Good morning, and happy Monday to you all! Today I’m trying a little experiment. But first, let’s see how Friday’s pickup game went:
Yeah, I figured. That Rampside is pretty damn cool. Lots of love for the Caballero in the comments, too, and honestly, either one would be a fun toy.
A few days ago, young Thomas expressed sympathy for the Aveo, Chevy’s captive import replacement for the generally-well-liked Metro subcompact. The comments were many, vocal, and not positive. So of course, as soon as I read that, I knew that one of today’s cars had to be an Aveo. I almost chose two Aveos, but I thought that might be a shitbox too far. So I found a worthy competitor for the reviled little Chevy, in the form of a captive import from ten years earlier. Let’s see just how much you really dislike the Aveo, shall we?
2005 Chevrolet Aveo – $1,995
Engine/drivetrain: 1.6 liter dual overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Milwaukie, OR
Odometer reading: 385,000 miles (!!!)
Runs/drives? Yep
I figured if I was going to do this, I should do it right. This 2005 Aveo has a lot of strikes against it: it has a salvage title, possibly from the rear-end damage visible in the photos; it has an absolute crap-ton of miles on it; and if all that weren’t bad enough, it’s for sale at a buy-here-pay-here used car lot.
It’s not without its positives, however: the transmission is a five-speed stick, and it has that cool checkerboard upholstery, and it’s not in bad shape for its age and mileage. There’s no way to really know its provenance at this point, but my best guess is that it was someone’s long-distance commuter for many years, until it was rear-ended and the insurance company totaled it, after which the sketchy dealership bought it at auction for next to nothing and is trying to make a quick few bucks off it.
One of the complaints leveled at the Aveo is that its 1.6 liter four is neither efficient enough nor powerful enough. But if this one is any indication, it’s certainly a durable little thing. I admit I’m kind of curious how a “throwaway” car like this drives with nearly four hundred thousand miles under its belt. But probably not curious enough to put up with the dealership to find out.
There is the small matter of the salvage title, which if I had to guess has to do with the wrinkle in the left rear. A branded title doesn’t mean much here in Oregon, but your mileage may vary.
1996 Ford Aspire – $2,150
Engine/drivetrain: 1.3 liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Puyallup, WA
Odometer reading: 106,000 miles
Runs/drives? Sure does
Captive imports are nothing new, of course. All of the “Big Three” US automakers have sold imported cars under their own nameplates for decades now, especially at the bottom end of the market. In the 1980s and 90s, Ford’s cheap subcompacts were made by Kia: first the tiny Festiva, replaced in 1994 by this car: the Ford Aspire. The joke wrote itself: it “aspired” to be a real car.
But this car, like the Festiva before it, was a better car than people gave it credit for. It was tough, it got incredible fuel economy, and due to its Mazda-designed roots, it wasn’t terrible to drive. I mean, yeah, it’s tinny, noisy, rough-riding, and slow, but it handles all right, and you can flog it for all it’s worth in a school zone and no one will be the wiser.
This Aspire has low miles, but they were hard miles: this car is being sold by the owner of a body shop, and although it’s not clearly stated, I get the feeling it was used as a courtesy car for the body shop. Yep, if I’m not mistaken, this car has been driven by a bunch of folks who wrecked their own cars. Who knows how many times it has been patched up over the years?
Still, it looks all right at the moment, and the seller says it runs and drives well. Luckily, it’s a simple car, so there’s not much to go wrong.
Honestly, for my money, there’s not much difference between these two. Both are little tin boxes that have led hard lives, non-sporting little hatchbacks that will get the job done joylessly but effectively. The Aveo gets a bad rap, but is it really worse than a similar car? You tell me.
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
Seeing the disdain for the Aspire in the comments surprised me. I expected it to be catnip for the hipster Radwood “I had a buddy who drove one of those in high school” nostalgia set. Is that fad over? Or is the Aspire just that bad a car?
The Aveo has a full decade of safety improvements. If I’m going to hurt myself by buying one of these, I’ll just deal with the inevitable engine swap, which is ultimately easier than re-engineering the crumple zones of the Aspire
I’m going to assume that the Canyon from an earlier article is going to obliterate the Aveo about as easily as the Aspire, so if the result is going to be the same, I’ll take the Aspire.
I can’t argue with that logic. I’m only trying to make my hypothetical decision feel slightly better
In Shitbox America, YOU are the crumple zone.
Again, searching hard for the Nope option here. Like others have stated, why not offer us a clean title, average mileage Aveo? Or an Aspire with the same red flags? In the end, I voted Aveo because I had to vote for something and I like the checker seats.
Because that imaginary Aveo wouldn’t be within 10% of the cost of the Aspire
I have driven an Aveo as a rental car and know how terrible it is, so I chose the Aspire because I don’t know how terrible it is. In reality, I wouldn’t purchase either.
The Aspire is also a pos. Neither is the correct answer today.
Does the aspire have the captive brake rotors like the Festivas before it had?
Me- “Wow, I can buy buy rotors for $10.99 each”
Also Me- “Oh crap, I need a shop press to replace the rotors. What the hell?”
All right, you got me…would still take the Aveo over a damn Ford Aspire
As a kid I had some weird appreciation for the Aspire – I guess just as a bubbly little car that was rarer than most other little cars out there, especially the facelifted ’97 models. The impression I got years later was it wasn’t as good as the Festiva that came before in durability.
In this matchup, Aveo might have some advantages for being newer…if it were different from this one. I’ll stick with the Ford.
Fittingly for this matchup, turn back time on the Aveo and you get the Daewoo-built & Pontiac-badged competitor to the Festiva/Aspire, or turn it forward on the Ford and you get the Rio rival to the Chevy.
I’ve always had an odd love for it too. A friend of mine in high school had one but it was an automatic – and whooooa was that thing ever slow. But I actually think with a manual transmission I could have dealt with that car.
There are dozens of us!
I have nothing against the Aveo! It’s a terrible new car purchase, but I’ve known several people who’ve purchased them used as basic, cheap transportation and they’ve been just fine.
The problem, as others have stated, is this Aveo. I wanted to come in here ready to vote for it happily as a 10-year-newer penalty box car is still, well, 10 years newer, plus 4 doors gives it more practicality. But that history is just rough.
I’m sorry. I don’t follow the logic of the question: “How much do you hate the Aveo?” If this really is the question, I would think you would go out of your way to find the nicest Aveo you could for the comparison. If we still pick the alternative, that means we collectively hate the Aveo. This example, as you say, could not have any more dings against it. Both being soulless, embarrassing transportation, I’ll take the one that is less used up without apparent damage every time.
I thought the same thing, but… plot twist: this IS the nicest Aveo available
OK, can someone at this site please remove all 25 of the people that voted for the salvage titled red Pile of Korean poo? That is just offensive that these buy here pay here people even exist, but doing that to anyone is criminal in my opinion. That is the kind of predatory sales/lending that needs to be corrected.
The BHPH dealership is probably selling the Aveo with financing that’ll push the total cost to $8,000, or roughly 10 times it’s actual value.
And will gladly put 5 co-signers on the note.
The Ford has a trump card- where I live, 1997 and newer vehicles are subject to powertrain-trouble-code checks by the state government. So yeah, Ford..
Kia is better than Daewoo.
Also, the Aspire was actually one of the better cars in Ford’s lineup at the time. Better than everything except the Probe.
Much better than a real Ford LOL
Maybe I am not old enough, but would it have made sense, even in the 90’s, to have a manual transmission in the shop’s loaner car? Would the most people have been able to drive it back then? Or was this a “fine print” loaner car? “We offer you a loaner car while yours is in the shop, but it is a manual transmission Aspire and you might rather walk”.
Nonetheless, I chose the Aspire. I kinda dig the body style of the Aspire, and that wrecked Aveo would make me sad every time I walked up to it.
Back then, even old grannies could drive stick. It was a different world, man.
Yep. 90’s was probably the last decade when manual transmisssion was common and most people knew how to drive one. They were typically cheaper than the automatic and usually a bit better on gas. That space is now occupied by the CVT.
The Aveo threw so many red flags, I could not see the screen.
I tried, I really tried, I read the article and went away to do some work and came back and tried again, but I just couldn’t bring myself to give a shit about either of these cars. In the end I let my eyes go out of focus and just clicked on one of the options so I have no idea which I voted for.
Thanks for playing! This feature is not always about logic.
Logic didn’t fail me today, emotion did, I couldn’t find any for either car.
I had a friend with an aspire back in the 90’s. We called it “the speck”.
The Aspire, no question. It’s a fun 90’s green, doesn’t have a bazillion miles, comes in a body style that doesn’t even exist anymore (3-door), and doesn’t have body damage.
I’m not trying to pretend that the Aspire is a great car, but it’s certainly more interesting and at a minimum, better looking than the Aveo. Which as we’ve all detailed is a horrid unredeemable POS.
Edit: Real quick add, I’m absolutely repulsed by an Aveo with almost 400k on it being listed for nearly $2000. This car should be 500$ and not a penny more.
it actually should have never been salvaged as the title indicates. it should have been recycled into tin cans long ago.
Agreed. The prices asked on both are borderline offensive. These are desperation rides.
Apparently that Aveo didn’t have enough power even to accelerate away from the scene of the accident.
The rear-end collision pushed it to an all-time best 0-30 acceleration time!
LIke…. HOW in the hell did that Aveo make it past 300k? The engines are super fragile and the timing belts need replacing every 40k. Anyway, this has to literally be the shittiest of shitbox showdowns. I had a friend who owned an Aspire and I recall it had some weird, non-standard sized parts on it or something. I really don’t like either of these. Force me to choose and its the Aveo and only because its newer and probably has easier access to parts.
Two theories:
Aspire is the easy choice in this scenario. Would love to see the results in the alternate universe where the Aspire has all the miles and title problems and the Aveo is issue free
Mileage — and the title issues — mean I’d have to go with the Friendless Ford.
I remember driving an Aspire press car — talk about “driven by people who wrecked cars! — and thinking “Ewwwww!” A new Aveo was really no better. Like so many GM cheapies, it left absolutely no impression on me. Add one a whole bunch of miles, and both are reaching into Penalty Box territory.
The saving grace of either is the manual transmission. At least you can pretend to be having fun.
Still, if you’re really rooting around in the bottom of the barrel — I’ve been there — the Ford is the better choice. Less painful, anyway.
Except for the press angle, your thoughts mirror mine.
Less-egregious mileage and a clean title win today.
I really don’t want either of them, but I’ll take the Ford, just because it has less mileage on it
I vote Aspire, out of pure nostalgia. I’ve had a pair of them as commuters. Could approach 50 mpg if I was REALLY careful, got 40 if I drove like I didn’t give a damn. The second was a 97, in the same green as this one. I finally gave up on it when I couldn’t source parts. The distributer (with the ignition module inside) gave out, and was worth more than the car! It also needed a clutch at the same time, and I just couldn’t convince myself to invest that kind of time and money in a “throw away” car. And my commute became a lot shorter then, too. RIP Suzy Aspire!
Did you strap one to each foot?
My feet aren’t THAT big! I used up a 95, then bought a 97! But, I paid less than half the asking price of this one for BOTH of mine!
Each or combined? 🙂
Combined, $400 and $500. Back in the “before times”, circa 2015.
As I said on the article about the Aspire it’s the absolute worst care I’ve ever driven. At least the Aspire hasn’t driven to the moon and most of the way back…
Should’ve done an Aveo vs G3 showdown ????????