Daewon't . . .

[i_rebel]

I wonder what it would be like to delve into one of those little engines and toy with it a bit, you know? Try to extract some power, experiment a bit . . . what else are they good for, certainly not dependable transportation . . .

Later

[enginerd]

I owned a Daewoo built Pontiac LeMans for several years and besides regular maintenence it never gave any problems. My family and I racked up over 130,000 miles without a hitch

[Euro19]

You certainly have not tried one of those, i tell you I like to drive hard (sometimes) at first I was scared like you to demand too much power in the car, of course now I´m more confident and I easily get in 6000rpm and the engine feels very elastic and responsive.:silly2:

[i_rebel]

There were no strange problems?

You mean the cars ran flawlessly . . . I find that hard to believe . . .

6000 rpm isn't a lot by reference.

What is the redline in your Daewoo?

[enginerd]

Well, after two years of hard service delivering newspapers and pizza delivery, the engine was noisier and rougher.

[Jimster]

Originally posted by enginerd
I owned a Daewoo built Pontiac LeMans for several years and besides regular maintenence it never gave any problems. My family and I racked up over 130,000 miles without a hitch

That'd odd because here in NZ we got the Opel Kadett, Le Mans and Cielo (The Daewoo) and I have not heard of a happy owner of either cars

[Euro19]

It might be interesting to take a look on this.

[fortyoz2eric]

those are some sweet cars!

[Euro19]

Ever had the feeling that you live in a parallel universe? You know what I mean -- the surroundings are familiar, the people are the same folk you know and see everyday, and all is as it should be. Except, they're all doing weird stuff or saying things that just don't make any sense.
Well, I've had this experience with Daewoo's Lanos four-door sedan.
Every automotive magazine around has taken potshots at Daewoo cars, and they're not too crazy about other Korean products, such as Kia, either. Only recently have they gotten religion about Hyundai when it became clear that it's gotten its act together with some pretty neat products such as the Sonata and the Santa Fe.

But after driving the Lanos, I'm thinking, gee, I must be living some kind of parallel life because the negative things that I've been reading about Daewoo products don't make a lick of sense to me after driving the Lanos.

Call me weird. Call me crazy.

I liked the Lanos.

In fact, I liked it a lot better than certain other small sedans I've driven recently, including one or two from -- horrors! --Toyota...

I'm not saying that the Lanos is the best compact car you can buy. Far from it. But, although those manufacturers make terrific cars, don't just assume that the Lanos and other Korean products are uniformly shoddy, cheaply built or outdated.

As typical consumers, what we care about is how cars feel when we drive them. Will I have to worry about acceleration or passing on the highway? How well does it stop? Does it have enough good safety stuff on it? How's the room? What kind of mileage will I get?

On most of those questions, the Lanos does quite well.

The first thing I noticed on the Lanos was the glossy red paint. One of the first areas where you spot cheapness is in the quality of the paint, and this one looked pretty terrific.

I also loved the cool alloy wheels and the chrome exhaust extension and jaunty rear-mounted antenna -- all of which made it look like a pretty sporty number to me.

Looks pretty much like any small economy car. The controls are at hand, convenient. The dashboard is all business. Not much space for showy stuff, but that's OK. The material on the dash looks durable enough to me.

On the other hand, say this for Daewoo: It uses quality fabrics on its seats -- nothing about them seemed cheap -- and they even were done in an attractive, soft blue and gray combo.

The stereo system turned out to be pretty cool sounding too. I've driven some more expensive cars that didn't sound as nice. But the CD player occasionally skipped when I drove over a big bump.

Now look behind you in the back seat. Where is the rear seat leg room?

There is none to speak of in the Lanos, and it may be best to think of this as a car for two. You'll probably want to use the back seat for groceries or other packages.

The Lanos has been criticized for being slow to accelerate, but again, I'm wondering, what are the car rags talking about?

This little thing had acceleration aplenty for me. In fact, I was looking at the speedometer more than once and noticed it had eased into the 70s with no problem at all. And in everyday traffic, it zooms ahead nicely.

The Daewoo Lanos has a 1.6-liter, 4-cylinder, 105-horsepower engine, and it can get hard on your eardrums, particularly when you're accelerating.

Now then, the biggest consideration with a Daewoo has nothing to do with the car itself, but with the maker. Those of you who follow the news know that the company has declared bankruptcy, and at the time I took delivery of the Lanos, I was told that all further deliveries of other Daewoos for testing would have to wait until they knew what was up for the future.

If we were talking about a huge company with lots of dealerships and plentiful parts, I would feel better about taking the risk of owning one. You have to decide for yourself.

And that's a shame, because it's basically a good product. Let's face it, not everybody can afford a $30,000 or even a $17,000 automobile, a fact that seems wasted on car makers, judging from the sheer lack of choice at the low end of the market. That's why I hope somebody buys the company. I'm for more choices, not less.

Another thing I should tell you is that the jury is still out on both reliability and resale value because Daewoo hasn't been in the U.S. market long enough to draw any conclusions. Daewoo does offer a three-year, 36,000-mile basic warranty and a 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty as well.

My week with the Lanos is proof of the obvious: Your reaction to a car depends on the chemistry involved. Even things such as how tall or heavy you are, along with the way you drive, can affect how comfortable you'll be with a given car or truck.

Some people -- me included -- think the Ford Focus, some BMWs and Saabs, and just about all Volkswagens are fantastic, flawed though they may be in their own ways. You may drive any one of them and loathe it, and it may well not have anything to do with the car.

And that's why you should never buy a car or truck without driving it for more than a block or two.

One other thing before I come down off my soapbox. All of the criticism that Daewoo and the others have taken from the automotive press has at least something to do with the fact that most of the big guys at the big rags like to drive expensive automobiles. Who wouldn't?

And judging from how little space they devote to economy cars, very little priority is given to them.

By the way, mea culpa! I'm just as guilty if you look at the list of cars yours truly has tested, thanks to the vagaries of scheduling with manufacturers who tend to get their showier, costlier stuff to the media first.

By Don Hammonds, Post-Gazette Auto Reviewer

[Sadiztik]

I honestly think that Daewoos are the better Korean cars

[Chris]

As mentioned by Euro19, they are a risky company to buy from. So risky, in fact, that they are pulling out of the North American market. And it is unlikely that GM will provide service for them (they mightm, but it will be skimpy). So I have to rate them a bad buy. And remember, the Lanos has 105hp, the Rio had 92. I like the Lanos, but the rest weren't so great, IMO.

[Lanos owner]

Originally posted by Chris
As mentioned by Euro19, they are a risky company to buy from. So risky, in fact, that they are pulling out of the North American market. And it is unlikely that GM will provide service for them (they mightm, but it will be skimpy). So I have to rate them a bad buy. And remember, the Lanos has 105hp, the Rio had 92. I like the Lanos, but the rest weren't so great, IMO.

I'd like to know where you got your information.
All of the articles I've read say that GM will most likely take over the warranties. There has been a bankruptcy declared and it seems that GM is simply taking one step at a time.

[Chris]

GM now owns 2/3 of the company, the creditors own the rest. GM says they plan to stop selling Daewoos here, and the dealerships will have to change brands. While GM will probably be obligated to fulfill the warranty, your local shop (or any for that matter), will not keep a nice supply of Daewoo-specific parts. Therefore, they will have to be ordered, adding many days to the time the car needs to be out of commission. And once that warranty is up, the rental is going to come out of your pocket, most likely.
So its not a pleasent situation

[Lanos owner]

My dealership doesn't provide a rental car, so we're s.o.l. everytime we take it to be fixed.
I already know I have to bring it in for the passenger airbag to be fixed (recall).

So I suppose Daewoo parts will eventually run out and we'll all be driving another version of the Yugo? (Is that Yugi oh?)

I suppose we should all be hunting (ahead of time) for parts that we know our car will eventually need?

Lanos Owner

[Chris]

No free rental, how sad
The thing is, its almost impossible to tell what your car will need, other than the basics. What would be an idea is to find a good junkyard, one with a Lanos in it. Then, you can salvage parts from it and use them to fix your car (you can find lots of really useful things in junkyards). Otherwise, I guess you fall back on the fact you got a decent car for $$$$ less than the other guy.