Re: Ahead of its time
Mondeo and Vectra were sure one of my most Favorite Cars all time.Where is that one Hatch that was ahead of it's times but is Under-rated by many.
Daewoo Matiz !
Now I can tell the reason why.
First will be the interior space of her.Anybody sat in Santro,Alto 800,Old Alto,Old ZEN,Maruti 800 can suddenly feel the spaciousness of Matiz espicially at the Rear seat and Legroom with Headroom.It had beautiful interiors compared to ZEN and Santro.2nd will be its Engine.It was an 800cc No-nonsense 3-pot MPFI Engine with TPS with very good tuning and The 800cc was faster than the Santro's 1000cc and the ZEN 1000cc from 0-60 and 0-100.It still has 5 BHP more power and 2 NM More torque than the Alto 800 and 3rd will be Its Safety.It was termed as one of the Safest hatchbacks of India @ That Time.The Matiz has passed the 60% Offset Test,Rod test,Barrier Test AND Rollover Test with 5 Stars which nobody knew in India back then from 1999 and Our VW Polo kid thought that it was the first and only hatchback to pass the Safety,Guess what kid,there is a car who beat you in terms of safety way long long back !!.4th will be Handling.It was a brilliant handler as it had Factory-fitted Strut braces (Holy Cow !!),Lambda loops,Oxygen sensors,Dual way Mesh Frame.The car loves to be thrown into corners like no other. The steering is so responsive and the feedback is so immense, that again, i have no doubt in saying that the only other small cars that give you this level of feedback are the Maruti 800 and Fiat Palio.These things are not found even today in almost any Hatchbacks in India !! .5th will be its Build Quality.It's build quality was better than of Santro and ZEN and I remember that whenever a Matiz passes through,It is a sure head-turner,Whereas both ZEN and Santro just passes without any Gala-gala !!! 6th will be its Ride Quality. Aaahhh What can I say ? Was WAY better than it's Competition those times.It used a different frame design (Dual way Mesh Frame) so with its powerful weapon,Struts which made it to be one tough cookie, soaks in pretty much everything you throw at her.,.You can do crazy speeds (120Kmh !!) and still it feels stable and felt planted.The handling package still sets the tone for other small cars to beat.7th will be her AC Power.the AC is in a league of its own. Cooling, blower speeds, circulation, everything works rather well. The blower though is a tad noisy. But the rest of the package is excellent.The AC still is powerful enough to beat some midsizers.8th will be its Fuel Efficiency.It used to give 15+ in Cutys WITH AC ON and 18-22 Kmpl in Highways with AC ON.Now that's a good number for an 800cc 3-pot. When it launched the Euro-III range, the only cars that did comply with Euro-III norms in India were..... expected eh.... a Damn Mercedes !! .Its quite cheap to get and You can see my Profile pic and compare with Nano !! Mysorians had there love for Matiz which is the only place where Matiz was quite successful !!
So,eh...All these points made me to fall in love with that Brilliant little car who miserably failed because of the Company and its Non-sense Gearbox for Pre 2001 models (Very Stiff and Vibrated like hell !!).Daewoo in its last two years showed inconsistent quality levels. That's what became one of the factors that eventually killed a great car.It is never worth letting her go for such price (30k-60K) today.Finally,She was priced kinda high and only had a Single top-end Version for 2 Years.That made many to go for cheaper variants of Other Cars.Daewoo's Stupidity = Fiailure of a Great Car.Thanks