Faults:

Oil leak.

Speedometer off 5-8 mph-replaced 2 times-per General Motors - no fix as this date.

Bearing needs replaced in cam.

Day running lights don't work.

Low beam lights don't work.

Doors lock by themselves without touching remote entrance key.

General Comments:

This car can run as fast as the larger cars on the road.

It is easy to handle and maneuvers well when parking.

More room inside than looks on the outside.

Does not handle well in snow or ice.

Faults:

The suspension has been "repaired" 4 times and is still not working correctly. In three times for oil leaks, and still leaks. In twice for grinding noise from wheels, and still does it.

General Comments:

At first I thought it was a great car for the money. But now that I have had it for over a year now, I wish I had never bought it. I am currently working with the BBB Auto division to have it "repurchased" by the manufacturer. I have had it in the repair shop for more that 35 days this year alone and it is time for the manufacturer to do something about it. If you are contemplating buying one of these, seek out an alternative. Sure it costs less than most, but you get what you pay for.

Faults:

Transmission trouble. Car has 4,500 miles. At times when the clutch is depressed and the gas pedal is not, the engine races. At times I am hearing a slight clicking sound. This car has been serviced per mfg spec's. I have driven cars with standard shift since I was 15, now 65. First time I have ever had this type of trouble with any standard shift auto.

I know I am going to get the run around when I take it to the dealer.

Would not purchase another Aveo.

Faults:

Where to start?

When I first got the car from the dealer I noticed that the alignment was off. (We purchased 2 Aveo's and both had this problem.) I took it to the dealer, and they checked the alignment and it was OK, so they just rotated the tires, and it fixed the problem, for the most part. I am very picky about how my car pulls to one side or the other, especially on level roads. New cars should not pull period no matter what anyone says.

The next thing that went wrong was is at 5,000 miles, I would be at the gas station filling up my gas tank and it would stop every few seconds. It was a pain in the rear trying to fill up an empty tank. I did this twice, then called the dealer. When I took it in, they looked at it and couldn't find anything. They called the head office (Detroit?) and they said to look in the gas recirculation box, or something, for a spiders web. They pulled that part off of the car, and sure enough, there was a spiders web that had formed in there. Apparently when the cars we being assembled in Korea, a lot of other Aveo's had this problem with spider webs not allowing the fumes to escape, causing the driver to be unable to fill the tank. After they fixed that, it worked great.

At 6,000, while doing my 2nd oil change, I noticed that a rubber stub piece was missing from my hood, as well as a slight oil leak coming from the valve cover gasket. I took it to the dealer, they replaced the stub, and said they couldn't figure out the oil leak. They said whoever replaced my oil must have spilt some oil. I told them that I had replaced the oil both times and had never spilt any oil, let alone in a horizontal strip across the bottom of the valve cover. They we just making excuses. They put some die in the oil, and said they would look at it again the next oil change.

At 18,000 the interior light bulb went out for no reason. The dealer replaced it, no problem.

I am at over 30,000 and so far, no more problems.

General Comments:

I never thought that I would ever purchase another American car again (last one a 65 Chevy Pickup). I was forced to rent a car when the transmission in my Honda went out, and they were going to give me a Caviler, but I asked for another car, and they said they had an Aveo. I remembered the super bowl commercials with the big tall guys getting into the car and becoming really small (very dumb commercial) and said I would rather rent that car. I was so glad I did. That car was so nice. Me and my girlfriend fell in love with the car. A few weeks later, me and her went out and purchased 2 Aveo's. Mine, which this review is about, is a Summer Yellow LS Hatchback, and she got a Victory Red LS Sedan.

We only wanted, as options, the colors we selected, obviously, models (sedan or hatch), AC, Automatic, and a CD Player. We really loved the fact that the CD player is an MP3 player. We just have 1 or 2 CDs per car that each hold about 220 songs. That is so nice to have. Better than carrying around 50 CD's to get all those songs!

The automatic transmission shifts effortlessly. All of our previous cars were stick shift. It was always so annoying when we got stuck in traffic. Since I use my car to commute, the automatic transmission is heaven.

The AC works pretty good. In the California Centeral Valley, it gets very hot, and that AC you just want to be just a tad bit cooler. But otherwise, it works great.

When I make phone calls from my car using my cell phone, my friends and family can never tell I am driving. They always comment on how quiet my car is. I really love that fact. It is much nicer than my old Honda which was very hard to hear someone on my cell.

I don't know about all of these other surveys, but I do all the mechanical work, and car washes to my cars. I have changed the oil every 3,000, and have just replaced the spark plugs. I am a perfectionist when it comes to my car maintenance. I use only the best stuff on the market. Of course, they will NOT void my warranty. I use Mobile 1 Full Synthetic Oil with a K&N Oil Filter, K & N Air Filter, and Denso Iridium Spark Plugs. I know that full synthetic Oil can go at least 7,500 miles before being changed, but I still like to have my stuff run in perfect shape, so I change at every 3,000.

Now, with all of the maintenance products that I use on my Aveo, I actually get better than what General Motors list as my Highway Miles per gallon. They state that the Automatic Aveo is only going to get 35mpg, when I am getting 36.5mpg. That may not seem like that big of an increase, but with the rising cost of gas, and considering how many times you fill up your tank, it adds up really quickly.

Sorry for the long post, but when it comes down to it, me and my now wife, love our Aveo's. My mustard car, and her ketchup car are great. If it came down to purchasing another one, well hopefully we would have enough money to purchase a Toyota Prius, and wouldn't have to buy another Aveo. Sorry Chevy. We still love our Toyota's. But, I have recommended this car to everyone we know. It is a great, fun, reliable car. I love good quality items, and Daewoo of Korea has built an outstanding car to sell in America is a Chevrolet. Good job Daewoo! (Which went bankrupt in America a few years ago)

PS: This car was sold as the Daewoo Lanos when Daewoo was still around in America. This is the new model that Chevrolet sells as their own.

UPDATE 12th September 2009!!!

Since I have wrote this review I am now well over 145,000 miles on the car, and have had only one problem, and that was the fact that my key lock on the driver side pushed back into the door. I took the panel off myself, and replaced this small screw that disappeared (was not in the door). Easy fix, that I am willing to do on a 5 year old car that has given me no other problems. I change the oil every 7,500 (I use full synthetic), replace the timing belt every 60k, cleaned the radiator out at 90k, struts at 60k and replaced the cabin airfilter (only once, because I forgot that the Aveo had one). I am still driving this car back and forth to work every single day (120 miles +) and it still runs and drives like the day I bought it.

I have made only a few upgrades to my car since my original post. I installed new Kicker speakers in the door and back (factory size) and have tinted all of the windows. Let me tell you, don't change those speakers unless you are ready to put a sub in there. Factory speakers in this car are good all around, aftermarket speakers are good mid and high (no low). I love the tinted windows in my car. It keeps the inside so much cooler, and it looks a lot better. I can't stand driving my wife's Aveo with not tinted windows. No privacy.

So has Chevrolet built a good quality car? I would have to say yes. It is reliable, never gives me any problems, and I am just now getting set to replace my original Hancook tires. So here is the moral to my writing and story, don't hot rod it because no matter what you do it this car, it will never be a 2010 Camaro SS, and do the routine maintenance on it and this car will last! Good job General Motors in selling a car that is reliable and fun to drive.

I will try and update this page when I "Get to the moon" (250,000 miles)