“I’ve also seen Fuso or Isuzu box trucks on the highway, and they don’t belong there either”
Please explain
"The “Chevrolet Spark” (a rebadged Daewoo Matiz), is a city car produced by the South Korean division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM Korea, previously known as Daewoo Motors), marketed worldwide since 1998, when it replaced the Daewoo Tico. The Matiz was originally developed when Daewoo Motors was part of the South Korean chaebol Daewoo, and since the GM takeover has increasingly been marketed under the Chevrolet badge and available solely as a five-door hatchback. The second generation model was introduced in 2005, with the third generation launched in 2010. Previous generations of the car were sold under the Daewoo brand but as the Daewoo chaebol ran into increasing financial difficulties it was sold under various General Motors brands as well as being manufactured and marketed under license agreements by local automakers in several countries.
An all-electric version, the Chevolet Spark EV, was released in the U.S. in selected markets in California and Oregon in June 2013. The Spark EV is the first all-electric passenger car marketed by General Motors since the EV1 was discontinued in 1999."
Pretty good sales and customer response considering GM has not spent a dime on advertising…
What determines if a vehicle belongs on the highway? I am confused, is it 0-60 time?
Do semi trucks belong on the highway? 15 passenger church vans? School Buses? Bucket trucks? Porsche carrerras?
Please explain.
Ah . . . Daewoo
Dae who?
Seriously, though, Daewoo is associated with crappy cars with no resale value
Anybody care to dispute that?
I can see why GM doesn’t want to use that name anymore
What determines if a vehicle belongs on the highway? I am confused, is it 0-60 time?
It isn’t…That’s the point I’m making. There are many cars with slower then the 0-60 time of the spark but were considered MORE THEN FAST enough for merging on the highway. The Celica’s I pointed out were. They were considered very good sports car for it’s day. To say that a car MUST have a 0-60 time of less then 10 seconds is just foolish.
@db47690 In developing countries overall reliability is not well understood and labor is cheap. The Daewoo name is still well regarded there. However, as mentioned, GM is now pushing the Chevrolet label in Asia and other regions and all sorts of cars you have never seen or will see are sold under the Chevy label, just like Buicks in China. In Brazil and Argentina Chevy sells all manner of cars as Chevrolets, but they are really Opels.
Car names are flexible; in the postwar years I saw De Soto trucks in Europe, as well as Maple Leaf 5 ton units, a Chevy truck produced in Canada and exported to Europe…
^
After Studebaker-Packard Corp had ceased production of Packards, the company exported some (perhaps 100 or so) pickup trucks to Argentina that were branded as Packards, instead of the Studebakers that they really were. Apparently, there was an import agreement in effect for Packards, but not for Studebakers. This was a very creative way to sell some trucks by simply changing the badges on them.
For those who think that no Packard trucks existed after the 1920s or so, this isolated example shows that there can be an exception to the rule…
@MikeInNH … I totally agree with you that the 1983 Celica with an 11.7 second spec, and the 1984 Celica with the 11.6 second spec are both slower than the 2013 Spark with a 11.2 second spec for 0-60 mph.
But what is your purpose for comparing the 0-60 times of a 2013 Spark to a 1983 Celica?
Edit … ok, I just read your post above. Your point I understand now is that it is foolish to say a car MUST have a 10 second or less 0-60 time? Couldn’t agree more. I certainly wouldn’t represent my opinion that 10 seconds is the one and only benchmark for safety and all cars must meet my spec. What is fast enough for one person’s safety needs, isn’t fast enough for another’s safety needs. 10 seconds, it’s not a fact. It’s an opinion. There’s an array of choices available. That’s why they make ice cream in more than one flavor.
What’s your own opinion? What is the maximum 0-60 time do you think is safe for the kind of driving you do there in New Hampshire?
Millions of semis merge onto the freeways all over the country every day, they are slow with 0-60 times of 25-45 seconds. They do just fine.
How many people here have driven a Spark?
None, but the one owner review I read said It was perfectly adequate for highway driving. He drove his from NYC the entire length of the Long Island Expressway and back and said it did great. He said merging was not a problem, even with the short on-ramps on the Cross Island Parkway. He even got 50 mpg on cruise control.
Didn’t notice this thread. It’s now on page 9. I bought a 50cc scooter mid-July for a city vehicle and method to prolong the life of my 99Civic. I hope it goes for 3-4 years before either it gives up or I get a major crack up, I’ve already had a minor laydown with road rash and front end replacement.
The Spark could have been a good alternative. When I get the scooter out of the shop, I’ll scoot over to the Chevy dealer. Maybe I won’t come into contact with the asphalt???
Okay, this forum does interesting stuff to you. This morning I was stuck in stop and go traffic in LA (my daily routine) and here next to me was a Chevy Spark. Every time the car in front of him would move fwd by 6 ft, he would speed up to the car in front real fast and then slam on the brakes.
I think reading this thread he wanted to prove that its acceleration is actually good.
If all the Spark owner’s drove like this one, we can discard the reliability data and blame it on abusive drivers.
That’s funny.
According to Consumer Reports, the best version of the Spark is the EV, which is not available to everyone. With400 ft lbs of torque( their quote) and improve handling with an up to 80 to 90 mile range, it is easily one of the top EV choices. Incentives, according to them, can drop the $27k price to under $18k, but only if you live in the right place.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/06/first-drive-the-chevrolet-spark-ev-shocks-us/index.htm
It sounds like the EV spark is a good deal, if bought in California
It also sounds like the regular sparks, and those evs not bought in California, are only so-so
They rarely keep up with traffic; often 10 to 15 MPH below the speed limit on the interstate where the limit is 65 to 70.
I still and have always maintained that EVs can be made competitive ( better choices) then ICE cars and the Spark EV is proof positive. GM ( and everyone else) is capable of making very good EVs but do so only when legislated to. Battery costs are really a sideshow and not the real expense any more then oil barrel prices are the reason for gas price increase. It’s all about long term profit and EVs don’t mean long term profit for car companies. That’s why a Spark EV will only be made available and cheap enough, where state govt. mandates them. It’s both the good and the bad side of the free enterprise system…
Just like the original EV1 was one of the best EVs available for the masses, the Spark EV seems to be also. But GM is about making money, not just cars… …( as well they need to be)
“They rarely keep up with traffic; often 10 to 15 MPH below the speed limit on the interstate where the limit is 65 to 70.”
Here’s something to consider:
In California, our speed limit is 65mph
Those big vehicles you mentioned earlier are legally limited to 55mph
So perhaps those slowpokes you mentioned are actually obeying your state’s laws
I assume you were taking about the big rigs . . .
I believe there is a minimum speed limit on the interstate, here in Indiana I believe the speed limit on interstates is 70mph, the minimum is 45mph. Just because the speed limit is 65 or 70 doesn’t mean you have to drive 70. Its perfectly legal to drive 55.
Many semis owned by big companies are limited to 62mph.