Vauxhall Vans - Nice Delivery!
Let's face it the thought of a small van doesn't really set one's pulse racing but nevertheless they are an essential part of everyday life. Delivering everything from those flowers you sent as a gift for your Gran whose birthday you always forget, or your freshly dry cleaned suit and before you ask, yes they did manage to remove those embarrassing stains!
As with a lot of functional items these days the manufacturers feel obliged to offer ever more extravagant features to tempt would-be buyers. There was a time when you were lucky to find a working seat belt in a van and the arrival of the cup holder to cradle that cup of milky tea from the transport café was a celebrated day indeed.
Nowadays vans are being offered with six-speed gearboxes, alloy wheels and air conditioning so the days of having a sun tanned right arm by leaning out of the window desperate for a summer breeze will soon be a thing of the past.
I have been looking at Vauxhall vans recently as my friend's courier company is doing quite well and he is thinking about buying a new small van and I never miss an opportunity to have a look at new vehicles whatever they may be. Off we trekked to a Vauxhall van centre to have a look at what was available and the little Corsavan caught my friend's eye.
He told me was looking to minimise his carbon footprint I said wear smaller shoes, but what I meant smartass he said is reduce my C02 output, try breathing less I said. You're not taking this seriously at all are you he said. Well ok why don't you go for the diesel version I said at 56mpg even when you give it some welly, the 75bhp 1.3 CDTi engine is pretty impressive or maybe you could consider the alternative of an 80bhp 1.2 litre twinport petrol engine. You could get it converted to run on LPG and reduce your emissions to less than the oil-burner but as he soon pointed out there are about three petrol stations in the UK that actually sell LPG.
Realising that we had strayed a bit from the point our attention returned back to the van What about cab space? This looked pretty good to me and they seem to have taken the cup holder thing a bit far with this one, looks like you could fit a couple of six packs around the place, not much room for the sandwiches though. As for safety devices the Corsavan is certainly packing. Included are ABS, Electronic Brakeforce Distribution and Emergency Brake Assist; and that's not all. Also included are Cornering Brake Control and Straight Line Stability Control. The former makes the vehicle easier to control if you have to brake sharply half-way into a bend while the latter helps to keep you in the right direction under heavy braking. On top of all that you benefit from Drag Torque Control, This helps maintain stability if you suddenly take your foot off the accelerator although this is pretty unlikely with most van drivers I know!
For your money you get just about 1.0m3 of cargo area accessed via a top-hinged back door and equipped with a half-height steel bulkhead and four load tie-down rings. The Corsavan will handle a 550kg payload and haul a braked trailer grossing at up to 1005kg.
A five-speed manual gearbox comes as standard allowing the Corsavan to accelerate strongly from rest, and there is no lag as you accelerate through the gears and you'll find sufficient top-end punch to keep high-speed motorway cruisers happy. Its suspension also seems capable of coping with the worst Britain's increasingly dreadful road surfaces can throw at it. The electric power steering makes it easy to maneuver the Vauxhall's little load-lugger into confined spaces.
My friend seemed taken with the Corsavan although he is a bit notorious for not making his mind up about things so we will see if he takes the plunge with this one!
Jon Barlow reviews the Vauxhall Corsavan. The full Vauxhall van range can be found at Now Vauxhall
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