Chevrolet Matiz reviews

We bought the car new in December 2009 as a replacement for my wife's ageing Ford Fiesta on the Government's "scrappage" scheme. It's a nice little car for what it is, small and manoeuvrable with a surprising amount of space for its diminutive size. Performance is also what you's expect from a 900cc, 50bhp normally aspirated engine. No air conditioning, manual windows, no remote central locking, and hard plastic dashboard mean its no luxury car, but for a second car / local runabout it fits the bill. Then at the end of 2013 the engine warning light started coming on. We took it back to the dealer who changed the ignition pack, ignition leads and spark plugs. Drove it away and the warning light came on within 20 miles. Back to the dealer and they changed another engine management component. Two days later the warning light was back on. Back to the dealer. They did a compression test. Low compression on two of its three cylinders. They opened up the engine to discover 4 of the 6 exhaust valves and valve seats were badly burned. New cylinder head and valves, thankfully under warranty. 2014, rattle from front of car. Front wishbones shot. £450 to fix. Fast forward to 2015. Engine warning light comes on again. Fearing the worst took it to a local garage (local dealer had gone bust) and asked them to check compression. Low compression on 1 and 2 again. Quoted £1500 to fix (new head needed AGAIN). Car worth less than that so went to scrap heap at 5 years old with only 25,000 on the clock.

This is a good value car, small enough to drive comfortably through busy town streets and for easy parking, excellent mpg, particularly on longer distances, and drives well with no obvious lack of power. Not much room for storage if 4 people are travelling, but if only 1 or 2, then plenty of space when rear seats are folded down. It has so far (last 3 years) been totally reliable. Also very cheap road tax which is a bonus! The big disappointment for me is that it has no clock, and the speedometer is not in front of you but in the centre of the dashboard, although you get used to this.

I bought my Chevrolet Matiz new in 2008 and can honestly say I have had no problems with it. I do have it serviced regularly but have had no extra charges for repairs. For anyone who likes "speed" it wouldn't suit them - it get up to 60 mph easily and 70 mph on motorways. The four doors are great and for a small car I think this is quite unusual. I would buy another Chevrolet again.

Very happy with my little car. Perfect for my local trips ,very nippy and easy to park.