I have the Optra 1.6 LS VGIS engine car since Dec 2005. It was my first car and really felt great driving around this really big and luxurious car. It is great in terms of comfort, interiors, pickup, spacious rear seating and boot space. There are very few things that I dont like about the car.
The major when compared to all other problem is the Engine jerk/shiver when driving on lower gears. When you are driving at around 20KMPH, idle the engine using clutch and then release it without/with acceleration the cars gives a jerk 2-3 times before you can control it using the clutch and the acceleration. This is nothing to do with the way I drive as I am not a new bie to driving, since it is happening at gears 1 and 2 and not on higher gears. I took my car to the service station twice but they couldnt rectify that. But then finally the supervisor said that no one else has reported this problem, but this problem is in inherent in the car and cannot be rectified. So I had no choice. So driving around with this is little annoying.
The dashboard reflection on the windshield while driving causes obscurity. Though a minor thing it is little disturbing while driving. Not sure if this can be recitifed, unless you start wearing a polaroid(anti-glare) sunglasses where you need to shell out a few thousands of rupees.
The performance drop with AC. At higher speeds you will hardly notice it, but inside the city you definitely expect it to perform better with the kind of BHP and torque specified.
The headlight is not bright enough while on the highways. Even Santro lights are much brighter than these.
With tubless tyres I need to have a steady check on the air pressure. Seems like every 2 weeks I need to check the pressure even though I use it everyday! There is a good drop in mileage if the tyre pressure is less by 2 pts!