Vauxhall Corsa vs VW e-Golf

The VW e-Golf costs £3,340 more than the Vauxhall Corsa. For that premium it adds 74 litres more boot space. The Vauxhall Corsa is not just cheaper - it also offers 103 miles more WLTP range, 60 kW faster peak rapid charging and a 2.2s quicker 0-62mph time. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Vauxhall Corsa comes out ahead overall.

The Vauxhall Corsa is £3,340 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £168 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 £3,300 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 71 miles for the VW e-Golf - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Vauxhall Corsa goes roughly 78 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 30 minutes in the Vauxhall Corsa and 22 in the VW e-Golf, so the VW e-Golf loses less time at each stop. So the Vauxhall Corsa stops less often while the VW e-Golf stops for less time - pick on which you would rather do.

The Vauxhall Corsa is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 34 mm narrower than the VW e-Golf. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 635 mm of total clearance for the Vauxhall Corsa and about 601 mm of total clearance for the VW e-Golf.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Vauxhall Corsa and 84% for the VW e-Golf. 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.