2016 Chevrolet Spark

[Thirty-Nine]

55233

I'm a fan of the Chevy Spark. Chevy has proven that if you build a practical, well-designed A-segment car that it can sell in the U.S. Here's info on the 2016 model. I like the look and the added power will be welcome.

http://www.subcompactculture.com/2015/04/2016-chevrolet-spark.html

[nortonfb]

Quality is the only question.
Not very impressed by Government Motors.

[Jcp123]

Looks a bit better than before. But it still got whooped hard by the ugly stick. Over an inch and a half lower, so aerodynamics should be better.

Reviews of this ugly duckling have generally been good though.

[kimona]

Ug...ly!

The 2016 Spark is expected to get 40MPG highway with a 1.4L (CVT). Big deal. The 2015 Corolla LE Eco with 1.8L gets 40MPG highway.

[CrankyOldMan]

Please keep in mind that this is a rebadged import (Daewoo Matiz). The styling is focused on SE Asian markets, and is intended for use in large urban areas--not American highways. I wanted one of these about 5 years ago (just before I found my Yaris) but the release date was too far away. That said, the first release over here was really unpleasant to behold.

That said, the recent trend of $2.50/gal gasoline in the US may negatively impact the sup-compact econobox market.

[nookandcrannycar]

That said, the recent trend of $2.50/gal gasoline in the US may negatively impact the sup-compact econobox market.

Any BIG regional price swings in other countries that you know about? Per Gas Buddy, there are a few stations in the Houston metro at $1.99 per gallon, and there is one station in San Francisco at $4.09 per gallon.

[nookandcrannycar]

Government Motors.

:laugh: Especially so since the federal government is allowing the 'New' GM to carry over losses from the 'Old' GM for write-off purposes.

[Kal-El]

Looks better without the exaggerated headlights but now they look like Hyundai headlights, particularly off the Accent. Everyone including GM has been surprised by the car's sales. A - segment cars almost always fail in the US.

[bronsin]

1.4 liter from a 1.2 liter....not my idea of progress. The car doesnt get the mpg of other larger engined cars however and besides gas is $2 a gallon here in NJ.

If they offered a 1 liter I might consider it....

[malibuguy]

I am absolutely excited for the new Spark! I love my wifes '13 Spark and will probably get the '16.

[Thirty-Nine]

Looks better without the exaggerated headlights but now they look like Hyundai headlights, particularly off the Accent. Everyone including GM has been surprised by the car's sales. A - segment cars almost always fail in the US.

And the reason A-segment cars almost always fail is because every manufacturer other than Chevrolet has offered them as two-door cars with two usable seats—they're impractical. Chevy offered a four-door car that can actually seat four adults and didn't overprice the vehicle. The Fiat 500, Smart ForTwo, and Scion iQ are all expensive and impractical.

As far as the fuel economy thing, c'mon guys: You know how this works! People say the Yaris should be getting 50 MPG. Small engines have to work harder to move their mass. A freaking Corvette is rated at 29 MPG highway. Gearing, power, weight all play a factor.

[Flammable]

Is it me or does this car look angry?

[BLKHILLSGUY]

I have heard from several people who loudly complained on the Web of rocks going through the large holes in the grill, and those rocks damaging the a/c equipment. About a $900 fix. I didn't trust Daewoo then and I surely don't trust them now. But the look is nice. That's about it.

[nookandcrannycar]

1.4 liter from a 1.2 liter....not my idea of progress. The car doesnt get the mpg of other larger engined cars however and besides gas is $2 a gallon here in NJ.

If they offered a 1 liter I might consider it....

I think the 1.4 is the same engine that is in the Chevy Trek/Buick Encore.....minus the turbocharger.

[bronsin]

Huh interesting. What VW did in the 60s, when they went from 1200 to 1300 to 1500 to, finally, 1600cc engines was say to in their advertising, "The new larger engine actually gets MORE mpg!" Not really! My friend Mark had a 65 with the 12 eninge that got 38 mpg on the hiway. My 74 with the 1600 never did better than 33 and that was ONCE. Usually it got 28.

Now with (mostly) cheaper gas maybe they will put that turbo on the 1.4?:burnrubber:

That's the ticket!

[bentjazz]

I'm a Japanese car snob. If I never own another American car, that'd be
just fine by me. Throw VW in there, too. VW sucks even worse. I've had
my Yaris since Dec. 2010. Zero problems. I had to literally take my POS
VW in every two months to get something fixed. The American cars I've
owned sucked donkey balls and weren't much better. Who needs reliability headaches. Not me. I don't care if the car is cool and trendy, looks good, has a rad engine, and
all that other crap that other people drool over. I don't give a rat's ass about
any of that nonsense, BUT THAT'S JUST ME. Good gas mileage and sound
reliability is what matters to this grump.....

[nookandcrannycar]

Huh interesting. What VW did in the 60s, when they went from 1200 to 1300 to 1500 to, finally, 1600cc engines was say to in their advertising, "The new larger engine actually gets MORE mpg!" Not really! My friend Mark had a 65 with the 12 eninge that got 38 mpg on the hiway. My 74 with the 1600 never did better than 33 and that was ONCE. Usually it got 28.

Now with (mostly) cheaper gas maybe they will put that turbo on the 1.4?:burnrubber:

That's the ticket!

When I think about 60s VWs, the first one that comes to mind is an OLD one a friend of mine had in college. It was a 66 Bug, the end of the line with the 6 volt electrical system. We used to give him a hard time about it. We called it 'The Candlepower Bug' :laugh:. Those headlights were pretty dim :eek::laugh:.

[NYC-SE]

I'm a Japanese car snob. If I never own another American car, that'd be
just fine by me. Throw VW in there, too. VW sucks even worse. I've had
my Yaris since Dec. 2010. Zero problems. I had to literally take my POS
VW in every two months to get something fixed. The American cars I've
owned sucked donkey balls and weren't much better. Who needs reliability headaches. Not me. I don't care if the car is cool and trendy, looks good, has a rad engine, and
all that other crap that other people drool over. I don't give a rat's ass about
any of that nonsense, BUT THAT'S JUST ME. Good gas mileage and sound
reliability is what matters to this grump.....

VW is on my $#!+ list also. Every 2 months for another problem to pop up seems about right, at least from my experience as well.

I'm not as down on American cars though. I had a 1987 Plymouth Reliant that lasted 13 years. Only stranded me once. Also a 2000 Dodge Caravan for another 13 years. Never a problem and still going strong for the guy I sold it to. I know Chrysler is usually thought of as a low quality make but in my experience I found that untrue.

BTW my first car was a 1964 Dodge Dart with a slant six that belonged to my grandfather originally. Finally gave up the ghost in 1990. Died on the side of the road. Went to get help and when I came back hours later it was gone. Never found it. I imagine someone saw it got it started and drove off and it lived for another day. If my Yaris lasts half that long I'll be happy.

[bronsin]

I'm a Japanese car snob. If I never own another American car, that'd be
just fine by me. Throw VW in there, too. VW sucks even worse. I've had
my Yaris since Dec. 2010. Zero problems. I had to literally take my POS
VW in every two months to get something fixed. The American cars I've
owned sucked donkey balls and weren't much better. Who needs reliability headaches. Not me. I don't care if the car is cool and trendy, looks good, has a rad engine, and
all that other crap that other people drool over. I don't give a rat's ass about
any of that nonsense, BUT THAT'S JUST ME. Good gas mileage and sound
reliability is what matters to this grump.....

I was a diehard VW owner in the 70s. No longer. They build trash (reliability wise) and the public laps it up.

Also was a diehard BMW motorcycle owner. No longer. Ditto trash and ditto people digging it. A recent CR report had HArley owners with 25% of them having significant problems the first 4 years. Not surprising.

FOURTY PERCENT of BMW motorcycle owners reported problems!

Ten years ago on a BMW motorcycle owners forum I got banned for talking about BMW problems....

[bronsin]

VW is on my $#!+ list also. Every 2 months for another problem to pop up seems about right, at least from my experience as well.

I'm not as down on American cars though. I had a 1987 Plymouth Reliant that lasted 13 years. Only stranded me once. Also a 2000 Dodge Caravan for another 13 years. Never a problem and still going strong for the guy I sold it to. I know Chrysler is usually thought of as a low quality make but in my experience I found that untrue.

BTW my first car was a 1964 Dodge Dart with a slant six that belonged to my grandfather originally. Finally gave up the ghost in 1990. Died on the side of the road. Went to get help and when I came back hours later it was gone. Never found it. I imagine someone saw it got it started and drove off and it lived for another day. If my Yaris lasts half that long I'll be happy.

I have a friend whose son in law gives him his company Dodge Caravan every so often with like 100k on it. It goes another 100k usually.

The Dark Side does make a few good cars!

[bronsin]

When I think about 60s VWs, the first one that comes to mind is an OLD one a friend of mine had in college. It was a 66 Bug, the end of the line with the 6 volt electrical system. We used to give him a hard time about it. We called it 'The Candlepower Bug' :laugh:. Those headlights were pretty dim :eek::laugh:.

66 was the last year for 6v. Imagine trying to start one at 20 below which my friend with the 65 had to do! Almost no way to jump one either....all the other batteries are 12V! :eek:

[nookandcrannycar]

66 was the last year for 6v. Imagine trying to start one at 20 below which my friend with the 65 had to do! Almost no way to jump one either....all the other batteries are 12V! :eek:

I remember the no jumping thing being an issue for my friend as well. IIRC, we'd get a couple of guys behind the car and push him...still able to compression start. Never at 20 below though....this was near the beach in Southern California.

[nookandcrannycar]

Ten years ago on a BMW motorcycle owners forum I got banned for talking about BMW problems....

Sad. SMH.

[nookandcrannycar]

The Dark Side does make a few good cars!

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

[bronsin]

I remember the no jumping thing being an issue for my friend as well. IIRC, we'd get a couple of guys behind the car and push him...still able to compression start. Never at 20 below though....this was near the beach in Southern California.

Yes one good thing about starting the 6v VW was there were lots of hills where we lived! :laugh:

BTW I used to start cars with automatic transmission by pushing them to ~25 mph using the old tire thing between the bumpers....

[nookandcrannycar]

Yes one good thing about starting the 6v VW was there were lots of hills where we lived! :laugh:

:laugh:

BTW I used to start cars with automatic transmission by pushing them to ~25 mph using the old tire thing between the bumpers....

:eek::laugh::laugh:. I've long heard that the same could be done at a higher speed with an automatic.....but I've never tried to do that.

[attrapereves]

I bought a 2013 Chevy Sonic new, but actually ended up trading it for a used model Yaris. Main reason is that I was tired of the payment. I wasn't really impressed with the build quality of the Chevy. I considered the Spark, but the Sonic was only 1500 more and was bigger and had more features.

Overall, the interior felt about the same in the Sonic compared to the Yaris. You know, the cheap plastic everything that the Yaris has. However, the Yaris feels like it was assembled well. The driver door on my Sonic was dragging from day one. It eventually stopped after being opened and closed about 100 times.

I'm sticking with Japanese cars from now on. Maybe I'll venture out and try a Korean make one day.

[Kalispel]

I grew-up during a time when American (and Korean) brands were crap, and it just sticks with you. Every car I have ever owned has been some sort of manual Honda/Acura, but even they have lost their halo for me, and have been building sporadically problematic cars for the last 10-15 year. Plus, their latest designs have been horrible - especially the latest Civic coupe/sedan, Fit, and CR-Z (the size classes that I prefer to buy cars in).

[Thirty-Nine]

Of the eight cars I've owned, all were Japanese except one: My 2001 Ford Focus ZX3. While it drove well and performed admirably, it was always in the shop for something. I traded it in on a used 1998 Civic. Financially, one of the stupider things I've done as I lost a lot on that one.

My wife did have a '94 VW Jetta III, and it all kinds of issues.

Since I drive a lot of different cars, I do feel the American and Korean cars have come up as lot. However, it's the long-term quality that I'm unsure of.