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So far it looks like yes it is working within the design limits of the system and I probably need to edit the title of one of the pinned threads. I don't know with my car because it is in a limbo state where all messages fall into a black hole while Chevy seems to be screwing with me. Haven't had a response from them in 2 weeks, and nothing from the people that come on the forum even though I know they read the latest message I sent to them at 10:39 this morning. I'm trying to not be a raging asshat, but I'm just about at the end of my rope here. Every day my car gets another 100 miles on it which they seem to depreciate at a large rate! At this point if I could get the amount they offered for a trade in last night in cold hard cash (or check), I'd be out of their hair! The amount wasn't enough to keep putting up with the nonsense with the dealers and their service departments.

I'll do some thread work later tonight to clean things up and stick those things that are of importance.

Oh, I was also told that all of us on the internet talking about this car are IDIOTS! Nothing we say could ever be considered true (good or bad). I stopped short of telling the guy that I'm one of these idiots and go screw yourself. See that Chevy, your dealers are making things worse!!!

Edited by Greg_E
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My AC fix seems to be OK.

They put a new condenser.

But the real hot weather is not here yet.... so will be a better test.

Seems to blow cold air OK. Not ice ice, cold, but seems OK to me.

We drive the hell out of this little Spark.

75/ 80 mph on the freeway.

I am a real nit picky guy when it comes to cars, so the Spark seems to be an OK for car for me.... for the 10000 bucks we paid new.

Everything seems to work, like it was new.

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Is that customer satisfaction program 13434 or whatever it is, actually fixing the A/C?

Still isn't warm enough to swear to it, but the little I was able to fool with it, I think this has got it. The first thing I noticed, is the warm/cool thing is gone, it is blowing consistently cold air, even at idle.

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Oh, I was also told that all of us on the internet talking about this car are IDIOTS! Nothing we say could ever be considered true (good or bad). I stopped short of telling the guy that I'm one of these idiots and go screw yourself. See that Chevy, your dealers are making things worse!!!

I'm not a big fan of social media, but it seems to me that the big corporations keep a pretty keen eye on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Even setting up sites, and participating in discussions, etc. So the guy that told you that, needs to call Detroit, and let the bigwigs know, they are screwing up. He'll be in the unemployment line by the end of the day. :)

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Well, I just got off the phone with support, apparently there is no person higher up the chain to talk to and pretty much if your car has issues and the dealers are treating you like garbage, you can just suck it up and take your losses because they won't do a damn thing to help you out. Once again they tried to close the case because that is the most simple thing they can do, we've read about this too many times in the past from other users.

In my opinion, Chevy really SUCKS!

I'm embarrassed that anything I did or said when I bought my car and along until recently might have pushed some poor soul into buying one of these Sparks, I know I influenced a few sales and for that I now need to apologize.

And Chevy has maximum trade in values on these cars, the absolute maximum is 50%! Typically this doesn't matter to me because I normally drive a car until it is ready to be crushed, but in this case the car has so many problems I wanted it gone and now I'm SCREWED! The service manager at the most recent dealership said he could probably fix all the issues, but that I'm probably not going to be happy with the car ever again. I think that is code for "Chevy wont let us actually do what we know needs to be done, so stuff won't actually be fixed".

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I was accused of "airing dirty laundry" when I posted about all the problems I had dealing with Chevy last year, but now others are starting to see how frustrating it is when there is a problem that they either can't or refuse to fix.

The Chevy reps at my BBB hearing said flat out that our "opinions" of how the car should operate don't matter since they have GM trained ASE certified technicians that say the car is operating as designed. Which only means shut up and deal with it! :)

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It's apparently not up to the trained technicians because they are only allowed to do what Chevy says they can do. Chevy sets the requirements for the tests and makes them very difficult to actually show a problem so that they don't need to fix it..

And yes I remember those posts.

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Is that customer satisfaction program 13434 or whatever it is, actually fixing the A/C?

When they have the parts to fix them. Both me and my dealer have been waiting over 3 weeks for the wiring harness to arrive. I still like the car, but I will never buy another GM brand becouse of the dealer network alone, and how customer relations are handled on the corporate side. And it now appears that my oil pressure sensor has developed a slow oil leak. I wonder how long that part will take to arrive?
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While I am definitely bashing Chevy, I do still love the Spark design. Drove a Fiesta tonight, way better seats, certainly has a lot more power than my sick little Spark, rides over bumps way better, and way more room in the back storage area. The flip side is the several thousand more it costs, especially to get power windows (SE model). Definitely something I could learn to like. The Spark is effortless in parking lots, and that's hard to give up. The Spark is "flickable" where the Fiesta simply turns, this makes the Spark more fun. I'm really very conflicted in what I want to do. Getting into another Spark LS would be $4500, getting into a Fiesta base model about $7500, and getting into some features on Fiesta SE about $10,000 after trade. They are giving me a fair price for the trade at Ford, something that one other ex-Spark owner has said, only reason the Spark "upgrade" price is so good is because Chevy is tossing in a bunch of money for causing me such a delay. I've been dealing with this since February, and some problems since the day I picked up the car through several different service departments.

As far as Gossamer's previous posts, I think I was cautiously supportive, or at least I should have been. When they refuse to clean the laundry, someone must air it later. Mine is only getting rinsed so I've started airing it out because buyers really do need to know this stuff. They need to know that the Spark is considered to be a car and customer that is only good to try and prove to people they should be buying a Sonic or Cruze. That's the way Chevy treats it, that's the way the (some/most) dealers follow. They'll sell you anything, but support later is lacking because you/we are a bottom feeder for buying the cheapest car. I never expected to be treating like I buy every new Corvette every year and keep all of them in my museum, but I did expect to be treated fairly and have my concerns actually matter.

If my opinions seem strong, its because I've spent a lot of years seeing this type of run around treatment end up where it always does, might as well just jump straight to the end. They have yet to prove that I matter to this company, the phone call today certainly proved that the person handling my case could be less bothered because all she wanted to do was get me off the phone and close the case. She never cared to follow up with the dealer to get the list of all the problems with my car, the only thing she cared about was the HVAC fix. I was polite for most it the conversation, I wasn't pushy for most of the conversation, but when you can see where it is going, you might as well get there in a hurry and stop all the dancing around wasting time.

I told at least five people in the Ford dealer how much I really like the Spark, but then had to explain why I was in their business looking at something new. That's probably the saddest part and Chevy really needs to fix a few areas.

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Funny thing happened to me on Wednesday. I went to get my haircut, and when I pulled up there were 3 people sitting outside the business next door. When I got out of my car, one of them walked up to me looking at the car and asked how I liked it. I told him honestly that I liked the car, but I was having problems with it, and was having problems getting it fixed, and I'm at the point where I wish I had never bought it.

The guy told me that he was asking because he had gone to the Chevy dealer a few days ago and was looking at a Spark, and the salesman told him not to buy it! He said the salesman told him that there were many problems with the car, and "he would be better off buying a Sonic for only a little more money"!

Needless to say, that started quite a conversation about the problems, the dealers, and Chevy as a whole.

The kicker was when the guy showed me his brand new Toyota Corolla that he got for the same price as the Spark!

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This is my issue I love the look of the Spark and the features, I have looked at a lot of vehicles to replace the Spark. Such as the Mitsubishi Mirage (that thing is so dull it's mind numbing), up here we are getting the Nissan Micra which looks cool but driving two Versa's for work I have learned how much I dislike Nissan vehicles for some reason. The only vehicle that I was given as a rental over the two weeks mine was in the shop was the GMC Terrain. I felt perfect for that vehicle and that vehicle fit me perfectly. I fell in love with it, I think that's what will end up replacing my Spark should I go ahead with getting rid of.

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I am feeling the urge to give up on the Spark too. One of the reasons I bought it is that some reviews considered similar to Honda Civic's of the 90's. I owned a 95 Civic dx manual, best car I have ever owned, easy to take off, plenty of power, great fuel economy. I have not had the problems with the A/C, but the thing I just cannot get over is how horrible the clutch/gearing/torque is set up on this thing. Never had I had to think so much about moving off from a stop as I have had with the Spark. Having driven manuals for life, I have not had stalls, but I just hate how if one does not rev up to 2000 or baby the clutch, this car just looses RPMs and gives off ugly lugging groans and shudders. I drove the Fiat 500, and that thing takes off without thinking, the Ford Fiesta also has a sensational clutch feel, no need to get the autostick with that one. I do feel conflicted though, I just cannot stand the size of the Fiat, the premium gas it needs, and the premium price one is paying for what is an economy car in Europe, and its not even built in Europe.The Fiesta just looks too mundane, specially from the back, and has less front leg room in the front. I also do not like the gear shift on the Fiesta, its so cheap and plasticky, cheaper than the Spark, if that is possible. From the experience with the Spark, and how its priced so close to the Sonic, I am getting a strange "New Coke" feel, drive a Sonic after having experienced the Spark, and its like night and day, the sonic also has a soft clutch, but it has enough torque that one does not have to constantly think about modulation when taking off, fuel economy is similar, while getting more room in the Sonic. Maybe GM made the US Spec spark as it is in order to make the Sonic seem that much more appealing.

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The shame of it all it that I would have gladly taken the trade in loss to get the vehicle I really wanted!

GM is finally supposed to be bringing the vehicle I really wanted to the states either at the end of this year or the beginning of next.

I bought the Spark with the intention of trading it in as soon as the Chevy Trax was available, but now thanks to the Spark's problems and GM's sh!tty customer service, I won't buy another GM product ever.

Edited by Gossamer
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The Fiesta has a Ford racing short throw shifter for fairly cheap, and if you have the Ford dealer install it, it is covered buy the factory warranty. Looks like the same goes for the suspension, cat back exhaust, and a few other goodies. The Fiesta can also run in SCCA Solo as either H street or the new STF which is front drive cars. I may end up back at the dealership on Monday to hand them a check, probably not going to last the week anyway.

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The Chevy Traxx has been available all year as a Buick Encore. Yeah it's more money , but it's a much nicer car . If it had been out a bit sooner I may have bought one because I want a nice but small AWD . Now that it looks like the Opel Adam mini car is coming to Buick , that's a possibility also but I have no intention of trading my Spark anytime soon.

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That's something that has always struck me as being dumb.

Why buy a Buick (or Pontiac, or Oldsmobile) that is/was essentially the same car as the Chevy for more money?

There really aren't any differences that justify spending the extra money for a different name.

Not to mention that I think the Encore is ugly.

Here is the page for the Trax (Canada Chevy):

http://www.gm.ca/gm/english/vehicles/chevrolet/trax/overview

Edited by Gossamer
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I'm just the opposite , I think the Encore is better looking. I don't want a stripper which is why I would go with a Buick which has better features and materials not to mention warranty, things that aren't even available on the Chevy.Even with Chevy I buy the best version of the model I like , I don't want a car I will regret purchasing a year later.

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Dang. All you guys complaining must have ATROCIOUS Chevy dealers in your areas. I've never had one single problem with my Dealer/Service Center (Todd Wenzel in Hudsonville, MI). I didn't know a single thing about the the "13434 A/C recall" until I brought my car into the dealer back on April 11th for a simple oil change. The A/C now performing as it should . It was in the mid 80's this past week and I was able to cool the cabin to a comfortable temp pretty quickly. I guess I'm one of the few lucky ones. I'm completely happy with my car now.

Edited by Trancer07
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Dang. All you guys complaining must have ATROCIOUS Chevy dealers in your areas. I've never had one single problem with my Dealer/Service Center (Todd Wenzel in Hudsonville, MI). I didn't know a single thing about the the "13434 A/C recall" until I brought my car into the dealer back on April 11th for a simple oil change. The A/C now performing as . It was in the mid 80's this past week and I was able to cool the cabin to a comfortable temp pretty quickly. I guess I'm one of the few lucky ones. I'm completely happy with my car now.

Nope it's the opposite actually... There are just a few people having issues and they are the ones who make the most noise on here.

Edited by 21783mike
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