Owners' Stories

Bought two in 2004. A stick shift for $9K, An automatic for $10K. Stick shift now @ 73K NO PROBLEMS AT ALL . The automatic now @150K , thermostat housing leak @ 70K , daytime running light relay works sometimes & one front wheel bearing bad now @ 150K . Two cheap reliable cars. Do the maintenance as required , don't abuse them and with any luck years of reliable service .

I have had this car since it was new, purchased in 2005 (LT model 4 door). I currently have 95,000 miles on it. For the most part, I am very satisfied with the vehicle. For the cost of it when purchased (with a trade in, out the door at $10k), I have gotten my money's worth. I have had some problems with it. I had a recall on the valves being over-machined during production, but took it to Chevy and they squared it away. I had an accident that caused some unibody damage, and ever since then I do have uneven wear on the tires. I have only replaced the brakes two times on the front end, and I don't think I ever have on the back. I have had to replace belts, had the transmission replaced at 60k miles (due to a tow company improperly towing, not the car itself). I have had issues with the brake lights (both ABS and Parking Brake), but there are no issues with the brakes themselves or sensors (electrical?). I think there are electrical issues with the cars. I have replaced rear shocks (and even shock mounts). But all in all, I can't complain too much. I would purchase one again.

2008 Aveo; The EGG. I am having the same problems the other owners had. AC/heat only work on high. Tires wearing out. Alignment needed often. Icame to this site to find out about an AC Clutch relay and found these comments, which Described exactly what I have been gong through. Surely Chevy knows about these problems, but I am with the majority/the customers/us,... This is my last one too. Can anyone give me directions to the nearest Toyota dealership?

I have an 04 Chevy Aveo I bought new,almost 150,000 on it now . I'm on the 2nd time belt , did the "kit" the 2nd time (water pump, tensioner and belt) .I have had to replace the radiator due to not putting distilled water back in a few years ago when I changed the anti freeze..(lesson learned) Over all been happy with the car , I knew it was Korean made from the start (Daewoo). I get between 31 and 37 mpg wish it was more these days and hope to easily take it to 200k+ before I replace it. The new Sonic has caught my eye :-)

Beware, Timing belt goes and so do the valves and possilbe engine Damage.Replace the belt NOW or your in for a big expense 2K or more!!!!! Gas milage overated. Got better in a 98 Escort that I wish I'd kept.

I purchased my 2006 Chevy Avio brand new. Completed all scheduled maintenance. Engine blew at 64,000 miles in 2009 and had to be replaced. Since the warranty on 2006 was 60,000 miles, Chevy would do nothing. Since then, nothing but problems with the master computer and check engine lights & a wide variety of electrical issues. A piece of junk. I have spent upwards of $3,000.00 to keep it running, and still owe $4,000.00 on a car with a value of just about nothing. If I had known this car was not a Chevy (ie American built), but is actually built in Korea, I would never have purchased it. What a lemon. Buyer beware

hi, I also have a 2006 Chevy Aveo that I bought from used Chevy dealership in my town. I love the car. I have had to replace blower motor for a/c which went out. I have owned the car now for about 4 years and have over 98,000 miles on it. Bought it with 43,000 miles. Also I have read other articles that the driver side door lock has a tendency to fall inside the door after a while and low and behold mine did the same thing. Unfortunately no warranty on the vehicle so I will be stuck with getting that fixed. Right now it is a pain to unlock the passenger door and reach across and unlock driver door from inside. But I live with it for now.

Hi . I have a big problem with chevrolet aveo 2007 , I'm form saudiarabia and I changed the engine for the aveo from the Scraping shop (Second Hand Parts) I bought an used engine for aveo 2010 the first week its worked very good no problems at all after that I was driving on the highway and the car turned off the fuel and the heat pedals goes down and I stopped at the side turned the switch on and its not working so I towed it back to the Scraping shop and they fix it the guy that fix it said its the camshaft sensor getting low Electricity power and that cause the EMS1 fuse burned if the engine turned off again change the EMS1 fuse and its will work again after 6 days its turned off again and I changed the EMS1 fuse and its worked for 10 second and its burned again and I change it again and its burned I asked lots of workshop's and they said they don't know what the problem is and I didn't change the camshaft sensor

I bought my 2005 Chevy Aveo about a year ago. I have had nothing but problems with it. The spark plug wires broke and had to be replaced 3 months after I bought it, the check ingine light came on because one of the seals is bad, I have had to change the breaks 2 times, the control arm bushings are bad and the bearings need to be replaced. This car is a big headache. It is costing more to fix then its worth. I think its pretty funny that all these things went wrong after the warranty was up. If this is what an American company does to Americans then they deserve to go BK. Thanks Chevy for a great car!!!! NOT!!!

Had it for years. LOVE IT!

I love my little Peanut (Her nickname) and so does everyone else who rides in her. I've had no problems since the day I bought her and do all the scheduled maintenance. If you treat your car with respect it will give you years of service.I have a reputable and honest mechanic who doesn't rip me off and will only let him service my car. I read my owners manual and check the internet to make sure I know how my car operates and what might need to be repaired. An once of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I've got the inside and outside detailed and she looks like she came off the showroom floor. I'm approaching 90000 miles and she still has never let me down. I've put about $1200 into her over the 5 years, but its better than a car payment. so people wake up take care of your peanut and pamper her and give her a makeover.

We own 2 of these - a 2008 and a 2010. Both of them are the "Aveo 5" model. I bought them for my teenage sons who were about to get their license. Each one was bought a year before they got their license, and they learned to drive in it. During that time I drove the cars (instead of my truck). I got each one for less that $10k with rebates and GM Card points that i had. The 2008 gets about 28 MPG, and the only trouble we've had is that the fan motor on the heat/air only worked on the "high" setting, so they replaced the switch and it works fine. No other problems. I have notice the same thing about the front tires. There are 30k miles on the car now but we're into our second set already. My son drives a lot of miles between Detroit and Nashville to see his girlfriend and he's had no problems. The car "whistles" at about 75MPH. I've thought about trying to deal with that somehow because it's annoying. The 2010 is a nicer car - a little better trim and more solid interior. This one gets about 25MPG and doesn't seem as powerful, which is weird because it's the same engine. Just today the engine light came on and I have to take it in. I've found the dealer and service to be professional. The sales process was easy and low-pressure. I was surprised. These cars are not the best cars on the market, but for the $9,800 I paid for them they are pretty darn good. They are the perfect vehicle for a kid - low cost to operate, decent fuel economy, and cheap parts and tires. The warranty is good for 3 years and they come with OnStar free for a year - something my wife really likes because of their crash-detection. I wouldn't buy one for myself, but their good for new drivers.

I purchased my 2004 chevy aveo with 27,000 miles on it, I paid 2300 cash for the car. The purchase was made because, at the time I was driving 100 miles to/from work and I couldn't keep putting 80 dollars in my gas tank. Personally I was use to chrysler products, a lot of comfort but the reliablity was nothing to be desired. The first 30,000 miles I had no issues, just oil changes regulary and I put new tires on the car- at 58,000 miles I couldn't complain. At 63,000 miles my serpentine belt went and the car died, it was towed in and fixed for about 289.00 due to a frozen pulley assembly. 70,000 miles came around and I put new tires on the car. Then 89,000 miles came around and I had my first wheel bearing issue, at first I thought it was the breaks. I replaced the rear wheel bearing and was told the other was going bad as well, 3 months later it went as well. Each bearing was about 489 dollars to fix. I decided to take the car on a trip around the country at 89,000 miles, at that time I went ahead and changed the oil, had the injectors cleaned and the car fully inspected. They found no issues with the car except for a recall on a rear seat belt I never use. I drove the car from Michigan through the entire east coast, around the gulf and to south padre island texas where I had poor judgment after some time on the beach and managed to get the car stuck in the sand. The car was pulled out and not even a slight shake resulted. The car was driven back to michigan with only a blown tire from a road hazard in missouri. When I returned to michigan I had 103,000 miles on the car and I took it if for an oil change and check up, still no issues. I continued to drive the car, but now it was on dirt roads instead of city streets. The wheel bearings went again at 114,000 miles and I had to replace the rear breaks. After the winter had passed I decided that I was going to move to Arizona and took the car with me, it was packed full of stuff and I arrived in arizona without a problem. Since being here the only issue was the battery going dead from the excessive heat, when I tried to replace battery myself I accidently touched the wrench to the computer and it fried, this was a 1500 dollar repair and was entirely my fault. The car is in the shop today, I need to have the rear shocks replaced for 200 dollars. It has 158689 miles on it and again it is a mix of my fault and circumstance. Arizona roads can be harsh, we have a lot of speed bumps and uneven surfaces and I seem to think my aveo is a suv and take it out in the mountains and drive it through rivers. Honestly I would buy another aveo because the small repairs I have had to make are much less than the major repairs such as water pumps,transmissions and engines from past cars. Aside from that I often complain that this car will be with me for the rest of my life, after 140,000 miles I'm not convinced the car will ever die. Not that I want it to, I just don't have that mindset present.

67000 miles I go in to have the manual transmition flushed which convienently for the dealership I bought it from is the only place that can do it and $150. They tell me that I, the lube shop I take it to have it serviced for a reasonable price say and the chevy website are wrong. that that is not for another 30 to 40 thousand miles. But what you need is this $650 work done right away. Yes, the Dealership name is Freedom Chevolet in San Antonio, TX right off of IH 10 on the north west side of San Antonio. To this service department that is just routine maint. the buyer should expect. Funny how their website doesnt say anything about that. Any car you buy you should be able to to basic maint. your self or a local garage. I never want to rely on a dealership (a salesman) for my regular vehicle maint. That is what I asked for when I bought this car and I was reasured that was the product I was buying. Funny our Tax Dollars bailed GM out so GM could stick it to use. Mack Melvin

Bought my 2005 Aveo over a year ago. At the time it had 155000 miles on it. Now it has 186000 miles. The car runs great. Not the fastest thing in the world but thats not its purpose. I drive the car about 90 miles a day. The gas mileage averages about 30 MPG. I've found that if you run the RPM's above 3000 then your MPG's go way down. Not much for room but again, look how big it is! Besides the regular maintenace, all that I've had to do is replace the stupid Thermostat Housing, which was made from PLASTIC (stupid design). All in all, I'm happy with mine.

I bought my 2005 Aveo one year ago. It had 75,000 miles and now it has 88,000. I have had any problem with scince I bought it. I am international student and in my country the car rentals like the aveo because of their reliability. It can run up to 120,000 miles without any troubles. In my openion you can't judge on the reliability of the Aveo because its manufacturing started in 2004, so it is not old enough like other cars.

Great little car, bougth it new and here it is 7 yrs later....am going to have the clutch changed and new brake put on ...it has 90,000 miles on and am stlll getting about 27-29 around town and 35-38 on the highway...

I bought this car brand new from the dealer. A great little car that's perfect for getting around town. However, I've traveled throughout the country with my wife and teenagers from Texas to NC, Florida, Mississippi, and many other places included a long ride to Big Bend. Frankly, I love this car. No, it doesn't have much power. But, the interior is nice, the air runs cold, and the mileage is great (About 38 mpg at 75 mph) with a 5 speed manual. Yes, there are better cars on the market. However, I paid $8900 brand new! i could buy two of them for the price of an Accord. For the person who is looking for cheap and effective transportation I recommend it.

I bought my 2008 Aveo, also known as the POS or Lemon, used at the beginning of this year. I have bought 6 tires (all have been on the car), replace spark plugs and air filter and got the oil changed. The dang thing is still getting 16 miles to the gallon, the last 4 tires put on were brand new all weather that GM put on it and my tire sensor pressure light is still on. The driver side door lock fell into the car. GM fixed it and now my driver side door interior has a gap at the edge because they put it back on wrong. Also after a month of having it the back hatch door handle stopped working. To all the potiental buyers out there.... RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!!! This car isn't worth it. And if you call GM customer care they will only tell you that you need to bring it in to get it tested and that you have to pay for it! I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER CHEVY!!!!!!!!!!

My wife and I purchase a 2005 Aveo to downsize. I've observed that it is noisy to drive,literally eats tires on the front,notn to mention brakes. At 38,oo miles it hasnow thrown a timing belt which messed up the valves and is costing a little more than $2,000.00 to repair. My 4x4 Toyota Tacoma gets better milage.No more Chevrolets for this family!

purchased 2004 ls hatchback when gas prices were almost at 4$. since then its helped alot w gas expenses. 27mpg street, 30 hwy. engine has no guts. doesnt do so great uphill or driving w the ac on w a full car. its small size makes it easy to park in high congested areas. great little city car. never had any major issues. would not recommend this car to anyone.

I got my 2006 Aveo right at the end of 2005 when it came out... I have had absolutely no problems with the car and I have driven it 50K. I love this car!!

This is the WORST car you can ever buy. I have had nothing but problems out of it! I got the 2008 model brand new and it has been to the shop for repairs 5 times...and I am taking it back to the shop today because it has major electrical problems that the dealership can not figure out how to fix! I am so glad that I bought the warranty, if not I would be out of ALOT of money!

I am reporting review (165201735) 2004 Chevrolet Aveo 5 door Hatchback because I have had problems with it. My car recently blew put the plastic thermostat that GM put in the car and never re-called for a fawlty part in the first place. I had this car for 6 years and had it stored for 2 out of that four. I did everything I can think of for up-keep, i.e. change oil get tune-ups so that I could have this car for a long time. It only had 43,330 miles on it when it all happened. I was told a used engine would run me about 3,800 dollars. That is a surprise because that was the approximated value of the car that I was planning on making a trade in with. Now I have a Pile of $100 dollar junk yard car without and engine because of engine bearings, head gasket, a new thermostat( and this is after replacement of the one that blew out), along with antifreeze mixing with my oil and more stuff that I am using the money for a down payment on a new car for. AND to top it off just a year ago I actually took it to the dealership for my New York Inspection hear in Watertown, NY and they took some parts off of my car that I had to go back and fight for, and $2,000 of my hard earned money, but they never changed my plastic thermostat. How's that for being screwed?

worse car i've driven. engine has no power. brakes are horrible.

this car is not as good on mileage, as my Volvo v70. I been doing all the maintance, as required by the dealer at the dealer, and it never seems like it is better. The Dealer forgot to put the cap back on the power steering and I had to place more steering fuild in the car, all the dealer said was a half hearted sorry, and refused to pay for the fuild I brought. The car is a 2007 and the airconditioner needs more gas already. I would of been off buying a hyundai

I have owned 3 , 2005 aveo's . and have had no problem at all with any of them ,I bought my daughter 1 and with in 3 months she got ran off the road ,and rolled over. with 2 grand kids ,and her . they came out with some scratches, and the aveo was ttld. so safety wise , no problem at all. very happy with the aveo. I really like it. and still have 2 left .

If your looking for a safe, reliable car from a company you can trust, THINK AGAIN! My 2005 aveo has been nothing but a headache! Since day one of buying it new, the check engine light would constantly come on, but never any serious problems until around 60,000 miles. It's always had a squeak and alot of the plastic parts fell off within months. I did get some good use out of the car until right when the warranty went up, the air conditioning stopped working, then the temp gauge supposedly broke causing the engine to get fried and ever since then, I make regular visits to my local dealer and scream at GM, which btw, they all sound like idiots on the phone, don't expect them to care. Now I've been living with a car that stalls when the A/C in on, and a car that gets stuck in park. I plan to continue to write complaints about this car and company, everyone should know how big of a rip off it is! No wonder why GM has gone bankrupt twice!

i have my car since 2006 and until now have had no problems with it... my driver side door lock also fell inside the door... brakes have to be changed every 6 months or so... but we drive this car all over california. only now has the o2 censor gone out and needs changing... this car is very reliable if u take car of it and drive it safely... if not... then expect what u get... mines is a great car!

This was the worst purchase of a vehicle I have ever made. It is constantly broke down or messed up in some way. I absolutely hate this car!!

I think I can safely say that this has been a great car since we've had it for five years now and have never had one thing that needed to be replaced or fixed. Yes, the car is light and the body dents easily (we have a couple of dents from a car door, a rock thrown at it, etc.) but it gets us where we want to go. No problems with starting even in cold weather. Pretty good pickup (even runs well at 80) and the interior is still in good shape. Of course, we haven't put a lot of miles on it (35,000 so far) but we're bad about getting maintenance done and it still keeps on chugging. I'm very happy with it.

I brought the car brand new,with in 6mos of having the car the radio becomes very warm if the A/C is not on the speakers on driver side statics, the drivers door lock have falling inside the door, I took it to the dealer and as the 2009 owner said it was ok until the warranty on the repair I had done was expired, the BTSI had to be replace and it cost me $257 plus tax.....

overall a good vehicle at least during warantee period.

Buyers and owners beware.

I bought mine in 2006 ( though it is a 2007); I have almost 100,000 miles on it. Other then spark plug wires I have not had to do a thing to mine that was caused by it's own failing. I was rear ended going about 30mph which was enough to bend the radiator so I had to replace it twice; after the second time found out the problem and it's been great ever since! Only which I got A/C otherwise I am very pleased with mine. Would absoluty recommend to anyone if they are looking for a cheap buy.

Buyers and owners beware. I've had so many issues with this car and I'm in the shop every 6 months. To current owners, take out an extended warranty, you'll need it! The warranty company has paid for more repairs than the car was purchased for. Stay away!

Have had mine for a year and a half so far, and have issues with brake disc vibration, a cylinder valve failing (and the warantee replacement cylinder head was put on incorrectly damaging it- so have had the cylinder head changed twice) - drivebelt idler failure, timing belt tensioner and idler failure. Now the check engine light is on again with a check engine code for the throttle position sensor (2nd time for this code, first time they just cleaned the contacts - obviously not good enough - back to the dealer), and the rear passenger side rear brake is starting to lockup on hard breaking. camshaft pulleys are slightly skewed, so it is a bit noisy when cold (and this is the root cause for the timing idler failure). Mileage is ok - as long as you don't push it too hard, it is not too bad. Auto trans shifts cold can be rough/abrupt. Has been cheap so far as the only thing I have had to pay for is the drivebelt and brake pads/rotors (rest covered under warantee). I am hoping the major issues will come up under warantee - has been the case so far (only at 35 000 miles).

I bought my aveo in Feb of 2006 and just recently changed my timing belt. The car has been a pleasent surpise with no problems I drive about 135 miles a day. Overall I have been satisified.

A poor choice for a fuel efficient small car. The radio doesn't work below 32 degrees, the fan is so loud and it "grumbles" while on. It is not fuel efficient, it is hard on tires, it runs "rough sounding" though nothing is mechanically wrong. The seating uncomfortable, it sounds cheap when the doors shut, the locks are already worn out so you have to be careful not to break a key off, the wiper motor is weak, the brakes are weak. The roof leaks on the passenger side, the fuel cap is broken (won't stay completely tight), the check engine flickers,,,and I am tired of writing.

Two speeding ticket... Pescadero to San Francisco....30min. Love my manual 5 speed on the curves. Its got balls, but i got to sell it....Need a Truck

This was the first vehicle I bought without anyone cosigning and I have found it to be a great vehicle. A few hiccupps in the beginning from a flaw in my engine, but otherwise the vehicle has been great. I have taken it on long distances as well as short city hops. I have only seven months left on it and I only ran into my first problem, had to replace my serpentine belt and Tensionor pulley, of which I was able to repair on my own. I do highly reccommend this vehicle to a new driver and to first time car buyers. It is reliable and excellent on fuel.

My family & friends call this the Gumball car because it looks like it came out of a gumball machine. It's a fair assessment too. I haven't had this car 2 years and already it's been in the shop 5 times (4 times more than the car I traded in which was 11 years old). There have been 3 total alignments with new tires(the dealer mechanic swears there is no structural reason for this to be necessary so often), a reprogramming of the computer so the tire pressure light wouldn't be on all of the time, and the latest being the check engine light staying on (don't know the results yet). I purchased this car because it was supposed to be fuel efficient (my old car was better), it was a good price for a small car and made by a brand I believed was trustworthy. My inexpensive car has now cost me well over $4000 in repairs and it's not even paid for. This is overall the absolute worst vehicle I have had the displeasure of owning and I will never buy another chevy because of it. I would not recommend this model to anything short of my worst enemy (and then it's still iffy).

we've had this car a little over 4 yrs, its been nothing but trouble, the breaks are always going bad, we've had it into the shop over and over and it never seems to get fixed. now the pulley broke off the timing chain and im not sure what that is going to cost, I have heard it could be quite costly if the timing skipped. I do not recomend this car to anyone, A brand new car should last way longer then 4-1/2 yrs Im not even done paying for it!!

Purchased in Apr/May 2005 - 60,000+ miles - Wife drives daily + drive 1200 mile round trip two or three times per year. Car gets 35+ mpg on hwy. Other than routine scheduled maint., had first problem - door lock has fell into inside of drivers door. Dealer has provided parts diagrams so I can replace door lock myself, or have dealer do it. Hatchback LS has been great car for over four years. Strongly recommend for reliability and low cost.

This is by far the worst car I have ever purchased. I bought it because I was commuting 40 miles each way everyday to work and wanted something with good gas mileage. I have had nothing but problems with this car. I have taken it back to the dealership 6 times since I purchased it and it's the same problem every time. The throttle body keeps freezing. They repair it, send me on my way and a few months later I'm back at the dealership with the same problem. Now my car is out of warranty and it has happened again. The gas mileage isn't what the sticker promises at all and to be honest, this car is really nothing more than a piece of junk. There is no acceleration and to even take off at a stop light requires me to turn off the A/C or the car stalls. I would not recommend this car to anyone. Next time, I'm buying a Toyota.

Had my car snce April 2007. I really like the pick up even though its a small car. I did have a problem with my transmisson and had to have it rebuilt when it was only a year old.It is a toyota engine so the chevy mechanics had to read up on it and figure out how to rebuilt it. Once that was done I had no problem with it. Also after about 6months my strut started to make a squicky noise. It still does and was told it was fine. All n all with the exception of my problems I would buy another one.