Chevy Aveo, why not spring for a Fit?
 

We are finally returning my wife's rental Aveo today when we pick up her Fit Sport from the body shop.

I will be the first to admit that I am biased towards Hondas but I have to say that there is nothing redeeming about the Aveo. Has anyone else driven one?

The interior is terrible, the fit and finish doesn't even measure up to my 12 year old CX hatch with 178,000 miles.

I know it's a rental but it doesn't even have a CD player, just an AM/FM radio. It's also an automatic (again because it's a rental) which makes the agonizingly bad driving experience even worse. I wonder if a stick would help at all.

I looked up the Aveo online and saw that they start about $4500 less than a base Fit but once you option out an Aveo to the Fit's level you have to be within a few thousand bucks.

For me it's a no-brainer, spend the small amount extra and get a better looking, more fun to drive, better quality car that will actually hold it's value for years.

Just wondering if anyone else agree's, disagree's.

I wish that Chevy/Ford, etc. could make a car that stacks up to Hondas and Toyotas. I'm all for buying American but not if I get a sub-par product.

the aveo was chevy's attempt at a cheap car with descentish MPG. you can get one brand new for around 10K and yes that is with NO options.

my dad was thinking of getting one about 2 years ago, went for a test drive. with the sales lady in the car (3 of us) I told him to punch it to see if it had the power he needed. his response was "I AM". to be fair it was going up a hill. he decided to get a toyota corrola which ironically has more power and better gas mileage than the aveo. it did cost him about 3K more but the advantages out weigh the cost.

now that they have the cobalt that boasts 36 highway MPG, I can see the end of the aveo pretty soon.

just my opinion.

The Aveo is a Daewoo. I might actually choose a Honda over it, and I'm biased against Hondas...

I suppose if you wanted it without all the standard features of the Fit it might be worthwhile at $4500 less.

I don't share your general view on American cars but I suspect I'd agree about the Aveo (which is Korean anyway).

The Chevy Aveo is ridiculous. The Malibu and Malibu Maxx both get better mileage and are bigger. Get anything else.

We had a rental Aveo when our 06 Ion was in the shop for a month after getting hit by a paving truck. You could not give me an Aveo for free. You couldn't pay me to take one. No offense to anyone, but I would rather go back to my old Chevettes than drive an Aveo. For a car the size and weight of the Aveo, it should get better MPG than it does. My Ion has a bigger motor and weighs more and gets better fuel economy. Oh and the Ion is roomier also. We almost bought one when we got the Ion, but the financing deal Saturn had at the time was too good to pass up. 6 months later when the accident happened and had to drive it for a month, it was apparent we chose the better car.

Perhaps they'll give it up in favor the Astra, which is an Opel at heart?

Has anyone driven an Astra? I'm curious what the general opinion of them is.

Drove one a few generations older, they were okay, Pontiac LeMans of the 80s was one, but they probably hit the deadly penetrating fog of suckage somewhere mid atlantic and are arriving overweight with crippled motors and softer tuned suspension that now rides like crap.

I saw an Astra a few days ago, it was really sharp looking. At least I think it was an Astra, it was a four door hatchback with a similar look to the Versa but nicer.

Are you sure? The LeMans was the Kadett while the Astra was a bit bigger. Of course you never know....I could be wrong. (I used to have a Euro Kadett - generation before LeMans type but first of the OHC)

Kadett=Astra from '79, before that it was similar to the Chevette.

Oh, you might be confusing it with the Aura, similar to the Vectra which was the next size up from the Astra/Kadett after the Cavalier/Ascona

My Kadett looked just like a Chevette (at least it was a 4dr hatchback) It was an '82.

How aboutt the 1970 Model Kadett?

regards
gary

Isn't the Aveo built at the same plant in Canada where the Metro came from? Of course, it is probably a Korean design...

The chevette still gets great mpg for its technology. i bet you crammed so much crap in your chevettes you wouldn't believe it if you weren't doing it. Im not a fan of the aveos either, i dont mind the looks but i was shocked at how crappy its mpg is when i first heard about em...i still prefer domestics over imports for the fact parts are cheap and we drive cars till they explode/rust away (friggin rust belt) so resale value isnt important, but part prices and availability are.

ive always liked the looks of the ion. my dads looking into a focus when im outa college (trade in our 12 year old aerostar van) i should talk him into gettin or at least lookign at the ions. mostly because the ford vehicles weve had have had stupid problems while our 13+ year old chevys run great and only have typical stuff go out.

I think we actually packed like 8 of us into the first Chevette I had, a 1980 2 door Scooter. The blue bomber we called it. Auto trans would slip when upshifting between first and second. I rear ended a van once, but other than that could not kill that car. The second I had was an 81 4 door with a 4 speed, my first stick that I couldn't wait to drive.

No, but apparently it's going to be made in Mexico starting next year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aveo

ya im planning to take mine to college this comming fall, 5 hour one way drive, i can take 55mph highways the whole way tho:D whast funny is you can take the interstate route, its longer but easier to drive cuz its well interstate...but the 55mph route is a straight shot but 55mpg and going thru a billion little towns along the way (so 55mph most of the way but slow down to 45-35 thru some of em) might be better for the engien to wind down every now and then. Either way its exactly 5 hours (might be a minute difference lol)

LOL, I remember once we got 17 or 18 in my Pontiac Bonneville wagon... that was tight, but it was one heck of a trip to the mall... ;)

-Jay

**** that was my first car after I got my license. I was still on my parents' insurance and my mother's friends spotted us loaded to the hilt like that. I got screamed at when I got home. "Holy crap so and so said there were so many people in the car you could not see the inside"!!!!

I used to have a 1980 Pontiac Bonneville 2-door. We got 11 in, no one in the trunk. Got 30 MPG in it, 5.7 liter 350, 55 MPH on cruise, flat ground.

This is why I think I can get 100 MPG out of a severely modified CRX.

I got T-boned in the Bonneville in 1991. Needed a new left front tire. Passenger door was smashed in a little, but the power windows still worked fine. Totalled the Honda station wagon that hit me, took her front bumper off and more. Built like a tank. Wish I'd never sold it.

My good friend I bought it from was in the same model car, her family was in a wreck head-on at 55 MPH. Her dad had the engine in his lap but they all walked away, no broken bones. Those were the days.

Oh the times in that car... I never actually hit anything in my wagon, but I can remember one night when I was 17 I was driving home down the "main road" which was a 2 lane country road with a 55 mph speed limit. I came to this one spot where the road dips down into a little valley, makes a 30 degree bend right at the bottom, and immediately starts going back uphill. There is a 30 foot ravine 3 feet beyond the shoulder of the road, and no guardrails.

I was traveling at 55 and just before I got to the bottom a deer darted out in front of me from the ravine. I locked up all 4 wheels. I spun that car around 90 degrees before it finally came to a stop. I was frightened to find that my car was longer than the road was wide, and I was inches from the edge of the ravine. I think I drove 30 mph the rest of the way home... ;)

Another time I was driving home durring a really bad icestorm. There was about 1/2 inch of accumulated ice on the roads, and no sand or salt trucks had gotten that far out in the boonies. I was doing quite well, although I was taking up the entire road. The car would start sliding left, I'd steer left, recover, and start sliding right, steer right, recover, slide left. I did this for about 5 miles. Right before my subdivision was a steep hill followed by an "S" curve. As I approached the hill the car started sliding left, and I could not get it to recover. I saw a driveway and aimed for it, and slid into someone's front yard. I knocked on their door, told them what happened, and told them I'd take the car out in the morning when the ice was gone. I walked the last mile and a half home, barely able to stand on the wet, icy roads.

Anything is better than an Aveo- even Chevy's own Cobalt
 

The Chevrolet Aveo is the most abysmal car currently sold in the U.S. I was given one as a rental car back in Dec. 05 when I wrecked (totaled) my '02 Honda Accord. I returned it after one day and insisted on something different- ANYTHING had to be better! They put me in a Chevy Cobalt and, compared to the Aveo, it was better in every possible way.

The Chevy Aveo is actually built by GM-Daewoo in South Korea. It's sold as the Daewoo Kalos in most other markets. The Suzuki Reno & Forenza models, which are almost as horrible as the Aveo, are also rebadged Daewoos. This isn't the first time that GM has imported a sub-standard Daewoo and sold it under an American brand name- the nasty little Pontiac LeMans sold from '87-'93 was known the rest of the world as the Daewoo LeMans! Bad, bad cars...the Aveo shows just how little progress they've made. Note- GM and Suzuki purchased 66.7% of Daewoo in 2002 after it went bankrupt.

Sales figures for last month (June) hint that car buyers are taking a closer look at the bigger picture, not just purchase price, when choosing a new car. The Aveo was down 19.7% in sales while Cobalt sales increased by 21.6%! FYI- the Honda Fit was up 78.2% for the month...and the only thing holding it back from even more sales is the lack of cars!

For what its worth, the 2009 Aveo has a 1.6L DOHC version of the ecotec engine. Perhaps GM should put that engine into the Cobalt XFE?

Aveo's 1.6L gets worse MPG than Cobalt XFE....
 

Chevrolet may call the 1.6L in the Aveo an "Ecotec" for familiarity and branding purposes, but it's not in any way related to the 2.2L or 2.4L engines currently in the Cobalt lineup. It is actually a GM-Daewoo engine developed in South Korea along with the Daewoo Kalos which is the vehicle rebadged and sold here as the Chevy Aveo.

The 2009 Aveo's EPA ratings show that the it's 1.6L engine is significantly less efficient than the Cobalt XFE's 2.2L.

Here's a comparison-

Aveo LS 4-door- 2,568-lbs, 107hp/106lb-ft torque
Manual trans- 27/34mpg, Auto trans- 25/34mpg

Cobalt LS 4-door- 3,216-lbs, 155hp/159lb-ft torque
Manual trans (XFE)- 25/37mpg, Auto trans- 24/33mpg

Despite weighing 650 pounds more, having 48 more horsepower and an additional 53 pound-feet of torque, the manual transmission Cobalt XFE can still achieve 3mpg more on the highway than the Aveo. The Cobalt with automatic and the same power gains as noted above is only rated 1 (one) mpg lower than the Aveo with automatic.

It should also be noted that the Aveo with automatic takes 11.7 seconds to accelerate from a stop to 60mph, while the Cobalt 2.2L automatic can hit 60mph in 9.2 seconds (2.5 seconds faster).

The Aveo really doesn't make very much sense in Chevrolet's product lineup. The base model Cobalt LS with no options isn't substantially more than a similarly equipped Aveo, yet the Aveo is smaller, slower and far less comfortable....and with manual transmission, the Aveo also has worse fuel economy.

There's no hatchback Cobalt. I don't like hatchbacks (just ignore the fact that I'm driving one) but some people do.

speaking of hatch backs. I wish they would throw away the aveo and bring back a newer version of the metro. if they did (which they wont) they could offer the 3 cyl motor again.

my first car was a '93 metro. I drove it like I stole it and still got 46MPG. back when gas was a buck a gallon at the "EXPENSIVE" gas stations, and nobody cared about MPG.

A new Metro would still be much heavier than a '93, and I doubt even this energy-expensive economic climate could support the R&D to make a decent 3 cylinder engine with more power than the '93 3 cylinder.

The same comparison I had done with my 06 Ion manual sedan and an Aveo we were stuck with for a rental for a month. Its insane to think how much heavier the Ion and Cobalt is from the Aveo, even having higher displacements, yet still have higher EPA figures. And I can tell you from driving mine everyday, I am getting more than the 35 MPG highway that the 06 manual is EPA rated.

When compared to the Cobalt (in the current line up), why would anyone opt for an Aveo? Other than price, there is no reason to even look at one.

For the sake of discussion, I just priced an '08 Aveo LT 4-door (with ABS as the only option added) and an '08 Cobalt LT 4-door (with ABS and Cruise Control as the only options) so the equipment levels would be closely matched. The figures shown below are Edmunds True Market Value for each car, which is the price factoring in any discounts and incentives currently offered....

The results- Aveo LT- $14,359 and Cobalt LT- $14,356

It makes perfect sense that the Aveo was one of the very few subcompact cars to experience a sales decline in June (10.6% drop). What I can't understand is- HOW DO THEY SELL A SINGLE ONE OF THESE THINGS? They are essentially the product of a failed South Korean automaker (Daewoo) that GM bought for pocket change after they filed bankruptcy and flopped.

the way the sell them is that people assume that smaller cars will get better mileage and most salesmen are going to point you in the direction of the cars they can't get rid of. if the cobalts are selling like hotcakes then they know they will push them through. so they offer everyone who comes in for a cobalt a look at the aveo. some jump on it because "it's smaller, it must get better FE".

just like other cars, it will find it's way to the redsign room and be renamed (hopefully with better FE).

as far as the metro goes. I think with the right engine, the car would be awesome. I feel like I could get by with about 50hp or so even in a 2k lb car. I know they will never make one but it would be cool.

closest thing is the smart or the wildfire which both have their own set of drawbacks.

down with the aveo, hail to the metro of days gone by.

You can't count the Cobalt XFE, because GM made specifically for better MPG and it's only available in a Coupe.

It is regeared, has low rolling resistance tires, and has some aero mods. So for highway MPG's comparing the XFE and Aveo are a little different. Compare it to the regular 4 door cobalt would be a better comparison.

Why would those things disqualify it for comparison?

In my books, that means that chevrolet "GETS IT" they are now seeing the advantages of selling a fuel efficient car.

and according to the web site they make a sedan as well
https://www.chevrolet.com/pop/cobalt/2008/5speed_en.jsp

not that I am going to run and get one but I think the fuel economy thing is sinking in.

*edit* on that web site they have some contradicting data. it says at the bottom of that screen that it is based on the 3 door coupe. I am too lazy to actually call a dealership and ask them if they sell one so maybe I am wrong. but it does say XFE sedan.

GM has never really been serious about creating a top notch small car. Just look at their domestic-based attempts:

1. Corvair: infamous subject of Ralph Nader's "Unsafe at Any Speed".

2. Vega: Disastrous oil-burning nightmare. I once dated a woman who had one; we had to add oil almost each day!

3. Cavalier: Numerous quality control problems. My wife had one (since gotten rid of in favor of a 2002 Honda Civic Coupe). Head gasket replaced twice (coolant leaked into oil system), transmission failure, A/C coolant leaked out, power window failure, front brake pads wear out after 20K.

4. Cobalt: Consumer Reports gives this vehicle an overall score of 50 out of 100. Only 48% of CR's Auto Survey respondents say they would buy this car again (compared with 81% for the Honda Fit and 77% for the Honda Civic Sedan). CR's Reliability Chart for the Cobalt shows "Poor" results regarding the car's electrical and fuel systems.

5. Aveo: CR gives this car an appallingly low overall test score of 33 (it ranked at the bottom in it's category-the Honda Fit was tops with a 65). Only 44% of buyers would do so again. CR's fuel economy tests got a mediocre 25 mpg out of the Aveo-pretty bad for what is advertised as gas miser.

I think it's fair to say that GM has a long way to go to be taken seriously as a legitimate small car manufacturer. Honda, Toyota, Nissan and others have a big head start on them.

My parents had one when I was a kid growing up in the 70's. If there were enough of them on the road, the oil shortages of the 70's could have easily been blamed on the Vega. They were THAT bad. Steel piston rings on an aluminum cylinder liner does not work very well together.

Any Vega owner who actually could drive the car long enough for it to burn oil was lucky.
I worked for a Chevy dealer when they had been out 3 months, they were replacing 40 enignes per month, the cylinder walls would sink in the block and all the coolant ran in the combustion chambers and out the tailpipe.

GM tried to blame it on Prestone antifreeze, yep i am going to buy a new car and immediately drain the coolant and replace it with Prestone so it will ruin my engine in a matter of weeks.

Also advertized as a computer built car, no paint or primer in exactly the same places, just bare metal that soon rusted away.

GM also stated it was physically impossible to build a car that got 40 MPG about the same time.

If you started a new Chevy and put it in gear the engine stalled immediately. We just started them and let them run for a few minutes so they would keep running when you put it in gear.

No wonder the Japanese car companies have cleaned their clock.

regards
gary

i remembered there was a big name magazine that was comparing the cobalt ss with the acura rsx-s, measuring everything from acceleration, price, room, etc. in the end it was so close that it came within like less than a point, and they put the cobalt as the "winner" and saying that it makes more sense to buy the cobalt because of acceleration, price, etc.

I was laughing.. I would even choose a civic coupe DX over a POS cobalt thats probably going to break down, drop in value harcore within 5 years

Vega also loved to blow head gaskets
 

They were so poorly executed and I seriously don't think GM even bothered with any R&D or testing period on new cars until fairly recently. If they did properly test for durability and reliability, the Cadillac V8-6-4 and the HORRID GM diesels from the late 70's and early 80's would have quickly shown their fatal flaws!

Although who would have expected a problem from the GM diesels??? What could possibly go wrong with taking an existing gasoline engine, converting it to diesel and increasing internal pressures exponentially- what could possibly go wrong with that idea???

The last of these self-destructing diesel lumps was sold in 1985. Before the late 80's arrived, GM had paid to replace EVERY single diesel it had sold since '78 with a more reliable gasoline unit. I'd love to see how much that 'recall' program ended up costing them....it's really amazing that they have survived this long with so many of these shining moments in their history!

Lots of car companies have big failures like that. Look at the recent Toyota Tacoma rust issue.
https://jalopnik.com/376911/rusty-toy...-150-the-value
You'd think that by the year 2000 they would have figured out rust as well as other companies (like GM) have...

what about the new focus? i drive a 2000 focus and will be buying a new car probably with in the next year or 2. i've liked my focus and i think the new ones look pretty slick. has anyone driven one?

i also have a think for the geo metro