Aveo reliability?

So a little background on myself. I am 19 years old and currently unemployed. I spend most of my days cooped up in my room, so naturally I don't drive much HOWEVER I do want a vehicle that will last a long time and be reliable. I am very good about keeping up with maintenance on vehicles. I do my own oil changes every 3K miles, I have experience replacing alternators, exhaust manifolds, radiators, Spark plugs, ect on several different vehicles. I'm also very light on the pedal as I am used to driving SLOW vehicles. I currently own a Suzuki Samurai with a whopping 60 HP so 103HP would be welcoming to say the least :P

So I have a budget of $3500 and I was looking at vehicles such as Geo Metro's with ~100K miles, Low mileage Civics, ect and then I came across several Aveo's with anywhere from 66K-90k miles on them for ~$4000 dollars. Now, I have been told that Chevrolet Aveo's are "Junk" by my father who is a mechanic, however this is a man used to driving $30,000 late model trucks.

So I was wondering, how do Aveo's really hold up? Can they go 200K+ miles? Are they constantly having issues? It appears like the biggest issue with them is the timing belt breaking and causing damage to engine internals. Is this because people simply neglect to replace their timing belt or is it because the design is flawed? Would buying an Aveo with ~80K miles be a better buy then some other well known car with ~100,000 miles on it? How expensive is engine work in the event of a blown head gasket? What about the manual transmission? I WOULD definitely be looking for a 5 speed.

Thanks guys!

First of all, do yourself (and the environment) a favor by extending your oil changes to at least 5K miles. The maker-recommended OCI for many newer vehicles is now 7.5K and higher. If your mechanic father recommends 3K to his customers, then he is gouging them. If he actually still believes that a 3K OCI is correct, then he has his head stuck in the sand.
However, with regard to his opinion about the Aveos being Junk, when it comes to the earlier ones, he's probably right. Very much JMHO, but I believe these low-end vehicles are frequently purchased by individuals who don't know and/or care about good maintenance, or can't afford to pay what the shops charge to do repairs. So lots of these Aveos get hit with broken timing belts, misfire that doesn't get fixed fast enough (mainly caused by oil in the plug wells), and overheats caused by leaking plastic thermostat housings. So yes because of this, there are lots of junk 2004-2007 Aveos on the market. I typically see fairly good reports on the 2009 and up, but have no first-hand experience with them. I don't know which group the 2008 Aveo fits into.
That being said, I have a 2005 5-spd, and my daughter has a 2006 automatic. I've beeen VERY pleased with both of these vehicles, which had low purchase price and get good gas mileage. But the catch is that we've had these vehicles from the get-go, and I do all of my own work, and stay on top of the maintenance. Given what I know about the likely problems, I would NEVER buy one of the earlier year Aveos used. Probably some of the other guys will offer a better review of the later year models. Don't know if those would be available within your budget. Good luck finding something decent!

http://www.aveoforum.com/forum/f81/h...miles-km-9865/

I would in general agree with avguy. People don't really take care of their Aveo all that well. If they did and followed the scheduled maintenance I don't think they'd have near the issues. Being a DIY kinda guy I don't think you'll really have problems and I really wouldn't mind buying a used one (and I did buy a used one). Just make sure its either a total junker and you go over it well and fix it up (like I did), or its in good shape and don't have to worry about it.

Also, yes, 5k+ oil changes! I never run less than 10k if I'm running synthetic. Usually around 7.5k on dino oil.

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Originally Posted by Daox

... Just make sure its either a total junker and you go over it well and fix it up (like I did), or its in good shape and don't have to worry about it.

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I'll modify my "never", and agree that fixing a junker gets the green light, provided you have the time and patience for that type of thing. I think that finding one "in good shape" can be difficult, due to the 3 significant problems that I mentioned earlier, along with the question of timely oil changes (which of course applies when buying any used vehicle).

I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. With my daughter's Aveo being a year younger than mine, I tend to use mine to predict when the same things will be needed for hers. So when my valve cover gasket started leaking 2 years ago, I estimated the time to do this job on hers. She lives 900 miles away and so I have to schedule the work I do on her Aveo, carefully planned around our peridoc visits. But it turned out that her 2006 valve cover gasket leaked more and/or sooner than mine, and developed a misfire, due to oil from the leaking valve cover gasket rotting out the plug wires. With no visit immediately on the horizon, I knew it would have to go to a shop asap. But my daughter, being like many other folks not understanding the issues related to a misfire, didn't want to take it in right away, and I had to push her into it. So it's easy to imagine people with little knowledge and/or low funds who just keep driving misfiring Aveos, until it eventually does some much more serious damage.
Yes this could happen with anyone in any vehicle, but again IMO, I think it's more likely to take place in a very low end model like the Aveo. (does anyone owning a BMW have a problem paying for maintenance?)

It would be a huge plus if the seller had documentation showing the maintenance history, which would tend to validate the condidtion of the vehicle.

Ive always been told to change my oil every 3k miles why now 5k at 3k the oil is black and no good at least my last 6 DIY oil changes. With the DOHC I would think every 3k would be right due to at least for ke the amount of oil lost threwout the 3k miles. And when I make my often long trips from Georgia to ny I almost always have to Change my oil befor I come home because I do the 900+ mile trip all in one day and the heat I would guess eats the oil.

For the OP its really about what u need and want out of a car. I know here on aveo forum im going to get bashed but hondas anr known to last 300 plus miles. My 97 accord had 320k miles before i totaled it and my honda civic si had 250k miles before i sold it. cheap parts you can find and buy everywhere plus a huge market for after market parts. One problem I find with the aveo is theres nothing out here for us in the aftermarkey world. Ive personly hated my aveo than loved it because it gets me around and back and forth to work. But ive had a linkage problem for 2 months now and everytime "its fixed" with gm parts it fails in less than 1000 miles. So ive put my own nuts and bolts on it and its doing just great. Again its really about what u want. Sence ur unemployed I would take my time getting a car. I know for me the reason I got a aveo is it was a sat and I totaled my car and I had to be back at work Monday or I would have lost my job. Took my 500 I had at the time and got a aveo because Im also 19 and had very little credit and that was all they offered. Now like I said I love/hate my aveo but as a dd its really not bad and kinda nice here in Atlanta I can fit it into every small parking space and do u turns like u would see in a fast in furious movie. I cant answe ur question on matenince because ive only changed oil breaks and roters and thos are expencive as any other car. The transmission was 4000 but warranty paid that. Good luck on ur car search and go get a job man! Lol

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Originally Posted by mralx152

Ive always been told to change my oil every 3k miles why now 5k at 3k the oil is black and no good at least my last 6 DIY oil changes. With the DOHC I would think every 3k would be right due to at least for ke the amount of oil lost threwout the 3k miles.

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When it comes to oil changes, it depends on the type of driving you do. If you live in a city environment, with lots of short trips with the car not often coming up to full temp, then even the 3K mile schedule is not adequate. I change my oil every 6 months regardless of mileage due to the cold operation factor.

You will never go wrong by changing your oil too often. But you can go wrong by not changing it often enough.