'07 Chevy Aveo

[Joe]

My current car (an '99 Olds Intrigue) has 230,000 miles on it, and I'll be commuting 45 minutes each way to school 5 days a week. So, since that would mean definite sudden death for my car, my parents bought a '07 Chevy Aveo for the family -- me for commuting to school, and my mom when I'm not using it.

I like that it's shiny, but that's pretty much it's only redeeming quality. Here's a few things I dislike about it from my 30 minute drive to McDonalds and back. Note that I'm not sure which of these are optional features and whatnot -- this is just the model I have.

- No power windows
- No CD player, only AM/FM radio (and I didn't check for sure about AM, not like it's necessary now that we're out of the 80s)
- Transmission can't be force shifted into 3rd gear. Shifter only has D4, 2, and 1. This is fine, I guess, but my old car sometimes had trouble picking gears going up hill, and you needed to force 3rd.
- Dome light cannot be accessed from dimmer switch - ceiling switch
- Antenna is on roof.. I wonder how long that'll last before I take it off with a tree.
- Cruise control has an on-off switch. I guess that's normal, but I don't especially like it, and I was just fine not having one on my old car. Also, there's no "clear" button to stop it without disabling the system. This leaves only two ways of decelerating the car - stepping on the brakes, or turning off the system (thus clearing resume ability, btw).
- The air conditioning system isn't temperature based -- it's like the ones you find on old cars, where you have a knob you set to hot, cold, or in between. Again, this is normal, but I liked being able to set my car to a specific temperature.
- Related, there doesn't appear to be a thermometer for outside temperature. Not like the one on my old car worked anyhow..

That's all I can think of for now. I'll post more comments later on as I drive it more.

(PS: I was going to post this in my personal forum, but that's gone. Then I was going post this in the automotive forum, but that's gone. Whatever.)

[rabbit]

So basically you:
- Don't like the basic model

That's pretty normal.  Tell your parents to sell the Aveo (which is garbage even in top range models) and get a Ford Fiesta (because of this).

[Joe]

Or park the Aveo in the back yard and put my '63 Galaxie back together.

[dark_drake]

So basically you:
- Don't like the basic model

That's pretty normal.  Tell your parents to sell the Aveo (which is garbage even in top range models) and get a Ford Fiesta (because of this).

Awesome link!

[Joe's bitching about the new car of his]

Really man? Really?

[Hitmen]

If you hate your car so much feel free to donate it to me.

[Towelie]

get a Ford Fiesta (because of this).

Lol. I liked the last part.

[Newby]

To be honest, your car doesn't sound that bad. The only valid complaint is really the lack of a CD player. And maybe the transmission thing. But the rest... who cares? :P

[CrAz3D]

Chevy Aveos suck.  But you already have it so.........*shrug*

[Towelie]

To be honest, your car doesn't sound that bad. The only valid complaint is really the lack of a CD player. And maybe the transmission thing. But the rest... who cares? :P

I've never been forced to use that feature in an automatic car. Not a valid complaint :P

[Quik]

To be honest, your car doesn't sound that bad. The only valid complaint is really the lack of a CD player. And maybe the transmission thing. But the rest... who cares? :P

And maybe no power windows. My 10 year old car has that! Must be a cheap-ass new car if it has manual windows still.. we're in the 21st century!

[Joe]

One thing I forgot to add is that all the little things I bitched about, my '99 has.

[MyndFyre]

I've never heard of a cruise not having a "Decelerate" feature.  Look for that.  If you just touch it, it may disengage.

On my car, it has a stick that has a button; the button determines on/off.  If I push the stick up, it'll resume or accelerate, down to decelerate, towards me to disengage cruise.

RTFM?

[rabbit]

More from Top Gear on the Aveo: click.

[Joe]

I've never heard of a cruise not having a "Decelerate" feature.  Look for that.  If you just touch it, it may disengage.

On my car, it has a stick that has a button; the button determines on/off.  If I push the stick up, it'll resume or accelerate, down to decelerate, towards me to disengage cruise.

RTFM?

My cruise has three buttons. There's one on the back of the steering wheel (wtf?) to turn on / off the entire system. On the front, there's a button to accelerate / resume, and one to set / coast. Which of those is supposed to decelerate, would you assume?

[Towelie]

Tap the break, cruise disengages. Thats what I always do...