10th Mar 2010, 02:48

November 2002 I purchased a Daewoo Nubira CDX 4 door sedan with auto trans. Leather seats, CD player, air conditioning and the usual extras included, plus an extended warranty with free servicing for 5 years. Great I thought.

Well in 2007 at approx 90,000 K's, it blew a head gasket. No obvious reason, cost me $2,700 to have repaired.

Next thing it had oil/water mix in the transmission fluid. This cost me $850 to have fixed.

At 110,000 k's if sounded as if the front end was about to fall out. I persevered with it to around 120,000k's, when I couldn't stand the noise any longer. I was thinking of driving it till it fell apart. Cost $1,400 to rebuild front suspension.

Now March 2010 with 133,000 k's, the thing has probably blown the head gasket again. To say I'm p... ed off, would be polite. And what really gets up my nose is that this engine, I believe is a Holden export motor built in Melbourne Australia, then shipped to Korea. So I can't blame the Korean's.

My biggest gripe is the remote keyless open/shut system. It's guaranteed to not work if my arms are full and it's raining. It would be the ideal bank robbers car, the cops would arrive before the car was able to start.

Another thing is the wipers, won't work without zapping the keyless remote. There is not a accessory position on the ignition whereby the wipers will work. Also the brakes, front pads rattle when half worn, so replace with new pads, no noise... just a silly thing.

All in all, I cannot recommend the Daewoo.

Also I have 3 cars of another brand, (2 of which are still on the road), over 25 years, which other than routine servicing have not cost me as much as I've spent on this car.

No more Korean or for that matter Chinese cars for me, no matter who is selling it.

Alan, South Australia.