# Corsa 1.2 fuel drinking issue



## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

Hi all, can you help someone out...

Young guy in my work has a wee corsa 1.2 petrol.... it's a year old, and just had it's first service...

but it's drinking fuel like it's a supercar.... 

the main dealer are no help...

anyone came across this issue with these cars, and what the cause was?!?!?!

He doesn't drive it fast, nor goes mega distances... and it's only getting about 25-30 mpg....

cheers...

:thumb:


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## bigmc (Mar 22, 2010)

Is it a Corsa D?
It's a lot to do with the fact the engine is under powered for the weight of the car. The corsa B & C were light weight compared to the D


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

it's only 1 year old.... so probably the latest version...

His mates are getting 50 plus mpg with the same cars

:thumb:


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## [email protected] (Mar 5, 2007)

seems a problem http://www.ukcorsa-d.com/forum/showthread.php?20970-1.2-fuel-consuption

i remember mine used to be bad 1.2 sxi (girl friend learning to drive car), the same as a 1.8 SRI astra which we had after.

from some searching

VAUXHALL Corsa 1.2 16V 80 HP
URBAN MPG 30.4
EXTRA-URBAN MPG 47.1
COMBINED MPG 37.7


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## steveo3002 (Jan 30, 2006)

is he checking mpg properly or just sticking a tenner in and guessing at it


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

i'm thinking he is just seeing the amount of money being spent on fuel, and saying that it shouldn't cost that much to run a 1.2, so no "basis" behind his problem apart from his perception...

I've told him to fill it up, run it for 20/30 miles then refill so we can work out his exact mpg and go from there... but from the link above, it just seems like a bad engine! :lol:

:thumb:


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## Pezza4u (Jun 7, 2007)

After reading that I'm not gonna moan about my mpg no more!! :lol: That's pretty bad a 1.2 can drink fuel like that.


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

Pezza4u said:


> After reading that I'm not gonna moan about my mpg no more!! :lol: That's pretty bad a 1.2 can drink fuel like that.


Esp when my S8 is getting 20-22 mpg on a COMBINED run... :thumb:

OK, so it also gets 16 mpg as well... but still.... low 20's!!!!!

That didn't go down too well with him... :lol:

:thumb:


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## Laurie.J.M (Jun 23, 2011)

I've got one on a 57' plate and completely agree with what bigmc said, it's a very overweight car to begin with and has to haul itself around with the same engines that were in the previous Corsa and the one before that, the fact that mine's an SXI which has larger wheels and tyres doesn't help. You've gotta mash your foot down just to do 30 mph and to get up to 70 on the motorway needs a good 25 seconds of full throttle and high revs, and then once you've got it there you've got to keep your foot down a reasonable amount to maintain it. 

I get 28-30 mpg average and at full throttle when getting up to speed the instant consumption drops well below 20, I swear I saw single figures once when going up hill. And the worst thing is that it doesn't seem to vary beyond this no matter how I drive, what type of driving I do or whether I have the A/C on or off. My dad gets 25 mpg from his V6 petrol Mercedes without too much difficulty and he doesn't exactly pussyfoot around. It seems the Corsa is just very inefficient.


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

Holy poo.My Rover used to do more than that,and that was an old 2.0 petrol.
My 406 definately,that used to do top 30s usually.


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

Seems a bit of a con then eh....

unless it's just meant as a small city nose to nose traffic city car?!?!?!

Thanks for all your help anyway...I have reported back that his car is basically s**te and he should get a different one ASAP...

:thumb:


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## Shug (Jul 13, 2007)

The Cueball said:


> Esp when my S8 is getting 20-22 mpg on a COMBINED run... :thumb:


My manta got 18mpg on a long cruise. 
Who'd have thought a 25 yr old 2.2 engine with r1 carbs wouldnt be economical.


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## alan_mcc (Oct 28, 2008)

My 1.1 gets 30-35mpg.. it seems that if I try to drive eco, I don't. If I keep my speed up at 60 and keep the momentum up it barely uses fuel on a run. Small engines have to work harder, not like a big lazy engine. Also they seem to sit in high revs when doing 60/70.


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## DIESEL DAVE (Jul 26, 2007)

Strange, the wifes new 1.0 Corsa is doing an easy 50mpg


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## griffin1907 (Mar 4, 2006)

Lambda sensor???
Crap engine???


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## DIESEL DAVE (Jul 26, 2007)

griffin1907 said:


> Lambda sensor???
> Crap engine???


Yep summats not right !


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## Strothow (Oct 29, 2009)

My Corsa C does 44mpg if you drive it very sensibly...Something can't be right with that!


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## audigex (Apr 2, 2012)

His right foot is heavier than he thinks, and he's spending more time in town between lights.

Not a judgement, just where my money is... Tbh, unless someone else drives his car, there's no way to tell between driving styles. What I will point out is that as an 18yo in a clio, I started out with 25mpg average (ignore instant, it means **** all) and as I got more used to the car it pushed up to 35... And when I really tried then I got 55mpg... Driving style, especially on small cars, makes a huge difference.


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## VW Golf-Fan (Aug 3, 2010)

My Corsa does that too, I have a 1.2 'D' petrol & it really is a thirsty car.

I don't drive it too fast, but I have noticed that when I full tank it & I do about 15-30 miles after it, the needle moves to about 7/8 of a tank - totally crazy!

I think if lots of people are having the same problem, then it's clearly a trait in the 'D' & as someone else said, the engine is underpowered (much too underpowered) for the weight of the car.

This is partly my reason for buying a new MK6 VW Golf.


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## Ben_ZS (Sep 28, 2008)

Dosen't really suprise me to be honest. All of the modern 'economical cars' are a scam. 

With my Fiesta Zetec S TDCi I was getting 37-40MPG real world fill tank, note mileage, fill again and calculate. That is commuting on dual carraige ways cruising at 65-70MPH. 350-370 per brimmed tank. Took it to Ford FOUR times only to be told that everything is fine.

Now...after trading the Fiesta in for a Saxo VTR as we are moving into our first home. I filled the tank and have done 330 miles and the light has just flicked on so probably still have another 20-30 miles left. 

Same MPG as the Fiesta near enough, no brainer.


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## millns84 (Jul 5, 2009)

Crikey, that's ridiculous for a tiny Corsa.

My Panda's getting around 50mpg combined, with low 40's in stop/start traffic and upto 60mpg on the motorway!

Makes you wonder about the legalities of the fuel consumption figures if it's not anywhere near realistic.

What's the 1.0 corsa like then? 15mpg?


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## VW Golf-Fan (Aug 3, 2010)

I wonder what the diesel CDTI verisons of the Corsa D are getting, would be interesting to know?

Probably a bit better MPG than the horrid petrol units.


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## M44T (Jun 9, 2011)

Doesnt surprise me. Work hired me a ibiza 1.4 estate 'copa' for the weekend to drive to glasgow. On motorway it was getting 30mpg at best which i kinda expected - smaller engine working harder, but around town it was only getting 32 aswell.


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## Laurie.J.M (Jun 23, 2011)

VW Golf-Fan said:


> I wonder what the diesel CDTI verisons of the Corsa D are getting, would be interesting to know?
> 
> Probably a bit better MPG than the horrid petrol units.


I've driven the least powerful of the diesels and it's ok, fair bit of torque but it runs out puff at the top end, I spent most of the time driving it around town with a little bit of motorway and fast a-roads and the mpg varied between high 30's to low 40's. the next one up which is the CDTI 90ps which you can only get in the higher trim levels should be better as it's not only got 15bhp extra but it's also 6 speed. I'd imagine that the bigger 1.7 CDTI version would be pretty swift as it's got about 125 bhp.


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## Trip tdi (Sep 3, 2008)

Laurie.J.M said:


> I've driven the least powerful of the diesels and it's ok, fair bit of torque but it runs out puff at the top end, the next one up which is the CDTI 90ps which you can only get in the higher trim levels should be better as it's not only got 15bhp extra but it's also 6 speed. I'd imagine that the bigger 1.7 CDTI version would be pretty swift as it's got about 125 bhp.


Don't go for the 1.7 CDTI, the normal 1.3 75 bhp has plenty of pull through the rev range, but the best one out of the model line range is the 1.3 CDTI 90 bhp with the 6 speed gearbox, really good MPG with plenty of performance on tap; the only thing I find the downfalls on the corsa's are the front seats and the hard gearbox, over than that they are great cars.

1.3 CDTI for the win, more mpg, cheap road tax as well, and solid engines.


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## OvlovMike (Jul 19, 2011)

I drove a 1.2 Corsa D for a few weeks (temporary car on long term hire with my work) and struggled to get 30mpg even on a run. Gave up and drove up the M1 in third bouncing off the limiter to try and kill it, unfortunately even that didn't work


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## DIESEL DAVE (Jul 26, 2007)

millns84 said:


> Crikey, that's ridiculous for a tiny Corsa.
> 
> My Panda's getting around 50mpg combined, with low 40's in stop/start traffic and upto 60mpg on the motorway!
> 
> ...


`Strange, the wifes new 1.0 Corsa is doing an easy 50mpg`


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## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

The Cueball said:


> Hi all, can you help someone out...
> 
> Young guy in my work has a wee corsa 1.2 petrol.... it's a year old, and just had it's first service...
> 
> ...


Jesus I get more MPG out of my 24year old 205 1.9 GTI!


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## *Das* (Aug 9, 2010)

The Cueball said:


> i'm thinking he is just seeing the amount of money being spent on fuel, and saying that it shouldn't cost that much to run a 1.2, so no "basis" behind his problem apart from his perception...
> 
> I've told him to fill it up, run it for 20/30 miles then refill so we can work out his exact mpg and go from there... but from the link above, it just seems like a bad engine! :lol:
> 
> :thumb:


My better half was the same. "I put £15 in and i've only got into Edinburgh and back twice" So I filled it up got her to drive in to work and back twice and filled it back up. 48mpg. People forget that £15 of petrol is about 2.2 gallons these days.


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## nick.s (Dec 21, 2009)

Coolant Temp Sensor is a common fault on many Vaux engines, causing crap MPG.


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