BMW i3s vs Vauxhall Corsa

The BMW i3s costs £10,165 more than the Vauxhall Corsa. For that premium it adds 35 kW more power and a 1.3s quicker 0-62mph time. The Vauxhall Corsa is not just cheaper - it also offers 44 miles more WLTP range, 50 kW faster peak rapid charging and 1 more seat (5 versus 4). On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Vauxhall Corsa comes out ahead overall.

The Vauxhall Corsa is £10,165 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £176 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Vauxhall Corsa comes out roughly £10,205 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 118 miles for the BMW i3s and 149 miles for the Vauxhall Corsa - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Vauxhall Corsa goes roughly 31 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 42 minutes in the BMW i3s and 30 in the Vauxhall Corsa, so the Vauxhall Corsa loses less time at each stop. That makes the Vauxhall Corsa the stronger long-distance car.

The two are within 26 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 635 mm of total clearance for the Vauxhall Corsa and about 609 mm of total clearance for the BMW i3s. The BMW i3s also turns in a 0.8 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the BMW i3s and 84% for the Vauxhall Corsa. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.