The Corsa OPC, or VXR as it's known in Britain, was the first supermini hot hatch to go for a downsized 1.6-liter turbo engine. And now that Ford, Peugeot and Renault all use the same setup, Opel is very angry with the world and wants to show it can do things better than everybody.
Ahead of its debut during the 2015 edition of the Geneva Motor Show, the German automaker has shown the first clip of the exhaust sound the updated 2015 model produces. The hardcore version of the Corsa E will undoubtedly be powered by a 1.6-liter, but we expect a significant bump in output from the 192 PS of old to about 210 PS or so.
210 hp from a 1.6 – are we out of our minds? No, just check out the exhaust, which looks almost identical to the old OPC Nurburgring edition.
Probably even more important than the power is the increase in torque, which should go up to about 300 Nm (221 lb-ft) of torque, good for 0 to 100 km/h in around 6.8 seconds and a top speed of around 220 km/h (136 mph).
The exhaust definitely doesn't disappoint, in fact it does justice to the Opel Performance Center. For the best part of a year and a half, this prototype has been driven hard around the Nurburgring test track and has probably racked up as many laps as some Porsche mules. The rear diffuser also looks pretty cool, even though it probably does precious little to create actual downforce.
OPC builds driver's cars, so don't expect any trick twin-clutch DSG/PDK/EDC nonsense here, just an honest 6-speed stick and 3 pedals for your feet.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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