Do you remember the Chevy Corsica hatchback? Yeah, neither do I.
Image: Answers.com
Of Corsica You Do
About
-
In high school, upon finding out I liked cars, this weird girl I hung around for reasons unknown commented that her boyfriend had a special edition Chevy Corsica (this was the early 90’s), I assured her that there was never such a thing. Maybe I was wrong(ish).
-
Nice Peugeot, dude.
-
I do remember them and then just as today I ask myself “Why?” I will say that the Corsica was biggest pile of crap ever.
-
That Soviet stance is amazing – the rear overhang seems to start above the wheel’s midpoint.
-
Of Corsica it’s not the strangest vehicle made out of those parts:
http://www.carpages.ca/photos/item/793000/793575.21643325.lg.jpg-
I had those difficult to clean wheels on my 91 Sunbird
-
-
Ever since I had the extraordinary pleasure of first clapping eyes on a Corsica, I realised how much it reminded me of the Ford Orion.
https://spct2000.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/1990-ford-escort-clx.jpg
The Sedan variant of the Euro Ford Escort, and probably seen as being nearly as wretched as the Corsica. Also, though the Orion is much smaller (because Europe) I bet it appealed to basically the same market demographic.-
People with a statistically significant number of cats, I assume.
-
Nothing should ever remind anyone, anywhere, of the Ford Orion.
At one time Ireland’s Gardaí (police) had been equipped with naturally-aspirated diesel Orions in some areas. I can state that the only way they ever pulled anyone over would have been either through a) a lucky shot allowing them to ram the vehicle they wanted to stop or b) an act of charity (or pity) by the person behind the wheel of the pursued vehicle.
-
-
I do.
-
You gave up on life, so you bought a Corsica.
-
The Corsica hatch always struck me as the car least changed when made into a hatchback. It looked like they popped the rear window, removed the decklid, sawzalled the bulkhead and screwed on a giant bubbled hatch. Done. No need for special styling since the Corsica had so little to begin with.
-
Back in ~1989 the company I worked for sent me on a 4 week training in Rochester NY, and I was given a Corsica 2.8 V6 hatch as a rental car. I found it to be a great car compared to my Sierra back home. I guess a cars greatness is relative to the choice of comparison.
-
It’s the Sierra that is the design icon, but leaving all knowledge about expected GM product quality aside, I think the Corsica hatchback can hold its own against the Ford. It’s a restrained design of its time, nothing offensive to my eyes. Haven’t driven any of them though.
http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/chevrolet-corsica-8.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4039/4453803211_2a99cd8b06.jpg -
What training did you get in Rochester?
-
Worked for the big yellow photo company back then. (Sad to see the way it goes with them now, by the way). It was for Clinical Diagnostic equipment (blood analyzers).
-
The general state of manufacturing here in Rochester can be quite depressing.
I asked where because 4 weeks training back then was most likely with the photo company, optics company, copier company, or gear company… I happen to work at the gear company so thought I would ask.
Hopefully they sent you during summer to enjoy our nicer weather.-
I was there 4 times from -89 to -97, 3 of which was in summer (or at least not winter). Got to travel around a bit on the weekends, which I enjoyed a lot. I hear some of my current colleagues in the area saying times are not like in the 90s. We (the spin-off Health division) still have a headquarter there, but there is a lot less much manufaturing involved nowadays, as it is much of what we sell are software.
I did get to see the Lilac Festival in .94, good timing on that training!
All the best to you guys over there!
-
-
-
-
-
Wasn’t there a Cheech & Chong movie about these? http://assets.hulu.com/shows/key_art_cheech_and_chongs_the_corsican_brothers.jpg
-
The Corsica LTZ was actually strangely attractive and borderline tasteful, which is weird from Roger Smith’s GM. I think you could even theoretically get an LTZ hatch, which is strangely appealing. Mind you, the 2.8 sounds, at best, endearingly awful (that warble was the soundtrack of my high school).
-
One of many terrible, forgettable Chevy’s from the oh, mid eighties to mid nineties. Lumina, Corsica, APV, Baretta, etc. They all looked strangely, horribly, similar.
-
Has there ever been a two-box hatchback sedan that’s sold well over here? I can’t think of one, and the most recent one offered in the U.S. that I can think of is the first-gen Mazda 6.
That’s a shame, because I’d love to see GM and Ford send over the 5-door Insignia and Mondeo to give the Regal and Fusion, respectively, an even more practical body style option.
http://carlook.net/data/db_photos/opel/insignia/1st/opel_insignia_1st_hatchback5d-3578.jpg
http://cdn.gmotors.co.uk/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/New-Ford-Mondeo-hatchback.jpg-
The Insignia sedan and hatchback are nearly identical though apart from the lifting rear window, the presence of a wiper and an ever so disappearingly small difference in shape.
-
Exactly! I think a lot of car buyers over here still equate “hatchback” with “cheap” and “compact,” and the fact that so many modern ones do such a great job at disguising their bigger boot lids would negate a lot of the embarrassment(?) they might feel.
-
-
The Mondeo/Fusion sedan is already so close to that that really, they might as well (same could be said of the first-gen Mazda6, I think, though to a lesser extent). Undoubtedly the stubby little trunk lid on the Fusion leads into a rather large, useful volume — why not be able to access it more easily? Plus, maybe it’s just me, but that Mondeo hatch looks great. In a long-ish, sedan-size car, and with that much rake to the hatchback, the look comes off more like “big fastback” than the upright, lowly 3-door compact econo-hatch that many people here still seem to equate “hatchback” to.
-
-
I owned a Corsica back in the day and loved it for the most part. Some of the mechanical issues boggled the mind but it was a comfortable car with plenty of power. Being a young family with two kids it was a great car for us.
-
I do, strange enough, I think I saw them more than once on Dutch roads at the time. For an American car, they sold very well over here. I do remember asking myself why, for the same money as an Audi 80/BMW 3-series.
-
In addition: I’ve been searching a bit and found more than ten for sale quiet eassily, non of them more expensive than 950€. Let’s buy them all and make this a cult-car. We’re getting rich.
-
-
I actually just saw one. Obviously a direct import, red indicators and such. Is that a V8?
Leave a Reply