Bobby MSME

Like I said before, my first new car  had manual tranny. It was very good in rural areas away from traffic. But driving in traffic to work everyday in Chicago was a very bad idea with manual tranny. You are going to wear out the clutch or the throw out bearing. Slushbox automatic is great for driving in traffic since the power is transmitted through liquid oil which does not wear anywhere near as fast as a friction disk which is the clutch. I have owned dozen different cars all with automatic slushbox tranny's, and never had a transmission problem driving for 55 years and a few million miles. So choose based on your driving needs.

Now 4.5 years old, my 2017 Spark LS tranny & engine are still running like a well oiled machine.

It starts at the flick of the ignition key, idles smooth as butter, and still has enough power to keep up with traffic at 70MPH.

The only problem I have noticed is if car is coasting at low speed (typically 5-15 mph) without foot on gas pedal, and if I press the gas pedal suddenly, the engine rev's up but the CVT does not catch up quickly and accelerate. That is the ONLY scenario when the CVT does not respond quickly. So I have learned to never stomp on the gas pedal at less than 20 mph, if in coasting mode.

After 4.5 years this 2017 Spark had no issues at all. No leaks, no breakdowns, no rattles. Only thing I have done is oil changes and changed air filter once.

Buy automatic tranny next time. I have bought only those since 1967. Never had trouble with any of the many.

My 2017 Spark has no such smell. May be an issue with some material used in 2015 models?

The battery in our 2011 Chevy HHR is 10 years old, the car has 61,000 miles and was purchased new in 2011. The battery is still working good, so not gonna replace it. The car was always garage kept but has seen wet & cold weather in WA state for many years.

So why has the battery lasted 10+ years? My best guess is it is located FAR FAR away from the hot engine. It is actually in the rear under the trunk (HHR has a hatch in rear).

So in my 2017 Spark LS, with CVT, I covered the battery with insulation pads. Will  be interesting if this tiny battery will last 7+ years protected from the heat from nearby engine.

In my younger years I must have changed 100's of spark plugs. Never used any torque wrench.

All I did was tighten the spark plug with the usual manual wrench with gentle force. Never had an issue.

Spark plug is not subjected to mechanical load. Just has to be tight enough so it does not get lose from engine vibrations. Torque values should not matter much here. But I never had to deal with a spark plug and coil combo situation.

I have designed thousands of bolts subjected to extreme loads. There it was critical to torque the bolts to create tensile pre-stress in the bolt. That increases fatigue life of bolts. And prevents getting lose.

I never had such issue recently with electronic ignition. But had that issue frequently in years gone by with cars which had the old fashioned distributor. Moisture would get inside the distributor during night parking and the car would not start in the morning.  Replacing the distributor cap would fix the problem. 

I never floor the gas pedal at speeds below 60 mph.

At car speeds above 60 mph, the CVT does NOT get confused and accelerates car smoothly.

Only problem I have had for 4 years is when coasting at around 10-15 MPH and then pressing hard on gas pedal.

In that situation  the engine gets rev'ed up but the CVT belt just slips and thus car does not accelerate.

So I have learned to NOT stomp on the gas pedal when car is coasting under 20 MPH speed. 

The controlling computer program has bugs in this situation.

A gradual pushing down of gas pedal works just fine. Above 20 MPH car speed, CVT acts normal. 

My daughter and her 6'-1" boy friend visiting for a week fit comfortably in the back seats of my 2017 Spark LS. With caveat my wife was in front seat and she is only 5'-2" and had her seat adjusted forward. Best part was finding parking space in my tourist town was much easier than our SUV.

I have known that since I started driving in 1962, that under powered engines yield lower MPG in city driving.

The 1.4 is better suited for the Spark in my opinion.

After almost 4 years of driving my new purchase 2017 CVT Spark, I am reaching the conclusion that this tranny is NOT designed for hot rodding. Mine works great so long as I don't stomp on the gas pedal. Even at road speed of 60 mph, gentle acceleration causes no shudder and the car has no problem reaching 75 mph quickly. 

But I am AVOIDING stomping on gas after decelerating to under 30 MPH. That is when the CVT acts most confused.

FWIW.

Thank you all posters...I expected many posters with few MECHANICAL problems with their Spark. 

The Apple play stuff is something GM probably bought as an assembly so unfair to blame GM.

My Spark 2017 is 3.5 years old and does lots of short runs under 5 miles. Mileage is low  but I am  happy 

about zero leaks, zero breakdowns, zero fail to start, zero CEL's (check engine light) etc. STarts at the flick 

of the switch and runs like a clock every time.

MY 2017 Spark LS has expired the bumper to bumper warranty, after 3 years.

Still has the power train warranty in effect for about 2 more years.

The Spark runs like it was when new, and has only 18,000 miles on it.

Is it worthwhile to buy extended warranty for this car?

Warranty is bumper to bumper but has $100 deductible for each repair.

Warranty will last for 5 years from sign up, or 70K miles max.

Cost $195 down, $89/month for 36 months.

-or- $3408 up front.

Any opinions will be appreciated.

I am no hands on mechanic, but do have a degree in mechanical engineering. I have replaced brake pads only once in my life by myself, since with my driving habits, I rarely need to replace brake pads. It was on a chevy nova with all drum brakes. It was not difficult even for a novice mechanic like me. I understand disc brake pads are easier than drum brake pads to change.

Here is a video to help with disc brake pads replacement.

Video for drum brakes:

I miss the cars of 1960's which had almost no sensors and therefore less headaches. So long as the car started quickly and ran without loud sounds or bad vibrations, we just kept driving them and nothing bad would happen.

Your problem in particular seems more annoyance than real problem. So long as the car is not overheating, or you can not get enough heat inside the car during cold weather, if I were you, I would just keep driving with existing thermostat.

Yes that is a problem when bigger cars just turn into my lane ahead of me, sometimes I have to slam the brakes to avoid an accident. I am chalking it off to a combination of (rudeness + bad eye sight + bad speed judgement + late for something + low IQ). Fortunately these incidents are not frequent, but all it takes is one accident.

It's been 3 years since I tinted all 4 windows plus top of front windshield myself,

but the whole job cost about $30 if I recall correctly. After 3 years all working great.

It was pre-cut tinted plastic film with glue already applied. All I had to do was wet them thoroughly and slide them into place. Then I used a soft squeegee to remove all small air bubbles. That was the most time consuming job. But after I removed every bubble, it looks like a professional job. 

Hint: Do it yourselfers...tuck in a small fraction of an inch of film into the bottom of window sill. that way when you roll the window down, the film wont snag.

On the front windshield I applied a 4" wide roll of darker film the same way as above. That shields the sun nicely, almost no need to use the built in sun visors which are not transparent and block view of traffic lights.

I had posted a thread about how to do it 3 years ago,  and here is the link:

I never had a battery last more than 5-6 years in cold Chicago or hot Florida. But amazingly the battery in our 2011 Chevy HHR is still working! I think the reason is it is located in the trunk far away from the hot engine compartment. The HHR sometimes sits idle for 2+ weeks, and then starts immediately when the ignition key is turned. Wonder if the Spark battery can be installed securely in the small trunk (because the trunk is too small anyway for a suitcase or golf bag) and run a jump cable to the positive post cable at the battery in engine compartment.

On 2/14/2020 at 9:10 AM, Ray Dockrey said:

Have you tried it not sitting in the car? Maybe taking the weight off of it would help. I doubt they would put the levers there and not have them functional. 

That was my exact thought as well...

Actually it is easier to operate the lever from outside the car, with door wide open.

And in my 2017 Spark, it does work good, I like driver's seat higher to see road ahead better.

My 2017 Spark LS is now 3 years old, and still enjoy driving it. Does not feel like a small car inside.

But it  is ridiculously small outside. Many times I don't see it in parking lots because it is so much shorter than the car parked in next slot. Only complain is it is noisy at speeds over 50 mph. But we use the bigger HHR for longer drives which is much quieter. I love the jerk free CVT tranny.

For the price of car, the Spark is indeed a very good value. In 3 years of driving it, I changed the oil twice only because 2 oil changes were free with the purchase of a new Spark. I will obey the oil life computer until the 5 year power train warranty expires. After that, back to my 50 year long method of looking at the dip stick, if oil looks clear and has no burned smell, keep on driving and go out to a nice dinner instead of oil change.

12 hours ago, Trancer07 said:

Congrats on the new Spark! I'd like to upgrade to a 2020 Spark as well, but since I live in Michigan and our insurance rates are astronomical, I couldn't afford payments and the REQUIRED full coverage insurance! Keeping my 2013 LS Denim Blue until she's a pile of rust.

Can you get an outside loan (loan based on equity in house, life insurance, etc) ?

If yes, pay off the car with it and then you don't have to buy collision insurance (usually highest portion of your insurance bill) and just buy the minimum liability required by state of Michigan. 

Since 1964, my method has been to keep driving the old jalopy until there are enough savings built up to buy the car with cash. With that I have never purchased collision insurance, and in 56 years have probably saved enough to buy 2 new cars for cash. When you save first, not only you save on interest paid to bank, you are collecting some interest on your savings. You only have to do it once (driving old jalopy) for the first new car, then repeat the process with nothing but new cars and skip the collision insurance.

Legally GM can get away stealing your $300 because car is past warranty.

The dealer should have given you a steep discount so you will come back a happy return customer.

It amazes me how bad big companies have become with public relations.

hmmm...seems to me there is something gone awry in computer software.

It may not be serious since dash lights do not consume lot of power, but could become a problem if car sits around for several days and the battery would not be charged by running the car.

My spark only shows the mileage lit up when driver's side door is opened.  And it turns off after a few seconds. Try turning the display screen off before exiting the car.

I do not like to waste money on unnecessary procedures for car maintenance. In the long gone old days, manufacturing processes left some loose metal particles inside the engine and that is why it was advisable to perform a change of oil filter soon. 

Since the new Spark comes with high quality synthetic blend oil, I see no sense in throwing it away too soon.

If you are really worried about metal contamination in oil, may be just a change of filter would put your mind at ease. 

As for the computer counting oil life, it is NOT based on actual chemical analysis of oil. It is more based on mileage, starts & stops and perhaps time. It is probably a very conservative formula to protect manufacturer from repair costs if the car is used to pull heavy loads, or driven on steep hilly roads when engine is laboring and getting hot. Over the last 50 years of my driving cars, I have learned to take a simple look at the oil dipstick, and check if oil is clear or dark, if oil has a burned smell or not. If neither are  present, I keep driving with the oil because I understand that oil does not wear out it's lubricating qualities or heat carrying out properties, which are the two main functions the engine oil performs.

I rather throw the money down from the 2nd floor balcony of a crowded shopping center than waste on unnecessary oil changes. That at least will provide some entertainment value.