2007 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Testing and Finalists
Ticks all the boxes, just misses the mark
By Angus MacKenzie
Forget luxo cars and trucks: The white-hot heat of real competition in the auto biz is in the small-car segment, where customer expectations are growing by the minute, but the margins remain wafer-thin. To build a good small car, you have to be a really good automaker.
The big problem with the Chevy Aveo, which is essentially a rebadged, made-in-Korea Daewoo Kalos, is that it's just an overwhelmingly average small car. It gives you all the things you want from a small car: high gas mileage, park-anywhere size, modest running costs. And GM has attempted to make it look like more than just basic transportation. But in reality, that's all the Aveo is: basic transportation.
You won't find much flair anywhere in this baby Chevy. The 1.6-liter four under the hood makes an average 103-horsepower and let's you know it's working hard at doing it. Standard transmission is a five-speed manual, with a four-speed automatic available as an option. Lacking the five or six ratios that are now fast becoming de rigueur in automatics, performance is--not unexpectedly, perhaps--average.
Ride and handling also are average. The steering is vague on-center and gets sullen as you dial in more lock, adding weight, but not giving any real feedback in the process. The body rolls around a lot, and the tires simply shrug and give up if you get too enthusiastic in the corners.
GM offers three interior design packages. They look smart, but only from a distance, especially the eye-watering fake woodgrain splashed around the cabin of our tester.
| 2007 Chevrolet Aveo |
| Base price range | $9995-$14,015 |
| Price as tested | $15,365 (LT sedan) |
| Vehicle layout | Front engine, FWD, 5-pass, 4-door sedan or hatchback |
| Engine | 1.6L/103-hp/107-lb-ft DOHC 16-valve I-4 |
| Transmission | 4-speed automatic |
| Curb weight (f/r dist) | 2552 lb (61/39%) |
| Wheelbase | 97.6 in |
| Length x width x height | 169.7 x 67.3 x 59.2 in |
| 0-60 mph | 11.1 sec |
| Quarter mile | 18.1 sec @ 77.3 mph |
| Braking, 60-0 mph | 172 ft |
| 600-foot slalom | 61.9 mph, avg |
| Lateral acceleration | 0.74 g, avg |
| MT figure eight | 30.4 sec @ 0.50 g, avg |
| EPA city/hwy fuel econ | 26/34 mpg |
| Sum Up | Big in China. But a different story in America--at least you get an am/fm stereo. |
| Bet you didn't know | If every Chevy dealer sells just two Aveos a month, annual sales would exceed Hyundai Accent and Kia Rio combined. |
Standard front and side airbags are a good thing. Making anti-lock brakes an option means there's more chance you're going to need them, though, and that's not really acceptable these days. Even in basic transportation.
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