Hello Ian,

The ‘piston four’ problem on older Vauxhall Corsa VXRs (or Opel Corsa OPCs) is much more common on variants that have been tuned, and it also comes down to cooling issues (i.e., if someone has modified the car and fitted a bigger intercooler than the standard item, then things should be OK). A lot of the piston problem was blown out of proportion – you can search the internet and find horror stories about all models of car, but not all of them are necessarily widespread or even common among a given car; it’s more likely that just the disgruntled, unlucky owners who do have a problem want to vent their spleen. If your VXR was running OK when you bought it and it has done a fair few miles, it’s a good bet the fourth piston isn’t about to let go any time soon.