• Cabin space comparable to petrol Corsa’s
• Rear-seat space is reasonable for the class
• Boot space trails petrol-powered rivals

How much space is there?

Almost as much as the petrol-powered Corsa. The battery pack under the car’s floor has shaved a few millimetres from the supermini’s interior, but there really isn’t much in it. Leg and head room are plentiful up front and there’s a surprising amount of elbow room considering the car’s compact size.

Space in the rear is less impressive. With a tall driver ahead, even an average-height passenger will find their knees brushing against the front seat back. Taller passengers may also find their heads are very close to the Corsa’s roof.

The comparably sized BYD Dolphin is packaged far more efficiently, as its engineers didn’t need to factor a bulky petrol engine into its design. More of the car’s length is therefore dedicated to the passenger compartment, which means its leg, knee and foot space are far more generous.

Boot space and storage

The Vauxhall Corsa Electric has 267 litres of boot space with the rear seats in place. That’s 42 litres less than you get in the petrol-engined car, with the lost capacity being eaten up by the battery pack. That means, by switching to electric power, the Corsa has a comparable amount of boot space to the petrol-powered Suzuki Swift, which is far from the most practical supermini on sale.

Most importantly, the Vauxhall’s boot is a whopping 78 litres smaller than the BYD Dolphin’s. It’s a good shape, though. It’s easy to package suitcases into because the space is basically a big cuboid with minimal intrusion from the rear shock towers. There is a large loading lip, however, so you need to heave items over that before you can lower them into the boot.

Cabin storage is a hit and miss. The door bins are enormous and have a drinks holder large enough for a litre-sized water bottle. However, the cubby hiding in the centre armrest is positively miniscule. It’s barely big enough to hold a wallet and a bunch of keys.

Safety

• Four-star Euro NCAP score
• Stacks of standard safety kit
• Good adult occupant protection

The Vauxhall Corsa was crash-tested by Euro NCAP in 2019 and it achieved a four-star safety score. It performed best in the adult occupant protection category but scored poorly in the vulnerable road users section.

As mentioned on the first page of this review, the revised Corsa Electric is fitted with loads of driver assistance technology, such as lane-keeping assist and autonomous emergency braking. The tech helped to bump up the car’s Euro NCAP safety score – but our favourite piece of safety equipment doesn’t feature in Euro NCAP’s assessment.

We’re talking about the Corsa’s LED Matrix headlamps, which are fitted as standard to the range-topping Ultimate model. They’re fantastic. They’re searingly bright and feature a clever adaptive high-beam function which can track nearby traffic and cut them out of the beam. That means you can drive past oncoming traffic with high beam engaged, allowing you to illuminate more of the road more of the time. It’s far safer for drivers living in poorly lit rural areas.