THE Vauxhall Corsa is turning 25 and in the years it has been on sale it has become part of everyday life for thousands upon thousands of motorists.
It's Vauxhall's top seller, almost never out of the top five in the sales charts and since it first appeared back in 1993 more than two million have hit the road.
That shakes down to nine Corsas being sold in Britain every hour and today it's as popular as ever as one of the great superminis.
The current model - only the third generation - has been around since 2014 and there's a mind-boggling 80-odd variants on the market with prices ranging from £11,045 to £20,555 for the hot VXR.
In every way the Corsa is a car that suits all tastes and can be had as a three or five door - there's even a van derivative.
In the middle of the present line up is a version that features Vauxhall's 1.4-litre four cylinder petrol engine, turbocharged to deliver 100ps and in SRi Nav trim comes with plenty of kit for £14,345.
To drive it's as sweet as they come and blends just the right amount of power to suit all the needs of modern motoring - quick when possible but with stop/start to stay frugal in traffic.
The official figures of 0 to 60 in 11 seconds and a top end of 115mph don't do it justice and with the turbo on song it handles motorway work in accomplished fashion.
It is also nicely economical, averaging 46 to the gallon on our run which took in everything from country lanes to motorways while officially the Corsa 1,4 turbo is rated at 55.4mpg with emissions of 119g/km.
The Corsa we sampled was a three door - five doors cost £500 more - and with a boot of 280 litres extending to a maximum of 1,090 litres it is as practical as any other supermini.
The interior is nicely finished - this one came with a piano black facia with red highlights matching the bodywork - and also featured an uprated Intellilink Navi 4.0 sat nav and communications system operated from a central touchscreen.
Other touches included heated front seats and steering wheel, a reversing camera and Vauxhall's OnStar help system all of which took the price up to £17,190 - but that's highly competitive in this day and age.
There's no denying the Corsa is a good looking car - that's down to Brit Mark Adams who designed the current model - and this one had a sporty touch with a rear mounted rooftop spoiler.
A sporty theme beckons for the future too with Vauxhall about to reintroduce a GSi Corsa as part of its silver jubilee.
Such a model was last seen in 1993 when the Corsa replaced the Nova as Vauxhall's baby and while the newcomer will be very much a car of today it will still capture the spirit that's made the Corsa such a much-loved model.
And after that, the Corsa is slated to go on to open another chapter is Vauxhall's history as its first all-electric model, due for introduction next year.
Here's a fact for every year of Corsa history:
1. The original Corsa was introduced in an advert with supermodels Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista
2. With the Corsa a popular driving school car, It was once claimed that about 70 per cent of learners buy the same model as they passed their test in as their first car
3. Vauxhall has sold two million Corsas in the UK and 9.86 million globally
4. Corsa means race in Italian
5. When Arctic Monkeys signed a publishing deal with EMI publishing, lead vocalist Alex Turner celebrated by buying a Vauxhall Corsa
6. The Corsa replaced the much-loved Vauxhall Nova
7. Actor Matt Smith sold his Corsa on eBay for £6,300, donating the fee to children's charity Starlight
8. Tinie Tempah, boxer Nicola Adams and ex Doctor Who actor Matt Smith all bought the Corsa as their first car
9. The most popular latest Corsa colour bought is the Grey, with 45,050 Grey Corsas currently on British roads
10. The original model sold for £7,195 with the price rising by just £3,850 in its 25 years. Assuming an annual inflation rate of two per cent, it would be less expensive now than in 1993
11. Vauxhall has sold 20,000 Corsas to the UK Police forces in the past ten years
12. Original Corsa designer Richard Shaw still works at Vauxhall, working through the ranks to Chief Designer for Interiors
13. Famous celebs involved in campaigns for the Corsa include Sean Paul, Claudia Schiffer, James Martin and fictional rock band The C'mons
14. Vauxhall has supplied thousands of Corsas to driving schools including BSM, Red and Hitachi Capital
15. British artist Alex Chinneck designed a gravity-defying illusionary piece of artwork which saw the artist suspend a Corsa fifteen feet in the air at London's Southbank Centre
16. Vauxhall renamed its yellow colour to Maddox Yellow to show support for pensioner Peter Maddox, who's yellow Corsa was vandalised
17. The Corsa is one of the most popular used cars bought, with 63,000 sold each year, through Network Q, the best place to buy a used Vauxhall
18. Over 100 models of the Corsa have featured in the annual Vauxhall Art Car Boot Fair at locations across the UK for the past thirteen years
19. The latest generation of the Corsa is available in 13 colours
20. Some Corsa models have a hidden shark on the hinge of the glove compartment
21. Unusual Corsa models have included a convertible version and a sporty pick-up
22. In 2014, the prototype fourth generation Corsa was in gear to win the Guinness World Record for the "Largest GPS Drawing"
23. Vauxhall created a pair of bespoke headphones in the shape of a Corsa to help launch the fifth year of theUK Beatbox Championshipsin 2011
24. The Corsa previously shared some of the same parts with a sports car, the Lotus Elise
25. A new electric Corsa model will be launching in 2019 - Vauxhall's first electric Corsa