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Even when you are giving it the beans, the Spark remains at its comfortable best. The performance is blistering for
a car of such diminutive stature. When you open the taps, the 1-litre, four-cylinder engine breathes fire and all
of the 63 horses are delivered in a frenzied manner. The all-important naught to sixty run was dealt with in five
and a bit seconds and the big one – zero to hundred time was just 13.6 seconds. That’s pretty fast. And considering
that it is a small car, it is hilariously fast! No idea how we did it, and I don’t care. The bottom-line is that we
did. And I’ve saved the speed files and the graphs, just to brag about it. How I love being a kid at times!
Matiz sported the best compromise between ride and handling, making it a fun-to-drive companion. So it made sense
for Chevy Spark to go and spend time at the hands of some blokes at Lotus to get the ride and handling
characteristics tweaked by a good measure. What this has done is escalate the performance of the car overall.
The Spark does go around the corners well and the ride is pretty pliant when going around town.
The steering is light for city use and makes the car a breeze to putter around in the city confines and to park.
When shown the open spaces, the Spark stretches its legs and helps the speedo climb at a constant rate.
The high-speed stability is that of a rock for a small car and the little Chevy manages to induce a mile-long
smile on your face with the way it goes. The only grouch is that the steering becomes very light at such high
speeds. Oh, lest I forget, the gearshift quality was by far the best seen on any of the Chevy cars. It only
hesitates sometimes when shifting from fourth to fifth. Otherwise, the ratios are well spaced and the shift
action is progressive, if not really very smooth. The gear lever knob felt a bit like that of the Honda City’s
though! Not good a feeling that. We found a little patch of blacktop which had flowing, challenging bends.
And the smile became laughter! The steering responds well, but could do with more spirited feel.
Ride is good which is only disturbed when you encounter a bump while going fast around a corner. This car is always ready to play.
When pushed hard around a corner, the rear tends to come around a bit in a very controllable manner and needs
just a slight feed of opposite lock to get things in check. Body roll is evident but surely is not
bothersome as in other small cars. And when you are really letting the juices flow, you have to be sure of
the anchors, should the need arise. And the brakes of the Spark do a good job but the rear does jiggle a
little when you stomp on the brake pedal.
Fuel Efficiency
There was a mixed reaction in the office after we got back from our fuel efficiency runs.
The 16.5kmpl that we managed on our highway runs raised a few eyebrows but the 12kmpl that the Spark
delivered within city confines was appreciated by all. What particularly impressed me was the mileage
figure that this baby returned when we were doing our shootout and performance drives. The
pedal-to-the-metal action almost all the time it was then, and the Spark was gulping down a litre
of crude for every 10 kilometers. Not bad then, the Spark is, I would say.
Summing it up
In essence, the Spark is an invigorated, stylish and cheeky form of the good ‘ol Matiz which impresses
with the space it offers. The comfort factor is up there with the best and the car is as bang upto date
as you can expect. The dull and unique dash takes time to get used to but the interior otherwise is
pleasant. The way she rides and handles belies her size and nature. The engine is punchy and the seamless
power delivery sees the needle cross 160 clicks! A very good small-car it is then. A car that surely can
battle it out with the best. And with the starting price at just over 3.25 lakh, the Spark is pretty
good value for money proposition too. So the question essentially was whether General Motors did a
good job of transforming Matiz into what we know as Spark today? The answer is a loud yes. With a
bold and capital ‘Y’ if you may please.
Speed Chart (Speed in kmph v/s Time in seconds)
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Price: 4.46lakh (As Tested - Exshowroom ,Mumbai)
For: Ride; handling; performance; high-speed stability Detailed Specifications | On-road price in your city. Catch the Chevrolet Spark in Blog | Forum | User Reviews |
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