2007 Chevrolet Aveo LT from North America
Summary:
You can certainly choose much better
Faults:
Head gasket at 34K (replaced under warranty).
Spark plugs & wires at 60K.
A/C blower motor at 88K.
Vacuum line at 90K (was running VERY poorly when this occurred).
The infamous "brake light switch" thing at 95K. All of $9.00 to replace.
The usual maintenance... oil changes (I only use Valvoline), a couple of coolant flushes, and has had one timing belt change.
I did install an Odyssey battery as my wife has a bad habit of leaving the trunk open all night in the garage without knowing (which can leave the trunk light on and consequently kill the battery, thus leaving her stranded). I definitely suggest this battery. Yes, DO this. The car cranks up to start extremely quickly, even when it's about 0 degrees Fahrenheit outside. This battery will likely outlast the car.
I also installed high performance lighting. PIAA Intense White bulbs and PIAA yellow foglights. They lasted every bit of one year. They look cool, and are extremely bright, but they burn out very quickly. DON'T do this.
I also installed EBC slotted rotors and EBC yellow stuff brake pads. Amazingly, the yellow stuff full race track pads are AWESOME on daily driving. Have had them for over 2 years, still stops on a dime. A little noisy, but stops great. DO this.
Finally, I have changed the cabin air filter (behind the glove box) with the Arm & Hammer Fresh Breeze cabin air filter. Supposed to filter out germs and nasty smells and such. Extremely noisy as air passes through it ("whistles"). DON'T use this. Just use standard cabin air filters. El cheapo $7 special will be just fine.
General Comments:
Ugh... where do I begin. **Cough subpar! Cough**
My thoughts on the Daewoo:
This car is nothing special, as you know. The seats hurt your lower back. Even with the leatherette seating, as we have the LT model. On a positive note, it's easier to wipe clean :)
This car is extremely slow. I have to rev it up to almost 4K RPM just to keep up with other cars leaving stop lights at a light to moderate pace. Plus, this car does not get the 30+ MPG that it should. Not to mention, you get even LESS MPG just pushing the car to keep up with traffic. I figure I'm getting about 21 city, 24 highway. Awesome!!! THAT'S making the most of this economical, low technology engine :)
The car struggles to shift into its highway/overdrive gear (I've got the automatic slushbox). It takes three minutes, sometimes longer (especially when it's cold outside), when on the highway for it to upshift into overdrive. However, for such a s**t box econoride, it revs at about 2500 or so doing 65 or 70 mph. I guess that's low enough at highway speeds to call it acceptable.
Food for thought here: my 1986 Brazilian-made Pontiac Sunbird J2000's automatic shifted tighter and better than this almost 20 year newer car. And that's a car from GM's dark days of the MID 80's! How's that for speaking volumes about the Aveo's quality?
The ride - err, how do I say this. It has no ride. It just sloppily flops over bumps. I'm pretty sure it could use shocks/struts, but it's only been 100K miles. I'm sure some KYB GR2 struts would greatly help this car's ride. But the factory ride - it is really lousy. Seriously. LOL.
The car chews up and spits out tires. And they're not wearing unevenly either, so please spare me the "ever get an alignment?" / "must be a new driver" nonsense. The third set of tires are on their last legs. And the other problem, as well, is the sport size of the tires. It takes the same exact tire as the Mazda Miata - a SPORTS car. In turn, plan on spending $1K+ for a decent set of rubber, and replacing them just over a year later with moderate/average (15k miles a year or so) driving.
But yes, the car handles nicely. Hugs the curves. Good luck accelerating out of the turn quickly... LOL.
The radio, including the optional radio in my LT, seriously lacks volume. But the MP3/CD player works as it should. The controls for the radio are nice to have on the steering wheel, opposite the cruise control buttons.
The A/C system has a major design flaw. After running ice cold air conditioning for a couple of hours, moisture clogs up one of the filters behind the dashboard and seriously restricts the force of cold air coming through not only the vents, but the defrost mode, floor, et cetera. It's very dreadful on a hot day. But you've got a good couple of hours to take advantage of the cold air :) Even if the force of the air is turned to the high setting, you can't feel any air coming out. Great!!
My Aveo (Daewoo!) has been fairly reliable, I guess.
I should have bought a Civic. Which, for over $18K, I could have gotten one hell of a nice Honda, even a used Accord.
But again, the car's been paid for since last year. Guess I can't complain too much (knock on wood).
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 28th January, 2014
13th Apr 2011, 17:10
I drive a subcompact. It's not an Aveo, but I hear whistling when it's very windy, too. Does the whistling come from inside your car? I'm quite sure mine is just powerful wind bouncing off my tiny car.