I will have the astra any day of the week. Classic 2.0 16v redtop engine. Cheaper running costs, no concentric slave hidden within the gearbox to worry about. No turbo to worry about. Lightweight. Easy to work on. 30 years as well and still going strong i bet the corsa won't go 30 years. I had a mk2 1990 astra 1.8 sri and when i sold it with nearly 200,000 miles the engine was still perfect using very little oil and on the original clutch and gearbox. This 2.0 16v will be even better. Corsa is alright if you have plenty of money to repair it in the future and it will be a lot harder to work on than the astra. You will also need a laptop as well to sort its problems out too. The astra mk2 2.0 16v is king.

The Astra was never going to win but look at it. It's an Astra GTE 😍😍

it makes perfect sense to race a turbo car vs non turbo...GTE all day for me...

I had a Nova GSI with the C20XE 16V Red Top engine in it pushing 194bhp. It ran 13 second 1/4 miles and would have spat that Corsa out of the exhaust.

This guy is good. A rare blend of journalistic talent and half a personality. Makes a nice change. Keep it up.

still prefer the gte. old school!

The Kadett GSI still better than the new Astra.

Great test, loved oldtimer. Looking forward to more similar test.

200bhp is faster than 150bhp, tune in next week to find out 'is water wet'?

The GTE engine was really limited by its standard fuel injection. If you stuck on a pair of carbs or ITBs without any other mods you got an instant 180-190+bhp. Although even as standard the GTE 16v struggled to get its power down. Man, I'd love to have my GTE 16v back now haha!

I still love driving my Calibra Turbo 4x4.....Oldschool all the way.

Loved that 16v gte. My neighbour had one, and my had the xr3i. We had fun in them. Last November I got rid of trh GTC, and loved the handling of the gtc. I use to think it was a far off successor to the GTE.

Well done,super well made video

ABS was standard on the 16v .Do your homework .

I had a rare F reg one back in the 90's with the coscast engine. It was significantly faster than the H reg cars and would definitely have made a race of it.

Ah love it, i had the 8v in 90s and then the 16v, was quick for its time. Although hes incorrect about abs/antilock mine had it on the 16V? in fact at 1.27 you can see the ABS check light. Great engine in the gte...but could be tail happy, but that made it fun too. Dam that corsa is ugly

I just can't believe the wieght of that Corsa, is more or less the same as the old 1982/3 Pontiac Firebird Coupe with 2.5L ironduke. That is mad.

The sound, when he put into 2nd in the corsa.. Ouch! :'D

The early gte 16v ones had 156bhp this later one had a few less horsepower 150bhp. Its mainly the heavy weight that made the latest hot hatches feel a bit dumpy & lifeless with lack of feel for the road. That's the first thing i noticed with late 90's onwards hot hatches. I could get 60,000 miles plus on the rear tyres with the mk2 astra but only 40,000 miles with the new ones.

Yep. The GTE DOES have ABS.

It's rare to see these cars nose to nose. It really drives home how cars have grown. The Corsa(Nova) was a super mini and the Astra a compact.

I still have my mk2 Astra gte and they do have abs

Mine had 195 40 14 tyres handling was spot on

When he went into 2nd gear in the Corsa I thought he was trying to break the gearbox..

what a fantastic car the gte was, im suprised he didnt mention the escort rs turbo aswel, such a close rival

great vid

Hmm.. well the Astra (Kadett) 16v in 1990 would of had 150hp, the non-emissions versions were in 1988 with 156hp. Also these cars had ABS brakes added to them as standard starting in 89. Before that ABS was an option. By 1990 all Astra/Kadett GSi16v's had 150hp and ABS brakes and the excellent F20 5sp sport transmission. 0-100 (62mph) for Kadett GSi16v 150ps/hp was 8.0s with a top speed of 217kmh as stated by Opel. You could go quicker and faster of course depending on your driving skills.

How big the corsa is now. When you think that the Corsa is one number smaller than the Astra (or Opel Kadett GSI 16V). In Germany it was not overlooked. Here was always a "battle" between Kadett (Astra) and Golf. Ford Escort was way behind in sales on 3rd place in the hot hatch size. Peugeot GTIs have been very rare here. This was mostly like this in continental Europe. Only UK was different market and in France it was the Peugeot and the Golf mainly. Citroen and Renault have been there also mass sellers.

Put a Vauxhall cavalier turbo against the corsa

mk2 16v gte's handled crap when they were new but my mates used to wipe the floor with my rs turbo in the early 90s in a straight line but there was no comparison when it came to the bends. The rs made you go faster the astra loved to swap ends from time to time....many a heart stopping moment in his car! but as I said it was very fast for the time..

I remember when i lived in Hull in the 80's/90's seeing GTE's being nicked every other night thrashing about, sounded great and scary to watch such a quick car in the hands of 15yr olds.

thats an Opel Kadett!! My dad used to have one !!!

Amandoua Opel sunt super👍

Damn I wanted the Astra to win

He says at 1:22 that it doesn't have anti-lock brakes, but there is an ABS warning light at 1:27.

The Astra wins purely because i don’t feel sick looking at it 👌

I had a GTE, they do have ABS.

My dad had lots of Vauxhall’s and he had a bombshell Astra and he had a nova gsi

What are their lap times?

good old opel kadett gsi !

All quite true, however there is lot more power to be extracted from the C20XE "red top" without forced induction. My old pal has one in a Mk I Escort, 330 bhp, that is period Formula 3 more or less. He can beat ex WRC cars in the dry on tarmac rally's.

The advantages of the new car were slways gonna mean it won regardless of the 250kg penalty. More torque.....that turbo punch..... better tyres....drexler diff......forget all that. Back in the day it was up there as one of best. Easy to diss it 25 years on.

Didn't have anti lock brakes, 1:27 abs light on dash !

Lets face it. Skinny wheels and prob loadsa miles on clock means its not got the grip and prob not as much bhp that it had new. Plus the vxr kicks out around 50hp more. Not a fair test

USA got the Astra as the Pontiac LeMans but not with this engine option. The previous car with the LeMans name was huge and with a big V8. Had Pontiac used a different name and brought over this engine then this car could have stood a chance.

I had a GTE back those days. As RC car.

The astra has ABS also It wasn't embarrassed on performance despite the fact it is 30 years old and doesn't have a turbo

I can't believe how big that Corsa is compared to the Astra! And to think that Corsas were meant to be baby Astras when they first came out... Cars have become enormous...

1988 16V Astra 0-60 6.9sec legendary .....

Be a different story if the GTE had a C20LET in it which most do nowadays 😎

Vauxhall nova was way hotter😍😍 then an Astra in my eyes

que interesante...y porque no lo comparamos contra un calibra turbo? los mismos cv casi..a ver que le podria pasar al corsa..lo mismo se le escapa al tio un ...ostia puta..asi lo mismo se equilibra un poco la batalla.

The tyres alone make this an unfair challenge

Not sure this was a fair test, I know Vauxhall Heritage centres 16v is far from factory fresh! Firstly the sloppy steering isnt a thing on GTE’s so says track rod ends are knackred. Secondly H and J plate GTE 16v’s had ABS as standard fitment. Thirdly this one is nowhere near as powerful as it should be, I can hear it, it sounds lazy. I hammered a MK6 Astra VXR in my GTE 16v last year! Granted he got me on corners as the GTE doesn’t like them but made it up on the straights...pretty sure mine wouldn’t sit behind a Corsa VXR like that!

astra gte any day

I had a GTE 16v with a c20let, f28 and 5 stud calibra turbo alloy's fitted...would spank most of these so called fat fuck hot hatch cars. It was like driving the USS Enterprise!!...once you got traction that is!

Oh Yeah, that is the WRONG Digi Dash too! That is off an earlier Car

wouldn't it make more sense to compare the Corsa B sport (1993-2000) to the corsa vxr 2015

1:17 he lists the features the Astra didn’t have including no ABS. At 1:26 oh look the dashboard runs through it’s checks and there’s an ABS light. 🙄 Do your research!

Por qué la caddett no le da caña se nota que no le pida de jamelo Ami yaberas lo que ago

The presenter is wrong here- the GTE does have ABS anti lock brakes 100%

V to the X to the R vs G to the T to the E...

The early 1988/89 gte 16v were quicker, no cat? Nearly bought a 1991 one but had lost it sparkle compared to the 1989 I drove. Corsa ugly give me the old school gte any day

25 years and is that all ???

The Astra will still be plodding on after the corsa a spit piston 4 out. 😂

corsa is better in almost every area? um no. corsa looks like every other car today. no soul. were as astra good the looks. the feel. kept up with the vxr even when gte is 156bhp and corsa is 205bhp. and that with it being a c20xe engine and not the c20let. and lets face it who dont love the gte digi dash. and fact it dont have stupid breaking thing that modern cars have is a plus. my bmw everytime a wheel goes over abit ice it puts break on that wheel which then makes car drift where as been fine if it never had it and id drove over it without a problem. oh and why would want by a corsa vxr when they keep catching fire in the dash due to wrong gadge wire being used on the heater and not being recalled.

Brazilian Chevrolet Kadett GSI looks more clean them Astra GTE

Put a turbo in the gte, watch it leave the Corsa for dead..

The size difference is incredible just goes to show how fat people have got these days.

Cars shouldnt be tested against ones 25 years younger with advances in all areas.....I mean seriously what do you expect? That the old car is going to trounce the more powerful newer stiffer more well built better braked better tyred better equipped car? A better test would be to see how the GTE once faired against the comptition of its day.

But the GTE did have ABS…

Prefer the astra gte to the new corsa

But the Astra's much better looking

here is an idea take all that turbo crap off the corsa then redo the one horse race for the astra

Why does bloke replace T's with D's?

GTE anyday

The 16 v was quick but it handled like a bag of shit

My 2008 Vauxhall mariva design 1.6 automatic and manual car will wipe shit out of them both

I'll take the gte.

should have been against the astra vxr!

pug GTI 1.9 , Renault 5 GT TURBO an Astra GTE were all the same speed just the GTE had a slightly faster top end but GTE handled like a boat.

But the Astra GTE will always be cool. The Corsa vxr just isn't the same. Good car yes, cool as a car from the hey day? No!

they always have to talk about how the fiesta feels more "engaging to drive" bullshit. Anyway I would like to see a 179bhp Fiesta ST catch up with this 202bhp Corsa VXR its better... nuff said

That is NOT a real 16V GTE. It is a cobble together of an 8V or SRi .. It SHOULD HAVE a Top Spoiler It SHOULD HAVE ABS. I Should have rear discs..? As for the Gear Box and Suspension? Who knows.. Looks OK .... Doesn't sound correct either.. It has a None standard Exhaust.. And it SHOULD have (seriously) decent Alloys from a Modern Astra... (Sheds about half a tonne) Also, it should have a NUTTER Driving it!

So you make a video to big up the gte astra for only you to shit on it with a vxr corsa.

Lets be honest here... The astra is the one you want. Lol

nonsense out of context for each decade, Astra GTE in 1985... like having a New Range Rover now" not just about power, these were prestigious cars also.. something they aren't so much now. a hothatch pre 2000 was a different animal back in the day

kinda looks like a opel kadet

I bet corsa gsi would beat vxr

This Kadet is not eaven thrying to win 😅

Power wise there is not much difference. Astra is 151bhp (per tonne) Corsa is 156bhp (per tonne) So it’s all down to how that power is used , and I predict/ read other comments that the VXR will win 😂

Pointless irrelevant test trying to compare something nearly 30 years old. Bloody obvious the result

They can't drive a Gte

190hp new car vs what? A 100hp 25 year old car. Come on! The corsa are sh¡te tbh

What a stale performance