Hi from my wife's car.

[YnotVW]

SO I joined as my soon to be wife has an 04 Aveo. Its too bad I didn't find this place a year ago as I was replacing the headgasket and having the head rebuilt. I'm hoping to have a great resource here as more goes wrong with this car.

A little about me... name is Rhett (ya, like Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind.) been wrenching for a little over 10 yrs as my own mechanic/ shade tree. I dabble in home and car audio and also used to be a mobile DJ. Grew up around Chevy's and GM products. Grew a love for VW and now am getting into old Ford trucks as I have my Grandpa's 78 F150 he bought new April 14, 1978. And as you can tell still have my VW love.

A little about the car... 04 LS, Victory red, hatchback, auto. Not my pick and my Fiance picked it long before we met. The timing belt went @ ~75K miles on her and she had the dealer fix it. During a camping trip we had one of the rear brake shoes separate and cause the right rear wheel to lockup while backing up. So after a long hunt for parts 3+ hours from home we got them and fixed the brakes (well that side.) Then a few months later the t-stat housing cracked causing the car to loose all the coolant and blow the headgasket as her mom was driving and KEPT driving it until it stalled. So after a LONG hunt for parts and braking down to order the parts from GMpartsdirect as thats the only place we could find parts she had her car back.
So today I get an email from her, something is making a funny noise. So, after a long day at work and a meeting I got home to tear into it. The right rear wheel bearing is shot. UHG!

I know its long, sorry! so, in short. HI! I'm here to learn about cheaper and much easier ways to fix these cars!

[thehunterooo]

Welcome! Seems like you guys got a bit unlucky, the timing belt was overdue if it was still the stock one though. Too bad on the housing and brakes went bad as well. A very few people have had it crack, but a lot of people buy a metal one to replace it with, GM has yet to do any sort of recall as it is rare, but they should. Never seen that sort of brake problem though, but you will find a lot of good stuff here lol. A few people have had bearings go out as well as of late, weird :/

[MetroMPG]

Well, seems like you've experienced "the biggies" in terms of faults with the car. Should be smooth sailing now.

Its too bad I didn't find this place a year ago...

Not really... if you'd signed up one year ago it would have been just you hanging out with the hundreds of spammers that were making a mess of the place! (Since March it's been completely cleaned up, so now it's Aveo enthusiasts / owners & the odd troll. Not naming names .)

Anyway -welcome to the forum.

[YnotVW]

As for "biggies" she's working her way to a second timing belt. She's pushing 117K and drives 50mi one way to work 5 days a week right now. So probably going to try to get it done sometime towards the end of this year before it gets cold. Or push it out till spring '12.

For the most part, I like the car. I HATE finding parts and how much power the auto sucks out of the engine. I'm also VERY disappointed that the car only gets about 28MPG. My 82 Scirocco (old VW) was getting 35+MPG this summer. 20+ years later and our efficiency hasn't gotten any better?

[petrified.rabbit]

efficiency "has" gotten better, but all the added protection, and the new emissions standards with current driving speeds, more ethanol in fuel, etc make the lighter and smaller engine cars from the 80's just as or more fuel efficient than many of the cars today..the 8v in your scirocco is a very fuel efficient design when the cis is running properly.

welcome to the site, i think overall youll be surprised at how much the aveo is like a mk1 or mk2.. just new and korean.

[FASTRAKR]

After owning 3 A2 and 1 A3 VW and now a 2004 Aveo I completely agree with Rabbit on the similarities.

[YnotVW]

I honestly very much disagree with the VW similarities. The only thing I see similar is low initial cost, small in size and Maintenance is key.

I can find almost any part for any VW thats <2005 (VW A5 or Mark 5 start year) compaired to having to go through the dealer or spend 3 days searching for parts elsewhere. And COST is far different, especially when comparing to A1 and A2 Rabbits and Golfs. And parts interchangability in VW's is like playing with a set of giant legos.

[petrified.rabbit]

your looking the wrong way..

the entire suspension design is like a mk3 vr front/mk4 rear. engine mounting idea of two mounts and a dogbone in mk4 ish..
the high revving personality of the engine with "tight" ratio transmission. All make the feel of the car like driving a mk1 gti.

[YnotVW]

Ok the suspension makes sense. But I reccomend trying to drive an auto Aveo before comparing it to the close ratio 5 spd Mk1's. And the suspensions are not tuned nearly as nice as on a VW. If I drove this car anything like my 83 GTi I had the Aveo would be on its lid.

As far as high revving yes, but with an auto again it is completely gutless. I've sadly owned 2 auto Vw's now and they are way tighter and put more power to the ground. (my 90 coupe would at least squak tires)

[petrified.rabbit]

i've never owned an auto vw or aveo, or any other car (that wasn't my wife's) for that matter.

from when i test drove my aveo i can definitely say it will handle and although not as well balanced as a gti, its balanced enough to figure out how to drive in a few turns.

But your stuck with an auto. that kills 90% of the fun.