Chevrolet Spark Review (2010-2015)
Chevrolet Spark cars for sale
3.0
Expert review
Pros
Very cheap to buy
Light controls make the Spark easy to drive
The 1.2-litre engine performs solidly
Cons
Painfully slow 1.0-litre engine
Cramped in the back and the boot
The most basic model is poorly equipped
The CarGurus verdict
There are better city cars on the market than the Spark. However, there aren’t many cheaper examples currently on sale, so if budget – or the desire for a relatively fuss-free disposable runabout – is a priority, the Spark is worth a look.
The Chevy lacks the more prestige appeal of a Volkswagen Up – or the Skoda Citigo or the Seat Mii, which are essentially the same car – or the fun and funky styling of the Toyota Aygo/Citroen C1/Peugeot 108, which is another trio of cars built using the same parts.
However, the Spark isn’t a bad-looking thing, and you will pay more for the higher quality of the Volkswagen Group rivals. As a budget option – and avoiding the almost stone-age level of equipment in the basic version – the Spark can certainly do the trick for urban drivers, just as long as you don’t expect too much from it.
Car buyers of a certain age may remember Daewoo, the Korean manufacturer that launched in the UK in the late 1990s with a no-haggle price guarantee and a desire to break the car retailing mould. Daewoo broke first, and pulled out of the UK market, but not before it had served up a host of new models. These included the Matiz, a five-door city car known for having the slowest 0-62mph of any passenger car on sale at the time.
Chevrolet, which is owned by US giant General Motors, picked up Daewoo’s pieces, and relaunched many of the outgoing models in the early 2000s. The Matiz was rebranded as the Chevrolet Spark and hit showrooms in 2010.
The little Chevy didn’t have much in common with its all-American stablemates such as the Camaro and the Corvette, but it was certainly an improvement on the Matiz. Despite its diminutive proportions, the Spark’s design is quite brawny – perhaps a link to the aforementioned muscle cars. Its blunt nose gives way to a raked windscreen and roof, which lowers towards the back to meet the upright rear end. It’s a well-proportioned small car that combines style with practicality.
Inside, everything is a bit, well, plasticky. Cheap cars are cheap for a reason, and often because they’re made up of inexpensive materials. The car’s designers at least attempted to make the interior look interesting, with an instrument binnacle on the steering column, similar to a MINI. The rest of the controls are contained within the dashboard’s centre console.
The Spark looks well packaged from the outside, with what appears to be an upright, spacious rear, but it’s actually a bit of a squeeze, especially for adults. Headroom and legroom in the rear is in short supply, and adult occupants may well be – literally – rubbing shoulders, such is the shortness of space.
Rivals such as the Hyundai i10 and the Skoda Citigo – along with its close relatives, the Volkswagen Up and the Seat Mii – have more space inside, and bigger boots than the Spark’s rather meagre 170-litre capacity.
The Spark is powered by a choice of two engines: a 68bhp 1.0-litre unit or an 80bhp 1.2. The former has a 0-62mph time of 15.5 seconds, and feels as sluggish as that figure suggests, while the 1.2 has a bit more pull – useful for owners who make the odd motorway journey – and a 0-62mph time of 12.1 seconds. That said, both versions are slower than many of their rivals, and they feel and sound noisy and laboured at speed.
The Chevy is light and easy to manoeuvre, which is handy in urban environments, but it’s not exactly engaging out of town. The steering is accurate enough, but the car is prone to roll during corners and, while the suspension is soft and the ride OK, it’s also jittery over poor road surfaces.
The entry-level Spark has little in the way of equipment. There’s no stereo and the steering wheel isn’t adjustable. It has six airbags, and that’s about it.
Things get better with the Spark +, which includes air conditioning, electric front windows, and central locking, along with a USB-compatible four-speaker stereo. The LS adds remote central locking, a sunglasses holder, 14-inch wheels, body-coloured door handles and mirrors, front fog lamps, and a body-coloured rear spoiler.
The LS+ gets alloy wheels, all-round electric windows, a trip computer, heated electric door mirrors, roof bars, and steering wheel audio controls. Finally, the range-topping LT comes with 15-inch alloys, climate control, interior detailing to match the exterior (depending on the colour), an exterior body kit, and a six-speaker stereo.
There are just two different engine options available to Spark buyers, both petrol and both relatively economical. The 68bhp 1.0-litre will return 55 mpg according to the old NEDC test cycle, so something like 45mpg plus in the real world is realistic. CO2 emissions of 118g/km aren’t bad for a car of this age either, and equal relatively low Vehicle Excise Duty.
It’s a similar story with the more powerful 79bhp 1.2-litre engine. The extra power isn’t enough to have impact the 1.0-litre unit’s fuel economy or emissions, so official figures are 56.5 mpg and 118g/km.
Because Chevrolet no longer operates in the UK, there is no franchised dealer network available. There are still authorised Chevrolet service specialists around the country and, of course, lots of independent garages. The supply of spare parts for the Spark is guaranteed by Chevrolet until 2025, too.
One way in which the Spark will save owners money is with insurance. The Chevy’s groups are very low, with the entry-level Spark in insurance group 1 of 50. As the trim levels increase, the groups do rise, but not to crazy levels, and the top-spec LT model sits in group 9.
New Sparks were sold with a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty, but Chevrolet would also that to a five-year, 100,000-mile plan for an additional fee. Fixed-rate service plans were also available. All Sparks are now out of warranty and Chevrolet’s absence from the UK means service plans are no longer available.
It’s a very simple car, which means there isn’t all that much to go wrong, and a quick online trawl of owners’ forums and reviews reveals few common issues. The fault with the most publicity is a problem with the engine bay latch. Corrosion could cause the secondary bonnet latch to stick in the open position and, if the primary latch isn’t engaged properly, the bonnet could open unexpectedly.
Other obvious problems are centred on the cheap and flimsy plastic in use in the Spark’s cabin. They will have encountered a fair bit of wear and tear over the years, so it’s worth checking that everything’s in place and unbroken.
- The Spark was awarded a good, if not exceptional, rating of four stars by independent safety organisation Euro NCAP when it was tested in 2009. Some rivals can boast the full five stars, but the Spark scored 81% for adult occupant protection and 78% for child occupant protection. However, a 43% for passenger protection isn’t good, while the 43% score for safety assist highlights the absence of electronic stability control in early cars, something that was rectified with the 2012 facelift.
- There was also a limited-production electric version, called the Chevrolet Spark EV, which was sold in the in 2013. Launched at the same time as many early electric cars, this Spark was the first all-electric passenger car marketed by General Motors since the EV1 was discontinued in 1999. It was also sold in Europe, Canada, and South Korea, until it was withdrawn from sale in 2016. It never made it to the UK, though.
- The Spark was also one of the most unlikely modern cars to enter motorsport. While the regular version is very much at home in an urban jungle, enterprising rally teams also heavily modified the car to be more suited to screaming around forests.
- For basic urban transport: if you just need to get around town or to and from work, you might want to consider the lower-powered 1.0-litre engine. Yes, there’s very little in the way of thrust, because it has a mere 68bhp, but 55mpg is economical and a single tank of petrol could get you up to 420 miles, so you wouldn’t have to fill it up that often, if you don’t stray too far.
- If you want extra oomph: The Spark’s larger and higher-powered engine – a 1.2-litre engine producing 79bhp – is as economical as the lower-powered version, but the additional 11bhp is significant, and will shift the Spark to 62mph test in 12.3 seconds, which is two-and-a-half seconds faster than the 1.0-litre engine.
- The best-equipped: LS+ and LT models are the easiest to live with because they have more kit than your average Spark. Expect the likes of alloy wheels, electric windows, climate control and a better stereo (a big improvement on the basic model, which doesn’t have one).
