Last year, Opel introduced the sprightly Adam S, which uses the brand’s turbocharged 1,4-litre four-cylinder engine and makes for an entertaining little warm hatch. Now Opel in Germany has taken the wraps off the Corsa S, which features pretty much the same setup.
Thing is, we have something similar in South Africa already, and have had for some time now. In fact, we ran a Corsa Sport as part of our long-term fleet not all that long ago. Granted, that model featured five doors, unlike the three-door model you see here (although the Corsa S will also be offered in five-door guise in Europe).
The Corsa S uses the same 1,4-litre engine as the Sport model and Adam S, which means it has 110 kW and 220 N.m of torque sent to the front wheels via a six-speed manual transmission. This gives it a claimed 0-100 km/h time of 8,9 seconds and a top speed of 207 km/h (interestingly, slightly better figures than claimed for SA’s Corsa Sport).
Visually, however, there are a few changes that Opel says were OPC-inspired. The Corsa S dons a larger boot spoiler, side-skirts and rear lip, along with a chrome-effect exhaust tip. Other design cues include faux-carbon-fibre side-mirror caps and 17-inch titanium alloy wheels (again, the same wheels as those used on the Corsa Sport). Interestingly, there are also OPC badges sited on the front fenders just below the indicators.
Inside, the driver is greeted by a leather-wrapped sports steering wheel, aluminium sports pedals and a splash of red accenting. The Corsa S also comes standard with tinted windows and the brand’s 4,0 IntelliLink system. The leather Recaro bucket seats you see below, however, are an optional extra. And unlike the Adam S, which comes standard with ContiSportContact tyres, the Corsa S is fitted with the Continental ContiEcoContact.
No word yet on whether this model will make its way to South Africa, but it seems unlikely considering Opel SA already has this base covered (and recently rejigged its local Corsa line-up)…
