[agambhandari]

Yes, the the Title looks utterly illogical, clearly it is a step down by a quite a large amount. But that is not what we had in mind when my family bought the Chevy Spark. I will tell the downgrade experience after the review of the car. So let me elaborate the whole story.
Introduction
Its one fine day in November 2010. We have almost no plan to buy a New Car or should i say,my Father had no plan to buy a new car.
Our 2005 Honda "Dolphin" City was working perfectly. Also, there was a 2004 Omni gathering dust(it was bought for hospital purpose, not as an ambulance. My father is an Eye Surgeon, so no use of an ambulance).

Back then I was in Class X. Starting XI in Next April, i would be attending quite a lot of coaching classes, with those being on opposite ends of the city. Parents said a big NO to any 2 wheeler(Safety Issues), and clearly i would not be driving a Car(Underage of-course). So parents would probably hire a driver for driving the existing city and occasionally Omni.( Read as Mostly Omni)
I had to change it. My Sister was then in 3rd Prof MBBS in Delhi and when in 2 years, she would complete her MBBS, she wanted her own car. So i thought if we could get a small car now, use it a bit till 1-2 years and then give it to her.
So then i starting convincing my father how Omni wasn't a very safe vehicle(Safety being the aspect that would appeal the most to him). and how it wasn't of any use right now.
My sister also hinted her desire for a Car at the end of her Graduation.
So my father sort of agreed to get a New Small Car but in April(because it would be needed only then). But i told him that getting a car in Nov-Dec would make great financial sense as we would be able to get some year end discounts. He agreed and finally , we were in the market for a small car.
The Search Begins...

Needs were simple:
It should be inexpensive(relatively)..the Cheaper the better
Budget of roughly 3-3.5 lacs.
should be comfortable and (a bit) crashworthy.
should be easy and economical to maintain, it would be sister's first car so things like a new bumper or a fender better be cheap.

In this kind of budget, only a few cars could fit.
the Nano, Alto(and K10), and the entry level versions of the Spark and the Santro.

Sister plainly eliminated the Nano for its El-cheapo image and the bland interors.

Santro wouldn't even make it to my top 10,000 cars to buy list and here is why. We had bought a Santro in Nov 2001. It broke down within a year and then again after a couple months in the middle of the NH-1. The problems could never be completely solved and we had to sell the car even before our Loan tenure. Got only 50% of its original value after 34 months.
Compare that with the 50% we got after Selling the Honda City after 90 Months!
Maruti Alto
I was never a big fan of Alto but the fact that it is a bestseller and the great Maruti A.S.S. dragged my parents to the showroom. There wasn't even a display car there, let alone a Test drive.We never really got a test drive of the Alto, also the lack of space (and a bit of safety concern) combined with the attitude of the Maruti guys went against it.
The Chevy Spark
Spark was my favorite from the start and i had read some good reviews about it in the magazines that i had accumulated over the last few years.Over the last couple of years, i has seen some ads in the papaler which touted Spark for Alto like money and i questioned why would anyone go for the Alto then(Clearly a smaller car).

And that day, saw an ad in newspaper "Spark for 2.74 lacs". It was just what i needed. Called up the new showroom(it had been less than 2 weeks since it opened) in hopes of better discounts and they came to the house with a TD car within 2 hrs.Weirdly, it was not a top variant as it normally is, but a middle LS variant.Dad test drove the car and though he didn't do a "Test it like you own it"(As GM says), he took a long test drive and was mighty impressed by it. He particularly liked the Engine Refinement and the Car's interiors. The interiors had been revised to beige the previous year.But the TD car made a real bad noise for which the SE regarded the under construction road and the coal tar on the Tyres as the culprit. But it was quickly diagnosed to be a loose drivebelt. After the test drive, we inquired the prices and were a bit shocked when the pricelist read 3.24 lacs for the base variant.Asked for some discounts and got a big one straightaway. Flat 50k cash discount on all variants. I must say that this would be the easiest discount anyone has ever got.
Within a couple of days, when we could never get an Alto TD, the Spark was almost decided on.

[agambhandari]

Finalising the Deal
Went to the showroom, and after looking at the equipment levels and the prices, the PS variant made the most sense(had the essentials like AC + power steering). Black bumpers were a plus point because of cheap repairs.(a front or rear bumper costs less than Rs 1000 and nothing needs to be spent on painting it). I tried to convince dad for the Top of the line LT(O) variant since it had ABS and an Airbag. But it came with too many un needed features and the premium of nearly 1.2 lacs couldn't be justified for ABS and Airbag in what would be a strict city runabout. But sister wasn't very happy with the black bumper on most colors. She suggested to either get a higher LS variant or get a black PS variant. The idea of Black color with beige interiors intantly screams expensive, so it was chosen. Normally a specific variant and a color could take some time for delivery but luckily, the chosen config. car was standing right outside the Showroom Display Area. Took it for a Spin and the car was alright and there was no sound like in the TD car.So it was decided and the car was immediately booked.
We also decided to trade in the Omni. also bargained for some freebies like Remote Locking System, Mud Flaps, Body cover. car also had a perfume at the time of delivery(dealer's goodwill).
The final On Road Price came to 3.02 Lacs on the Road. (Without accounting for the traded-in car)
The Chevrolet 3 year promise would decrease the discount by 14k, so it didn't seem worth it.
Was all great until the day of (planned )delivery. The dealer sent a Chevy Beat to pick us up(Trying to convince us to upgrade perhaps?) from our house but after reaching there we couldn't take delivery as the Insurance of Omni couldn't be transferred till that time. It had been all washed up and shining but we couldn't take it home.So we came back home without a Car.

(The Car was ready to go but sadly the insurance wasn't)
We had to go the next day to the showroom (in the same Beat) to finally get the car. This time it was all pretty fluid and we comfortably got the car back home.

(My Dad finally taking delivery of the Car on 21 Dec, 2010)

[agambhandari]

The Review of the Car.
Let us take all the aspects one by One

Design and Engineering
The Spark is Cute. Period .
and there is nothing you can say to argument this. This Model(Internally known as the M200) retains the cheekiness of the original Guigaro Design of the Earlier Matiz(M100). At the time we bought the car, it was by far the most stylish car in its price range and it is still not far behind.
(The Eon , supposedly has the "Fluidic Styling", but personally, i don't see it . The Elantra has the best execution of the Fluidic Styling and I'd say Eon is one of the worse ones. The Chiseled Styling makes that car look quite smaller than it really is. )
The Car retains a lot of the Earlier Matiz Elements (like the Design of the Wing Mirrors) but has newer and more contemporary design elements too(like the Kink in the Front Quarter Glass).
The Drag Coefficient of this design has been lowered to 0.34. The Design clearly looks like a Monospace, but is nearly not as extreme as the Nano.The Brochure says it has 51% of the Chassis is made up of High strength Steel. The Design is clearly more crashworthy than the Decade and a half old Alto.
I am pretty sure that my Sister agreed for the Spark , mostly based on the Design.
I think the design of the Spark is one of the few modern ones which look decent even with Black Bumpers.
Of Course, mine being Black doesn't make the bumpers that conspicuous.
Mine is a PS variant and came without an LHS Wing Mirror. Now, I have been asking for the fittment at every service. The First time I got a reply saying that the whole Door pad would need to be replaced since the existing one cannot be cut accurately. I didn't personally go to dealership that time. After figuring out that the Mirror can be fitted without completely changing the Door Pad, when asked for the Mirror at next service, they were "Out of Stock". The Lack of this mirror does cause a lot of problem in driving, especially when making a Turn.




Interiors

The Interiors can be best described as Funky and Youthful. The Centre Mount Instrument Cluster is clearly the standout. Mine being a late 2010 Model, has all the warnings and Signs at this central position only. While some may perceive this to be difficult to read, it is not. The Cluster has only one large Analog Dial and a digital screen at the bottom. On first glance, this might seem like an MID, but don't be fooled. Using the Two stalks on the cluster, you can toggle between a Digital Clock, Battery Voltage and Tachometer(Digital).

But this screen always displays the Fuel Guage and the Engine Temp. Gauge. The Lack of a TAcho was commonly criticized in the earlier Spark Models, but this one has it Digital. It isn't as animated as the one on the Chevy Beat, as this one displays the reading in 4 digts only( always in multiple of 100). The Cluster is normally left on the Clock mode in my car.
The Spark was given Beige Interiors in mid-2009 and mine sports them too. The Interiors have been criticised on Team Bhp to be overloaded on Beige. But I have to slightly disagree(at least for my variant). The Black Steering and the Black Centre Console nicely complement the Beige in the Rest of the Cabin.
(The top LT model comes with a Silver aluminium finish on the Central console). There is absolutely no way to tell the color of the Car Exterior from the inside(unless you try to see the tailgate , which is quite difficult)
, none of the Metal is exposed inside, even the Window rims don't have metal exposed(as i have seen in most other cars, even the more expensive ones. In my case, even the Metal on the Tailgate is black, so the only colors inside are Beige and Black!.
The Interior quality is very good and good enough even for a car from a class higher. The Design is easy on the eyes and is quite contemporary, unlike the ageing Alto.
The Space on the inside is seriously impressive for a car that is less than 3.5m long and has a wheelbase of 2.3m. The Space is great both in the Front and the Back. Shown here is me sitting on the back seat with Front Seat pushed all the way to the back. I am 5' 11'' and my knees were a bit away from hitting the front seats. That is impressive for a small car.
The Front seats thankfully come with adjustable Head Rests. No cost cutting here unlike every car at this price which come with fixed front headrests.(Even a Honda Brio and Toyota Etios comes with fixed ones).
The original seat upholstery was part fabric, part vinyl. After nearly a year, we got Art Leather Seat Covers fitted. We didn't want to spend much, so paid Rs 2200 for these covers that you see in these pics. [ATTACH]1028717[/ATTACH
]The Fit and Finish is good enough for the Price and the maker also made a "Chevrolet" and the Badge on the covers.The Beige Color gives a sense of space but as Usual, the beige interiors are difficult to maintain and in the future given a choice between Black/Grey and Beige, i would definitely prefer darker interior color.
The Thigh support isn't really good , but what can you expect in this segement.
The AC is average and does a decent job of cooling the Greenhouse in summers. The Fan Speed 2 is enough for most cases. All the knobs and switches are pretty good quality. Hard plastics are all you can expect in this range, but they aren't shiny like those in other budget hatches.
The stalks on the steering are "Wrong" or "Euro" style. I don't really get it why? Spark is basically a Korean car, so just like other Asian cars it should have Wipers on the Left and blinkers on the Right. I suppose it could have something to do with the fact that the main target market for the car was supposed to be Europe.Also the Fuel Filler Cap on the outside is on the "right side of the car" (as is on the European cars). Does that make my car European? That would make it the least expensive Euro Car!
The Stalks are of average quality, but their point emergence of the Stalks isn't covered with the rubber and sharp edges stick out like a sore thumb. It is one of the few places that really remind you of the cost of the car. What must also be noted is that the same stalks have been used in the recently launched Sail UVA albeit in the more orthodox arrangement.
The interior lighting is a pleasant and neutral green.
There is no ICE currently in the car. Because this wasn't meant as a primary car since the first day. But now it is one! But more on that later.


Drivetrain and performance
This is one area that is the best in class even today. (By the Class, I mean the contemporary A Segment) The Engine is a proper 4 cylinder engine (995 ccc) and is impressively refined. NVH levels are great and it is very jdifficult to tell when the car is idling.
Now as you may see i my Team - Bhp profile that i am not legally allowed to drive. I have driven the car only a little bit on private roads, so it is difficult to give my own personal opinion about the performance. My Dad drives the car mostly and so i am writing his opinion here.
The Car clearly has more than enough punch for the City. The Engine pulls cleanly from low Revs and pottering in the city is pretty easy. It is pretty Rev Happy too. It gets audible only under hard acceleration. Even at higher Revs, the sound is pretty pleasing to the Ears. I have seen Dad upshift at only above 4500 only to get that sweet sound.
Out on the Highway, it does feel underpowered over triple digits speeds. Shutting off the AC is very helpful in this case.
But keep it at 80, and it feels good to drive.

The Gearbox on the other hand is a mixed bag. It is nicely mated to the Engine, with 2nd and 3rd being all you need in the city mostly. In fact, 3rd can be used as an Automatic in most cases. It is pretty flexible. But the Gearbox has a long throw and the shift is typically Korean and Vague. It is even difficult to slot in at times. My Dad was used to the 'Honda Slick' gearbox in the city and this is the only thing that he complains about.
RPM at 80 in 5th is 2700.
The Gearbox is in fact unique and requires no Oil change for lifetime!

Fuel Efficiency is decent with a bit over 12 in the city and about 19 on the Highway( if you keep it near 70-80)

Ride and Handling
Also you can hear the suspension at work. The short wheelbase of the car would normally mean trashy ride. but not here.
Ride in the Spark or Drive it, the car feels bigger than it is. I mean that in a good way.
The Suspension works as if it is for a larger car and the nicely absorbs the undulations on the road. The Ride isn't supersoft(as the other Koreans READ : Hyundai) and as a result remains pliant at most surfaces. The big potholes do tend to crash in.
I frequently travel in a Hyundai i10 as well, so i can compare the Spark with it easily. At low speeds i10 is a bit better as it absorbs the undulations better, the damping is better and the suspension is more silent. But as the Speeds rise(more than 50 Kph) , Spark easily trumps the i10. The excessive vertical movement of the i10 rob it of the comfort at greater speeds. The Spark's suspension on the other hand remains unfazed and the Suspension behaves same as it does in the lower range of Speeds.

I remember reading in a review on the Internet, that the Spark would be a great Enthusiast's first car. and I think the person writing the review was spot on!
The car is nicely poised at most speeds and doesn't have the problems you face in the tallboys.The poise of the car in the bends is brilliant.
The Body Roll is minimal and high speed manners are good for a car of this Class. The Steering is a Hydraulic assist and thus offers some feedback too. It feels a bit vague at the dead straight position, but i guess it is a common feature with most power steering units. As Expected, the steering isn't as light as it was in our Honda City (which was Video Game like).
All in all, it would be safe to say that Spark is a dynamically sound Vehicle.
In a recent comparison in Autocar Magazine, between the Hyundai Eon and the Maruti Alto 800, it was clearly stated" Whichever car you choose of the two, please do not take it out on the Highway. Do that only as the last resort and even then, don't try keeping up with the Big Boys "
My car also costs roughly the same and it may not exactly be my weapon of choice for the Highway, but it is surely Highway worthy and Dynamically sound enough for the task

[agambhandari]

Small Yet Significant things (a la Team-Bhp Reviews)

HeadLamp Detailing , Chevrolet calls these "Quotation Style", so i have quoted them

Taillamps These have changed since the launch of the spark. The Reverse Lamps have now been integrated into the main unit.The Upper Part still has a Jewel Effect.

The Original location for the Reverse lamp can be seen here. The Reflectors are down on the bumpers

The OEM tyres are Apollo Aceleres 155/70R13. They do a great job. Surprisingly, they are H rated, which means they can handle speeds upto 210 Kmph, but my car won't go above 150Kmph!

The Rear Door Pad

The little space between the Seats is well utilized with a stowage space

More Stowage space below the Steering Wheel(and similarly in the Passenger Area). Also seen here is a slot type ticket holder on the upper right

The Fake Speaker Grill and the Perfume that the dealership bundled with the car

Exposed Rails of the front seats don't look good

But the Pillars of the car do look good. Each pillar is covered with Beige Plastic. No bare metal.

The only place inside , where you can tell the exterior color of the car, but its a matching Black in my car. Even the Hatch has a Beige Padding on
the inside.

Tools for changing the tyre is neatly strapped on to the floor of the boot.

Ever wanted to see the Mechanism of Seat Belt. Here it is. The Rear Seat belt working is all bared.

The One feature i got that wasn't supposed to be on my variant(according to the Brochure), but I lost a Vanity mirror on the Visor. I guess "Specifications and Features are subject to change without prior notice"

The Instrument Cluster on the "On" position. The Screen in the centre is always lit up, irrespective of the Headlamps.

The Screen in clock mode

Battery Voltage( It goes upto 14.5V when charging , because charging battery has a higher potential drop across it)

Tachometer Mode

The Spark at its everyday Parking Place

[agambhandari]

Story behind the Title
As i wrote above, the car wasn't finally used much as a my vehicle for the coaching classes. So after an year of buying the car, it had less than 3000 KMs on the ODO. It was used as a secondary car to the Honda City. It had no real purpose and was thus sparingly used. It was used just enough so as to keep it running all right. Thus, it still doesn't have an ICe.

So while our Honda City was going strong, it was ageing. In Jan 2005, it was 7 years old. Hondas are very reliable and i agree with this fact. But any car that is more than 7 years old, will cause problems in service and spares and not to forget the little niggles that crop up. For eg : The ORVM. adjustment motors in my City went bust and the dealer was out of stock of these. They quoted a time of at least 4-6 weeks for getting these. The Honda service is pretty cheap but the parts aren't. Thus it would be safe to sell the City and get a replacement. But we didn't get a good deal. The Honda dealer offered 2.7 lacs in June 2011. But we were not going to sell it for anything less than 3 lacs.
We were evaluating our options for replacement of the City and there was nothing. A compact SUV got us interested and we are still waiting for it. (Preferred Petrol). Since there wasn't a suitable replacement, so the sale plan sort of mellowed down.
Then, the monthly mileage of the vehicles went further down. So two cars weren't of much use.
Of course, we could sell the City and use the Chevy till the time we bought the Replacement.
Luckily, an acquaintance was interested in the City. We started the negotiations at 3.5 lacs and finally sold it at 3.25 lacs to him. He is absolutely loving the Car. Resale value was great at 50% after 7. 5 years and 67k odo.
The Sale was done in June 2012, so for the last 6 months my family has downgraded from a C2 Sedan to an A Segment Hatch. There are some things that i have learnt in this experience and would like to share them with you:

• You CAN live with downgrading

Most of the daily works can be accomplished even with a budget hatch. It doesn't hamper your mobility much and you might even save the planet a bit!(because you have a smaller engine and lesser weight to carry
)

• More Agility in the city

For those of us who drive mostly in the city, having a smaller Car can be a boon. You can cram into spaces that you wouldn't even dare to in a C2 Sedan. Small cars are a great tool for the city.

• Cheaper Maintainance

Cheaper car means cheaper Maintainance. Though in my case, the service charges weren't too much in case of the Honda City either, but the spares were pretty expensive. This difference would be much more in case of other brands.

• I learnt Driving

I am just starting to learn driving. This would have been a lot more difficult had we not got the Spark. Talk about learning driving on a Honda City.

• You become less possessive of your Car

After having owned a 7 lac car for such a long time, you don't think twice about handing over the keys to the chauffeur or another family member.

• On the Road, you are thought to be not-so-rich

This one is very interesting. We all know how big a status symbol a car is. So a bigger car means richer person. This is observed by not only our friends, but even your fruit seller. I have seen the effect of driving a large car upto such places. The shopkeeper sizes you from the size of your car and bills you accordingly. So if you go in a smaller car, you will end up with a heavier wallet.
I have personally seen this happen and this is a common feature with shops.

• You lose some of the "Right of way"

As we know, the Right of way on Indian roads is proportional to size of your car, naturally you lose some of it when downgrading. You will find more people trying to cut into your lane and you will hear more horns that are being honked at you.

• It is NEW

A new car is more reliable than the old one. So you can go about your day to day business without small little niggles cropping up every now and then.

[agambhandari]

Ownership experience
The ownership experience.in general, the ownership experience has been above average.
In the first few months, the running of the car was quite low (less than 200 Kms).mostly because there was no real use of the Car. The initial checkup went smoothly.
We did have one major problem though, at the time of first service, after the car had been serviced, and we were ready to take it out of the dealership, there was a loud noise from the engine bay as we were driving out and the car suddenly stopped.fortunately, the dealer quickly diagnoSed it to be a snapped drive belt.unfortunately, the dealer didn't have it in stock,s so as a makeshift solution, the service guys put in the belt from the test drive car.it wasn't the same car as the one we had driven.
The belt worked good enough not to warrant an immediate change.after about six months, we started getting some screechy noises on full lock steering.The dealership service people couldn't find anything wrong with the steering and nor could the problem be reproduced at the dealer.but, from what we had told them, they suggested to change the steering fluids.the problem didn't go away as we found a week later, but in the process, the steering got a lot more lighter, though still very precise.
The last couple of weeks we had calls from the dealership stating that if Chevy india guys call, rate them at 10 on the scale but I don't see why I should do that.
It recently went for the 2nd Service. To fix the noise on turning, the belt has been tightened, contacts greased. The noise has gone away for the time being. We chose to skip the wheel alignment from the dealership and get it done outside from the specialists. Not much needed to be done as ODO is only at 7200 right now, so the service cost only 900/-

[Eddy]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing.

[drsnt]

I do agree with most of the better points you have mentioned of downgrading. I also have a Honda City 2007 model and a Wagon R. I have given my city exclusively to my wife as she drives 5km per day from home to hospital while i drive 15-20km per day. After driving wagon R I do not find myself comfortable in City with low roof line. Driving a small car in congested places is much easier.
Plus the repairs are cheaper then Honda City and I don't mind thrashing it as I like to.

I also like to change my car every year I do a lateral upgrade or shift, find a good used car and sell in next year, Max damage is limited to 20-25k.

[Jaggu]

A very detailed review, always had a soft corner for the spark and matiz, they are cute lil durable run-arounds. Very VFM purchase if you ask me, reliability is top notch and maintenance is also quite a breeze. Infact have 1-2-3 of them in my close family circle, taking duty of the beater car sometimes. Yet chugs along without a fuss.

Do share more details about the 2 years of ownership experience.

[greenhorn]

I'm surprised you've still retained your black bumpers. Most people get them painted - It's only a few K or so, but then again you have to worry about them getting scratched while learning to drive.

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

I'm surprised you've still retained your black bumpers. Most people get them painted - It's only a few K or so, but then again you have to worry about them getting scratched while learning to drive.

The black bumpers don't worry us much. Especially on the black color, they are much easier on the eyes.

As you correctly mentioned, no need to get it repainted. In my case, the car is even driven by some employees sometimes and occassio al nick on the unpainted bumper doesn't hurt much

[agambhandari]

J.D. Power (APEAL) 2012 results are out, and it validates my choice of the compact car! The Chevy Spark comes out on top (along with the Estilo).
The funny thing is that in the last few months these two cars have been duds in terms of sales.

[byomjeet]

Good to know that Spark could spark in your mind. It's a perfect city car. If most of your driving is inside the city then this car will really be comfortable.

CONGRATS.

[murajith]

Happy to see another very happy Spark owner.

I own a 34month old spark that has run 31K (last 8 months hardly 2K). Till date no concern whatsover with the car....She is running sweet and smooth as always. Not a single penny spend on the car for service (ofcourse CPCOO was there), because she didnt give me a reason to do that.

The only time spend money on the car was last month when a rat stuffed all debri in to a/c fan blower/motor (spent Rs.350/-) & 2 tyre punctures. Except that believe me, everything else was covered under CPCOO (including 2 wheel alignment/balancing (sneaked in a 3rd one also for free), change of wipers..etc).

Happy Driving!

[handsofsteel]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

J.D. Power (APEAL) 2012 results are out, and it validates my choice of the compact car! The Chevy Spark comes out on top (along with the Estilo).
The funny thing is that in the last few months these two cars have been duds in terms of sales.

these are not alone, look at the Jazz. Monthly sales in India, have little or no relation to the merits/demerits of the car.
don't ever look at the sales figure after your purchase. you got yourself a good car, rest assured.