Test Drive: 2013 Chrevolet Spark 2LT

By Kevin Harrison

I remember visiting Europe on a family vacation when I was about eight years old. Even at that age I was a certified car nut so for me, the type of cars that graced the roads of Europe is as fresh a memory as the Eiffel Tower is.

One of those memories was all the small cars on the roads. And I mean small. Granted not as small as the Smart Fortwo is since it wasn’t invented yet, but there were plenty of ‘micro’ cars.

Back then, the idea of a Chevrolet Spark never would have crossed the mind of any North American. Not only were we not fond of small cars, but the few small cars that were around at the time were quite cheaply made, unsafe, and dull.

Today, you can get satellite radio, alloy wheels, power everything and a host of other features on a Chevy Spark all starting at $12,000. My, how times have changed.

But have they changed for the better? I tried GM’s smallest offering to find out.

The feedback I got on the Spark’s exterior style ranged from “cute” to “silly” to “ridiculous”. Some liked the massive headlights which swooped up to the A-pillars while others hated them. The saying ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ definitely holds true here. My top of the line 2LT model spruced up the exterior with 15 inch alloy wheels, roof rails, and fog lights to name a few. To my eye it has some decent angles, but no matter how to slice it, it’s tough to come up with an inherently attractive design when we’re dealing with a spacial size no bigger than the width of my arms (see pic below). Given the lack of dimensions GM had to work with, I think they came up with something pretty decent looking.

Inside, the first thing you need to know is that there is plenty of space. A whole host of space in fact. For those who called the Spark’s design silly, a big reason why was for increased interior room. Headroom is plentiful as is, if you can believe it, rear leg room. The Spark is a narrow vehicle so you feel as though you’re at sitting next to your passenger at a hockey game rather than a car, however not once did I ever feel cramped. Entering as well as egress is quite seamless as well. Cargo space is about what you’d expect, however if you are as good at Tetris as I am, you can fit a surprising about of stuff into that little cubby hole back there.

As for the layout, well the first thing you’ll notice (aside from the matching red and black leather seasts) is the ‘bop-it’ like gauge cluster. It’s very small and it actually moved with the tilt steering wheel. Initially I found that to seem a bit cheap, but it’s actually a clever design considering the lack of space GM had to work with. My only gripe is in order to cycle through the trip computer you need to reach around or through the steering wheel to very tiny and very cheap feeling buttons. Inside the gauge cluster you get a digital speedo plus tachometer. I found the latter to give delayed readings which would be a major flaw if the Spark were a performance car, but since it isn’t, and since Spark buyers would probably look at the tachometer as much as they do their tire pressure, I’ll let that one slide.

GM has equipped the Spark with their brand new MyLink infotainment system. It’s a rather attractive looking touch screen that is about 7 inches in length, taking up most of the centre stack space, and controls everything from the satellite radio, to Bluetooth streaming audio to using Stitcher streaming app. If you have this app that means you can stream newscasts, podcasts and more. One thing that irritated me was the lack of a dial for the volume control. Granted the volume can be controlled by buttons on the steering wheel, however buttons on the dash should always be minimized. Half the time it didn’t respond to my commands and when you turn the volume up or down the entire screen gets replaced by the volume readout which is tacky and unnecessary.

I can’t remember the last time or if I’ve ever driven a car that didn’t have horsepower in the triple digits. The Spark is officially rated at 84 horsepower and 83 pound foot torque coming from a 1.25 litre inline four cylinder. As you can imagine, acceleration is far from blistering or interesting. However it’s not just the double digit horsepower numbers that makes acceleration quite mind numbingly slow – after all, Mini, Fiat and Honda’s Fit have all proven that you can have some great fun with small amounts of horsepower. The issue here is that my tester came with GM’s four speed automatic. Yes, you read that right. It’s 2013 and there are still four speed autos being put into brand new cars. I suspect you could have a lot more fun driving the Spark if you opted for the manual transmission. The automatic, thankfully, is at least geared to switch at higher RPM’s unlike most automatics today which tend to shift gears as soon as possible. Since the Spark has so little power, the automatic has no choice but to switch gears from a standstill well into the 4,000 RPM range.

As a result of that, and as a result of so few gears, the Spark’s fuel consumption figures are unimpressive. It is officially rated at 7.1 L/100 kms city and 5.1 L/100 kms highway. To give you an idea of just how unimpressive that is, a Nissan Altima, which is three class sizes bigger than the Spark is rated at 7.4 L/100 kms city and 5.0 L/100 kms on the highway. And my real world fuel efficiency ratings of mixed city and highway driving was even more unimpressive as I returned 8.2 L/100 kms.

The suspension isn’t anything to write home about either. It’s nimble enough to swerve through pothole laden streets, but should you hit one of those potholes, you’ll definitely feel it. Taking a corner is relatively decent thanks to the Sparks small size, but my tester had winter tires on it which meant that grip wasn’t stellar. It felt adequately composed, however I wouldn’t compare it to Mini-like handling abilities -far from it. On the highway, the Spark does fairly well and feels stable.

The Spark is equipped with 10 airbags covering from your head to your knees and everything in between. It also has On-Star’s Automatic Crash Response which, as you as the name suggests, will automatically send police and ambulances to the location where you hit a tree.

And come to think about it, that’s kind of a good analogy for this car. It’s a bit like GM took a solid idea and drove it straight into a tree – figuratively with poor environment destroying fuel consumption figures and with outdated engineering. That’s a shame because innovative technology is in abundance along with decent style and lots of room.

Close to 20 years later, I would have hoped to say that yes, cars like these belong in Europe and in North Amierca but this Spark makes that statement a bit of a question mark. You see, I drove the Sonic LT last year and it is so much more improved over the Aveo. Granted it’s a few grand more but it’s more attractive, just as good – not better on gas, has more room, handles better and is just as safe. I’m not sure why anyone would take a Spark over a Sonic. With that said, GM’s confidence that North Americans will take to the micro-car segment should be commended. With some tweaks to the engine and transmission, the Spark could really make a case for itself in our market.

Base Price: $11,245

Price As Tested: $19,845

Pros: