Corsa cleans up act

Engineers at Vauxhall have worked their magic under the bonnet of the popular diesel supermini to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions - and the results will save drivers money.

The revised Corsa 1.3 CDTI 75PS - which is on sale now, priced from £9,810 - emits less CO2 than the pre­vious model. Its figure is down from 124g/km to 119g/km. "This may seem like a small step, but it means that owners will now find their car is in road tax Band B, lowering the cost of an annual disc from £115 to only £35," said a Vauxhall spokesman.

It also has huge implications for the planet; 5g/km isn't much of a reduction, but as Vauxhall will sell around 7,000 of the superminis in the UK this year alone, that's a lot less CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere. The revamped diesel powerplant, which is available in Life and Club trim levels, is also good news for motorists in the south-east. Because the Corsa now emits less than 120g/km of carbon dioxide, it will be exempt from London's congestion charge if Mayor Ken Livingstone's proposals are approved. This incentive, due to take effect next year, could save drivers who enter the capital daily more than £2,000 every year.

And company car owners will also benefit if they choose the 1.3-litre diesel. It falls into the new 13 per cent company car tax band which was introduced by the Chancellor for diesel models emitting less than 120g/km. The drop could save top-band earners £237 a year.

In fact, Vauxhall believes that if a corporate fleet driver was using the Corsa in London every day, he would recoup the list price of the car in tax and congestion charge savings after little more than four years.