What do you do if you want a cheap performance car that can leave the Accent 1.6 GTX Tornado in the dust and actively compete with the Ford Ikon 1.6 Sxi but still beat the Ikon and the Tornado hands down in the mileage scenario. Well for starters, you don’t go out into the second hand market and buy yourself a discontinued second-hand Fiat Palio 1.6 GTX. No doubt, it would leave the Accent GTX and a Ikon 1.6 Sxi much behind in its wake, but at a mileage of about 8 km/litre, you wont be particulary happy when you’re taking it out for a long drive and the fuel indicator dips everytime you depress the accelerator.
So…..what do you do?? Well…..you do go into the second hand market for sure, but then you search for a used Daewoo Nexia 2xCAM.
So whats this Nexia?? It looks just like a Cielo albeit a few changes on the front and a 2xCAM chiseled on the rear. Well guys....….it is a Cielo….but with a new powerful and more refinied engine. Remember the Cielo guys?? That’s the car the ministers and chief ministers used……
The Cielo was in its time, the fastest car in its class. One which could really cruise at 150 km/hr. The downside was its mileage. The car only returned maximum 6-7 km/litre which was much lower than even the present 2.0 Skoda Octavia RS Turbo, a pure-throughbred performance car.
The Cielo had the following specifications…..You know you’ve had cases in the past where performance figures on paper don’t exactly do justice to the on road figures. The Cielo is one such specimen. The Cielo SOHC unit churned out a measly 80 PS from its 1.5 SOHC MPFI engine, while the Accent GTX produces 101 PS from its 1.6 DOHC MPFI unit. But if you’ve driven them both, you’ll see that the underpowered Cielo is actually a better cruiser at 150 km/hr than the Accent GTX Tornado which only if you push it really hard reaches 150 km/hr...….and at speeds above 100 km/hr, the Accent is subjected to a bit of understeer which really gives you the shakes while the Cielo is rock-solid
Cielo tech specs
Type MPFI, SOHC 4 cylinders in-line
Engine Control Electronic Control Unit with MPFi
Piston Displacement 1498 cc
Max. Power 80 PS @ 5400 rpm
Max. Torque 13.0 kg-m @ 3250 rpm
Nexia 2xCAM........this baby really rocks the road!!!!
The Nexia 2xCA is a performance oriented version of the Cielo, one with came in with a DOHC unit instead of the normal SOHC unit of the Cielo. And produced a mind numbing 92 bhp @ 5600 rpm. I’ll let the figures speak for themselves
This baby had a MPFI, DOHC 16 valve 4 cylinder in-line unit....a 16valve!!!…..that is equivalent to the todays Baleno which also has 16 valves for fine-tuning performance oriented driving. Hyundai’s meanwhile have 12 valve MPFI engines…which though no doubt competent aren’t as enthusiastic as well……a 16 valve MPFI engine. Now for the shocker. The Transmission and mileage.
The transmission was a 5 speed manual with 2 overdrives. I’ve never ever seen a car having 2 shifts for overdrive. Essentially what an overdrive will do is that it will give the wheels of the Nexia great power at a lesser torque than normal so you can easily overtake that Honda City 1.5 Exi in front of you and run rings around the driver…..2 overdrive gears…..isnt that something to look ‘forward’ too?
The mileage…..what do you expect?? The Cielo with a great performance engine gave 6-7 km/litre. This car with even more ground-breaking power and torque figures and a DOHC engine should give you say…..5-6 km/litre……I wouldn’t mind for one thing…..if I could beat a Honda Vtec. But ahh…..this Daewoo will give you around 11 in the city and 13-14 on the highways with the A.C on at all times…….Whaddya think?? That’s better than the Ikon Sxi and same as the Accent GTX……but neither of the cars would be seen in your rear view mirror if you were having a race……
So guys….got about 2.5 lakh to spare?? And want a blue-blooded performance car with great mileage…….?? Get the Nexia 2xCAM with the power of 2………….2 overdrives, 2 overhead Camshafts, 2 times the mileage and more than twice the pleasure…..