Chevrolet Aveo
LS
Having had so many sport compacts in the past, I have become most comfortable with that body type. Sure, I still like the big cars and will forever miss my '84 LTD, but this car is fine for me for now.
I made $234 payments on this car at a total of $12,600 at 3.6%. Not bad for a bad credit joker like myself (cosigned with my dad).The car is supurb. I am six feet tall, but this car still has headroom and legroom to spare (granted with the seat slid all of the way back). The cargo space is amazing with the back seats both folded down, and the suspension holds up to some pretty heavy loads. I had 16 regular-sized book boxes piled up in that car and the tailpipe only dropped an inch and a half!
The power is more than adequate, though the car did drive like a slug for the first few months. I was told that this car adapts to the driver's acceleration habbits. Could be BS, but who knows. My gas mileage was lower by a few miles per gallon than the est. 31 to 28. However, the gas mileage has improved over time to about 31 mpg consistently. And the car is much quicker now. I can easily dart in and out of traffic on the highway. The car does 3200 RPM's at 85 mph, with a redline around 6500, so I do not worry too much about pushing the car too hard. I rarely need more than 85mph. Even merging into traffic from a complete stop has become better. I can accelerate to 70 in 14 seconds at around 4000 RPM's (this is without flooring it), with only one shift to second gear in the automatic transmission. The transmission itself shifts confidently and smoothly at 3000 or so for normal acceleration curves and will crank as high as 4500 if you floor it. Nice for a 1.6 liter.
The sound system is great. The CD player can read MP3 format, so I can have multiple albumns on one disk, preventing me from having to change CD's or even carry the original CD's with me as I go. The quality of the sound is pretty damn good for a stock system, though I turn the trebble up to max and the bass up half way to ballance the sound how I like it. Not going to win any competitions, but more than adequate for a cheap entry-level car.
UPDATE: The damn stereo burned out only two years after I bought the car. I replaced it with a nice Sony. Better sound. Added a subwoofer. Really good sound. Easy to do - there is actually a hole in the floorboard on the passenger side with a rubber grommet. Punched the hole, ran the power cord to the amp. Done.
The interior itself is layed out in a nice flowing setup, with a large tachometer and speedometer guage cluster right behind the steering wheel, and the CD player and AC controls are all well done on a nice center pillar that flows all the way back on the dash to the window.
The dash itself is huge, and can accomodate a good Taco Bell feast, stack of books, luggage, etc. The finnish is nice, with a texture like a basket ball. Keeps stuff from sliding around. The dash is also divided and has a nice lip, again preventing stuff from sliding too much. The vent in the dash that defogs the windshield is also raised, preventing the nightmare of M&M's entering the heater ducts.
There are other cool interior niceties, like the carbon-fiber looking inlays and the sunglasses holder (I keep pens in it instead). The pockets in the doors and behind the passenger seat are convenient and not so deep that you loose stuff. There is even an extra accessory 12 volt outlet near the emergency brake handle that stays 'hot' even with the car off. Convenient. It can hold up to a good-sized load too. My old laptop probably draws pretty hard and I have yet to blow a fuse.
The car is a dream to drive in inclement weather, with its thin tires cutting through the rain instead of hydroplaning, and with its front-wheel drive easily maneuvering on ice. There is a nice 'HOLD' button that will start the car accelerating in second gear instead of first, making moving forward on ice much easier. You can also use this feature to hold any gear as you accelerate, so you could tourque out 3 to speed away from a semi-truck instead of getting hit because 4th gear drags like a dog. This gives the automatic transmission a similar versatility as a standard manual transmission, without the headache of the clutch.
Easy as hell to park. The thing takes up about 3/4 of a regular space. This is a lot of room for error and keeps doors from swinging into the sides except for the most extreme cases.
I got the car with manual everything - no power options. The windows roll up and down with only a few turns. The driver can easily reach three of the 4 windows to roll them down or up without undoing a seatbelt. The mirrors are a bit trickier, with the old-school lever manual inside control. Once set, they do hold their position pretty well, even with the vibrations and speedbumps.
The rear view mirror is ample and has that flip down feature to reduce glare from the gas-hungry truck behind you with his brights on.
I got about 29 on a long trip on the highway with some good stop and go congestion mixed in every 50 miles. The tank lasts over 330 miles, though a nice annoying light will come on at about 310 miles. It will dim on and off as you go up and down hills, but will eventually stay on regardless. That occurs right around 325 or so. The tank fills up at usually 11 gallons if it is damn near empty or 10 if you just gas up when the guage is at "E".
The only negative things about this car is the noisy suspension (which I am told is normal) and the way it eats up headlight bulbs. Other than that, it is cool. NOT BAD FOR AN AMERICAN CAR (built by Koreans with a Chinese engine).
UPDATE: The squeaky suspension never did go away, but the bulb issues disappeared. I used the TruView line sold at NAPA on my last change-out and they lasted for much longer (were still working when I traded the car in).
