A nice value for money sedan with lots of features

 

Exterior Amazing exteriors. best styling in its class. Better than Ford Fiesta, SX4, Dezire or any tata sedans. Comparable to volksvagen vento, or Toyota sedans.

 

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Very aesthetic interiors. a very high end feel to the car. Space is comparable to swift dezire, ford fiesta and other similar category sedans.

 

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Engine performance is average for this car. Engine is smooth and u can reach top gear at speed of 40 as well as post 100, depending on your mood of driving. The pick up however is not good as it reaches its top power at 5000 rpm and beyond.

I've driven it for 40000 kms now and have been getting a mileage of between 10 -11 in city and 15-16 on highways with intermittent AC. I m not a very mileage conscious driver though so I drive fast wherver possible. A mileage conscios driver may get a better mileage of up to 12 in the city and 17 on highways.

The gearbox is smooth and probably the best in its class. Reverse gear is a little different and my get stuck sometime. m not sure if this is just a problem with my car.

 

Ride Quality & Handling The ride quality is really nice if you are not a pick up crazy person. I ve a Maruti swift 1.3 l also and I really missed that pick up in Aveo. Having said that Aveo has a decent heavy feel and with a little compromise in initial pick up, its a real pleasure to drive on highways.

Aveo has an hydraulic steering so you may feel the hardness in the city ride. You d however get used to it and its not problem to me despite having relative experience of both swift and this car.

I ve touched a maximum speed of 165 km/ h and still some more power left in the engine. Car is however not stable at that speed and it keeps leaving the road contact. During my average highway rides, I drive between 120 km/h to 140/ h depending on strecthes. 

 

Final Words Having driven some of the higher end Nissan and Toyota cars, I'd suggest that this s a nice value for money sedan with lots of features. I picked up my car in Jul 2008. GM has however changed a lot of features to suit indian markets. Engine performance however is not changed.

The car may have performed much better if it had power of 100 PS or more. This car wiill rock if GM releases it with a Diesel engine. With 95 PS at 1.4L engine, I believe its the best sedan with value for money and a high end sedan feel.

 

Areas of improvement Hydraulic steering - hardness can be improved. GM may even think about intoducing EPS.

The engine power ratios can be revisited to have more power at lesser RPMs for smooth city rides like what Toyota etios has done.

AC affects the performance of the car and GM may look at having a compressor which gives lesser change to engine performance.

 

Good interiors, excellent body styling, nice high end sedan feel, GM brandNot very agile pick up, a little hard steering, city driving on AC is not all that pleasant.