sparkfanatic

Member Retired old gear head has ran his Spark 50 miles at 112 mph . I drive mine everyday the approx distance you drive at around 65-70 mph . These are solid engines that drive like any car .

Keep in mind that that this recall is a preventive measure . If the pressure goes too high then the pulley can fracture and belt can break . All these parts fall within a certain specification , parts on the low end of that specification will be subject to damage when the pressure goes high.

I'm sure they still have the 5w -20 oil but many Gm dealers are using 5w-30 , not just for the Spark but other GM cars .

Motor trend did a review of the 16 and they liked it .

Looks like they used 0w-20 oil . A lot of dealers including mine did away with 5w-20 and only use 5w-30 now . When mine was overfilled the oil level was probably an inch over the full line , I caught it right away though . That was with 5 quarts listed on the bill . Or they may have put a little more than 4 quarts in and charged for the full 5 quarts . It will be obvious when you pull the dipstick .

The turning circle is ok , a few feet better than a compact car but a lot worse than a Scion IQ or smart car . I think the new smart can do a u turn within its own lane . Of course the Spark is a much better car than those but I would love their turning radius.. That's maybe my only real disappointment with the Spark .

The size is the main factor in my purchase . I can't count the number of times the Sparks size has been a saving grace . Moving in and out of tight spaces with ease . The only thing I wish is that the turning radius could be better .

There's probably a lot of factors involved . None of my street cars are ever driven hard , in fact rarely over posted speed limits . These range from economy 4cyl like the Spark to high reving performance 4cyl mated to an auto Trans and a Pontiac with a larger high torque 4 cyl that I drive now probably no more than 5 miles over a few weeks period . Both the Pontiac and Nissan are 20 years or older . None of them has had any fuel related issues and all drive like the day I bought them and only the Nissan had a fuel cleaning back at 30K mile service many years ago . This was part of the deale

My 13 Spark manual recommends using top tier gasoline . The additives are only recommended if you don't use that type of fuel . I always use top tier in all my cars . You can look up which brands of gas have that extra detergent on the top tier website .

Anytime I have financed the approval was within seconds no matter who was the lender but that's with high credit score . When it was GMAC I would just print out the approval and bring it to the dealer . Keep in mind the snow storm may have impacted the timeline to get an approval . It may also take a bit more time due to your credit situation.

Chippy , I also had a Lemans Sport , a 1970 Cardinal red with black vinyl top . Beautiful car , only thing that broke was the timing chain at about 50K miles . Typical problem as they used nylon cam gears . Most of the other cars I had were raced so I could expect some problems . Mainly transmissions , broke the C6 in my Mach 1 , the 727 in my Rosdrunner , the turbo 400 in my Buick , trans broke on ford custom 500 police interceptor . Probably some others too that I'm not recalling . Those were main issues , other than that , a few starters , water pumps , things of that nature and they are a

First car 73 Mach 1 . I can't say any of the old classics were bad cars or gave much me trouble that wasn't caused by abuse . I would say worst car was my Smart car , way too many compromises among other things mechanically wrong . Best car overall I have owned is my Honda CR-Z .

The price was probably for a bulk pack of filters .

The really hot climates are battery killers more so than cold areas . On average 30-37 months before failure . I live in Ct and it's been a few decades since I had a failure but over last 10 years I have become proactive and changed out batteries in my cars and switched to Optimas at around the 36 month mark just to avoid problems even though the battery was still good or just traded the car in all together . The battery prices are crazy expensive now but I wouldn't want to be stuck someplace and need a tow because nobody has a battery that fits the Spark . Wondering if even AAA battery serv

Will be interesting to see if it's a different model battery they replace it with or if GM keeps some originals on hand for warranty replacement .

Maybe we need to wait for the 2016 Spark to get a battery . that might fit .It's kind of ridiculous there's no batteries , a lot of cars are at 3 years old now and some will need a battery . How are the dealers going to replace the battery , Jerry rig some battery from another car ? Right now the only choice I see is to find an Optima of similar physical size . Maybe this is a question for the GM customer service reps that visit this site .

Looking at Walmart and other auto parts retailers , nobody other than sutozone has a direct replacement listing . Other option would be to find an optima battery that will fit . I'll have to ask my dealer when I go in this month how they plan on replacing my battery .

GM discontinued our Spark battery awhile ago . I don't know what they are using as a replacement as there's none listed.

That's one heck of a deal , an LS automatic list price is $14,635. When I bought my 13 , the dealers wouldn't budge from full sticker , so will interesting to see how things play out on deals.

I would have thought the Spark would be out by now but when they said Jan 2016 I guess they mean end of the month . My dealer told me it could be as late as Feb . I notice the 15's seem to be selling , not as many left since I looked a few weeks ago . I agree that buying the first year might be risky . The thing that would really sway me towards buying a 16 this year would be an RS version. Something that surprised me was the GM bonus earnings can be used towards a 15 or 16 Spark .

They added Mylink to the base model but looks like they took away the alloy wheels and replaced with hubcaps . From the outside it looks like a cheaper looking car than the last generation . I can't wait till I get to see one in person at the dealer . With rebates and bonus earnings I might consider a good deal on a leftover 2015 .

No rust on mine and roads are salted starting in Oct . I don't wash the car during this time either . Still looks new too.

GMPP issued by Ally apparently loses its rights to the GM name and access to the GM computer data base in 2016 . It will be more difficult for claims I would imagine as they have no access to repair history ect . GM has slowing been integrating its own GM owned warranty plan .

I don't like how they changed up the interior two tone colors on the 2LT . The Salsa red inserts are gone and replaced with dark colors . The Blue looks interesting with the Blue inserts . I think they could have done something with most of the colors but decided to leave them dark instead .

Merry Christmas to all . I made use of the Sparks parking prowess Christmas Eve at the mall . Almost funny watching others try to park while the Spark slipped in easily . Kudos to the engineers who designed the doors to be fully open and fit within the confines of a parking space .