It's not exactly a hidden secret that I am an obsessive car nut; I always have been, and frankly, I probably always will be. At the ripe old age of 20, I've had my licence for three years now, and yet, curiously, I haven't had a car to my name since summer 2017.

The answer as to why that's so is, rather predictably, university. The hashtag student life suddenly makes you really rather poor, so much so that running a car just isn't economical. But I've finished for the summer, I've got a job, and because of that, I now have a new set of wheels. Read on to find out the good, the bad, and the ugly about my 'new' 2007 Corsa 1.3CDTI Design.

So, er, an 11 year old diesel Corsa? If you say so...

Hang on, bear with me for a minute here. Yes, at first glance, it would seem I've really lost the plot. Corsa's are pretty uncool, diesel is definitely uncool these days, and buying an 11-year-old car isn't exactly ideal to most people. But give me a chance - there's method to my madness.

Alright then. What's the good stuff?

There's plenty of good stuff, and rightfully so, considering I paid my own hard-earned cash for this thing. £1950 of it, to be precise.

First up, that diesel engine. Yes, I know ever since that infamous VW scandal the word diesel seems to be a perfect synonym to Satan, but for my two grand budget, it still makes a lot of sense. You see, for a small hatchback, two grand gets you something in the region of a 2005 to 2010 car depending on spec, and back in that era diesel had a huge fuel efficiency advantage.

For example, my new Corsa manages a claimed 58MPG on the official combined cycle, and heavens above, it actually achieves it. Around town, you can expect to see around the 50MPG mark, but the motorway can yield upwards of 70MPG if you're honest to the speed limits. My first full tank gave me an overall average of 63MPG, which is damn impressive for an 11-year-old banger.

Contrary to that of my previous car, which was also a Corsa of the same shape, but a 1.2l petrol model. It was kindly handed down to me by my dear old grandparents, who had given up driving. Anyway, that thing had 10bhp less than the 90bhp diesel, and, amazingly, nearly half the torque. Yet despite the smaller displacement and more modest performance figures, you'd struggle to see more than 35MPG round town, and 45MPG on a motorway.

That's where diesel truly shines. Sure, it's tainted with the emission scandals, but that doesn't stop them generally being far quicker in day-to-day use (thanks to a fatter torque curve), and way more efficient. Today's petrols close the gap rather significantly, but for two grand, you'd struggle to find a petrol that even gets remotely close to the diesel equivalent.

Right. What else?

As much as it's easy to slate my old Corsa's asthmatic petrol engine, the rest of it was rather pleasant to live with, which is why I've gone for another one of the same body shape. The Corsa 'D' generation, introduced in 2006, showed the world that superminis could be grown up - the D was remarkably refined for its time when compared with rivals.

That refinement which I came to enjoy so much has returned with my new car, and it means the car behaves like it's much bigger than it actually is. It has an overall solid feeling to the drive, the clutch and gearbox is well-weighted, road and wind noise is impressively low, and there's no instability at higher speeds at all. Now I've got the diesel engine, I'd happily crunch through several hundred mile motorway slogs all day every day in the new car.

Also: toys. My new car is kitted out with almost every option the Corsa had available, and as a guy who nerds out over technology and gadgets, it just makes me happy. In no particular order, this new supermini of mine has: automatic wipers, automatic headlights, automatic dimming rear-view mirror, six-speed manual gearbox, automatic climate control, cruise control, central trip computer with range, instant and average consumption, and leather seats. It's a crazy list that you'd expect to find on executive saloons, not town runners, and especially not ones you can buy for less than two grand.

To top it all off, this car in particular had a full religious service history, brand new fancy Continental tyres fitted, only 87,000 miles (good for the age), and one careful owner. The interior was in showroom condition, too. It felt like the jackpot, and almost too good to be true.

Well it surely can't be all perfect and luvvy-duvvy. It's over a decade old!

Indeed so, and as you'd perhaps expect, this car shows some minor signs of it being well and truly 'used'. The wheels are a bit curbed, the bodywork has plenty of minor but noticeable scratches and dings, and while I did say the interior was showroom condition, the steering wheel leather has seen better days in some areas.

I was happy to accept that compromise. Firstly, these are all things I can get detailed and repaired should I want to, and secondly it meant I got a 60+MPG car with all the bells and whistles for dirt cheap money.

Another 'bad' thing I could perhaps say is the tax on this car. These days we're used to seeing small cars comfortably fit into the tax-free bands, both petrol and diesel. While this diesel is proving to be damn frugal in day-to-day life, in the lab tests it didn't fare as well as modern cars (read: it didn't cheat), and therefore is subject to £120 a year or so of tax. Not a huge deal breaker, but it's a cost I wouldn't have had with a more modern car. Being an older diesel as well of course, places like London are taxing cars like mine almost completely off the road - something to bare in mind if you travel in or around the capital.


And the ugly?

When I drove away from the dealer, I was smug in thinking I had the bargain of the century. However, this isn't quite the case as it now appears, since there is one thing that's on the way out.

Every time I cold start the car, the engine is unfortunately quite reluctant to crank, and does on occasion splutter into life in a rather undignified way. The gauges also flicker, which any person used to Vauxhalls of the era will tell you is an obvious sign that the battery is on the way out. Hey ho, I guess you can't quite have your cake and eat it, after all. Still, a battery is technically a 'wear and tear' part, so I can't be too disheartened, just slightly inconvenienced.


Well, there we have it. This is the good, the bad, and the ugly of my new car, to which I colloquially call Geoff. Please stay around for further updates on Geoff, since there will be multiple ones as time goes on. I am also considering a video series on YouTube surrounding the car, so stay tuned for updates regarding that.

For now, have a good day.