2013 CHEVROLET Spark

Greatly exceeding (low) expectations

Comfort Rating: 3 Performance Rating: 3 Interior Rating: 4 Reliability Rating: 3 Safety Rating: 3 Technology Rating: 4 Value Rating: 5

When you only pay $9000 to a dealer for a 3-year old car with only 51,000 miles, you shouldn't expect much. And I didn't. But I've been pleasantly surprised. For one thing, it's the tightest car I've ever owned. When shutting to door, you have to give it a good pull because the air compression resists a full latching. You get the feeling that if you drove it into the lake it would float for a half hour. Yes, that little motor growls when accelerating and you have to be patient on long uphill grades. But it's fun to drive, I'm sitting up higher than in the old Civic, and with new Kumho Ecsta tires the road grip in the rain is sure and solid. Mileage on first road trip (mixed freeway and two-lane) was over 39 mpg; it gets well over 40 between 35 and 55 but drops off over 60. Entertainment system is intuitive, full-featured and good quality for such a cheap car. Yeah, not a great car, but so far an excellent bargain.