I finally got to drive on yesterday ...
It was the base LS model with manual trans. The salesrep said that he didn't think GM was leasing them.
The interior was nice an simple and it did say "cheap" .. but it's a $12.5K car. It was very good for what it was. The front seat leg and head room was nearly as big as my focus.
The interior compared to a Fiesta: Materials weren't as nice, but the front seat was MORE COMFORTABLE than that of the fiesta. I can get in the Spark without getting my leg stuck under the steering wheel, and I have a lot of leg and head room. While the back seat of the Spark has a bit less knee room, I was able to sit straight up without my head hitting the roof! Really amazed at the amount of head and leg room in this car.
My only real complaint on the interior was the shifter hitting my thigh in 2nd gear.
The "trunk" on this was very small ... but it's a sub-sub compact. There is an inflator kit. If I were to get one, I'd have at least a donut in there from a junkyard ... and a jack and a lug wrench.
I really liked how everything was laid out under the hood. The engine fits between the strut towers with a lot of space to spare, the belt layout is a bit awkward ... I guess they mount accessories to the engine a bit different at Chevrolaewoo.
Driving it was actually a lot of fun! It's easy to start off in 1st gear with no gas, and starting off in second gear is possible without slipping the clutch too much. Around town, taking off and getting up to speed isn't that hard.
It's geared like a dump truck. 1-2-3-4 flies right by shifting at 3500RPM. The engine seems to have the same amount of (little) torque everywhere - I think because it's geared so shortly, it isn't hard to speed up the engine a bit. RPM at 60 was a hair above 3000 ... but I couldn't tell because the top of the steering wheel blocks the analog speedometer.
The car doesn't get blown around at all like I had expected it to! Driving at 65 (that's about as fast as I could get it to go), I hopped on a northbound interstate to get some good crosswinds ... but there wasn't much blowing around going on.
On ramps definitely make the car struggle. I didn't want to beat on it as it was new, but it took a lot of pedal and a lot of revs to get to 55 ... I don't know if it's because it's geared so low, or if there's just no power anywhere, but downshifting and planting the gas pedal didn't seem to make it want to get up quicker. You definitely have to plan ahead to do anything strenuous on the car.
It was reading between 38 and 45 on the highway.
Once at highway speed, it had no problem keeping speed. Mashing the gas in 5th gear ... yielded no results, dropping it to 4th and mashing the gas ... a little.
The shifter reminded me of the old Peterbilts I learned to drive on where you could wiggle the shifter around and the gears weren't really obvious where they were.
The battery light was also blinking the entire time.
The engine is a bit buzzy - but in a cool way, not an annoying / cheap way!
The suspension setup on this car is GREAT! There was body roll, but not near as much as I expected. The steering felt great (electric power steering is still a bit weird to me) and it was precise. No wondering in corners.
All in all, I'm really impressed with this car! The lack of a back seat is a bit impractical for me, as is another new car. I'm hoping these things don't have any resale value and I can pick one up cheap in a few years! Provided they are reliable, I can see them being a simple little car to keep.
It was the base LS model with manual trans. The salesrep said that he didn't think GM was leasing them.
The interior was nice an simple and it did say "cheap" .. but it's a $12.5K car. It was very good for what it was. The front seat leg and head room was nearly as big as my focus.
The interior compared to a Fiesta: Materials weren't as nice, but the front seat was MORE COMFORTABLE than that of the fiesta. I can get in the Spark without getting my leg stuck under the steering wheel, and I have a lot of leg and head room. While the back seat of the Spark has a bit less knee room, I was able to sit straight up without my head hitting the roof! Really amazed at the amount of head and leg room in this car.
My only real complaint on the interior was the shifter hitting my thigh in 2nd gear.
The "trunk" on this was very small ... but it's a sub-sub compact. There is an inflator kit. If I were to get one, I'd have at least a donut in there from a junkyard ... and a jack and a lug wrench.
I really liked how everything was laid out under the hood. The engine fits between the strut towers with a lot of space to spare, the belt layout is a bit awkward ... I guess they mount accessories to the engine a bit different at Chevrolaewoo.
Driving it was actually a lot of fun! It's easy to start off in 1st gear with no gas, and starting off in second gear is possible without slipping the clutch too much. Around town, taking off and getting up to speed isn't that hard.
It's geared like a dump truck. 1-2-3-4 flies right by shifting at 3500RPM. The engine seems to have the same amount of (little) torque everywhere - I think because it's geared so shortly, it isn't hard to speed up the engine a bit. RPM at 60 was a hair above 3000 ... but I couldn't tell because the top of the steering wheel blocks the analog speedometer.
The car doesn't get blown around at all like I had expected it to! Driving at 65 (that's about as fast as I could get it to go), I hopped on a northbound interstate to get some good crosswinds ... but there wasn't much blowing around going on.
On ramps definitely make the car struggle. I didn't want to beat on it as it was new, but it took a lot of pedal and a lot of revs to get to 55 ... I don't know if it's because it's geared so low, or if there's just no power anywhere, but downshifting and planting the gas pedal didn't seem to make it want to get up quicker. You definitely have to plan ahead to do anything strenuous on the car.
It was reading between 38 and 45 on the highway.
Once at highway speed, it had no problem keeping speed. Mashing the gas in 5th gear ... yielded no results, dropping it to 4th and mashing the gas ... a little.
The shifter reminded me of the old Peterbilts I learned to drive on where you could wiggle the shifter around and the gears weren't really obvious where they were.
The battery light was also blinking the entire time.
The engine is a bit buzzy - but in a cool way, not an annoying / cheap way!
The suspension setup on this car is GREAT! There was body roll, but not near as much as I expected. The steering felt great (electric power steering is still a bit weird to me) and it was precise. No wondering in corners.
All in all, I'm really impressed with this car! The lack of a back seat is a bit impractical for me, as is another new car. I'm hoping these things don't have any resale value and I can pick one up cheap in a few years! Provided they are reliable, I can see them being a simple little car to keep.
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