My Chevrolet AVEO 1.4 LS..beginning of a new epic !

[s3va]

After 4 months of contemplation, TD of various cars, external influences and all those factors that usually go into the decision making process while buying a new car, finally I got hold of my new Chevrolet AVEO 1.4 LS variant, Black color. Presently the ODO indicates 60 km, still in the process of grasping the complete feel of the car.

Minor modifications like Car Audio system installation and Alloy wheel fitment are in process. I will come back with more updates, pics very soon.

[deky]

Congratulations on the new car. I ride an Aveo and am completely satisfied with my purchase. Its just been over a year and i have done close to 23K on the Odo.

The black is a great colour, looks excellent if the car is well maintained. Have you taken the 3 yrs Cashless Ownership offer?

[isldhn]

Congratulations dude. I guess you'll be thoroughly satisfied by the solid built quality and excellent interiors of the car. I myself own one for over 3 years now and am satisfied by the performance. Sure if u want to drag or be the first one out of the blocks on a traffic signal, then this car leaves you wanting for more, but overall its a nice package and thorough VFM if you keep it for at least 5-6 years. Enjoy your AHH-VEE-OH and yeah... keep it clean

[s3va]

Originally Posted by isldhn

Congratulations dude. I guess you'll be thoroughly satisfied by the solid built quality and excellent interiors of the car. I myself own one for over 3 years now and am satisfied by the performance. Sure if u want to drag or be the first one out of the blocks on a traffic signal, then this car leaves you wanting for more, but overall its a nice package and thorough VFM if you keep it for at least 5-6 years. Enjoy your AHH-VEE-OH and yeah... keep it clean

Ask me about it, I was driving a Palio 1.6 till recently and the power lag is something I need to get used to in the new Chevy. But the engine is capable, i think its the tuning which causes the lag. After 1800-2k rpm, the power kicks in. Probably I shall do some mods later with a remap or sort !

[s3va]

Originally Posted by deky

Congratulations on the new car. I ride an Aveo and am completely satisfied with my purchase. Its just been over a year and i have done close to 23K on the Odo.

The black is a great colour, looks excellent if the car is well maintained. Have you taken the 3 yrs Cashless Ownership offer?

Yes, black is tough to maintain, but that was the only color that we liked. I have indeed taken the 3 yrs cashless maintenance offer. There are 10 coupons that have to be used during every service so as to avail the consumables and service charges as free + 3 free wheel alignment-balancing coupons.

[kavu75]

Congratulations s3va. I drive an Aveo from last 2 years and clocked around 24K on odo.
Like deky said, black is a stunning color if you maintain it properly.
BTW, from where you got the vehicle, is it from Kropex?

[s3va]

Originally Posted by kavu75

Congratulations s3va. I drive an Aveo from last 2 years and clocked around 24K on odo.
Like deky said, black is a stunning color if you maintain it properly.
BTW, from where you got the vehicle, is it from Kropex?

thanks Kavu75.
YES i took delivery of the vehicle from KROPEX, Hosur Rd. On the whole I had a satisfactory experience dealing with them.
Some one in the forum was mentioning about Trident planning to open their division to deal Chevrolet. If thats true, nothing like it. It would be a big break for Chevrolet in India especially W.R.T sales and A.S.S. I was in relation with Trident for the past 4-5 years for my previous car, and they were very good on the customer satisfaction front.

[mjothi]

Congrats. It a nice package. And solid built car. Its less known that the car is also built like a tank as your palio.

btw, about the power lag in lower end, i heard it improves noticebly if you put a K&N. This was informed by one of the forum member here. [ itsjustme?? ]

He sold his car and went to abroad. Anyway, keep us updated if you have any upcoming plan for the mod.

And yes, do change the stock headlamp with 90/100. Worth it.

[prince_pervez]

Congrats on you new purchase @S3va. I still feel cherry red is the best color for this car. But since you like it whos complaining. Enjoy her to the fullest. Drive safe!

[pusako]

Congrats man. Good and sensible car.
One thing ,does the LS have electrically adjustable door mirrors? What else is the diff between LS and LT??

[s3va]

Originally Posted by mjothi

Congrats. It a nice package. And solid built car. Its less known that the car is also built like a tank as your palio.

btw, about the power lag in lower end, i heard it improves noticebly if you put a K&N. This was informed by one of the forum member here. [ itsjustme?? ]

He sold his car and went to abroad. Anyway, keep us updated if you have any upcoming plan for the mod.

And yes, do change the stock headlamp with 90/100. Worth it.

Thanks Mjothi, I have read your posts in length during the decision making process while buying the Chevy

Yes I am planning to upgrade the stock lamps..I shall consider your input.

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

Congrats on you new purchase @S3va. I still feel cherry red is the best color for this car. But since you like it whos complaining. Enjoy her to the fullest. Drive safe!

Thanks. We are a big fan of BLACK !

Originally Posted by pusako

Congrats man. Good and sensible car.
One thing ,does the LS have electrically adjustable door mirrors? What else is the diff between LS and LT??

LS doesnt have electrically adjustable door mirrors, that was something I always wanted. But then I compromised.

LT has-

ABS
Airbags
Spoilers
Fog Lamps
electrically adjustable door mirrors
Chrome coated door handles - outside
Chrome coated mirrors
Basic design Alloys

I am working on a detailed review, will post it as soon as I can.

[arunu]

Good decision s3va,

Aveo is true VFM, sturdy built, decent performance and classy interiors coupled with GM's new 1Lac/5 yr warrenty.
Also Black colour with crome highlights look fabolous on this car. Get an appointment with Rudra for a photo session since he can wave his magicwand and do BLACKMAGIC with you car.
Happy driving.

[pusako]

@s3va
Can you attach a pic of the dashboard?

Thanks

[s3va]

So here I was driving my Santro, which I had initially bought for other circumstantial reasons, for about 4 years until the thought of upgrading popped up my head.

Many of you wont believe the fact that the only upgrade car I had in my mind at that time, was the Palio Stile Sports 1.6, for the very reason of being a hardcore Fiat fan. Also I have been driving and enjoying the Palio 1.2 for quite some time that my dad owns back home. I can vouch by the fact that, presently Palio 1.6 is the best performing car in its category especially for the price tag that it carries(~Rs 4.9 OTR). So, I got in touch with Concorde in Bangalore and provided them a verbal commitment to block a Formula Red color for me. Meanwhile I had submitted my car loan application with SBI and never ever realized that availing car loan from SBI would become the biggest ordeal in my life that would eventually affect my decision in buying the Palio.

Whilst waiting for my loan to get approved, one fine morning my wife pointed out a newspaper ad by GM that was displaying the offers they had announced on the Chevrolet AVEO 1.4 Sedan. Now, Chevrolet is one brand (by now I had TD’ed Punto, Palio Stile 1.3MJD, I20 Diesel) that I had never considered and for that matter Sedan was completely out of my upgrade plans. But after having a second look at the ad that talked about the reduced prices on Chevrolet 1.4 Sedan (ex showroom Rs.5.49 lacs), I decided to give it a shot and immediately called up TVS Sundaram. The response from the sales guy was very courteous (probably for the fact that there were few people these days opting GM cars for the very reason that GM empire had crumpled) & I was told that the OTR price for the basic variant would cost me about Rs.6.7 lacs. I gave the sales guy a green signal to bring the car to my office for a TD.

So here begins the twist towards mid size sedan category. Though I am a person who doesn’t get too much worried on the company who produce cars and concentrate more on performance (that you might have noticed by being a FIAT fan), I initiated my research part on whether to buy a GM car or not. In a nut shell I was able to grasp the fact that GM crumpled due to various reasons other than producing bad cars. The main reason for GM’s fall was their careless approach towards their company’s spending manners (by providing over and above compensations to its employees, retaining plants that were supposed to be decommissioned and increasing its operational expenses etc etc). At present GM is trying to rebuild its empire mainly by relying on two main sub-bands that are Chevrolet and one more, that I don’t recollect. Now the Chevrolet in Asia has a different outlook altogether. This is a rebadged Daewoo that used to produce Cielo and Matiz in India. Now that increased my liking factors as I used to love the Cielo for the very fact that it was build like a tank and had the capability to perform if one knew to tame it. I checked on the service part, you always had TVS around (though I didn’t like them for the kind of service they had rendered for my Palio) and a new one called Kropex. Over the above, the 3 years warranty and other cashless maintenance plans appeared re-assuring the services and commitment of GM in India. So finally I was convinced that GM was not a bad option at all.

As promised, the TVS sales guy turned up right on time for the TD at my office. Drove the car on all possible roads, ripped the car as well as got the feel on bumper to bumper traffic et al. More details on the TD can be found in the link below, under my user id “s3va”.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...eo-1-4-lt.html (Initial ownership report: Chevrolet Aveo 1.4 LT)

Now that I had entered the Sedan category, I was beginning to think why should I not TD other Sedans as well that fell into this mid-size sedan category? Hence I did the TD of Fiesta 1.6(~7.2 lacs) and the Linea 1.4(~7 lacs). All these cars had pro’s and con’s of their own, but Chevy was something which stood out for its VFM aspect. Also I was not ready to stretch beyond 6.7 lacs as I had already planned my EMI thresholds that controlled various other personal commitments. This made my task easier to rule out Fiesta and Linea, though both were good cars, and not to mention about the peppiness of Fiesta that I could find only in Palio 1.6 among the cars I have driven so far. Adding to that, my wife was completely impressed with Chevy’s rich interiors and the ride quality (she says it GLIDES!!!).

While every aspects so far were pointing towards the Chevy, here came another one that proved to be the biggest deciding factor in finalizing the AVEO 1.4. GM reduced the prices further!!! In the meanwhile, since I was not offered a good deal from TVS I shifted my dealings with Kropex (a relatively new Chevy showroom at Hosur road) who were quite good with their approach towards my queries and other aspects. So below here is the final break up that I confirmed as a deal -

Ex Showroom - 549,000
Road Tax - 78,507
Dely Charges - 5,000
Corp Discount - 8,000
Cost of CAR - 624,507
Cashless Maint -13,000
Car Charges w/o Insurance - 637,507
Insurance : self processed - 13652 ;Dealer Insurance Charges were quite high
Grand TOTAL Cost of Car - 651,159

Freebies:

1) Mud Flaps and Mats
2) Central Locking basic
3) Redsoul Reverse Sensor with IRVM Display
4) Art Leather
5) Sun Film - 70% light visibility per RTO norms
6) Car Covers

The above accessories and rates (corporate discount and delivery charges) weren’t offered that easily, I had to literally do a ‘vegetable market’ bargain.

Accessories that I opted to install from my end:

1) Car Audio(completed with the help of Satya @blueraven, EVO)
2) Alloy wheels – In the process
3) 3M Under body anti-rust coat with 5 yrs warranty –Completed at the Dealer's place, costed Rs4000

I went ahead and booked the car on 29 Aug 2009(AVEO 1.4 LS, BLACK) and I was told that the car would be delivered within 10 working days. Further negotiations on the accessories were conducted as I was denied the Gold coin offer that got launched further to my booking date. I was upgraded from the indicator diplay to rear view mirror display for the parking sensor along with Sun films. The above accessories weren’t part of my initial accessories list.

Simultaneously I was struggling in getting my loan sanctioned from SBI who finally prepared the loan amount DD in the name of Kropex on 11 Sep 2009. Coincidentally by now the car delivery was also delayed and didn’t happen on the promised day. Finally I got the good news that the car had reached Bangalore and I raised my request with Kropex to deliver the car on 17 Sep 2009 that was supposed to be an auspicious day, per my parent’s advice. I had already performed the PDI with the help of T-BHP list, about 3-4 days prior to delivery date, including a test drive.

Finally the day arrived to collect my car and we reached the showroom by about 5 pm, just before dusk. Since I had already performed my PDI I was not concerned on the daylight delivery. Performed the initial checks on the accessories to ensure if they have been installed as per the deal, checked the bottom of car for 3M coating, seat covers looked fine though it could have stitched with a better finish, reverse parking sensors were working fine etc. Above all the engine, oil levels, coolants, A/C, steering, tires, bonnet, hood and other functionalities were given a thorough check. One more person was assigned who took me through the car functions and features who also helped me complete the other left out formalities. By now I had enough of all those paper work, finally by about 7 pm I shook hands with the showroom head who handed over the car keys and off we drove onto the Hosur road express way in anticipation of an excellent drive till the Koramangala Ganesha temple(wrong to expect apples in the vineyard).

By now, it started raining cats and dogs and along with traffic piling on Hosur road I was forced to drive on 1st and 2nd gears. I never expected such a horrible driving experience on day one after taking delivery of my car. With my wife’s optimism as the only solace, we eagerly waited for the showers as well as the traffic to clear off. By the time we reach Koramangala temple, it was already 8 pm and the temple poojaris were about to wind up. The rains were still on, but the poojari was ready to wait until the rains cleared for performing the pooja. Finally since the rains showed no sign of ceasing, the poojari gave me the signal to park the car in front of their open ‘mantap’ from where he commenced the pooja. It was a different experience altogether while performing pooja in the midst of heavy rain, which was a good one too. My 3 year old son was enjoying every bit of the rains as well as the pooja activity.

Pooja got over in 20 mins, had the ‘prasad’ and we started heading towards a place to have dinner. By now the traffic cleared and I started driving the car the way it was supposed to be. I was enjoying every bit of the drive, though things like power lag, notchy gears that were something I had to get used to. Reached home by about 11pm and had one final look of the car for the day before we tucked into our beds.

The day next we had to leave out of station (by train) and hence the car was left covered in my apartment parking area.

As on date updates :-

The ICE’in has been completed, thanks a ton to Satya(@blueraven – EVO) for his assistance in setting up the same.

I am in the process of installing the alloys and upon completion I shall post pictures of the car,

Few observations made so far after ticking 299 kms on the ODO :

1) When it rained on the day I took delivery of the car, I had noticed that there were few water drops on the rubber beading (the beading inside the door edges that seals the cabin) inside the front left door.
2) Slight rattling noise from the steering column area while driving the car through rough patches.
3) Mild vibrations(probably from the engine) felt on the pedals and gear stick till about 2000 rpm – I don’t know whether this is normal, but I am sensitive to such minor aspects.
4) Slight Creaking noise while closing the rear hood door.

Overall, we are thoroughly enjoying the car and I am just waiting for the run in period to complete so as to drive the car in RPMs that I usually love to.

A bright flare of THANKS to the T-BHP folks whose feedback and inputs have helped me a lot throughout the purchase process.

Pics will follow soon.

PS: Opinions expressed above are purely from my own perspective and there have been no intentions to hurt anyone's sentiments(Ya, I know I sound here like a movie disclaimer, but I really mean it )

[mjothi]

Nice one. You have pen-ed down your decision process very well.