Driven: Chevrolet U-VA. PICS on pg.2

[drifter]

Drove the U-VA for considerable distance. Here are a few observations.

Ride & Handling

Ride over uneven patches is quite good. Handling better than most small cars, but feels a bit twitchy at expressway speeds. Good road holding due to broader tyres.

Engine & Gearbox

Needs to be revved hard to extract performance. Its a bit coarse towards the top end of the revband. If you drive fast, you'l have to work the gearbox. Can do with a bit more power. Gearshift quality is average.

Interiors

Good quality, indicator stalks are american style. Nice information (idiot lamp display) in the centre of the console where the clock is. The interiors could have been made more lively with more colours. Like the carbon fibre look-alike finish on the door handles. At present the interiors are mostly grey so may look a bit boring.

Build Quality

Better than most but may not be as good as the palio.

Summary

Liked it better than the Zen Estilo, its a bigger car, more in the league of the palio, indica. But for a car of this size, the engine can do with more juice. Good city car and better than the estilo on the highway.

Drifter

[Nikhilb2008]

How does it compare with the Getz or Swift ??

[drifter]

I would buy either the Getz or the Swift over the U-VA primarily because of Maruti's and Hyundai's after sales service....not too confident about GM.

Plus the two are more powerful than the U-VA.

Drifter

[Nikhilb2008]

If GM gave a better/peppier engine, you would think of the U-VA ??

And anyway, abt A.S.S, GM is pretty good....

How does the U-VA compare in other areas like ride comfort, handling, steering feel, brake feel, cabin quality and interior space ?

[drifter]

Well if you put it that way....

If GM gave a better motor, then i would definately consider it.

The swift feels slightly bumpy in the rear. The getz has the best ride of the lot. As of right now, the swift has the best interiors. So the U-VA slots right in between the Swift and the Getz in terms of interiors.
For Ride: Getz - U-VA - Swift. There ain't much difference in them though.

Steering and brakes, its again the swift...while the steering on the U-VA isn't bad, but it tends to get twitchy at higher speeds. Can't really say how it compares with the Getz.

U-VA seems to be more spacious than the swift and the getz, but i really can't comment on this one as i did not really try the backseat.

Hope this helps.

Drifter

[nitrous]

GM is using the 1.2 engine to get that 'small car excise reduction' which is why its priced pretty well.
The GM service centres are gonna look like the Maruti ones after the launch of their cheapest car yet.

[yeis]

Originally Posted by nitrous

GM is using the 1.2 engine to get that 'small car excise reduction' which is why its priced pretty well.
The GM service centres are gonna look like the Maruti ones after the launch of their cheapest car yet.

What's the use of 'small car excise reduction'? u-VA is still costlier than Swift and even Getz while these two cars don't fall in small-car category. I don't think U-VA is priced well, doesn't matter if its cheapest GM around. GM is not Merc or BMW, nobody is dying to buy a GM anyway!

[sids911]

Originally Posted by yeis

What's the use of 'small car excise reduction'? u-VA is still costlier than Swift and even Getz while these two cars don't fall in small-car category. I don't think U-VA is priced well, doesn't matter if its cheapest GM around.

I agree. The top end LT model with option pack (which includes ABS and leather gear knob(!)...) is costlier than swift top end ZXI with ABS+Airbags+Climate control.
And that gearbox....why cant GM get their gearboxes right!?? The shifts are long throw and I had real hard time shifting between 2 and 3. Swift's short-throw gearbox is much much better IMO.

[ravibhat]

UVA is over priced by at least 30,000 RS, I thought UVA's top end would cost slightly more or equal to Swift VXI because UVA engine matching small car excise duty. When UVA is launched I am shocked by the price.

Thats why Maruti cars are so popular in India. They price their cars very well. Except for its price UVA is good package however.

Regards,

Ravi.

[nitrous]

GM has a more upmarket image than Maruti,generally.
The U-VA 1.2(with 8% excise exemption) is costlier than the Swift 1.3 (without excise exemption) by 30,000 rupees.
Its classic GM pricing!
Lets wait and watch if the public think that GM deserves it.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by nitrous

Lets wait and watch if the public think that GM deserves it.

I dont think the 'public' knows such a car is out...

Other than mags first drives, and our discussions... There is no ad or likes...

Only, i saw a small board giving a pic of the car on top of a building...

[amit]

I dont think the 'public' knows such a car is out...

I have been wondering about the same thing. Why did GM have such a soft launch for the UV-A? Even the SR-V had a soft launch but in that case it was understandable as the car was going to have a niche market but the UV-A is a volume car. Why delay the launch to equip the car with a new smaller engine to take advanatage of excise norms and supposedly pass on the advantage of lower prices to the consumer and then keep quiet about the avaliablity of the car?! Even the auto mag's haven't shown too much excitement about the car. The launch of a hatchback is always big news in India but GM launched the UV-A almost like they have launched a super expensive Ferrari!

[vibhu_f430]

wat are you guys saying???? the top end u-va is 4.89 laks in delhi...... (check january issue OVERDRIVE) even the hindu in chennai said 4.89lakh.. wich means 4.89 for abs+leather etc....

[kpzen]

I'm expecting this car is to behave the same way as its big B Aveo....Fantastic ride quality n straightline stability n the rest wont give u much to talk about....
Plus the sales guys at GM showroom have no interest in attracting the customer thats what happened to me when i was buying a car six months back...Aveo price was being increased everytime i went to the showroom n Maruti guys kept on increasing the discounts....I thank GM ppl in helping me buy a Baleno instead of their product...

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by vibhu_f430

wat are you guys saying???? the top end u-va is 4.89 laks in delhi...... (check january issue OVERDRIVE) even the hindu in chennai said 4.89lakh.. wich means 4.89 for abs+leather etc....

The same edition of Overdrive gave 5 stars to HH CD deluxe with new graphics and headlamp... Says its sets benchmark in the segment...

Somehow, i dont belive overdrive guys...


Ok... This is the price... the ex- showroom price for 1.2 LT in trivandrum is 511,666... The on- road price would come to around 5.5L... this is for the top-end version...

However... GM is cheating in something... If you notice, in the standard options... For some, they have given, dealerfit, extra cost... The alloys are dealer fit... so 15k extra... Rear spoiler 8k extra... MP3 system with speakers, around 15k extra...

Its more expensive than Swift ZXi with ABS, airbags etc... Its even more expensive than the baleno (5.5 L on-road)...