I've just got back from Spain and had the unfortunate situation as having one of these as a hire car, the car was so dull there is only one picture.

 

Where do I start,

 

When I collected the car from the rental company (offsite, malaga airport), it was apparent that this car was not the usual tired, battered old cars you usually get ( the CDTI Corsa in october last year was 3 years old). The car was practically new, with just over 500 miles on the clock, I must have been the second person to use the car.

 

Interior was much better than the diesel Corsa of last year, some nice piano black trim, radio which worked (made a change), aux in, MP3 playback and reasonably ok seats.

 

To look at the car was ok, dark grey metallic paint, alloy wheels, no swirl marks in the paint, but its all downhill from there. The car was already bearing a battle scar, a dent in rear passenger door caused by a door being opened into it.

 

The engine is awful, lacking power and really struggled. At first I thought something was wrong, the hill was not steep. we were travelling at 120kmh in 5th, but my right foot was buried in the carpet and we were slowing down. After changing down one gear at 100kmh to 4th all that happened was the engine revs increased, now doing 100kmh at 3.5K RPM but at least we were maintaining that speed. This went on during the two weeks I had the car, having to use gears which were just wrong to maintain any speed. 125KMH up hill in 4th is not a nice experience. Another hill ( the steep one between Fuengirola and Mijas for those who know the area) saw the car needing to be in 2nd gear, I was even passed by a bus as the car struggled up. The engine spec (Non turbo) revealed all. The 1.2 petrol has 85 BHP, but just 85NM of torque.

 

Steering is ok, if lacking a little feel at speed.

Gearbox was notchy and felt clunky

Stereo was ok, and handled a couple of MP3 CD's and the aux in was fine with my iPhone.

 

Did almost 1000 miles in 2 weeks, hacking up and down the Costa Del Sol, and a run to see relatives in Granada. Car was returned with 2700KMS on the clock. Fuel economy was pretty poor as it had to be thrashed all the time, but on the flat surfaces it seemed ok.

 

Picture below is the only one I have, and its not a very good one.

Be thankful it wasn't an easytronic lol

That is a quite a steep hill leading upto Mijas!

As to why people get these horrible little engined cars I'll never know.

 

I had the same chat with a colleague as she was looking to get a brand new Polo Match Edition 1.2 (not the TSI the really old 1.2 HTP engine).

 

I tried to pursuade her to go for a Fabia 1.2 Greenline (pretty much same price) as it has more power and torque and also better on fuel (she has 2 kids and a husband and wishes to carry bikes on a rack).

 

She wouldn't listen and now complains that her cars struggles on hills

 

Phil

Took a test drive in the 1.2 before picking the citigo, dull, dull, dull and more dull. Plus at £17k list price I nearly wet myself with laughter as the dealer asked when did I want to order.

 

Still its better than walking?

As to why people get these horrible little engined cars I'll never know.

I had the same chat with a colleague as she was looking to get a brand new Polo Match Edition 1.2 (not the TSI the really old 1.2 HTP engine).

I tried to pursuade her to go for a Fabia 1.2 Greenline (pretty much same price) as it has more power and torque and also better on fuel (she has 2 kids and a husband and wishes to carry bikes on a rack).

She wouldn't listen and now complains that her cars struggles on hills

Phil

She's not giving it enough foot in third then going up a hill! Mine pulls well up hills when loaded!