Shorty

In Wroclaw, Poland, you rarely see big cars. Narrow streets with just one or two lanes in each direction, plus the eternal parking problem — a business-class sedan or a huge SUV simply has nowhere to maneuver. But a compact three-door hatchback, like the updated Chevrolet Aveo, feels right at home. We went to Poland precisely to see how comfortable this little car is in its native element — the urban jungle.

Sporty image

The Aveo sedan got its update a year ago, the five-door version came later, but the restyling of the "three-door" was delayed. Now GM has brought the looks and internals of both hatchbacks to a common denominator, betting on the sporty character of the three-door version, which should appeal to young people.

The three-door Aveo has definitely become more noticeable: a massive grille with a crossbar and cross emblem, slightly raised "eyes" of the headlights, dynamic stampings on the sides, ventilation slots on the front fenders and rear bumper, and a neat spoiler at the back. Isn't it a sports car?

The interior also got sporty touches: "metal-look" trims, a different center console, and instrument panel. The trim materials have improved, but the cheapness is still felt. The driver gets a comfortable seat, a thick steering wheel (though slightly large in diameter), and a clear instrument panel with large numbers. You won't find bright design solutions in the interior, but everything is laid out simply and logically.

Getting into the back row is no harder than in any other compact three-door hatchback. The manufacturer claims that in terms of legroom (898 millimeters), the Aveo is one of the class leaders, but in reality, it's cramped even for two in the back. Forget about long trips in such a car.

Essentially, such a car is for the driver, or at most for two. Up front, the Aveo is spacious and comfortable, but if you need to carry a larger group, it's better to pay extra for the five-door and not torture the passengers.

Behind the wheel

From the small airport (with just one runway) to Wroclaw, my partner and I drove a bright yellow Aveo with a 1.4-liter petrol engine and a five-speed manual.

The same displacement engine was in the previous Aveo, but now its power has increased by seven horsepower. The secret of the 101-horsepower unit is an intake manifold with variable geometry, which adjusts torque depending on rpm, and a variable valve timing system on both intake and exhaust.

The manifold changes the length of the air supply channel to the cylinders: at low rpm, an electromagnetic valve creates a "long stroke," at high rpm — a "short stroke." This way, the cylinders fill better with air in any mode.

However, in practice, you hardly notice this system's work. At first, you think: a hundred "horses" for such a small car is more than enough. But after the first few kilometers, you start to suspect the organizers made a mistake and gave us a car with a weaker engine. The feeling is deceptive — under the hood is indeed the 101-horsepower unit, but even after the upgrade, the extra power isn't felt: the engine seems weaker by about twenty horses. To squeeze any dynamics out of the Aveo, you have to constantly keep the engine at 4-5 thousand rpm, in the peak torque zone. And endure its "scream"... And for Moscow buyers, such an engine will also hit the transport tax — just one extra "horse," but a completely different rate.

So, the car only looks sporty, but in reality, it doesn't participate in traffic light races. For calm movement from point "A" to point "B," such an Aveo is quite enough.

If you drive leisurely, you notice that pulling away in the Aveo is very easy — the clutch engages softly. The hatchback's sound insulation is decent, it doesn't jerk on bumps, the suspension "swallows" small potholes, but on large ones, it responds harshly. The desire to "have fun" at speed is quickly killed by the empty steering wheel and noticeable body roll in corners.

The Aveo version with the same 1.4-liter engine but paired with a four-speed automatic (which, like the manual, hasn't changed) initially impresses more. The car responds lively to the gas, the engine revs easily to the limiter. Upshifts are smooth, but if you need to accelerate sharply, for example, for overtaking, even with the pedal floored, the automatic will engage the needed gear with a noticeable delay. A manual mode would save the day, but this gearbox doesn't have one.

The 1.2-liter Aveo engine was also modernized. It got a PDA valve deactivation system, which at partial loads closes one of the two intake channels of each cylinder, which should slightly reduce fuel consumption.

The power of this engine has grown by 12 horsepower and now stands at 84 horsepower. But, as with the older unit, it seems that some of these "horses" were harnessed incorrectly at the factory and ran away. To stay more or less confidently in traffic on a busy highway, you have to keep the gas pedal almost always floored. What economy is there...

For the European market, the Chevrolet Aveo is assembled in Poland, at the FSO plant in Warsaw. This year, the company plans to produce about 60 thousand cars of the Aveo family (three- and five-door hatchback and sedan), and by next year, increase the volume to 100 thousand units.

Conclusion

The three-door Chevrolet Aveo is a cute little car for leisurely city rides. It has excellent sound insulation, decent comfort, and good brakes. Weak engines and sluggish handling don't match the striking sporty looks, but for some, appearance matters more than driving dynamics. However, you can overlook all these shortcomings when you find out the price...

In Russia, the base three-door hatchback with a 1.2-liter engine will cost only 311,200 rubles, while the top version with an automatic will be 458,469 rubles. By the end of the year, Chevrolet expects to sell about 1.6 thousand three-door Aveos in our market.

What else?

Besides the Aveo, Wroclaw also showcased the brand's flagship sedan — the Epica, which received a new six-speed automatic gearbox. According to Chevrolet, with it, the sedan accelerates more briskly than with the previous five-speed gearbox and consumes 15 percent less fuel at a constant speed of 90-120 kilometers per hour.

Unfortunately, I only got to drive this car with the diesel engine (which isn't sold in Russia) for a very short time. During the brief encounter, it turned out that the new gearbox shifts as smoothly as its predecessor, and its thoughtfulness during sharp acceleration hasn't gone anywhere.

When the Epica with the new transmission will appear in Russia, Chevrolet representatives aren't saying yet.