One of the best small hatches made even better
The Vauxhall Corsa VXR is one of the great performance bargains of this generation; it provides huge amounts of performance without huge expense. Available brand new for under £19,000 and second hand for under £5,000 it gives you genuine hot hatch performance for the price of an entry level Volkswagen Golf. With 189BHP, compact dimensions and a fantastic chassis at its disposal the little Corsa can crack 0-62 in less than 7 seconds and run on to a top speed of 140mph, serious performance for a car in the supermini category. To put that performance into perspective, the mark 6 Volkswagen Golf GTI offered an identical 0-62 time, for a smidge under £27,000.
Fair to say then that we are big fans of the Corsa VXR here at Just Performance. How easy is it to take that engineering excellence and build on it though? It turns out that it is pretty easy and that the Corsa is a tuner’s dream car.
Where to start tuning the Corsa
Any tuner worth their salt will know that with an already performance bent car you must first start with two easy steps that can make a huge difference. Firstly you will want to look at the cars intake system, generally performance parts such as upgraded air filters, and a replacement intercooler will make a huge difference. Secondly you will want to look at how the waste gases are allowed to escape from the engine, performance exhaust systems will allow the car to ‘breathe’ far easier.
What benefits will this give?
Attending to these two modifications first will give noticeable improvements in a few areas, by allowing gases to flow in and out of the engine quicker these improvements will see increases in power and therefore in acceleration. Allowing these gases to escape quicker will also reduce the heat present in the engine bay and reduce wear on the engine internals.
Another fantastic benefit of upgrading intake and exhaust is the increased aural pleasure that it will give, bespoke exhaust and intake systems give a real character full noise. If you want your performance Corsa to have all the pops, bangs and rasps that it deserves then you will want to attend to these upgrades pretty quickly, they are certainly not something that you will come to regret.
How easy are they to fit
Upgrade parts are engineered and machined specifically for the Corsa and can easily be undertaken by an amateur mechanic at home. Even if you go to a garage the removal and refitting of parts will not take long and therefore not cost too much.
Here at Just Performance we believe that upgrading your car should be an easy and stress free process, that’s why we stock only the best performance parts. If you are unsure on any issue regarding your car then feel free to contact us today and our expert staff will be happy to help you get the parts that you want.