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The Chevy Aveo is senseless for America. No less than, that’s the message we bought when Chevy killed off the Aveo in 2011. However after chasing down tacos and clay espresso mugs throughout Mexico Metropolis in a 2024 Chevrolet Aveo, I’m reconsidering the notion that the Aveo deserved to die. As a result of even outdoors of a serious metropolis like CDMX, the subcompact is a wonderful every day and an eminently sensible automobile.
Full Disclosure: Normal Motors let me drive a brand new Aveo in Mexico Metropolis over a three-day weekend whereas I chased down results in enroll on the Nationwide Autonomous College of Mexico. Or, at the least, that’s what I advised them. I used to be actually largely there for the pan dulce, the tacos al pastor and the Mexican-market vehicles.
Technically, the Chevy Aveo didn’t die after 2011. It was simply bought because the Sonic, which is how the second-generation Aveo was recognized within the U.S. Then in 2020, the Aveo/Sonic was killed off for a second time. Was it an absence of goodwill amongst U.S. patrons that pressured Chevy to rebadge the Aveo, solely to kill it once more? Perhaps.
The primary Aveo was an affordable subcompact that leaned arduous into the “low-cost” half. I’ve a mushy spot for it as a result of an excellent buddy drove one in highschool. It was nothing to brag about, however the Aveo was low-cost sufficient to be viable for youthful drivers. These days, low-cost new vehicles are roughly extinct within the U.S. You possibly can blame patrons, or blame sellers or blame auto journalists who panned low-cost vehicles just like the first-gen Aveo.
I blame automakers, which concluded there isn’t a actual revenue in promoting entry degree vehicles. That applies primarily to the U.S. market, which is admittedly probably the most profitable on the earth. But, in China, low-cost small vehicles are thriving. Ditto within the markets of South America and Southeast Asia. And Mexico, too.
2024 Chevy Aveo: New Appears, New Engine
The Aveo is in its third technology. This newest mannequin was designed by SAIC-GM-Wuling, and it’s at the moment made in China. SAIC-GM additionally makes the Wuling Mini EV, which is likely one of the best-selling EVs on the earth. I’m now satisfied that Normal Motors’ three way partnership companions have a knack for churning out low-cost vehicles that don’t really feel low-cost.
After I drove the brand new Chevy Trax, I got here away with the impression that the Trax is loads of automobile for comparatively little cash. That additionally applies to the brand new Aveo, which begins at simply over $292,400 pesos, or $17,130 at present trade charges. That value makes the brand new Aveo the most affordable mannequin that Chevy sells in Mexico, which places it in the identical entry-level class because the Trax within the U.S.
The third-generation Aveo has a brand new design that appears nothing just like the outdated. It’s a lot better than earlier than with a wider, flatter entrance finish that not screams “teen automobile.” There’s a brand new sedan and a hatchback mannequin. I’d go so far as to say the brand new Aveo’s seems to be are delicate and complex. It nearly seems to be German.
It’s humorous simply how totally different level of views could be throughout borders. A buddy on the Nationwide Autonomous College of Mexico (UNAM) remarked, “Órale, what a giant automobile!” when he climbed aboard the Aveo. To somebody who grew up round Mexican-market vehicles, the Aveo appears sizable. To an American, the Aveo is firmly a small automobile; the reality is someplace in between. It suits 4 to 5 adults, relying on how cramped your rear passengers wish to be. Chevy appears to have discovered an iteration that improves the Aveo in each significant means, together with its measurement.
The Aveo’s wheelbase is 100 inches. The sedan is 67 inches broad and 177 inches lengthy, which is 4 inches longer than a Kia Rio, and 5 inches shorter than a Nissan Sentra. It sits between a subcompact and compact, nevertheless it’s small both means. On paper, the Kia is a subcompact whereas the Nissan is a compact. However in the true world, the Sentra is larger than ever due to mannequin bloat. The brand new Aveo, nevertheless, doesn’t look bloated. It’s excellent. Parking in Mexico Metropolis’s tiny garages is a breeze, and so is parallel parking on slender streets.
The glow-up doesn’t finish with the outside. The inside of the brand new automobile is nice, with a clear structure that’s straightforward to decipher and browse whereas zipping out and in of lanes. There’s a row of bodily buttons for frequently-used capabilities — just like the emergency lights, which Mexican drivers use liberally — and toggles for HVAC controls. There’s wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which comes clearly throughout on the 8-inch infotainment display.
Lastly, let’s discuss energy output: The brand new Aveo comes with a 1.5-liter inline 4 making 97 horsepower (imperial) and 105 lb-ft of torque. The inline 4 could be mated to both a six-speed handbook transmission or CVT. As a lot as I really like rowing gears, I used to be grateful for the CVT whereas caught in Mexico Metropolis visitors.
2024 Chevy Aveo: The Excellent Large Metropolis Automobile
My driving took me all through many elements of Mexico Metropolis, which is in contrast to any highway setting within the U.S. I drove within the historic metropolis middle, to markets in Roma and Coyoacán and to the location of the UNAM, recognized to locals as “C.U.,” which roughly interprets to “college metropolis.” I used to be in search of clay bowls and books, in addition to tacos and pan dulce to gasoline my adventures. I advised myself I would want all of the meals I might get my fingers on — for the needs of this evaluate, after all.
Driving within the metropolis is a paroxysm of exercise alternating from stillness to chaos, with visitors gasping to catch as much as itself. The roads are dense and stuffed with detours, both from frequent closures or from my getting misplaced, which I’m fairly good at. I received’t blame Apple or Google Maps for all my missed exits, however even with the Aveo’s beneficiant infotainment display and dependable CarPlay, I managed to take a incorrect flip a couple of times. OK, so it was greater than that, nevertheless it was simply as properly since I bought to see extra of the town from the rollercoaster experience of its roads.
That’s precisely the form of setting a small, spry automobile just like the Aveo was made for. The Aveo is just not a quick automobile, however that hardly issues within the metropolis the place you’re not driving at speeds over 80 kilometers per hour (49 mph) fairly often. Even if you end up going quick, you’ll coast for a beat or two earlier than merging onto an interchange or slipping right into a tunnel, thus scrubbing most of your pace.
Town’s twists and turns are relentless, whereas visitors is a curious mixture of forgiving but demanding drivers. Individuals innately perceive the zipper merge (orderly merging from two lanes one automobile at a time) however you higher be fast. Don’t dawdle or doubt when it’s your flip to fit into the adjoining lane. There aren’t any half-measures on these cramped roads. You’re both all in or under no circumstances.
It’s enjoyable however it may be exhausting. It’s like nothing in America the place broad open expressways encourage boredom and distraction. On U.S. roads, individuals have room to pin the throttle, so vehicles are larger and sooner to fill the empty area. If there have been an automotive equal of lebensraum, then the U.S. has received the battle to assert it however small vehicles had been its greatest casualty. In Mexico Metropolis, alternatively, the Aveo putters alongside fortunately merging into the managed chaos.
2024 Chevy Aveo: Surprising Champ On The Freeway
I figured that the Aveo would really feel proper at dwelling within the metropolis however would undergo on longer drives. I used to be incorrect. In reality, I used to be was pleasantly shocked to search out it was simply as comfy on the freeway as the town, no matter its engine measurement and lack of pressured induction.
Throughout my keep, I headed west alongside the Mexico Metropolis-Toluca freeway to a different college in Mexico State. It’s about an hour’s drive to Toluca from the capital, and it includes going additional up the mountains. Mexico Metropolis sits at an altitude of seven,350 toes, however Toluca is even increased at almost 9,000 toes above sea degree.
You’d anticipate that nice of an altitude to be a slog for a small automobile whose engine is made for getting round cities, not driving on fast-paced mountain corridors. However the Aveo fared simply positive. It took on Freeway 15D with none fuss from the inline 4 or the CVT transmission. Passing energy was enough, and there was no perceptible useless zone within the power-band as I climbed.
The Aveo is just not precisely what I’d name a light-weight, coming in at about 3,400 kilos, however the engine’s 97 horses hustle the little automobile alongside the freeway properly sufficient. The suspension does a good job at taming bumpy roads, and it options MacPherson struts up entrance and a torsion beam on the rear.
In Mexico, there are pace bumps in all places to sluggish drivers down — even on frontage roads. It took getting used to, however the Aveo’s suspension didn’t punish me an excessive amount of. The experience was smoother and quieter than it had any proper to be in a automobile this low-cost, which, once more, is made in China. The Aveo is comfy on most drives, which is a departure from when the unique mannequin was bought in America.
The 2024 Chevy Aveo is the town automobile par excellence, nevertheless it’s a lot extra helpful than the label of metropolis automobile implies. The Aveo is true at dwelling alongside Mexico Metropolis’s well-known avenues like Reforma or Insurgentes, nevertheless it’s simply as comfy on the expressway. This isn’t your highschool buddy’s Aveo: it’s simply as low-cost however higher. It seems the Aveo didn’t die; it simply moved overseas to dwell its finest life.
