Just how wank are 3 pot Corsa B's? And the 1360cc Pug 306!

[warren t claim]

My dear old mother has seen one and she likes the look of it. Should I try and talk her out of it? I think it is a W plate with about 80k on the clock for £795.

[Milford Cubicle]

I reckon it'd be alright for pottering about, it's a Suzuki engine so ought to be reliable enough.I know Corsa Cs fitted with the same engine are glacially slow and vibratory though.

[warren t claim]

Suzuki? I didn't know that!

[Dead_E23]

My Mum has one; they're not too bad really, although you need to rev the nuts off them to make normal progress. I rather enjoy driving it for that reason.I don't think she's had any real trouble from it, but it's very low mileage because it hardly gets used.

[brammy777]

A mate has one, been it a few times! Its about the same age as well. Its not bad actually, you do have to give it a bit of welly for speed but when its going, its generally going well. Not half as bad as youd expect really.

[fiatdaft]

the engine was not made by suzuki.look out for the usual corsa ailments,then dodgy cats,gear linkage and oil leaks due to the oil pressure switch (£6)they get slower and slower with each evolution of corsa.

[Espacetic]

They do suffer head gasket failure and it's a fiddly job.Timing chains stretch too and become very noisy.

[Pete-M]

The three cylinder lump is just 3/4 of the 1.2 Family 0 engine isn't it?Or are Suzuki sneakily making GM engines now?

[brammy777]

The 3 pot is from GM Family 0.

[Guest]

Seems a bit daft to have a 3cyl Corsa when you can have a 4cyl Corsa, but if you don't like driving you might as well enjoy the increased mpg.

[fiatdaft]

correct, they also use fiat made diesels in india.

[Station]

Suzuki Wagon/Vauxhall Agila. ;)I think the Corsa would be fine for your mum, but I couldn't really live with one. Don't talk her out of it, the engine will outlast the car.

[warren t claim]

This one doesn't seem too bad. It doesn't have any stickers saying powered by fairydust or sexual intercorsa and is surprisingly solid in all the right areas. I can't help thinking a Micra of a similar vintage would be more reliable.

[Cavcraft]

Micra would certainly be reliable but in my experience would rot more.£795 isn't bad for age/mileage, Corsas hold their value extremely well and you wouldn't lose much at all over three years or so.

[warren t claim]

I thought sills and arches were a Corsa weak spot?(oh and MANY HAPPY RETURNS!!!)

[Pete-M]

I thought sills and arches were a Corsa weak spot?

On a Corsa, everything between the bumpers is a weak spot :PWouldn't you rather have a nice Volvo 460? I know where there's a 47k miler going reasonably cheaply

[Cavcraft]

Ta muchly.Boot floors like to rot, as do sills and inner wings, especially rears, but compared to lots of other cars of the same era they're pretty well held together.

[warren t claim]

Ta muchly.Boot floors like to rot, as do sills and inner wings, especially rears, but compared to lots of other cars of the same era they're pretty well held together.

I assume you mean the KA?

[Cavcraft]

Ka/Fiasco/Micra.

[warren t claim]

She does like the KA but I really don't think they are suitable for ultra low mileage, very short trip, shopping cars.

[Pete-M]

She does like the KA but I really don't think they are suitable for ultra low mileage, very short trip, shopping cars.

Why not? The KenDura engine is pretty much bulletproof and it's not going to rot at a different rate than they normally do.Corsa or Ka. Anyone who picks a Corsa needs mental healthcare**unless it's their birthday today.

[warren t claim]

I am getting old and can't be arsed undersealing, fighting with rusted in spark plugs and setting tappets anymore.

[Cavcraft]

She does like the KA but I really don't think they are suitable for ultra low mileage, very short trip, shopping cars.

Why not? The KenDura engine is pretty much bulletproof and it's not going to rot at a different rate than they normally do.Corsa or Ka. Anyone who picks a Corsa needs mental healthcare**unless it's their birthday today.

I still do though

[vicsmith]

The fuel economy of these things has to be experienced to be appreciated, as far as I can tell that was the one goal of the 3cyl engine and it achieves it brilliantly. Also group 1 insurance is another reason they are popular. Some are more vibraty than others, power steering seems to make more of a difference than it does on the 4cyl Corsas, unless it`s just me, however some are actual PAS, and some are EPS, generally the ones I`ve had with EPS are base models that must have had it specified as a cost extra. The less vibraty the example in question, the nicer it`ll be to drive, a non-vibraty Club edition would be a nice little car indeed. Also, let`s face it, if that weird engine note emanated from something a bit more obscure, we`d all love it.

[Milford Cubicle]

Sorry, I just assumed that it'd make sense for GM to use the Suzuki three-pot since they part own them, rather than lopping a cylinder off one of of their own 4 cylinder engines.They do have the exact same capacity, but a different bore and stroke.

[pogweasel]

Horrid, horrid, horrid vile hateful grim odious motoring turds. Mrs_Pog used to have one, truly a dreadful car in every respect. Nasty, thrashy engine that sounds like a lawnmower and needs redlining* just to get on the move, incredibly noisey, oh and not even that good on fuel either, probably because you had to thrash the tits off it. Add to that most of them are "Envoy" spec which means absolutely no concessions to luxury or even comfort, and steering so amazingly heavy that you get a full upper body workout just trying to park the thing. Utter rubbish. And they rust spectacularly too.

[Talbotman]

3 pot corsa b? Just to add my tenth pennysworth - Vile Vile vile....the worst thing that gm in europe has created....dont think ive ever driven one without its engine management light flashing like a fool - and the engine sounding even rougher than a badgers......most also get woefully mistreated in to old age and the engines just cant take much abuse - stick to the four pot!

[peter9000uk]

Aren't these the ones with the electric PAS? If so this gives a lot of grief and as previously mentioned HGs go for fun and also the timing chains rattle like buggery if they've done more than 500 miles from new as they only every seem to do short journeys and have the oil changed once a year if lucky. At 80k it is probably about due for one of the above to happen. Worth a monkey tops

[saabhappy]

Matching the driver's requirements and capabilities might help - I wouldn't want one, but I've driven one and been pleasantly surprised actually.

[AnthonyG]

A friend took a chance on one going cheap on the bay with no Mot - failed on emissions (turned out it had failed twice on this). It had very low mileage for a 10 year car (40k or less) which may have had something to do with the problem.To cut a long story short, after fiddling around replacing this and that (two EGR valves), he bit the bullet and got a s/h engine fitted, the original one just wouldn't pass the emissions. It still took more fiddling about to finally get the engine fault light to go away. Still, it got his three kids through their tests and now all have licences, which is why he got it. He said it was quite fun to drive, but he is used to Volvo 200/700s, so anything small is going to feel like a 1959 Mini in the corners! The group 1 insurance rating mentioned above was one of the main reasons he got the one litre.I would prefer a Fiesta or Micra, but you do have to watch for rot.