2020 Opel Corsa vs. Renault Clio: Now a French Car Rivalry?

It can be as cheap as a Dacia, has nice features and first-timers love it for its ease of use. But the new Corsa is now a Peugeot... kind of, and they make expensive, cool cars.

After seeing it side-by-side with the equally new Renault Clio, it immediately became clear that this was a completely different kind of Opel Corsa. It's not built to a low budget like before, and the styling is up there with the best of them.

One thing every French carmaker tries to do is to make the headlights as interesting as possible. The Corsa is like that too, though not to the same extent as the Clio. For some strange reason, we like the appearance of the Renault more. It must be the blue color or the stronger rear shoulders.

Corsa has some big hips too, but they're straight from one end to the other. Also, you can't ignore the fact that it's a 5-door-only car, while the predecessor was popular as a 3-door too. Small car sales are driven by prices but interior quality also plays a big price.

Moving inside, the Corsa, we notice that it has quite a few elements from the 208, like the shifter for the auto gearbox and the wide infotainment screen. It's not as funky as the Clio, though, which has everything from faux carbon to displays inside the climate controls. Good job Renault!

When it comes to the engines, both cars feature really quite small ones. The range of the new Corsa is basically the same as the Peugeot 208, meaning most models will get the 1.2-liter. Meanwhile, Renault's "vanilla" engine is a 100 horsepower 1-liter, available for the first time with a CVT. A 130 horsepower 1.3-liter matches Opel's top configuration. The difference-makers is no diesel, but an all-electric version for the German model which arrives next year.