New 2009 Aveo sedan 5 speed, replaces 1993 Honda Civic LX. Ref Fit, Yaris, Corolla,

[marcb]

Hi, New here other than an entry or two a couple years ago with the 1993 Honda Civic LX when I was considering possibly replacing the tranny. As it turns out did not replace the tranny but I did replace a lot of other parts and ended up with a high MPG commuter. Had it not been that the Civic is rotting in the rear quarters/rear door areas I likely would never have considered buying the new Aveo. The Civic was running awesome when sold. I had just replaced CV joints, again, the alternator and put new tires on it. It was running awesome.

After giving it some serious thought and at the very end of 2009 I couldn't pass up this deal so I bought a new Aveo when the rebates were too good to be true. With NO TRADE paid $4209 for a brand new Chevy Aveo LS sedan 5 speed. The sticker was $12675. After all the available rebates plus my old program GM Credit card rebate I paid $4209 - no trade - for a new 2009 car stickered at $12675. The car is bumper-to-bumper warranteed for 3/36k. The powertrain is covered 5/100k, Rust is covered 6/100k. Roadside assistance covered 5/100k. On top of that the TIMING BELT has a 100,000 change interval. Yes, 100k interval - and the powertrain is covered for 100k to back it up. A 100k timing belt interval. It also has OnStar built in and covered for 1 year. Also - it even has it's own phone number and for $5 a month it has 30 minutes - which is useful here occasionally when I'm in a bad cell location. The OnStar phone/system seems to always have a signal.

With the Civic I had been averaging 40.6 MPG over the last two years and 33k miles. So far with 1.4k miles on the Aveo I am averaging 35 MPG and this is winter in New England. 35 MPG in January/February in New England. Not bad. I knew - from reading here, ecomodders, edmunds, etc that the Aveo is certainly no mileage champ but if I can average mid-thirties that should be OK.

The Aveo is very comfortable. It has great brakes and handles very well. The drivers seat is height adjustable and even has adjustable lumbar support however it is so firm already I don't even have it dialed in. The radio has the iPod input thingy. It could use a 6th speed as I knew. Maybe someday when it needs tires I'll go with a larger circumfrence (sp?) tire. So far so good. I'm happy with my decision.

marcb

[theholycow]

Damn, that's one hell of a deal.

You live near me, can I take you along the next time I buy a car?

[FrugalFloyd]

No kidding. I'm impressed, too. I've also heard the Aveos aren't great for gas mileage, but it sounds like you're doing fine with yours.

Welcome, and keep us updated with your Summer mpg. I think you'll teach other Aveo owners a thing or two.

[marcb]

Thanks for the complements. I have to say it would have been nice to consider another higher mpg car but I was lucky to buy the brand new Aveo for $4k. It would have been nice to buy a new Yaris or Civic, etc for $10k higher it was not a consideration. Even though a new Aveo is probably not the best NEW car around it's likely safer and better than my '93 Civic.

I'd like to consider myself a practical type and that being said this works for me. It was more practical to buy a new Aveo for about $4k than to find a $4k great bet low mileage high mpg used car in my area.

And yes did I mention that the Aveo is fun to drive. The tall driving position is very nice and the seats are very firm. I like that. It is very comfortable. The Onstar and built in phone is pretty cool too. The phone works through the audio system and it mutes the radio and displays "CALL" on the radio when a call comes in. Certainly not needed. Just neat.

This works for me.

Of course, YMMV. ;^)

marc

[spotaneagle]

hey you should try to get a Warm Air intake to work on that thing, just don't void you warranty(dont get caught) cause we figured out here apparantly that saturns respond well to them maybe Aveo being a cousin of saturn might work on the same principles that allow saturns to get gains.

maybe just try it once on a highway run and see what happens

you dont have too

but 4k isn't much and a worthy budget of an experimental car even if you buy a car for 500 you wind up spending 3000 on it in repairs in two years often so really whats the difference?

glad to see you bought a 34 mpg car for 4k new and not 10k from toyota lmao

[marcb]

Warm air intake? In a nutshell should I search and read about it or can you give me a brief "in a nutshell" kind of overview? Not real familiar with it.

Re: Tires, would anyone know how to determine what I could do tirewise? The Aveo's gearing could use help. Maybe I could do some research regarding how to figure out what would the largest circumference tire I could switch to to reduce crankshaft RPMs at speed. I'd be somewhat limited by wheel housing clearence issues but maybe I could get some gain this way too.

What to do...

marc

[theholycow]

Warm Air Intake: Definitely search. It's a DIY-engineering situation. You try to get your intake air to go past the exhaust manifold, radiator, or other warm item so it heats up. It works on some cars and doesn't have any effect on others. It's usually done with whatever kind of scrap material you're comfortable working with, obviously needing to be metal though.

When I looked at increasing tire diameter to provide better gearing for my VW, I found that you have to make a ridiculous difference in tire size to get a meaningful gearing advantage. YMMV.

[marcb]

wow, see this:

[marcb]

Adding cruise control to an Aveo?

Anyone add cruise to an 09 or a late model sedan?

Thanks
marcb