Used Chevrolet
Country & Base – USA – Detroit
Key Models:
- Spark [city car]
- Aveo [supermini]
- Cruze [family saloon and hatchback]
- Captiva [medium 4x4]
- Orlando [medium MPV]
- Camaro [performance coupe and convertible]
RAC Cars Need To Know:
Trying to establish a beach head in the UK with a range of rebranded Daewoo products can't have been easy for Chevrolet. That it managed to eke a toehold in the cut-throat British car market is testament to the ingenuity and determination of its UK dealer network. Then, just when the Chevrolet range has been overhauled with modern, purpose-built product, the financial meltdown arrives and puts the kibosh on new car sales. Who'd be a Chevy dealer?
While dealers might be having to pull out all the stops to shift new stock from the showrooms, used buyers can relax and review at leisure. There are some decent bargains to be found here and it's a buyer's market. The used Chevrolet Aveo is a case in point. £3,500 will net you a decent 1.4-litre 2008 model year car that still looks box fresh. The Chevrolet Cruze might have cleaned up in Touring Car racing, but it hasn't swept the board so convincingly in the family hatch sector. If you want something a little different to the usual Astra/Focus/Megane fare, take a look at a used Chevrolet Cruze. They start at around £6,500 on a 59 plate and are usually better equipped than most rivals.
The used Chevrolet Captiva is a good bet if you want a spacious and inexpensive 4x4, while there's little to touch the latest Camaro for drama. A 6.2-litre V8 is delightfully politically incorrect and for £30,000 (about the price of a new Audi A4 2.0 TDI) you can have one of the most charismatic coupes around. It's able to get to 60mph in less than four seconds and can even do corners in its latest guise. You only live once.