The Autopian has been alive for just over 13 months. In that time, I’ve noticed that our community of readers are generally open, accepting, and even loving of so many cars old and new. It’s something I love about all of you, but it would appear that we’ve found the limits of even an Autopian’s love of cars.
On April 24, A Ford Tempo went up to bat against Lincoln Mark VII in a Shitbox Showdown. Both cars were within $45 of each other, but our readers just weren’t having it with that Tempo. The Mark VII beat the Tempo down to a hard stop in a landslide victory of 80.73 percent.
Yesterday, Thomas tried to defend the honor of the Chevrolet Aveo. Sure, the car was at the bottom of the barrel of subcompact cars, but was it really bad? Well, I combed every response in that article and I’m not sure I’ve seen such near universal disagreement. From Citrus:
I have this thing where I have to test drive EVERY car in my price range that could fit my needs. The logic is that maybe conventional wisdom is wrong, or that my own biases are leading me astray. This logic got me a Toyota Matrix, and I liked that car a lot when I owned it.
So this meant I test drove a Chevy Aveo, new off the lot. It drove like a 30 year old economy car that was abused by countless teenagers. Also it loudly squeaked every time it turned left. It was, without question, the worst car on the market that I test drove. Even compared to the Accent and Rio. It was total trash.
That’s actually a brilliant way to car shop, Citrus!
Anyway, I had the pleasure (?) of putting several thousands of miles on a 2008 Chevy Aveo and a 2009 Chevy Aveo. Both cars were almost new at the time. I was a teenager back then with a newly-minted driver’s license. By that point, I had driven a 2003 GMC Envoy XL, a 2007 Chevy Equinox, a 2009 Chrysler PT Cruiser, a 2008 Dodge Caliber, a 2009 Smart Fortwo Passion Cabriolet, and an old Nissan Hardbody truck. Out of all of those cars, the pair of Aveos seemed to offer the least punch.
Off the top of my head, the 2008’s driver door lock broke when I inserted the key. Later, the left passenger door handle broke. The 2009 Aveo blew two of its speakers. Both had suspensions so squishy that sometimes, my friends tried getting it on two wheels in parking lots. Oh, teenagers.
I firmly believe that every car has at least one redeeming feature and every car has someone who loves it. For the Aveos, I did enjoy their interior volume and while the quality was not great, neither Aveo broke down on my family. We were going through a tough time and the Aveos got us through. For that, I cannot hate them. I’ve considered buying an Aveo as a Gambler 500 car more than once.
Since we missed COTD yesterday, I’m awarding a second one. Earlier today, Jason wrote about a Changli-like thing with a wind turbine on its roof. Jason explained why a wind-powered EV really wouldn’t work, but it reminded Stacks of one thing:
Man, you don’t even get the fundamental science here. Once the car gets started, the moving air turns the turbine generating electricity, that power feeds into the Fuel Shark, then from there it actually charges the battery. It’s basically too simple for smart people to understand!
Ah, all roads lead back to the FuelShark. Have a great weekend, everyone!
A close relative had an Aveo for a long time and appreciated it for what it was. Their biggest complaint was with the tires:
“It had really small tires. 185/6-/R14 I think. I had multiple tires flattened or even blown out by potholes, I had two steel wheels BENT by potholes, one of which was beyond repair, and one time I hit a bump in the road so hard that it blew out both of my headlights. That was a problem, especially in Pennsylvania where the roads look like they were imported from 1945 Berlin.”
The one time I bought a new car (2002), I tried to use @Citrus method. However, after the local Toyota and Honda dealers both refused to give us the time of day (staggeringly arrogant) and the Suzuki dealer had nothing relevant available for a test drive (wanted an Aerio Wagon 4WD) we gave up and ended up just buying my 1st choice: a Protégé5. Which ended up being pure awesome and a really wise buy, sold it after a year or so and more than paid off the loan, which was very much unusual back then.
I’ve had the arrogant dealer problem and, honestly, the dealer is as much a part of the test drive as the car sometimes.
I used to follow the theory that I should rent the cheapest car possible when I travel because they wouldn’t actually have that class on the lot and I’d get an automatic upgrade. This worked dozens of times, until it didn’t. Then I was left with an Aveo to drive in San Diego, with a hatch too small to hold our suitcase…it had to ride in the back seat next to our 2 year old daughter. We drove it for a week, calling it the “Avoid-o”, but by the time we had to turn it in it had kind of grown on us. Like a dog that wasn’t very smart, or good at anything at all, but loyal and ready for anything. I never drove one again and never hope to, but it certainly helped make the trip memorable.
The Aveo is a burger you got from the drive through.
The Tempo and Topaz was an invitation to the White House after winning the College Football National Championship only to find cold fast food on a mahogany table with a snake oil salesman with a sh-t eating grin acting like it is a feast, leaving you with the definite knowledge that you have been had…
This would be great as a ute. Then all the stuff that makes it a terrible car can be written off as “truck stuff”. Hard plastics = durable. Mushy shifter = truck. The utility of the open bed would outweigh the negatives.
This. The only time I liked our Ford Aspire was when we pulled the rear seats and used it as a mini truck.
I’d still be driving my 2007 Aveo if it weren’t involved in a massive pileup on I65 in Indiana a few years back. I didn’t like it, but it was good on gas and it worked. Well enough. Unless you drove it faster than 70 or into a headwind. Then the driver’s door seal squealed like a grass whistle.
So I guess the best thing I can say about it is that it ran fine and when it died a horrible death on the open road, it was kind enough to not take me with it.
Man my first car was an Aveo sedan, albeit rebadged as the Lova in China. Not much to love but it did 6L/100km (40mpg) at 140kmh (~85mph), came with four airbags and ABS and never left me stranded.
Loved the seats and the sharp steering (guess they came with tighter racks for the Chinese market), not so much the lack of road feel, mushy shifter and rattly interior. Ended up swapping it for a WR blue turbo Forester when Covid started.
Hey look! It’s a better car than any Aveo ever built!
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/187660904124208/
This is Ford Tempo slander. The Aveo came in one configuration and that was “I should of bought a Kia Rio”. There were all sorts of cool Tempos. AWD, Mazda diesels for those JDM fanboys. But the coolest Tempo of them the GLS. Ford stuffed a Vulcan V6 in a car slightly larger then a modern bicycle. All 130 1992 horse powers and none of the weight of modern safety features to slow you done. Ford may have sold a whole dozens of The cool Tempos. But they at least offered them.
Which you wrote about five months ago! And still spoke ills of the holy Tempo and/ or Topaz.
To be clear, we’re definitely fans of the Tempo, hence why we wrote that Holy Grails! It seems that the readers of Shitbox Showdown disagree.
Methinks, a decade or so into the future, someone will write an article similar to this one about the Ford EcoSport.
Heck, why wait?
I’d rather drive a Tempo.
I have driven both, and I agree. At least in a Tempo there are no malfunctioning electric nannies.
Were they successful?
When do we get the follow up from Patrick George stating that he just bought a mint Ford Tempo?
I think he’ll just avoid driving in Virginia, rather than own something that makes speeding on highways an impossibility.
Want to hear something semi-shameful? I have purchased at least ten new cars without test driving them first, based solely upon research and desirability. I’ve been pretty happy with all of them except the ML320 and my problems with that car would not have shown themselves on a test drive.
I believe my intense distaste for car dealers has played into such choices.
You’re not alone! Today I bought a brand new 2023 [REDACTED] motorcycle without a test ride. Loved how it looked and trusted the reviews, and those reviews were so right!
How soon do we get to read about this brand new ride?
Quite a leap of faith to commit without planting a cheek on the saddle!
I had an Aveo when my GTO was in the shop…worst loaner ever. Might be the worst car I’ve ever driven. It had under 1000 miles and everything rattled and creaked like it had 100,000 miles on it. It was cheap plastic (of course) and since it was the dealer loaner had zero creature comforts. It had no feel at all while driving it. Plus it felt like I was driving a tin can.