Vauxhall Corsa vs Vauxhall Vivaro Life Electric

The Vauxhall Vivaro Life Electric costs £9,395 more than the Vauxhall Corsa. For that premium it adds 4 more seats (9 versus 5). The Vauxhall Corsa is not just cheaper - it also offers a 6.1s quicker 0-62mph time and lower energy use, 160 versus 242 Wh/km. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Vauxhall Corsa comes out ahead overall.

The Vauxhall Corsa is £9,395 cheaper to buy. The Vauxhall Corsa is cheaper to charge, roughly £176 a year versus £264 for the Vauxhall Vivaro Life Electric, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Vauxhall Corsa comes out roughly £9,835 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 149 miles for the Vauxhall Corsa and 152 miles for the Vauxhall Vivaro Life Electric - effectively matched, and both well below their WLTP figures because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 30 minutes in the Vauxhall Corsa and 45 in the Vauxhall Vivaro Life Electric, so the Vauxhall Corsa loses less time at each stop.

The Vauxhall Corsa is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 155 mm narrower than the Vauxhall Vivaro Life Electric. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 635 mm of total clearance for the Vauxhall Corsa and about 480 mm of total clearance for the Vauxhall Vivaro Life Electric. The Vauxhall Corsa also turns in a 1.7 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 Vauxhall Corsa and 84% for the Vauxhall Vivaro Life Electric. 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.