Chevrolet Aveo

My fondness for quirky little hatchbacks is so strong, it’s almost a fetish. Hatchbacks often have spacious interiors that belie their compact exteriors. They are also fun to drive in a tossable sort of way. Last but far from least is that they are almost always frugal with fuel.

Which is why I approached the tiny Chevrolet Aveo 5-door hatchback with definitely more than a little degree of excitement and anticipation. The Aveo is powered by a simple 1.5-liter SOHC 8-valve EFI engine. No double overhead cams, 16 valves or fancy variable valve timing in this little runabout. A grand total of 83 ps might be nothing to email home about, but it gets the job done. And with surprisingly energetic levels at that, thanks to the car’s light weight and the fact that much of the torque (max is 128 Nm) is available at a relatively low 3000 rpm.

Still, the Aveo can do an honest 170 kph and slice through average-speed traffic with surprising gusto. This effortlessness comes mainly from the uncanny lack of noise and vibration from the engine, the tires and the chassis. You could barely hear the engine when cruising at 80 kph.

I tried both manual and automatic versions — and I wholeheartedly recommend the latter, not as much to eliminate frequent declutching and gearshifting in traffic as to avoid the unsatisfyingly vague and lengthy throws of the manual gearbox.

Braking performance from the non-ABS front disc/rear drum setup is a no-brainer, thanks to the light pedal effort required as well as the superb pedal feel. Riding comfort is another strong suit, credit this time going to the German car-like tuning of the springs and struts.

A comfy ride often comes at the expense of responsive handling but the little Chevy acquitted itself well even with rapid steering inputs. It’s no sports car but it will happily lift its inside rear wheel under heavy cornering — yet still faithfully follow your desired line — in the best Volkswagen GTI tradition.

Style-wise, the car sets no new trends even if its designer is no less than the renowned exotic car stylist, Giorgetto Guigiaro of Italy. The front end is the epitome of friendliness while the side view is livened up by the uniquely shaped trapezoidal rear quarter window.

I find the rear view the most interesting, thanks to the uniquely shaped rear taillamps, (rendered with fashionable crystal lenses and round inner lights), the diagonal cutlines for the rear hatch and a roof-mounted rear spoiler.

Choose a green- or white-colored Aveo, keep the exterior as is, and you’ll have a perfect chick car. Get a silver, blue, or red one, replace the standard 14" steel rims (with plastic hubcaps) with a flashy set of 16" alloys and wide low profile tires and you’ve got a fast-n-furious-looking hot hatch for the boys.

Inside, a number of useful design details abound: airplane-style trays mounted on the front seatbacks, dual front glove box, height-adjustable driver’s seat, auxiliary power outlets, and a 60:40 split-folding rear backrest complement the usual array of all-power features and the single in-dash CD player with four speakers.

On the safety/security side, the Aveo boasts much appreciated remote keyless entry with engine immobilizer and security system, front and rear 3-point seatbelts, ISO-FIX child seat anchors and a reinforced cabin structure.

The Aveo retails for P545,000 for the M/T model and P585,000 for the A/T model. It also comes with a 3-year/100,000-km warranty and an impressive 2-year/30,000-km free Periodic Maintenance Service package. Not a bad deal at all.