Vauxhall Corsa Electric review: interior, dashboard & infotainment
The electric Corsa's dashboard is a little drab, while the scratchy plastics on the doors aren't befitting of its price tag
Inside the Corsa Electric, you’d never know you were driving an electric car. It all feels reassuringly familiar, with a logical dashboard design and space for all your odds and ends. Top-spec Ultimate cars get a large 10-inch touchscreen display, compared to the seven-inch unit found in the base GS model and the special Anniversary Edition Corsa Electric we drove.
Overall quality of materials and design is less impressive, especially when you consider the electric Corsa's fairly high starting price of over £31,000 as of March 2023. On the plus side, there's plenty of clever on-board technology, including driver-assistance features such as traffic-sign recognition, blind-spot monitoring and lane-keeping assistance.
Vauxhall Corsa Electric dashboard
The inside of the latest Corsa is functional but uninspiring. It’s a sea of black plastic, centred around a seven or 10-inch touchscreen display (depending on spec), with myriad connectivity options. At least the separate climate controls are easy to operate.
There’s a set of fully digital dials, and while they don’t stretch the entire width of the instrument binnacle as they do in some high-end BMWs or Audis, it’s less noticeable than you might expect. You can use them to present the information you want right in front of you, framed by the chunky leather-wrapped steering wheel.
Equipment, options & accessories
There are three trim levels to choose from at the moment: GS (which replaced GS Line in early 2023), Anniversary Edition and Ultimate. The limited-run Anniversary Edition car is actually the cheapest of the three, undercutting the GS by a hundred pounds or so; you’ll pay the best part of £32,000 for either, however, with both cars benefiting from LED lights, 17-inch wheels, climate control and a seven-inch screen with sat-nav, plus Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
The Anniversary Edition, despite undercutting the GS, also gets special red paint, heated front seats and a heated steering wheel, as well as a special pair of tartan socks for every owner. Can’t argue with that!
Ultimate adds a few more luxuries like a 10-inch central touchscreen, Matrix LED headlights and a panoramic rear-view camera. But you will have to pay over £35,000 for the top-of-the-range model.
Infotainment, apps & sat nav
Every version gets a touchscreen sat nav, but you’ll need to upgrade to the Ultimate to swap the standard seven-inch display (above) for the glorious 10-inch version. It’s not worth it for this alone, but factoring in some of the luxuries listed above may make the jump easier to justify. The infotainment system itself is packed with features, but it can feel a bit slow to respond at times.
Navigating via the standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto doesn’t make any difference, although the ability to project your phone’s screen to your car’s display does add some welcome functionality. The Corsa, as with many electric cars, is available with a downloadable app that allows you to control charging times, as well as monitor range and remotely pre-condition the battery and cabin temperature.
