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According to "The Car Connection" the 2014 Chevy Spark is the second lowest rated "mini car" - even though it is rated higher than the 2013 model!

On their buying arc, it is listed in the lower end of "Caution".

It is also lower rated than the Ford Fiesta, Honda Fit, Kia Rio, Toyota Yaris, Hyundai Accent, and others.

The only car that was rated lower was the Smart ForTwo!

http://www.thecarconnection.com/compare/chevrolet_spark_2014_choices

I have also read that Consumer Reports has picked the Spark as one of the very worst small cars (in the running for title of worst) but I can not verify or post a link since you have to have an account with them to see their ratings.

And yes, I know many of you will disagree with the ratings, but they are not my ratings, I am just passing on what a "respected" car comparison site has to say.

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Consumer reports panned every mini car , spark , Scion iQ , Fiat 500 and smart . I have owned 3 of the 4 and I find the Spark to be the best of them . I also owned a Scion XA and although it was a very reliable good car , i would take the Spark over it anyday. There's just nothing out there that competes with it in quality and features . I could have bought a 13 Fit sport automatic for not much more than my loaded 2LT Spark . Even though I'm a Honda guy I still chose the Spark. Honda in my personal experience does have a better dealer experience overall . That said , my Chevy dealer has treated be well so far .

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Also consumer reports bases ratings on their opinion not quality . They won't recommend a car with flawless reliability if they don't like it . Instead as long as a car has just average reliability they may pick it as a best buy . They recommend a Fit over a Spark even though the Spark is the best in safety among all small cars . That shows how flawed their opinions are . I only use them for reliability ratings since those are owners experience not opinion .

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Consumer Reports seems to be overly concerned about safety to the point where they don't even consider much else. I ride motorcycles and drive vintage cars, so that is not such a big deal for me. Comfort, especially on longer trips is important, but reliability still comes in first, second, and third.

Next week I am taking a trip from Phoenix, AZ to Portland, OR and back in my '01 Malibu, with 187,000+ miles on it. It's a 3,000 mile round trip, and while anything is possible, I trust it to not break down on me. At this point, I think I trust it more than a brand new Spark, based solely on what I have read. I fully expect this old car to pass 200,000 miles with no problems. Will a new Spark go 200,000 miles without major problems? The trouble now is that nobody knows.

When I get back, I am going to rent a Spark (Enterprise has them) for 3 days, and put about 36 hours of driving on it, as well as giving it a good going over from top to bottom. Between that and what I've found out here, I should be able to make a decision.

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Gm has built close to a million Sparks globally , their reliability is already proven. I haven't seen or heard of any Sparks breaking down . I have no qualms driving mine anywhere ,anytime under any conditions , it runs flawlessly . Every real owner I speak to loves theirs , trolls posting lies on the internet are a different story .

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Gm has built close to a million Sparks globally , their reliability is already proven. I haven't seen or heard of any Sparks breaking down . I have no qualms driving mine anywhere ,anytime under any conditions , it runs flawlessly . Every real owner I speak to loves theirs , trolls posting lies on the internet are a different story .

Guess I'm not a real owner with real photos to prove it.

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Gm has built close to a million Sparks globally , their reliability is already proven. I haven't seen or heard of any Sparks breaking down . I have no qualms driving mine anywhere ,anytime under any conditions , it runs flawlessly . Every real owner I speak to loves theirs , trolls posting lies on the internet are a different story .

Considering that they changed the Spark they were building globally for the US market (it's not even the same engine), that kinda kills your reliability argument (I actually bought mine because I thought it was the same car, and would be reliable).

How many "real owners" have you talked to? Two? Three?

Isn't it trollish behavior to call people trolls and liars (not to mention childish and rude)?

You seem mighty upset that people are having problems (or at least posting that they are).

Edited by Gossamer
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Considering that they changed the Spark they were building globally for the US market (it's not even the same engine), that kinda kills your reliability argument (I actually bought mine because I thought it was the same car, and would be reliable).

How many "real owners" have you talked to? Two? Three?

Isn't it trollish behavior to call people trolls and liars (not to mention childish and rude)?

You seem mighty upset that people are having problems (or at least posting that they are).

Its essentially the same motor used for a long time.What is rude is how you keep posting crap about a car you seemingly hate . Why are you still here ? Why not go buy a kia or whatever and move on .As far as Spark owners , I have met plenty not 2 or 3 .They are quite popular here not to mention I'm at the chevy dealer down the street constantly .Sorry but I have seen no evidence of any widespread problem other than the AC recall.
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The fact remains that it is not the same engine. That's like saying an orange and a pineapple are essentially the same.

What is the purpose of having this forum? It is for people to post their experiences with their Sparks, which is all I have done.

If you have a problem with my posts, feel free to ignore them, but it is not your place to say what people can post.

You called everyone that posted a problem with their car a troll and a liar, yet I'm rude? Uh, okay.

I have repeatedly stated that I like the car and I don't want to get rid of it, I want GM to step up and do the right thing and replace it like they said they would.

You have lost any and all credibility you might have had since you just admitted that you are at the Chevy dealer "constantly", proving my point of the shills that come here to praise the car.

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My friend works at the dealership down the street , which is why I'm there so often .its also I know the majority of issues are BS. Nobody there has has had engines replaced, this from a dealership that sells lots of sparks. Increasing the size of motor so marginally isn't worth my time to explain the engines are the same. The factory pumps out 200K sparks a year , do the math. Using your logic of design issue , there's hundreds of thousands of sparks blowing motors at 20k miles. Sorry but not feasible.Read your comments and its no wonder that GM wants nothing to do with you.If I had such magnitude of problems I would dump the car ,take the loss and move on to another brand rather than whining. If anyone lacks credibility,its whiners. Complaining may scare others from great car but won't solve any of your problems.

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It must be nice to have so much money that losing a several thousand dollars to just dump a car less than 2 years old is such a trivial thing for you. What do you really think the trade in value of these cars might be? I can tell you from experience that it is half the retail after a very short amount of time, if you normally buy a car and plan on driving it for 6 to 10 years, you just got screwed if you suddenly need to unload it for something else like a few users have done.

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Man, you just don't get it do you?

First of all, ANY change of the engine - even if it is something as simple as putting different heads on a motor can change things a lot. It can be an issue of the use of inferior parts, a design flaw, shoddy manufacturing of the new parts and so on.

Second. Not once have I (or anyone here that I have seen) said ALL Sparks have a problem. In fact I pointed out to a new member that MY car is a lemon (which you can get from ANY manufacturer), but there are others on the forum (as few as they may be) that claim to have no problem with the car.

Third. There you go again. Now you're calling all of the people that have a complaint whiners, and those that say they have had their engines replaced liars, because in YOUR vast experience at the dealership, you haven't see one replaced.

And finally, let me see if this penetrates your closed mind: I will NOT take a loss on a brand new car that GM promised to replace. They screwed me, and they know it and I know it, but yet I continue to try to have the car I "hate" (your words not mine) repaired. Why do you think that is (aside from me being a cheap ba$tard)?

If GM wants me to shut up, rather than send some peon to try to discredit or belittle me, all they need to do is what they promised - replace the car.

Once again, if your car is working well, and has no problem, great, I'm happy for you.

But you have no right or cause to belittle either mine or anyone else's problems or even opinions with or about their cars.

I've been very civil with you and yet you continue with the name calling and personal attacks. If you continue, I will be forced to respond in kind, and trust me, neither you or I want to go down that road.

The more we go back and forth, the more attention YOU are bringing to the problems with the car, which is what you seem to be trying to suppress (for whatever reason), but you don't seem to be able to grasp that fact.

Edited by Gossamer
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I have a few problems and feel for the people that are have a few major problems. But most everyone here is a unique crowd. We enjoy our cars (most if the time) and come to the internet to talk good and bad. This does not speak for volumes either. Most people are not car enthusiast and would never join our community here.

I talk to a lot of people and when we start to talk about the internet and forums most look puzzled. The average joe has no clue or want to join or look at forums so we are a select few.

Now on to the dealers. Remember the past year or so. I and a few others would visit the dealer to question some problems. The first thing we always get, nope never heard of that or we have not had that complaint. Look at the run around with the bring go my link update.

What I'm trying to say is, most people will never notice the A/C (or if they did it's working as intended/ it's a small car bs), some burning oil (heck most never check there oil level and take it in to the dealer. Dealer just changes it and sends you on your way). So the mass public just drives the car and does not care. This goes with every make and model car.

This is a great community and let's get back to why most if us are here. To post about our cars wether it's good or bad. We are here to all help. We know who has been here for a while and post about all things and not negative only. The people that sign up for a few posts about issues take with a grain of salt. The only person that's a fault here is GM. They played games with us owner that think their cars ac is faulty. Put out BS fixes to try and sweep it under. But it's now apparent that there is a real issue as GM has sent out letters for us to have it fixed with a 2 year window.

I think it's also funny that all these recalls with GM and other makes are popping up everywhere. It seems to be all over the news lately. We'll after a few lawsuits and them trying to hide faults they are starting to air their dirty laundry.

So guys and gals for the long all over the place post.

Edited by bluer101
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I dont want to drag this out ,motors are not replaced due to heads ect being bad . Defective parts are replaced. Get it in your head that there are 0 TSBs for this , not opinion but fact.If the spark engine can run up to 3 quarts for low for god knows how long ,when by some accounts it doesn't hold much more then you should be thanking GM for building a bulletproof motor. Lastly I wasn't never referring to you other than your hate for gm or the spark. I have talking about the 1 time posters who decided to sign up on the same day to talk bs .I don't doubt somebody somewhere got a bad engine or trans , its the trolls that pop up to claim the same that riles me. If you can't see that then good luck to you . Let me know whens there's actual facts to support the claims .

Edited by sparkfanatic
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Gossamer says : "First of all, ANY change of the engine - even if it is something as simple as putting different heads on a motor can change things a lot" I agree. The 2013 Spark was completely redone for the US market and can't really be compared to a 2012 overseas market version. As far as the problems Gossamer has posted regarding his car and his dealings with GM, well, those problems should be fixed to the point where his car performs to specs within 'reason', by 'reason' I mean that the variables are how the car is driven (gas mileage), climate etc..you get my drift.

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I dont want to drag this out ,motors are not replaced due to heads ect being bad . Defective parts are replaced. Get it in your head that there are 0 TSBs for this , not opinion but fact.If the spark engine can run up to 3 quarts for low for god knows how long ,when by some accounts it doesn't hold much more then you should be thanking GM for building a bulletproof motor. Lastly I wasn't never referring to you other than your hate for gm or the spark. I have talking about the 1 time posters who decided to sign up on the same day to talk bs .I don't doubt somebody somewhere got a bad engine or trans , its the trolls that pop up to claim the same that riles me. If you can't see that then good luck to you . Let me know whens there's actual facts to support the claims .

I never said that engines are replaced because of heads. I said that changing something as simple as the heads can change a lot.

Since I believe (I haven't looked up the specs) that the bore and stroke of the US version is different, if there was a problem (out of round cylinder or piston, stress cracks from thinness of walls - whatever) it would necessitate replacing the engine since the block itself would be useless. However, I have not said anything about motors being replaced. Thankfully that is not one of the many problems with my Spark.

We can agree that there are no KNOWN TSB's or recalls on the engines, but again, since I have not had the problem, and I am wise enough to know that GM issues TSBs quite reluctantly (watch the news), I wouldn't discount that there are people having engines replaced. Again, if it's one or one thousand, I don't know, so I refrain from commenting on it.

You keep trying to say that I hate GM or the Spark. In the past 15 years alone, I have owned 4 GM vehicles (and many more over the many years I have been driving), which is not what someone that hates a company does.

I hate the way I've been treated by GM, but anytime GM wants they can replace my car as they promised to and remedy that situation. Although as time goes on it will be harder for them to regain my past loyalty.

As far as the Spark goes, I hate MY Spark, but I happen to really like the car itself.

Edited by Gossamer
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  • 2 weeks later...

One quick comment.....Consumer Reports is the LAST publication that I would consult prior to purchasing ANY automobile. Consumer Reports knows a little about just about everything, but NOT a lot about something in particular. Years ago I purchased a car that they recommended, turned out to be a real POOR choice. After that, I lost most of my confidence in their publication. All they seem to rate is damn SUVs and expensive cars. Just my opinion however.

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