New to the Aveo, But gotta love the Bowtie!

[FooFsputter]

Hello folks, Mike B. here, Thanks for the add!

So, I bought this little car as a "winter driver" to store my Camaro for the next several months. It didn't take long to realize how much fun it is to drive. Immediately, I started looking at various websites to see how reliable it will be. Pros and cons were about 50/50, but I know the better you take care of a car, the better it takes care of you. (unless its an Escort, then it's just luck of the draw!BTDT)

Aveo's, in general, seem little tedious maintenance wise, but cheap to replace parts. I like that trade off!

Then, I started looking for the mods that were available (a bad habit I fell into with my Camaro, lol!), and I realize this thing could be alot of fun to play around with. And way cheaper than it was to modify my Camaro to boot. I knew the first thing was to find a good forum for the car, cuz there's ALWAYS people in the forums(and car clubs) that are more than willing to help you spend your money on mods for the cars! Right?(grin!). And !POOF!, here I am, lol.

As I stated earlier, I'm relatively a newbie to the Aveo, so I'll be reading alot of the posts here(and THANKS in advance to ALL for sharing.) I may even ask a question or two that seems rhetorical to some, but if I do it's because I can't locate a thread on the topic, so please bear with me.

Thanks again for the add,
Mike

[MetroMPG]

Hey Mike, congrats on the Aveo and welcome to the forum!

Is the Aveo your first winter car to keep the Camaro in good shape? Or were you driving the Camaro year round until this year?

Glad to have another member interested in modding.

Darin

[06T200]

Hey Mike, Welcome to the Aveo world! I too am a died in the wool Chevy guy, and found the Aveo by accident a little over a year ago. Now we have 2 of them in the family fleet.

From my observation the mass 'establishment opinion' of the Aveo is that it's a gas hog unsafe pile of $#@&! with 'low ratings', etc. However most people that DRIVE them have an opposing opinion. A few of us that work on them can easily debunk the negative PR about the car.

[FooFsputter]

Darin, sorry for the delay in getting back, working way too much overtime here. No Darin, We keep the Camaro stored in winter since new(3 yrs). Prior to the Aveo, I bought a 98 Escort as a winter beater for $1500, dropped another $2k into it to get it "safe to drive", then easily another 2G to repair the stuff that kept breaking. Winters here in Michigan can be rough (as I'm sure you know, eh?) Compound that with the deplorable road conditions... well enough about that. Transmission went out in early spring, replaced that with a used one that never shifted right. And I knew that would be the last winter that I drove "Ugly Betty". (my son named it that because of all the rust.)
Found the Aveo through a nephew that works for a car dealer. I drove it to work on day one of ownership, and the next day, had it gone through by a friend. Butch replaced the front calipers and pads, front struts, and lower control arms. I had also read about the timing belt and water pump replacement recommendations, so I had him do that too.

[FooFsputter]

I agree, whole heartedly.

[dgoody88]

Welcome to the forum lots of good info here

[sflindall26]

Welcome!! Lots of good information here! Awesome Forum!!!

[MetroMPG]

Prior to the Aveo, I bought a 98 Escort as a winter beater for $1500, dropped another $2k into it to get it "safe to drive", then easily another 2G to repair the stuff that kept breaking. Winters here in Michigan can be rough (as I'm sure you know, eh?)

Yikes. Money pit.

Hope you have better luck with the Aveo. You certainly seem to look after maintenance though, which is a good sign.

[northguest47]

Soo with the pm's done, what are you thinking of doing first? Welcome to the 'rabbithole' that doesn't have to break the bank.

[FooFsputter]

Merry Christmas, No mods for now, remodel going on in the bathroom. Wife said shower remodel before any cars, sooo.. lol. But when done there, suspension and ground effects top the list.