Six years newer, 16% more power, still just as awesome.

[Anthony H 0]

Hello gang. I’m new to the forum. I had a 2014 Denim Blue 5spd LS before. It was a good car for the commuting I do everyday. However my wife’s health isn’t what it used to be (or normal for a woman in her 30s for that matter, poor gal) and she asked me to get an automatic since she is no longer physically able to 3-pedal. So now I am the proud new owner of a 2020 Summit White CVT LS. 
 

I normally hate driving small cars, but the Spark is an unusual exception, so choosing a new fuel-saver was an easy choice. The CVT is much better to drive with than I expected it to be, but admittedly the fuel economy isn’t quite as excellent as my 2014 (though hopefully some of that will improve a bit when the engine is fully broke-in). That said, all-in-all I’m glad I took the leap. 
 

I pray this group is a place to find friendship and solidarity on the web. It’s always nice to know there are other people in the world who can appreciate a simple incredible value in car ownership and that it’s really truly possible to be a car enthusiast without having to break land-speed records (though that’s fun too  and I do miss my fast cars, but I’ve got kids now...)! 

<I’ve uploaded photos of both my “old” Spark (had 36k on her) and my new one. The dealer had my old car listed before I was a week into owning the new one.>

[Jay Bird 2]

Congrats on your new Spark. We are also on our second Spark, the first on was a 2013 LT automatic and now a 2019 2LT manual.

 

 

[Bobby MSME 100]

CVT fuel economy is proven to be better than conventional automatic tranny's but not necessarily better than manual. But look at the hundreds of clutch shifts needed on every commute through city traffic with a manual.. Over 3 years of driving my 2017 Spark LS with CVT has been a joy. Note that I have owned manual shift cars before. Those are fine if you drive mostly on highways a lot. The fuel cost of driving a Spark CVT is so low anyways. A fillup on less than $15 good for 300+ miles? 

[Anthony H 0]

Jay, I imagine the performance margin is dramatically improved having a manual on the 1.4 vs the Aisin 4spd in your ‘13! 
 

Bobby, I agree with the city traffic. The first day I drive through downtown and realized I could creep along with the unhurried drivers in front of me, I immediately thought to myself “I should’ve done this a long time ago!”  
 

I love rowing my own gears, but I live in the country and work in the city. It’s all fun and games until traffic! 

 

[Trancer07 30]

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.

[Bobby MSME 100]

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.