much heavier.

At the end of the day it's what you get used to isn't it. I don't get to drive lots of different vehicles, just my own really. I guess if I'd been running around in a 911 or M3 for a couple of years my Clio would feel pedestrian by comparison.

 

[Neat]

nothing handles like a hire car!

Lol. As a twenty (ish) year old student a fellow student had the use of a Land Rover Discovery for a week or two during a holiday. I quote - 'it's amazing what you can do in a car that's not your own'.

 

[JCC]

Earlier on I pulled out to lane 2 of a dual carriageway earlier to overtake a car doing ~40mph. There was no other traffic around that I could see at the time. 3rd gear, 40mph, foot down. Nothing happened.

Going up a hill earlier in a NSL I struggled to stay at 60mph.

Use a lower gear. Problem solved.

 

[Neat]

Use a lower gear. Problem solved.

Yeah, but to be fair when you're used to driving something quicker you occasionally forget......although you do get your head around it again soon enough. And they really are gutless, you only get anything from them in a narrow band at high revs, and then you go for the next gear......and nothing.....and nothing, and then it finally gets going again, kind of.

 

[matt5687]

after selling my flamer im currently driving a 1989 nissan micra 1.2 whilst I wait for my 200......and u think u got it bad

 

[matt5687]

agree about them being dangerous too. need a f**king calendar to plan an overtake :rasp:

 

[ChrisR]

My step dad took his 911 in for some work this week, they gave him a Panamera for the day/evening.

He popped over so I could have a go in it, couldn't drive it but was a nice car inside and seemed to go alright.

Was only the V6 but had the PDK box on it, was fun abusing the launch control

 

[GM_182]

Pre Renaultsport ownership, I was given a Fiat seicento when my RS1800 was in the body shop after a non fault accident. Truly dreadful and it was in "lumo green", on the plus side everyone would let you out at a junction.

 

[.Tyler]

Not a courtesy car but far worse than a 1.2 Corsa, my work van, a Berlingo 1.9D.

 

[ChrisR]

Oh forgot in about 2001 I had an 80s Jetta whilst my old 19 was having the engine sorted. That thing was comically dangerous.

 

[Jimbo-Clio]

my 1.2 clio can cruise along the motor way at 100 and really isnt that bad to drive bit underpowered but nothing drastic

FLOL

Corsa D's are one of the worst cars i have ever driven i feel your pain.

To those people who are in s**t box's after non fault claims LOL. You can get yourself in like for like replacement

Courtesy cars and hire cars are great you can abuse them no end put anything in the boot eat anything in them and not care i love em would have one all the time if i could

 

[sofaboy]

After yesterday at trax i have a hyundai getz 1.1 GSI (not like an astra) and its so god awfull words cant describe.