[radek]

Originally Posted by ethanh_hunt

When I told my Bro who is in the US that I was buying a Chevy, he seemed to be very concerned with the niggling problems (& there are lots) that surface on the Chevy cars in US & was advising me against buying it. So when I told him that its has a Korean pedigree (read Daewoo) he seemed to back down a bit.

Will the Chevy Spark have similar problems, we will have to wait and see..

Some years back when US slashed down H1 visa quota, there was a joke doing rounds that there are two companies other than Microsoft and IBM who were trying to get H1 quota increased for Indians - guess which companies? after lot of scrolling down, answer written was Toyota and Honda.

Any Indian visited to US will vouch for this. All of them prefer Honda and Toyota over any American car. So what your brother said is the collective opinion of all Indians in US. That does not mean that American cars are very inferior. Ford and GM can not grow to this size with inferior products. And again there is strange equation of what company will do good in what country.

But, you are right that it is too early to say anything. Lets wait and watch. So far so good.

[ethanh_hunt]

Originally Posted by radek

Any Indian visited to US will vouch for this. All of them prefer Honda and Toyota over any American car. So what your brother said is the collective opinion of all Indians in US. T

Point taken Radek. i guess theres some truth in it. We can just look at the fight going on over the new Honda City to understand what perceptions can do to a product.

[Nimz]

Originally Posted by radek

Any Indian visited to US will vouch for this. All of them prefer Honda and Toyota over any American car. So what your brother said is the collective opinion of all Indians in US. That does not mean that American cars are very inferior. Ford and GM can not grow to this size with inferior products. And again there is strange equation of what company will do good in what country.

But, you are right that it is too early to say anything. Lets wait and watch. So far so good.

Righto there Radek . WHen I asked my friends in the US.. all voted for a Jap car. Jap cars as per them are more fuel efficient than american ones and hence prefer them over US cars. However they do not wish to advertise the fact that since they are penny pinching (pun not intended) and hence point to some other fact such as Ford has niggling issues etc. This was his take on the issue..

But yes GM / Ford have been making cars for ages and their approach to design and manufacture is different from the Japs / Koreans.. and just because you see an Asian influence you cannot term it as good.
Spark engine the S-tec : Designed by Suzuki (Jap) and Daewoo (Korean)
The interiors and design : Designed by Chevrolet mainly (based on a concept car)
Chassis and suspension : Retuned by Lotus (Europe)
Original Design - Italy (forget the name)

@ Ethan - the central console beckons to u too??

[radek]

I was reading a post in 'what car' about how is Santro for highways and ghat sections. That reminds me of how spark will do in ghat (hilly,steep inclines) sections. I have not taken Spark to any inter-city travel on ghat section (wife is expecting, so no long travels). Has anyone tried? How Spark performs? Now that Spark community is expanding, someone would have tried it.

[Nimz]

Originally Posted by radek

I was reading a post in 'what car' about how is Santro for highways and ghat sections. That reminds me of how spark will do in ghat (hilly,steep inclines) sections. I have not taken Spark to any inter-city travel on ghat section (wife is expecting, so no long travels). Has anyone tried? How Spark performs? Now that Spark community is expanding, someone would have tried it.

I tried on the GQ here.. not exactly ghat section but mild inclines and with 3 adults and AC on the car does struggle a bit on the higher gears. You have to down shift and then it does admirably.. I guess this is due to torque peaking at a higher rpm so you need to keep it at higher revs.. also the weight of the car helps.. its more a highway star than a ghat express!!

[u_chill]

Lets not forget that the Chevy branding has entirely different connotations in India & US. Trust GM to take a fading power car brand & plaster it all over their range here. Matiz owner, drove a friend's Spark recently. Must say I am impressed with the zero engine noise/ vibration (its true). Overall looks like a brilliant package till Chery (the Chinese copycat) & Tata's 1 lakh car comes around. Definitely a cut over the Estilo.

[benbsb29]

Although this may not be entirely on topic, i must add that Daewoo cars rebadged as Chevrolet arent doing bad. In Dubai, i was surprised to see a lot of Optras , Aveos as well as Sparks, all of which were originally Daewoo products. Must say their relaunching has done wonders for Chevrolet.

[ethanh_hunt]

NimZ, Radek & he Spark Gang, Can you guys post the latest FE's that you are getting?

My Cars done about 2300 kms & the best that I have got is around 12.4 in 100% City traffic without about 10% AC.
ON average 100% AC figures are around 11.5 for City traffic. Highways is around 16.

How do these compare?

[Nimz]

Originally Posted by ethanh_hunt

NimZ, Radek & he Spark Gang, Can you guys post the latest FE's that you are getting?

My Cars done about 2300 kms & the best that I have got is around 12.4 in 100% City traffic without about 10% AC.
ON average 100% AC figures are around 11.5 for City traffic. Highways is around 16.

How do these compare?

2300 Kms?? thats lot of driving..

Am at 1800 odd.. I average between 12-13 kmpl in Blore city with 80% AC

I get between 15-16 on highways (done with speedo hoverling above 100 frequently)
Fuel - Unleaded from Shell (this would make a difference I guess)

Well am gonna take a long highway trip..this long weekend.. so lets see!!

@ gmano / Radek would like your inputs as well.. Where have you guys fitted the Illusion tweeters. Mine is near the stock location on the dash!

Hmm.. can we say all Sparks have Illusion comps for the fronts!!

[ethanh_hunt]

Originally Posted by Nimz

2300 Kms?? thats lot of driving..

Am at 1800 odd.. I average between 12-13 kmpl in Blore city with 80% AC
I get between 15-16 on highways

Fuel - Unleaded from Shell (this would make a difference I guess)

hmmm...good so FE seems to be similar. Lets see what the others have to say.
I am also using Super unleaded Shell.. maybe I should change to just Shell Unleaded

Have started to see a few Sparks on the Road now in Bangalore, looks like they have finally started to sell them.

[radek]

I have not checked FE for last 2-3 fills. keep on forgetting to reset the counter. But normally I get between 14 to 14.5. But 20 out of 30 KM of my drive is good road where I can drive with speed of 50-90 even touching 100 for a minute.

The best I got was 16.5 and worst was 13.8.

I have installed tweeter just in front of A pillar. I will take a photo and upload.

[Nimz]

Originally Posted by ethanh_hunt

hmmm...good so FE seems to be similar. Lets see what the others have to say.
I am also using Super unleaded Shell.. maybe I should change to just Shell Unleaded

Have started to see a few Sparks on the Road now in Bangalore, looks like they have finally started to sell them.

I would suggest you use Unleaded till your vehicl runs in.. this is because the super whatervers have lubricants and stuff whcih interfere the running in process.. same reason why synthetic oils are not advised for running in!!
Man I dont want to see too many Sparks. You loose the novelty value

[ethanh_hunt]

Originally Posted by Nimz

I would suggest you use Unleaded till your vehicl runs in.. this is because the super whatervers have lubricants and stuff whcih interfere the running in process.. same reason why synthetic oils are not advised for running in!!

Hey, didint know that Good so next time it will be only Unleaded! BTW even me headed for a weekend trip (guess half of Bangalore is!!) so will get the latest highway figures as well.

Originally Posted by Nimz

Man I dont want to see too many Sparks. You loose the novelty value

Well said!! Even after more than a month and a half, still get looks from people. Just the other day heard one schoolboy telling another "See I told you It does not blink"

[Nimz]

Originally Posted by ethanh_hunt

Well said!! Even after more than a month and a half, still get looks from people. Just the other day heard one schoolboy telling another "See I told you It does not blink"

And also girls - school and otherwise

[Nimz]

Hi Team,

Sep 29th - morning 11 AM left the Shell pump on Hosur road. Mileage in Blore city conditions improves to 13.something instead of the 12. something (maybe Sparky has improved or my driving has).

Hit the highway. 4.5 hours and 245 kms later am in my grandma's house in Erode.

Develped a slight ache in the shoulders. Otherwise fine. (Will changing to Recaro/Sparco look alikes help?)

Issues during the trip: None whatsoever.

Max speed touched: 140+ kmph for about 5 seconds on the GQ

Average cruising speed: 90-110 kmph (including the light turns on the GQ)

Mileage: 16 kmpl

A/C on - 99% of the time.

ICE - 100% (Illusions are too sweet.. but damn the Pio 7950UB it didnt read my Kingston 1 GB nor my cousins Shuffle but read my Razr)

Both my co-passengers attested a very comfy drive covered at an average speed of 50 kmph even on the occasional bad patches of about 50 odd kilometers.

One of my cousins slept in the back seat right through the entire journey and woke up only when we reached Erode...Even at 120 kmph..effective AC..good suspension.. no cabin noise and sweet Illusions.. she slept like a baby...I guess that more or less sums up good ol' Sparky!

And it brought us back too without a fuss.. Only thing I checked was the air pressure in the tires...

Love u Sparky
Nimz