A12XER 1.2 16V
The volume Corsa petrol, port-injected with a timing chain rather than a belt. It's adequate in town and out of its depth on a motorway, and the chain is worth listening to on a cold engine.
| Configuration | I4, naturally aspirated | Displacement | 1229 cc |
| Fuel | petrol | Injection | port |
| Shared components | none recorded | ||
Cars using this engine
| Variant | Chassis | Body | Years | Power | Risk | Good buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.2 16V | D | hatchback | 2009–2014 | 85 PS | R2 | €3,650 |
Engine and component issues
A rattle from the front of the engine at a cold start, and a camshaft correlation fault once the chain has stretched far enough. The chain and tensioner wear on short-trip use and stretched oil changes, which is exactly how most of these cars have lived. The part cost is modest and the labour is what makes it worth checking.
Check: Start it from stone cold and listen. Ask for the oil-change history, because interval length predicts this better than mileage does.
Chassis, gearbox and body issues aren't listed here. They depend on which car the engine is fitted to. Open a variant page for the merged list.