Summary:
Perhaps the worst car I’ve driven
Faults:
Door reflector on door fell off, engines made strange squeaking sound at startup.
General Comments:
We rented this car for a week in Colorado, basically because I’m a cheap-skate, and this was the cheapest car the rental agency had. First of all I understand this is car is a cheap econo-car. But even so, this had to be about the poorest excuse of a car I’ve ever driven. I’ll start with the good.
The Good:
The car got great fuel economy. I’ve read it’s supposed to get around 35MPG. But I swear it must have been getting close to 40MPG, because we seldom filled it up. The model we had, the LT model, had a surprisingly generous compliment of features: Power windows, mirrors, remote entry and trunk, a halfway decent stereo, and a well laid-out interior. The interior materials were definitely cheap, but tastefully done. I’d say the fit and finish was above average for similar econo-cars. The seats were comfortable for me, but not for my wife, who is taller.
The Bad:
Acceleration was non-existent. I’ve never driven such an absolute sluggish car in all my life. That’s saying a lot, given that I’ve only ever driven small Toyota and Nissan cars and trucks with 4 cylinder engines. Compared to the Aveo, our 2002 Prius is a hot-rod. Taking the Aveo out on the freeway meant re-thinking about exactly how far away oncoming traffic was, because punching the gas had almost no result except that the little engine absolutely wailed, almost redlining itself as it slowly sped up. The car had no power for going up hills. At one point we were climbing a moderate hill on the freeway at 60MPH. The car simply wouldn’t go any faster.
When we picked up the Aveo, it had 4 miles on the odometer. One would imagine everything would be absolutely perfect, given it was practically un-driven. But on the first night - as in within the first 5 miles of driving it, one of the reflectors mounted to the door fell off on the parking lot. Not a big deal, but still… the car had less than 10 miles on it.
On the 3rd day, the car began to make a squeaking sound when the engine was started. In fact, when driven hard, there was a distinct smell of burning engine belts. I’m familiar with this smell as I repair small engines and riding mowers. The smell was the same as you get with slipping mower deck belts. I have no idea if this was what was causing the noise, but I didn’t fool with it.
Overall, I was not left with a great impression. While it’s not fair to pass judgment in regards to reliability for a 5 day rental car, my experience with it gave me little reason to trust its long-term reliability. Especially given that something like a Honda Civic can be bought for just a few thousand more.
