Aveo sucks. I like the Honda FiT...

[calamari]

So a while back some of you might remember me asking about the benefits/drawbacks of leasing a vehicle.
Well yesterday we were doing grocery shooping and we saw this tiny car that called my gf's and my attention. A chevy aveo.
We looked at the page and we were very surprised at the price of this little rat (around $13,000 loaded).

We wanted to get the 5-door LT model, but I wonder if anyone has anything to say about this tiny car (gf loves it because it resembles the tiny cars used in japan). We are looking for a city car (to be used in a very small city).

http://www.chevrolet.com/aveo/

[update] since the server crashed when I tried to post this message, I have now test-driven this tiny car at the dealeship. fun fun
bad thing is, the stealership doesn't have manual transmission  maybe I'll look on the nearby towns.

[Dwn4whadever]

If you Buy a One of chevy's full size passenger vans you get a aveo for free.


No shaZam!. 

[pnaberhaus]

Subc,
B4 you do anything, drive a Honda "Fit"! I had a chance to drive the first one that wasn't pre-sold. I was amazed how well it handled and  had all the fit & finish qualities that you'd expect from a Honda costing $10k more. I delivered the first one last Thursday for $14400 + tax. There's a lot of space utilization in that small package. Make sure you look at one before you pull the trigger!

[Caffeine]

Before you buy the Aveo, go to Toyota and check out the Yaris.   It's just hit the US market, but has already proven itself in Europe.   About the same price as the Aveo.    (The Aveo is made by Suzuki and sold as a Suzuki Aerio.  Check your Suzuki car dealer to see if they have a manual transmission available.)

[calamari]

Subc,
B4 you do anything, drive a Honda "Fit"!

wow! that car is awesome... I really like it (seems better than the aveo... and better looking too). many thanks. I will go to the toyota dealer to see what's going on there.

[roguegeek]

The Aveo is a solid vehicle developed by GM and Suzuki. There's a facelift coming in a couple of months when the 2007 model gets to dealers. Much better looking than the current one.

There should be two more vehicles you should be looking at if you are looking at the Aveo. The Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris. I've driven all of these vehicles some time ago. The most impressive was the Yaris, but it's also the most expensive. I'm not talking base prices here. I'm talking comfortably equipped with all models. The Honda was also nice, but I'm not fond of the exterior styling. The Toyota and Honda will last you forever obviously. There's more of a question mark with reliability when talking about the Aveo. Still, it's the cheapest of the three and definitely a lot of car for the money although they do skimp on interior materials (like all GM vehicles). Any one of them I would recommend because they're all definitely worth the price. If you can wait a couple of months, grab a 2007 Aveo instead of the 2006.

This is all very general info on the three vehicles. I can get pretty details if you want, but I wouldn't know where to stop. If you have more specific questions, ask away.

[calamari]

I just looked into the Yaris online. Looks pretty nice too  but it's 2 doors only 

What we like about these cars is that we can basically pay them off in like a year  besides, they are small (kinda like japanese cars my gf is used to drive)
We want a manual transmission, 4 cylinders is fine, a sunroof is not necessary (but nice  ), station wagon style (to put all the stuff and grocery on the back), good resale value (eventually).

what's the insurance like on these cars btw?

also, I was amazed at how tight I can go in the turns with the Aveo 

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

I just read an article in motortrend about 7 econoboxes compared side by side, including the honda fit, the chevy aveo, and the yaris, along with a few others. All of them were under $15K, and some were pretty decent. I'll see if I can dig up that article and give you their results!

[roguegeek]

I just looked into the Yaris online. Looks pretty nice too  but it's 2 doors only 

The Yaris is available in a 4-door sedan configuration, but I prefer the 3-door hatchback you saw.

What we like about these cars is that we can basically pay them off in like a year  besides, they are small (kinda like japanese cars my gf is used to drive)
We want a manual transmission, 4 cylinders is fine, a sunroof is not necessary (but nice  ), station wagon style (to put all the stuff and grocery on the back), good resale value (eventually).

I, too, have been looking into a vehicle like this for the very same reasons. It gets frustrating driving around high horsepower V8 cars after a while. I love them, but too much gas wasted just to go to the store or transport something.

what's the insurance like on these cars btw?

No idea, but they are going to be very very low.

also, I was amazed at how tight I can go in the turns with the Aveo 

Yes. They really are impressive once you drive them. Like I said before. You get a whole lot of car for very little money.

[CRXDrew]

Honda Fit. End thread.

Fit sub forum on Honda-tech.com - largest most helpful Honda site online.
http://www.honda-tech.com/zeroforum?id=73

Fit has been put through the paces before it even hit our shores. Honda reliability and a degree of fit and finish that should easily eclipse the competition.

[roguegeek]

Oh, don't forget about the Scion xA either. Not too impressed with it as far as styling and price go, but it is a competitor in this market and it's a Toyota so it'll last forever also.

[roguegeek]

And a little compare for ya right here.

[calamari]

well, I took a fit for a test drive. man it handles great!  We really like it.

however the local stealership has a MSRP of $15,170 for the Fit Sport, and that's alright, except that they added a markup of almost $3000, bringing the price to over $18,000 before taxes and whatever 
Their reason for such markup is that there's high demand for these cars and... that's it.. WTF! is not like they are the ones making them. Or is not like Honda is charging more to the dealeship because there's high demand for them. What a ripoff.

The way I see it, if the dealeship was selling the cars at the MSRP, they would still make a decent profit! 
And to top it, they wanted me to give them a check for $500 to show my good intentions of buying the car... even when I went to visit them 3 times today!!! (2 with my gf).

oh and btw, the same stealership carries both the aveo and the fit.

I mean, I configured a fit online with all the goodies and nice rims and stuff, and it was around $16,000 and my gf was happy. but I really don't understand why they would just add over 2 grand to the price for no real reason.

i'm pissed 

[CRXDrew]

yep.. bastards... just because they can. 

[roguegeek]

The Fit was just released to dealers this month and it's selling very well. A lot of people are buying them over the Civic so the demand is very high. It's with any new product that comes to the market. There is a price to pay to be an early adopter. I'm experiencing the same thing trying to find a 2006 GSX-R600 right now. With the ridding season just starting, all prices on new bikes are high. That will change come August. It's the same with the Fit. Give it a couple of months for the dealers to get a constant supply and you'll find what you want for the price you want to pay.

[pizzleboy]

Yaris is cheaper then Fit and gets better milage.

[roguegeek]

Yaris is cheaper then Fit and gets better milage.

Another reason why I like it better than the Fit, especially the 3-door hatchback.

[pnaberhaus]

Subc,
  Here at our Honda(car) dealership, we will sell the "Fit" anyway you want it, plain, a few goodies, or w/half the parts dept. on it. No additional charges levied. The base model has less than $500 mark-up on it, so it doesn't surprise me that some greedy Honda stores jack the price up and subsequently piss of prospective customers . We don't do that here, which probably explains why the next 2 months allocation is already "pre-sold". Unfortunately, when a "hot" car FIRST arrives on the market, be it a new Mini, the first Miata, a Boxster, a "New" Beetle, prices are driven up by a demand that far exceeds supply......thereby encouraging some dealers to inflate selling prices. My best advice here is to sit patiently, bide your time(if you can), and wait for the "Fit" pipeline to fill up. The annoyance of waiting a few months will be forgotten after you've taken delivery of the car that you really want, and in the long term of ownership, the difficult waiting period will be lost by your enjoyment of the car.

[LimaXray]

I was looking at Civics a while back and they wanted and extra 3k too because it was popular.  Honda's are great cars, but IMO they're not worth anymore then MSRP.  You can get a lot more car else where for that extra 3k. 

Never looked at the Toyota, but you can't go wrong there.

I've also looked at the Aveo, but it was way too small for me and wasn't too taken with GM's typical poor interior quality and lack of the basic power items you expect in a base model here in the 21st century.  Take a look at the Cobalt.  I was given one as a Loaner and had it for about a month.  I admit I liked it, it was a lot more comfortable and the fit and finish was an improvement.

I wound up buying a Kia Optima.  It's a full sized car, and was only about 12k new.  Came with all the bell and whistles standard and interior is nicer then the Aveos(sigh).  I can't say im dissappointed with the car, I abuse it and it still treats me well for the most part.  Not to mention I get 28-30 mpg which I think is good for a bigger car being driven by a reckless ass like me..

[calamari]

thanks for all the answers. after a long discussion about the 5-door / 3-door issue (Yaris), we decided to check it out and see what the Yaris is all about. And yes, the finishing and overall quality of the Aveo is NOTHING compared to the Honda.

it still pisses me off that they wanted me to give them $500 to show my 'good faith'  I know I told them about 3 times that I wanted no commitment just yet, and they said something like 'oh sure, don't worry'.