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So there have been small cars before and there are many now. What makes this car so special? It is not just another little car. It has a history and strange as it may sound, it has been present in India for 12 years now. It is the 3rd avatar of the original Daewoo Matiz. I have one and have been driving it for nearly 10 years now. The sheer personality of this car and what it can do to you as it's owner is unimaginable.

 

 

The erstwhile Matiz (codename M-100)  

 

The emotional attachment that this car had with everyone in the family was more than the newer Santro and even the Fiesta that is in our garage now, easily proving the fact that the car does not have to sell in big numbers and be all powerful and fast for you to be passionate about it. Daewoo Matiz (code name M-100) was all that and more. I enjoyed driving it and being seen in it and I still do. After 115000kms on the odo, it is still going strong and is the most important car of the lot. Daewoo went bankrupt and so did the companys' operations in India which then stopped selling this brilliant little car. The other two significant launches around the same time were the Hyundai Santro and Tata Indica, both cars matured in the Indian market and made fortunes for their respective manufacturers and made Tata and Hyundai household names as small car manufacturers. What happened to the Matiz?

 

 

The M-150 that did not come to India   

 

GM excluded buying Daewoo India operations because of its relatively small market share and huge liabilities from creditors. GM subsequently bought Daewoo operations worldwide and formed GM Daewoo Automotive Technology (GMDAT). Daewoo got a fancy newer logo and a lot more. Daewoo's acquisition was the most important ever for GM because they did not have a single small car before that. Daewoo made small cars effectively. They just had to polish this skill of the Korean giant and rebadge the cars from Daewoo's to Chevrolet which was then decided to be GM's mainstream car brand globally. I used to follow this process of bankruptcy and wait for the restart of the Surajpur plant of DMIL very eagerly as if I was employed by them and my survival depended on DMIL's fortunes. I was just a student back then and we had the Matiz in the garage. 

 

 

 

 

Daewoo meanwhile globally released the M-150, a small facelift of this original car and after GM's acquisition released the M-200 version. This is the existing Spark that we get in the market and GM has of course let go of the Daewoo brand in India and rebadged their cars as Chevy's. So what we get here is like this. The Optra is a Daewoo Lacetti and the Aveo is a Daewoo Kalos. The Spark is the Daewoo Matiz and the Chevrolet Forester too is not Chevy at all. It is a Subaru Forester. GM has a stake in Fuji Heavy Industries of Japan who are the makers of Subaru brand. So this article is about the Spark, I have already told you about its origins and how it all started. Daewoo Matiz as a brand is over in India but the car continues to sell as the new Chevy Spark. It is a good one at that and improves a lot on the original. 

Exteriors: The car is spacious, the most in this particular price segment. It sure is a bit narrow which you realise when you sit inside for the first time but your shoulders are definitely not rubbing with the person sitting on the passenger seat. Look at it this way, it is the easiest in town where parking and driving space is at premium. However, at about 3.7 lacs on road for the top-end variant, it is the most bang for your buck. I wonder why people buy the Alto which probably has half the space inside and is from the Daewoo Matiz era. Plus it is more common than an 800, yeah Maruti 800 feels more exclusive than the Alto which sells about 18000 units every single month. 

 

 

 

 

Maruti can sell anything and get away with it as long as it is a Maruti. But here you get a modern looking hatch (not just looking though) with all round power windows, power steering, fog lamps, rear windscreen defroster, roof rails, body colored door handles, beige interiors (which I am not fond of) and rear wiper too.

 

The rear looks delicious as you can see I got more pictures of the rear than the front. The car looks balanced and will make a great buy even if you are looking at a second car to punt around town. Again, it is a solid package for the highway too. 

 

 

That is one hell of a deal in today's market and looks like after a default discount of almost 47K for the LT model, why would anyone not buy this car? 

 

 

The moment you look at it, the resemblence to the original cannot be missed. The license plate has been moved up on the hatch from the bumper and the rear lights are bright and visible in the dark. The crystal treatment is just about okay and does not look bad. The rear view lamp is only on one side like many other cars and the rear wiper works well. The hatch can be opened from inside, the knob is next to the fuel lid opener and is conviniently located besides the driver seat below it. In the night, you might just end up opening the hatch instead of the fuel lid if you are not careful and look properly or remember the placement. Minor glitch but fine.

 

 

 

The front is just my favorite. The swept back headlamps with integrated turn indicators are good looking and it is so much a Matiz here, I like it. No grills in the front just like the M-100 and it breathes from below, the vents are in the bumper. The fog lamps are pleasant to already have in a car of this segment and increase the visibility immediately in front of the car when switched on. The headlights are adequately bright for the darkest of places you will drive this car in.

 

 

 

 

 

The roof rails are funky and make it look sporty. The tires that came with the car were MRF's 155/65 R13. They are adequate for most uses but we changed ours to 175/55 R13 Yokohama's on SSW rims the very first day. Though I would say the Spark has got the best looking wheel caps in the small car business. You will really think before replacing them even with alloys.  

 

 

 

 

 

Interiors: GM has gone the Maruti way for mass appeal here with the beige interiors. The interiors are functional and instrumentation is more than basic compared to the competition and is designed with Europe in mind than India.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The speedo console is in the centre of the dashboard which I do not particularly like. Minor issue again this but the car has two trip meters along with the odometer, all digital this time. The temperature gauge and the fuel indicator on each side of the speedo all in the centre.

 

 

 

 

 

So what do we have behind the steering. Well there is little console which has all the tell tale lights like door open, seat belt warning warning, ECU warning light etc. It does look okay in the day but then this console behind the steering has no visibility in the night.

 

 

 

 

 

There is absolutely no outline light or any indication and you do not even know it all exists unless a warning lamp is on. A bit awkward for first time drivers of a Spark but you get used to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The A/c switches and air flow knobs have a good  and meaty feel and the A/c is a chiller just like the erstwhile M-100's. The sound of the fan at full speed can be too much but then this is no Honda Accord. The plastics are good quality and there are no noises or creaks on the worst roads.

 

 

 

Build quality is better than many oriental Jap-Korean cars. There are adequate cup and bottle holders and the 12V socket is default for charging your mobile phones or heating water for coffee on a long drive. The rear leg room is the most in this segment in this car and the rear seat is the split one 60:40. So you can easily pull down one side and access your shopping bags which are lying in the boot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a boon and a must in every hatch back. The carpet quality is good and the NVH levels are low. No complaints in this regard. Thank god for the black parts in the cabin like the center console etc. The power windows are quick and feel solid. The steering wheel could have been smaller and they could have some more holders on the door pads. The glove box is okay in size and there is a little slot below that which can easily hold news paper/magazines, sunglasses etc. The rear parcel shelf is of good quality and will never rattle. It is eld by two strings on each side so it goes up when the hatch is opened. A neat touch and very common in many cars now. Well thought out cabin after all. The boot can hold a maximum of two bags and a few small ones on the sides, capacity can be increased if the parcel shelf is unclamped. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drivetrain/Powertrain: The engine is a free revving 8V 4Cylinder 1000cc S-Tec unit which is based on the same mill of the M-100 (It had the M-Tec Version) but with an extra cylinder. The power is bumped up from 52BHP of the M-100 to 60BHP of the M-200. The 90Nm of torque comes at 4200rpm which is a bit on the higer side, the rpm I am talking about. It would have been better if it generated this torque at a lower level. Still, the car pulls effortlessly in start stop traffic of the cities with enough low end grunt but the switch to the second gear has to be quick. The first gear is seriously short, forcing you to shift upwards with-in seconds. The wire operated gear-box is different fundamentally from other cars' boxes but is precise with a notchy 5th gear this time instead of a notchy 2nd in the M-100. You can easily live with it. The best gear box in the segment and after this the Maruti ones will feel like a 'spoon in khichdi'. It is that good relatively. The car reaches 100kmph in 14 secs which is faster than many larger cars namely all the FIATS including the Linea and a few Marutis. The car can cruise all day comfortably at 80kmph with precise handling and will give you confidence if you feel a bit adventurous on twisties. The rear wheels hold the road well and will easily help you touch 140kmph without much hesitation. The car is aerodynamic and crosswinds upset it a bit but not as much as the Wagon R and cousin Estilo. The driving dynamics are in a different league altogether compared to these Japs. 

 

Suspension: As I said, the car's suspension is comfort oriented. The front McPherson Strut with Anti Roll bars does the job really well and their is very little body roll noticeable. It will feel stressed out while cornering it when the car is at full load and you would not really do that. The rear torsion beam axle can get bumpy and a few rumbles do filter in but then it is not exceptional. 

Overall: The car is a phenomenal one. It offers you fuel efficiency, good handling, excellent ride, the most cabin space for a small car and even freedom from maintenance for 3 years that too at the best prices in the country. The cute and futuristic looks are a bonus. What more does one need. Though the sales figures averaging at 4500 units a month are nothing to wrtie home about, the significance lies in the recent increase in this number. GM sales have doubled from last year and the Spark is mainstay for GM. They are cashing in on the market with this car like no other. Spark has a long way to go and will demand excellent resale value as well since it has just started its innings in the Indian market. Wait for an M-TEC version from M-100 which will come again in a few months in the new Spark and will discount the price by another Rs. 30000 which will make it an even better deal even if it is an 800cc. The 52BHP mill will be modified for Bhatat IV and will sport a good amount of torque and this car will give seriouos competition to the Alto and i10 for the top sales slot. The plug-in electric version of this car is already under development with REVA technology and will be on roads in less than an year.

 

 

 

 

DECISION: Buy it if you are looking for small car, don't think twice. The waiting period is hardly 10 days and you even get free 3 years or 100000km warranty. That means, GM  will service your car free for all this time. You do not even have to pay for the oil and oil filter in the servicing. This whole free warranty itself is worth about Rs 15000 for three years. You end up paying absolutely zero service cost when you buy this car. Spare parts are not expensive and GM will be in India forever. The car will largely be trouble tree, a typical of Korean and Japanese cars which will transport you from place A to B at the lowest cost possible. GM's service network will be next only to Maruti and Hyundai's very soon and a slew of more small cars are coming including the M-300 a.k.a Chevrolet Beat (international markets) a.k.a Daewoo Matiz Creative (in Korean market). So it is an interesting brand to look out for and it has the indian small car market in its cross-hairs. People are slowly opening up to other brands like FIAT and Chevrolet who have good cars but there is excessive blinding exercises done by Maruti and Hyundai and people do not even consider other brands.

 

The time has come and the indian car buyer is maturing. There are hordes of cars other than the usual Suzuki's, there is world beyond that and if the consumer does not look elsewhere, he is at a loss. These cars have good technology, safety features and internation standards of build qulaity and exciting deals can be had in the market now. Look around and your whole car buying experience could change. 

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