Small cars are a love ‘em or hate ‘em affair—sometimes both in one vehicle. We love them for their frugality and ease of parking, and hate them for their utter banality and tin-can structure. Recent attempts have proved successful at banishing the notion that small cars are a form of cruel punishment, and now comes Chevrolet’s effort at proving that small cars can not only be decent to drive, but have some kind of personality, too.
That effort comes in the form of an A-sized hatchback called the Spark. If you wince at the mere mention of the name, fear not. This is no longer the wheezing bucket of bolts engineered by Daewoo that spawned such infamous imitators as the Chery QQ.
The Spark is now an all-new hatchback completely revamped to be more comfortable, and carry some semblance of style. Let’s begin with the exterior, which does not anymore attempt to out-cute Hello Kitty. Instead, it’s going for a more aggressive, sporty stance, which Chevrolet calls “small with an attitude.” Thus, the overly large headlamps, side creases on the doors, and the bulging wheel wells. There’s even a standard roof spoiler, and, oddly, roof rails to carry the ever-popular mountain bike and the like.
It’s mostly successful, serving to distinguish the car from competitors like the Hyundai i10 and Suzuki Celerio, which also attempt to have a bit of mean attitude despite their small size. We find it odd that the Philippines is only recently discovering the joy of small cars—beginning perhaps with Toyota’s launch in 2000 of the Echo hatchback. Before that, large cars ruled the streets, from midsize cars like the Honda Accord to behemoths like the Ford F-150. Now that new car prices and gasoline costs are both going through the roof, the market is once again opening up to subcompact hatchbacks.
The Spark can be a good starting point for those who seeking an interesting small car to drive around. First of all, there’s that styling, which reaches outright for the sporty button. The sharp creases and bulging wheel wells lend a bit of distinguishing style to the car, as well as the Spark’s disguised rear door—the handles are hidden in the pillar, to give the car a three-door look.
The overt styling is also carried in the interior, which has metallic inserts that are painted in body color. Those who remember their 1970s Corollas and VW Brasilias won’t be too impressed with those, but anyone younger than 30 may find it a neat feature. Then there’s the instrumentation, which sits on top of the steering column like a wayward GPS device. Actually, it’s the car’s speedometer, and other main instruments. The speedometer is a small analog circle, while the tach, fuel, and odometer are LED digital displays. The tach is a bar graph that is supposed to mimic a motorcycle’s. It’s novel but doesn’t really improve much on readability versus a pure analog display.
Fire up the engine and a 1.2-liter four cylinder whirrs silently. The engine puts out 80.5 bhp (every bit counts) and 110 Nm. It probably will not have a hard time with four people and some luggage on board.
The five-speed manual clicks into place neatly enough. It’s nowhere near as slick as a Honda or Mazda MX-5 manual, but it doesn’t feel flimsy either. The clutch is suitably light, and the car takes off with sufficient pep.
During our short drive around the Mall of Asia complex, with three people on board—myself, sales agent, and burly security guard in the back (to make sure I don’t abscond with their newly-launched car), the Spark proved up to the task of keeping up with other traffic.
Spark uses MacPherson struts up front, with a rear torsion beam. Brakes are front discs and rear drums, with modestly sized tires at 155 width x 14 inches. These will surely be the first to go in any modification.
Space is sufficient for four, with five possible if three squeeze in sardine fashion in the back. This is an ideal date car, since you’ll be nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with your date up front.
The Spark does not exactly come cheap, at P568,000. In its favor, it carries a lot of standard equipment. Convenience features include power door locks and windows, power steering, keyless entry with alarm and immobilizer. Crucially important to flexibility is the option to expand the luggage space. Spark obliges with a 60/40 split-folding rear seat. Parents will be heartened to know that the Spark has standard child-seat mounting points, making it much easier to install a child seat.
With that in mind, the Spark should also do nicely as a primary car for first-time owners, or thrifty secondary car for puttering around the city.
Text and photos by Jason K. Ang
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