Yup!! We booked our first Chevy yesterday. We expect delivery this week. Our first car Santro Xing is a neat machine with spacious interiors and smooth drive and fairly good pickup for a hatchback segment. Now we just got adventurous and buy a new car.
Our homework revealed the hatchback segment was real good in terms of performance and value for money in almost any brand and all you need to do is decide on budget and styling of the car for example boot space required, no of members in family and required head room and leg room space.
The notchback segment (Sedan) seemed varied with new cars Aveo in the market. I check on Hyundai Accent as well and to my surprise found I found the rear seating very very uncomfortable in the Sedans as it low and your knees can get painful after a long drive. The sales executive revealed all Sedan cars will have the same low rear seating. This seemed true even in Maruthi Esteem and Ford Ikon.
All sedan looked similar with nothing new to appeal. But here comes Chevy Aveo!!!
A C- Class segment Chevrolet at your reach. I found this car extremely appealing in looks and very comfortable inside. what’s more, the rear seating is raised and no more like other sedans. The boot space is very roomy and has extra insulation to make it absolute silent drive.
Aveo has great leg room and head room (But maybe not for people with above average height) and the dashboard gives a classy feel.
The gear seemed a bit stubbing though and going on reverse gear has to be learnt again!! The gear needs to be raised and positioned at the first gear for reverse.
The pick up looks good and the front of the car is neatly designed for a easy turn on the road unlike other sedans with long and bulky bonnets. A feature to be noted for a city car.
General Motors claims mileage to be 14 to 15 kms/ltr but guess that seems too optimistic. It must still be able to give an impressive 12 kms/ltr.
What’s more, Aveo comes with extra features, the neat cup holders at a comfortable reach, Sun glass holder for the driver seat and tilt adjustable steering wheel. I found this very interesting. The height adjustable driver’s seat is a cool feature too but not in the 1.4 LT basic model though.
Aveo has Blaupunkt 1 DIN or a 2 DIN MP3 System fitted as a mandatory accessory. The base model has 1 DIN with 4 speakers fitted.
The handles on the doors are cool and unconventional.(Pullout Type Door Handle)
My find on the major differences between the 1.4 LT basic model and 1.4 LS are only three. (Make sure you note this as they may show you along list of differences)
i. Height Adjustable drivers Seat
ii. Fog Lamps
iii. Electric trunk release
You will need to open the truck manually with a key in the Aveo basic model unlike in Santro Xing which provides a pull handle beside the driver’s leg space for the truck door release although this is not electric it is a great feature missing in Aveo basic 1.4 LT. A electric trunk release is added in the LS model. I have planned to write in the General Motors asking how they could miss out this feature in a C-Segment car. (Will let you know what they have to say.)
Last but not the least, Chennai has only two dealers - TVS Sundaram Motors and MPL Motors. We visited both and found TVS Sundaram Motors to be more friendly and customer oriented besides being regarded as best in service.
Guess it is priced slightly higher than its competition for the BOWTIE !! (Chevrolet brand) For a 1.4 LT the on road price is 6.56 lac.
Besides all this Chevrolet Aveo is a great class and the RED and BLACK color make it all the more majestic.
You can check on features at this site:
https://chevrolet.co.in/
We look forward to enjoy and love our Chevy drives. InshaAllah. :-)
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April 11, 2006.
It’s been a over a week now with Aveo on road!!
By the way the boot release that I had mentioned earlier isnt a missing feature as mentioned by the sales guy. The 1.4 LT has a manual pull handle feature and it works as comfortable as an electric one. :-)
The reverse gear which is different is indeed a safety feature. There is no way you can ever pull yourself on reverse thinking you are on fourth gear.
The car is smooth and neat maneuvering in the traffic but I really wish the pick up was better than it is. we have informed GM about it. There will in today to check the car. Looks like there are concerned about the slow pickup of the car.
Despite the slow pickup I love my Aveo.... It’s great on road. :-)