2020 Chevrolet Spark 5MT: Regular Car Reivews
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RCR reviews the 2020 Chevrolet Spark! Yes, this week on Regular Car Reviews, we
review the 2020 Chevy Spark, the cheapest new car in America. Is being low cost its best feature? Or
does the Chevrolet Spark have more to offer? We';ll take the Chevrolet Spark for a test drive, talk about its history, give you all the pros and cons of one of the smallest American cars w've ever done on Regular Car Reviews. (Credit to John Page Contraband for the drums on the outro track) - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
![[TH] VCT Pacific - Playoffs // T1 vs PRX | GEN vs DRX](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8FpC03jCU_Q/mqdefault.jpg)
THIS is the RCR I missed! I’m not saying the rest of the content is bad, but this little car, this review, the jokes, Roman’s singing in the end.. just **chef kisses**
Not every car is exciting but this one sparks feelings and you can tell in the voices and comments. I agree this is an episode Im glad I didn't miss
@@kol101101nice pun
Ill second that notion
It's a review of a true, regular car. Not a review of a dream car and not a sweepstakes ad.
gotta agree. this is why im subscribed... the giveaway cars and their accompanying reviews make me upset. :/
Sad to say that passenger cars such as these are being discontinued in favor of SUVs and pickup trucks. The only passenger cars sold by GM that I know aside from the Camaro and Corvette is the Malibu. Because of that, buying a vehicle becomes more expensive.
Even here in the UK (and in Europe) Ford are discontinuing the Fiesta to focus on their crossover/SUV things.
@MyFaceBeHi Here in my country, Nissan has terrible sales for their passenger cars (BTW the only passenger car here is the Nissan Almera/Versa and the Leaf, which is a niche vehicle here), but their SUVs and pickups sell very well. Eventually, most car manufacturers will ditch the passenger car segment.
Lol… totally skip past Cadillac and their multiple cars 😂
SUV's and pickups have more utility.
A car like the Spark only sells in a good economy where people are buying a second car or something new for a student instead of a cheap used vehicle.
@@918Mitchell these actually sell great in a bad economy or coming out of a recession cheap for everything why would it only be good in a good economy?
As I get older I find myself appreciating these more basic Cars much more.
Me too, especially as cars get more and more expensive
@@brettbanta2100 And more complicated. Dumping every control on a touchscreen is just asking for trouble.
Honestly I find it mind blowing seeing an american company make a manual economy car for the masses, and it looks like a mother and son who both share the car. My mother wouldn't touch a manual car with a 15 ft pole, despite driving it before.
It’s not a computer thing. These have a dual mass flywheel and this is why it’s harder to stall but the down side is if you keep driving like that they chew up clutches in no time
…and this is why the Spark is getting better and better resale value over time.
It’s crazy that my 6 year old Spark is worth more now than it did when I bought it brand new. Not even joking - used it’s 11k around. I bought it for 10k 6 years ago….
Man, it really sucks that most of the small, hyper-affordable, hyper-efficient cars have been taken away, only to be replaced by $30k+ crossovers and $40k+ EVs. Cars like this make driving accessible and affordable for the average working person. They made driving/commuting long distances make economical sense. They gave a lot of people affordable opportunity and freedom- to be able to own a car and still save for other life goals like retirement. Expensive trucks, SUVs or EVs will never be able to fill the role these cheap workhorses had.
Cars like this are why EVs and Crossovers are not future-proof or destined for a life after their second owner
The Ford Model T cost about $26,000 adjusted for inflation but subsequent economy cars for the masses have been relatively cheaper. However, the best selling vehicle of all time hasn't been a car but the Honda Cub. Hence, cars have never really been affordable to the masses and the vast majority of cars are sold via an auto loan. In short, even econo-cars absolutely wrecks most people's finances. It's just that when everything and everyone depends on cars, the insanity of car ownership is normalized.
@@langhamp8912And insanity of r/fuckcars is spreading too I see
@@AA-ti3nr If you truly believe that, then you'll have no problem whatsoever with letting the free market decide the price of your car (that you need everywhere, to do anything).
@@langhamp8912 Why do you assume that I need car for everything? I live in very walkable place, and cars still have their uses.
I bought a 2013 less than 2 years ago for about $5000, it didn't have a lot of miles, it was the 1LT trim, so it had a lot of nice features, and it was mechanically and aesthetically flawless. It was the nicest car I'd ever had, and it was so much fun to drive, and I'd get 38-40mpg without trying.
And within just one month, I got rear ended, and then hit a deer at 55 and totaled it.
I know that thanks to the market, that exact car will never be found for $5000 again, and it will be a long time before I can ever afford to buy another car similar to it.
Fuck that deer
"Fuck that deer" - you can at least probably take solace in that the deer is surely worse off yet...
@@quillmaurer6563 oh, I killed that fucker 😂 it was dead before it hit the ground lol
I know how you feel. I spent $4K on a used Prius and two years later I spent every penny I had to replace the traction battery when it went bad. A guy T-boned me a week later and totaled the car. Of course insurance gave me a pittance for it because of the high miles it had.
Deer after getting hit: "Dude, I had the right of way, man." Spits on you and walks off.
Fuck deer man same thing happened with my in my Mercedes 190E. I also paid 5k for that car and it was literally in perfect shape
As someone who works at a Chevy Dealership, I can say that once every year someone calls in and asks about Chevy Spark availability. Usually it’s “I want to order one with no options at all.”
Yes, you indeed called about the Spark, it’s implied that you want it with nothing.
have you ever sold a spark with all the bells and whistles? how expensive can you get one of these with every option checked off?
@@doctorunicorn5550 most expensive one I’ve seen was one we never actually sold. The owner was driving on a trip to visit family and had a low tire, so they pulled into service for a patch and while they were here they walked around and chatted with me about some of the cars we had. I’m pretty sure it was a 2LT because it had leather-like seats. It was in this sorta-pink-sorta-mauve color called passion fruit that very much matched the lipstick color of the driver. I think she said she got it for 17,950 with all the options she could check, including the better floor mats and all those extras. Said she loved the car and already had around 20,000 miles on it less than a year after owning it.
I also have a pretty distinct memory of pushing one that was stuck in snow on our lot a few years ago by myself without much trouble to get it un-stuck. I’m a big dude, but that car probably weighs as much as a very-nice zero-turn mower.
@@deezn8tes $18k is cheaper than i expected but YIKES that's a lot to spend on a chivvy spark. like, i get that there are real advantages to a new spark or mitsubishi mirage vs a similarly-priced used corolla or civic, but that's just too much. in non-covid markets the used corolla/civic is probably still under warranty and on its second oil change.
@@doctorunicorn5550 my thoughts exactly. There were times with discounts that even a similarly equipped Malibu was the same price….for substantially more car. I can see grabbing a used Spark as a beat-around car….but with depreciation a new one just feels….unwise. And this is coming from a dealership employee. I’d like to see another small vehicle like that from Chevrolet….but simply there’s just not enough demand to justify them producing a vehicle like that.
@@doctorunicorn5550 I had a 99 corolla with the 1zzfe motor and you hardly ever had to change the oil cause it burned most of it away over time. Just keep adding new
You know you're in for a treat when Mr. Regular starts using his soft voice of endearment he uses every time he reviews something he genuinely appreciates.
My family has one of these with the CVT. This car is incredibly fun and light, surprisingly good all around. I drove this in high school, putting plenty of miles on it, and my record was 53 mpg on a 30 minute trip. I fit 7 of my friends in it at once, and the handbrake was abused for donuts often as it should have been as a high schooler's car. Very charming and fun car.
My 15 year old accord sedan looks more respectable tbh
7😂 people sounds terrifying as owner of 19 cvt spark
Too bad it will blow up in 10k miles as all CVTs do.
@@TheAnnoyingBoss hells bells! It should! Its a Honda! All of us are not millionaires!
@@MiGujack3nah it’s a much more reliable CVT than older models. Mines 6 years, 70k miles with not a single issue.
Cheap and cheerful. And it was available in bright colors! About 4 years ago my daughter and I parked up next to a bright green Spark at Lowes. As the passenger door of the car swung open she let out a squeal “Look! It’s got whindy windows!”
The lime green metallic was great
I bought my daughter a 2010 aveo to learn on and everyone loves the crank windows and how small it is. It's as bare bones as it gets. Simple car. Good on gas. Disposable. It'll get passed down to her siblings as long as it can last 😅
Considering how small it is it probably only costs 500 bucks to wrap
@tony castro, I had a 2009 Aveo5 with manual everything and manual transmission with 166k miles and that thing just kept driving no matter how hard I beat it, until I hit a gravel patch and ran off the road. It was a great car to teach me to appreciate any car I’d own in the future and I had a blast driving it for the 3.5 years I had it
Another of the ways it feels like an '80s or '90s Hot Hatch. As well as avoiding the "everything is SUV" nonsense, it also held itself away from the "everything is black white or gray, or at best a very muted color" blandness we see now, and actually came in fun colors like cars used to.
Classic example of it being more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow
it is i slide the rear on this one turn when it is wet out..plenty fun.
I rode in my friends manual spark this weekend and it was incredible in how simple and purposeful it was. Made me realize 95% of people should drive them instead of Rav4s
Yeah, people just drive cars that are bigger than they need to be.
Blame stupid government for squeezing the brands from every angle. Toyota stopped offering small cheap vehicles (Yaris) and the spark is gone too.
@@marshmower it’s not the govt lmao the brands made an effort to market bigger light trucks to replace small cars starting in the 80s to get around CAFE and safety regs. Blame capitalism
@@zadman49 wow how brain dead. You even mentioned the specific GOVERNMENT regulation which incentivizes their demise and then blamed it on capitalism.
@@zadman49 Yeah, CAFE is still the government's fault. Not the free market.
The yellow flannel worn while driving this car truly solidifies that this car is a 10/10
When I was younger in college in DR, I stared at this car constantly with desire, I felt it would’ve been the perfect car for my needs.
Life sure had a way of humbling you quickly lmao 🤣
facts gas mileage alone wins it for me
Klk mi pana! DR in da house with 300 pesos per gallon
You wouldn't want anything larger in the DR anyway
🇩🇴🇩🇴
I've owned two of these at one point. I bought them both on the same day. One was a 2014 with 25k miles for $7,500 OTD and a 2015 with 25k miles for $8,500 OTD. Both were manual base models. I still own the 2015 and daily it to work and back. It now has 80,000 miles and the only issue it's had is a leaky coolant reservoir bottle. It honestly might be the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned. It's also given me the most head room ive ever had being a 6'4" tall person. This car costs me roughly $120 a month which basically includes gasoline (39mpg) and Insurance in Michigan. I can't say enough good things about it.
kinda funny when i bought mine (from a dealer) and he saw my credit rating ..he quips so how many do you want?lol.
Does the lowest tier model not have air conditioning? RCR mentioned something about lacking climate control and I'm not sure if he meant it has no AC.
@Sioax Aeriken they have A/C. In regards to climate control I believe he means setting a temp and hitting auto and the car controls that automatically. The base model only has the dials of low to max, cold to hot, what vents to use, and the user controls that.
@@xDetroitMetalx Ah, ok. I thought it was pretty insane how a modern car would be made without AC, lol.
@@xDetroitMetalx does anyone actually use the auto setting? I’ve always had it and never used it
Here where I live in Italy, this car was branded has an "Opel Karl" and I bought one new in 2018, but with a smaller 3cyl engine with 75 cv, factory installed LPG system and slightly rised suspension (Rocks version). It is incredibly depandable, dirty cheap to run and it suits perfectly the "jungle madness" of center Rome. Love it to bits.
Damn, where has this quality of RCR been? Also, I want a full version of "sad boy hours", that was fabulous!
Was it original or a parody?
"Sadboi Hours " got released on The Roman Bandcamp's page 🤙
@@tarouyamada2686 I never said anything about buying it, however, I will absolutely buy that one. Hopefully it hits Spotify soon so I can hear it more regularly. Thanks for letting me know by the way.
A little purple Spark has gotten my girlfriend and I through college, we got our licenses with it, and it’s genuinely great taking to densely populated areas. Cheap, little, easy to service, and surprisingly competent.
I’ll add this since this is the review for the manual: this has the same CVT as the Nissan Versa did, but having driven both, the Spark uses its CVT correctly rather than fake shifting, and it’s one of the few vehicles that won’t elicit a groan related to it having one.
Does it have the same reliability issues with its CVT, though?
@@adam_cs1489 I have not had the issues I had with my Versa. The Versa started slipping at 50K and routinely couldnt pick a ratio if the ground wasn't level, even if speed was constant. Knock on wood, but the Spark handles its CVT much better
I don't get why so many manufacturers program fake gear shifts into their CVTs. It defeats the purpose of having a CVT.
GM sold a rebadged Daewoo and didn’t even bother to lesrn what features it came with 😂
I bought a 21 activ model about a month ago with 20,000 on it, manual. It’s about everything I need it to be and want it to be. I like to go on weekend adventures and the roof racks can hold kayaks and bicycles. On the daily commute it’s always zippy and comfortable (even for me at 6’2”) and amazing mileage making for super low running costs. I’m 19 now and have been in the workforce since graduation but I was looking at a car to get me through college when I go in the fall. I feel this car is perfect for me
My mother has owned and loved one of these for the better part of the past decade. She’s a 5’1” 100lb elementary school special education teacher, and somehow it’s the perfect car for her as well. Thanks for this unexpected tribute RCR 🙏
"Three knobs of justice" should be on a T shirt
I think the stall protection you’re feeling might be a modern GM thing. My 16 Camaro SS acts very similar. You have to basically drop the clutch to stall it
I’m not so sure, some cars over in Europe have it, yet others just don’t.
Fiat 500, yep. Audi A3 TDI, yep. VW Up, nope. Seat Leon, nope. Comparable classes of car, even manufacturers in common, but no consistency.
It’s a great feature though for crawling in traffic - saves the clutch and fuel!
18 Fiesta ST does the same thing, also holds the revs at the correct speed when up shifting. I think even cheap manuals just have basic computer assists now - err, did then
My '22 ford bronco is the same, nearly impossible to stall 😂
Same as my M240i. Seems like pretty much every modern manual has these features, as someone else mentioned. Personally I went into the ECU and disabled the assits for a more natural feel, but I appreciate the idea behind it. The hill-hold, especially the newer version which waits for you to slip the clutch before letting go of the brakes, was a lifesaver when I was learning.
@@Chrus600 Diesel engines usually have enough torque to pull with no gas
when I lived overseas I had the 1L 3-cylinder version of this car. I still miss it. I loved it! Unless you've driven this car, you just don't get how much fun this thing is. It was the perfect car for getting to the train station, running errands, and on the days when I had late meetings, driving into the city. Absolute fun!
The Spark is a true diamond in the rough. A fantastic small car in a field of not-so-fantastic offerings.
We had a '16 Spark (the first year of this second gen) until 2021 and it was a pleasant car to live with. Despite the small size, it was comfortable, the ride and noise levels were well controlled, the handling was tossable (a testament to the Opel engineering of the platform), had enough tech on the 2LT package to relevant, fuel efficient, and all of the materials used felt solid. And it was reliable. After 55k miles, nothing went wrong. Not a single thing.
We had minor complaints: the fuel tank was tiny and the CVT was jerky at times.
It's an underrated, underappreciated car that has no disappeared among the sea of bland CUV's. Such a shame.
Actually Holden did the steering, Opel the transmission.
So thank the Aussies :)
holy shit that outro goes insane, please release a full version roman & mr.regular
😂😂😂 3 knobs of justice! In an era of push button everything this car still screams remember the 2000s
I bought a 2010 Mazda 3 that’s missing its manual. There are at least half a dozen switches I have no idea what they’re for. Making them of painted plastic that is completely worn off doesn’t help.
We had one of these as a rental a few years ago, and I was shocked at how much I liked it. Even with the auto, it still felt fun, light, and zingy. It's the kind of car that makes you want to go through roundabouts again and again just for the stupid juvenile fun of it. What a pleasant surprise of a car!
I've been working at a GM dealer for the last 6 years and every time a Spark comes in it reminds me that it is one of the few GM products I'd be interested in owning!
Huh.. you summed up the same feelings I have towards my 2013 Spark. 90's Kei car, no frills, loud, semi-disposable, but a little goddamn tank despite its lack of everything.
Roman went hard in this one 🔥
its nice to see regular car reviews reviewing a regular car.
One of the best RCR in a while! Laughed so hard I cried. The Spark is the cheerful "minimum viable product" of a car.
Just bought a 2013 because it was a great deal from a friend. I've been feeling more and more that it feels like a new Metro. Carries all my construction tools, can't get the lifters to be quiet, never wanted to own GM but I've been having trouble finding faults with it.
2:00 From a European point of view it's absolutely insane you guys would learn manual/stick in a V8! We all grow up learning in small hatchbacks like the Spark - the Spark is a horrible supermini compared to Ford Fiestas/Hyundai i10s/VW Polos though, you guys were robbed.
Most common cars Americans learn stick in are trucks because it's easier
the spark is so much cheaper
I learned miata in a Honda crx
Love the VW Polo, wish we had them here
The only cars I learned on were a Focus ST and a Shelby GT350 haha, you could get a Fiesta ST here until a few years ago.
You really nailed this review. I have a 2016 spark. While it has the CVT (which is a bit crap with its fake shifts), it’s been completely reliable and has survived some wicked -40 Canadian winters and some off road driving. It’s certainly beat to hell and back, but for its cheap price it’s been undeniably reliable and anything that has broken has been easy to fix. There are also some wicked curvy roads up here and it’s so much fun to throw around corners. It’s a Miata with 1/2 the horsepower.
I love this car. It’s about to hit its 7 year anniversary with me as its only owner, and I will keep it until it dies, which may be longer than I was expecting despite me pushing it through feet worth of snow, giving it airtime on occasion, and taking it down hundreds of kms of old abandoned forestry roads.
Same - mine is almost 6 years old and not a single thing is broken. I’ve driven cross country twice with it and it’s been through some nasty winters.
All I’ve done is oil changes. That’s it
Lollll my 91 year old mom gave me hers with 6,000 km standard shift low trim.More fun to drive than my brand new at the time Subaru Outback
After months of research and looking at possible replacements for my Toyota Echo, I ordered a 2022 Spark LT1 5MT in January of that year, one of the last to be made. This puts it one trim level above your tester, so I have a/c, power windows, power locks, cruise, and power heated mirrors. I chose it for a lot of reasons. Crash test ratings are some of the best in class. I think the interior and exterior styling is great, it looks simple to work on, and the fit and finish is also good. It gets great gas mileage, the connectivity is well done, and it's fun, yet practical. The ergonomics are comfortable, the handling is very good, and although not as quick as my Echo, the engine is still eager. There was a wide range of colours to choose from (not just black, white, silver), as well as other options like the sunroof mine has, and one of the nicest manual gearboxes I've ever driven. (I'm not a fan of CVT automatics.) I was even able to order it with a very sturdy trailer hitch. The only gripes I have are minor: you can't shut off the automatic locking function as you drive off, and folding the back seat is not intuitive. Once you do it a couple of times, it's fine. I'm in my forties and this is the first new car I've ever owned, and so far, I've very, very happy with it. I plan to keep this car for a long time, so I had everything wax sprayed before winter and so far, not a speck of rust. Hopefully it helps in the long haul. I think your review is spot on and the Spark dispels the illusion that inexpensive must equal cheap. Its the last of a kind of car that will likely never come again, and I'm so glad I bought one when I did. Thanks for posting.
Looked into a spark before I bought a Sonic back in 2013, the fat version of this. It was pretty fun because you could tune the little 1.4 turbo to get about 200 horsepower & 35mpg
I considered a Sonic or Cruze, but GM's obtuse designs for parts turned me away. They didn't do this on the Cavalier or Cobalt before it (a good friend of mine had a 1990 Cavalier and another dailys a 2009 Cobalt that he's had for 6-7 years now).
My favorite part of the sonic is the funky instrument cluster. Ties the whole 'fun' of driving it together
You're telling me my Spark has a turbo and I didn't know?
@@matturner6890 No, the Sonic. The next largest car in Chevy's lineuo
@@SkylineFTW97 Oh, d'uh lol, thank you. Apparently I cannot read.
I bought a manual LT spark brand new in June 2022 as a cheap, reliable source of transportation. I would’ve never thought I’d have as much fun in it as I do. I have a squarebody chevy as well and use this as a daily. I’m 6’5 and fit in it surprisingly well. I would recommend a spark to anyone. Lots of e-brake slides in the winter and bombing curvy roads in the summer and she’s holding up great so far.
Husband is 6’4 and loves this car
I had a 96 grand am with a five speed and it was also extremely easy to shift as a beginner to manual transmission driving. GM must have proprietary knowledge that helps them design a very forgiving manual transmission. I appreciate inexpensive, lightweight, economy cars with manual transmissions because that's what I've grown to love out of necessity. When you're barely scraping by financially in life that extra mpg or two makes a difference. Before the times of CVTs the manual option was always good for a couple more mpg.
CVTs have just drained the soul out of cars. Manual transmission in a small economy car was gritty and fun. You could squeeze a little extra power out of an otherwise underpowered small 4-cylinder, and the utilitarian feel was a joy for drivers who like to "feel" the car and the road when they drive rather than be a glorified passenger.
@@digitalfootballer9032 I completely agree that the manual transmission makes you feel engaged with the vehicle and offers a degree of control that no automatic never will. Considering the durability of a manual transmission vs a cvt transmission I have to wonder if the trade off for mpg is worth it vs the maintenance cost over the life of the vehicle. A new clutch isn't exactly cheap unless you do the labor yourself, but a new cvt is likely to mechanically total a car once it has 10+ years of use.
Safety and emissions and aero killed the heck out of small cheap race carts and small pickups.
Absolutely perfect tune, Roman. These are little cool cars to me as well. Seems like a death trap of a car but it would be fun to zip around in it. I always chuckle when I see the huge head/taillights to make it look "bigger".
Better than a motorcycle in terms of safety
They do have 10 (or 12?) airbags. I'm not saying they always deploy though 😁
I actually like this little car to be honest, I wish I had one, would be a nice upgrade from the plastic hell that is my Aveo.
I would also love to see him do a rcr video on the Aveo, it would be fantastic
A shopping cart with a Briggs Stratton motor strapped to it would be an upgrade from and Aveo
That actually was a thing 100 years ago. Called the Auto Red Bug.
I briefly had a Pontiac G3, a rebadged Aveo. Normally I like cheap compacts and subcompacts, but that thing was a turd.
I've bought Honda Civics with more miles for less money in better shape (I dailyed a 1994 Civic that I got for $250 running and driving. It had 273,000 miles, a rebuilt title, hundreds of dents, several little squeaks and rattles, and an oil burning problem among other things. And that car never left me stranded. In hindsight, I regret selling it. It was also purple, which grew on me the more I drove the car. It just oozed character.
That depends on which “generation” of Aveo you have; the 2004-2006 Gen1 was very plasticky, the 2007-2011 wasn’t as bad. But hopefully you don’t have the 2009-2011 because then you get exposed to the parts price insanity that is the LXV engine.
@@digitalrailroader 2009.
The Chevy Spark is such a fun, happy little car, you see them all the time here in Mexico (where it was GM's best selling car) and for a good reason. We got the previous generation Spark as a daily and, at least I, love it.
It sells amazingly well in most of the developing world - Malaysia, Indonesia…it’s crazy Chevy killed it worldwide. Makes no sense financially.
This has old school RCR vibes. I love it
Watching an rcr video is such an unpredictable experience. You never guess what they are going to say about a car. It's really intresting especially if you are watching from outside the US where many of the cars they review are not available. I am glad to see that fun cheep cars are still made. Great outro song by the way!
I have bad news. This car is not still made, at least not in the United States.
@@churchofmarcus Not so bad for those of us over 5'4". I found more room in an original Nissan Versa, and that has shit for room.
0:48 The Spark is actually a size down from the Aveo. The Aveo is sort of in the Honda Fit / Toyota Yaris size, and the Spark is in the Suzuki Alto / Honda Brio category.
I worked with a guy who bought one of these- on a new one, his payments were under $100 a month, and he put 30L of fuel in it a month.
I’ve never been so jealous of someone’s car in my entire life.
Anti-stall throttle behavior is pretty common on newer manual transmissions, as is hill start assist (keeps the brake on after you take your foot off it if you're on an incline), it was a bit of a surprise to me the first time I was on a hill in my 14 civic.
I love the hill start assist on my Fiat. It does a great job of sparing the clutch from excessive wear.
My 2000 audi A3 already does it...
Your style of review always hits different. Seeing in-depth breakdowns of every feature and performance tuning that goes into the newest sports and muscle cars is cool and all that, most people aren't ever going to get to drive them.
I've tried youtube on and off, but recently seeing your video on coming out and the focus on regular, everyday cars has made me think about trying some 'reviews' of my own.
Keep up the great work, don't let life get you down, etc. etc.
I absolutely love my 2013 Spark. You nailed it when you said that every moment in it is fun. lol
It still runs?
@@ruvindap66 I have a 2013 with 170,000 on it. Lifters are loud but it still runs great.
@@ruvindap66 They are generally reliable, durable cars outside of the automatic transmission.
MOST of the owners are the major maintenance issue like those that bought base Toyota Echo's with an automatic...they want a car they could completely ignore including a lot of the routine maintenance because "I mean, it was just $9000 so if to makes it until the loan is up, I am fine." Working on a car at 75K miles that had an owner with that attitude is awful...everything needs done but all they want is "What does it need to make for another 15K miles" or they will just walk away after arguing about a $14 (each) charge to turn the rotors when all they want is pads.
@@ruvindap66 Like a new one!
@Michael Krenzer my girlfriend had one. It was basically went 230k miles despite barely any maintenance. Like you said it was a disposable car but man was it like driving a go cart on a highway.
I've been watching you for YEARS and this is my favorite video of yours. Was smiling the whole time
YES!!! I fell in love with a car like this at the 2019 Toronto Autoshow, Chevy had 2 sparks on display: One was a Light Blue fully loaded model, with all the bells and whistles and a CVT... then right beside it was a Red Base Model, with no bells, no whistles, it had a 5-Speed Manual, Windy Windows, Manual locks in all corners, manual mirrors, no cruise control, no A/C, and only one arm rest in the middle... and I loved the base model so much~! For $10,000CAD, the cheapest car on sale in Canada, you still got great fuel economy, a 7 inch touch screen with Apple Carplay and Bluetooth Audio, and a backup Camera, as well as knowing you have one of the smallest cars to ever be built in the new millennia! It's so adorable, I want one so bad, too bad they already stopped making them...
I had a '14 Sonic 6MT for 8 years and was shocked at how versatile and reliable it ended up being. Small hatchbacks are widely underrated in this country.
Love PASTE 😂
What a surprising upbeat review on this car.
Great review! Prime example of the best of RCR content! I keep my fingers crossed hoping to see you tooling up 61 in some oddball car every time we go to Cabela's!
You're spot on about the clutch; I've stalled mine a few times and hardly realized it until it conked out. It's my mid-life "fun" car and I absolutely love it.
I had one as a long term loaner and absolutely loved it! My uncle bought one for work and kept it as his retirement car because he loves it so much! The first Gen was available in electric for 3 years and the first year was available with 400lb feet of torque!!!
The Spark EV is insanely fun! But a Bolt EV is vastly more sensible (259 miles range instead of like 80) and darn near as much fun (not that much bigger, and still does 0-60 in 6-point-something seconds). If not for the GM-issue videogame steering, I would consider it a legit hot hatch. I love that GM has continued to make small, cheap, fun hatchbacks regardless of what powers them.
this is my favorite rcr video, the one i come back to most frequently. this and the geo metro video.
i love bare-bones simple cars and hearing people genuinely praise them. sure there are other reviewers who talk positively about econoboxes, but they all lament the lack of bells and whistles, then say the car is good despite that. like a used car salesman at a chevy dealership.
no one really gets the beauty of simplicity like rcr. great content.
This is the review I wanted and thought I’d never get.. I used to play with these when I worked in service for a rental company. They’re so much fun
Your voice-over for the video reminds me of my feelings for my 1987 Dodge Aries K in the early 1990s. It died soon enough and with too much money put into repairs, but your review of this car brought that memory back.
I was not prepared for what I just witnessed watching this video. The whole thing had me gobsmacked. And then, I read "award-winning Automotive Journalists and former English teachers who use their Master's Degrees for ridiculing car culture!" Damn. Super impressed!
I love how small they are. The model with the turbo 3 is also fun to drive!
I bought this same car brand new in 2022! I had to order it from South Korea. Ordered it in Feb took delivery in August. I went out of my way to buy the stripped model. I tell everyone this car is faster than it should be and more fun to drive than it has any business to be!
Picked up the last manual base trim in the Mod Atlantic area at the end of December and so happy I did! It's just a spare car for my wife and I but it's so much fun! In 3 months we've put 7k miles on it. As someone who grew up with 80s and 90s Honda's and multiple Miatas, small lightweight underpowered momentum cars are underrated and so much fun.
Now THIS is something to keep in mind! My wife and I have plans to drive the Piloting Extremely Nicely In Scotland 287 as a vacation at some point, but I want to learn to drive stick before then. I really want to be able to appreciate those magnificent roads. If I can find a cheap Spark, maybe that's my ticket for training.
I looked at these when I bought my last car. I wanted a cheap basic manual car. Ended up getting a base model Hyundai Elantra instead of this. It was the same price and came with cruise, air, power windows, a nice head unit, heated seats. It was a no brainer to go for the mid size Elantra vs this. Oh and I get 45-50 mpg in the summer.
What year?
@@evanbrillhart8178 2021!!
@@colpitts350 what was the OTD price?
@@seeingeyegod msrp was 19500 Canadian. With taxes and fees it was close to 26000.
"Did a heart really break if it's beating?" That is a fucking great line
I have been searching, waiting, for years (6 months) for you to do a review of a 5MT Spark (ever since I bought a 2018 1LT) and I am SO excited that you also think it's good. I feel validated in my purchase...
Great work Roman and Mr Regular - I really enjoyed having more of both the normal speaking voice and the singing. More videos like this please.
☝️☝️C0NGRATUIATl0N FAN, l HAVE GlFT 🎁 F0R Y0U🎉🎉🎉
this is one of the best RCR videos of all time, top 10 for sure.
Got one of these new back in 2019 as my daily driver for college. 4 years later its still kicking and haven’t had any major issues considering that it has over 120k on it. Very good on gas too and can park literally anywhere
I can’t believe this doesn’t have as many views as last weeks already❤️ amazing job on this episode
I love these things, at some point I'm gonna have one of these to play autocross with. The Chevrolet Cruze has the same little computer gas asset with the clutch. But yeah, in Canada a psark LS 5 speed with no a/c could be had for 10k NEW, which is just wild to me. You could buy 3 new sparks for the price of one new civic. It's like a 90s D series civic hatchback with some decent crash structure and a torsion beam in the back.
Finding beauty in the ordinary, this is why I love RCR!
Nice to see GM unexpectedly made a little hero. Cheers!
I absolutely love my manual 2017 spark. It’s always fun to drive, and the nicest car I’ve owned. I can park anywhere and every drive is a fun drive in this thing.
I’m so happy to hear this review. I try to explain why I love my new to me chevy spark and why it’s my new fav car to drive and no one else understands lol . Happy to see you get it RCR.
Hey mr regular just checking in on you u probably wont see this but still we love you bud! ❤
Liking so mr regular can see
Brown lies!
@@orderofmagnitude-TPATP
A brown lie is my boss doing a m777 howitzer in the toilet boil everyday, not cleaning it up and issuing a memo to remind the employees to clean the toilet up when they leave a mess, massive brown lie
@@maximeb6662 BIG BROWN LIE!!
I learned on a metro and it was a breeze. Was literally handed keys and my only instructions were "you'll figure it out".
That said a base mini is easy too, you can lift the clutch and it'll go without giving it gas and float gears easily.
The closing song was the best y'all have done in a very long time. Good job, Roman!
I don’t know how I missed this. Thanks for all your uploads
Everyone forget about that hot hatch Chevy Spark EV?
It's great to get an American perspective on these little cars, you see its potential as a manual learner where it would potentially be ignored elsewhere
Edit: great outro song from Roman too
My first car was one of these, a 2013 in Jalapeno Green, same LS trim with a manual. It was absolutely amazing! Most people didn’t understand why I loved it so much until they drove it, a friend of mine begged me to drive it whenever we went out. I put almost 89k on it on the span of almost 7 years, sadly it got totalled in early 2020 when a drunk driver crashed into it while parked. Such a cute car, I wanna get one as a second car soon 💚
I have the 2017 model year of this exact configuration and color. You described it to a t! I drive like a grandma and can get 45mpg on the highway. Great little car
Roman's outro is straight bars don't click away too soon.
For real!!!! Romans got talent.
I bought a 2021 5MT Spark back in 2020. I got it ordered with all the hot stuff; Sunroof, special edition black painted roof, Machined alloy wheels. It legit caught people off guard thinking it was higher class than it actually was. I never realized how much of a unicorn I had specked until I had to sell it. Some bad prior decisions in years past and being under 25 meant insurance spiked to nearly $550 a month. I had to sell it. I have not been able to find one even remotely close to mine. I keep kicking myself for selling it. Fuck Progressive and fuck the insurance industry. It’s a tax to make sure you can’t own a home.
This is the best RCR i have seen in a long time, I just got my first car and it makes me look upon this car a lot more fondly. I bought a 2018 mazda 626, and it was my first time hands on with a manual. That car is a bear to learn on, my father with years of experience on all sorts of manuals remarked it is easily the hardest to get going out of all of them. I adore the car, but 1st gear is a serious balancing act. It's a shame the spark is gone, I love the styling, and it sounds like I would love the transmission. Would I drive it? probably not. I am a New England snob however, so that doesn't carry much weight. I adore your videos and hope you see this comment, being a highschooler who frequently enjoys simultaniously banging out papers and watching some RCR i find myself getting all philosophical-y in my work. Yall are helping me pass! glad the WiFi monitor never checks youtube videos- not sure they would love the Dodge Avenger's review. Keep on reviewing!
That song at the end was really great, Roman! Listened to it six times in a row.
I used to work at a Chevy dealer and the stick absolutely makes these things. It turns them from a penalty box into a legitimately fun little go-kart. It doesn't hurt that the manual for both this and the Sonic were by far the easiest to use out of all the ones offered at the time (Spark, Sonic, Cruze, Camaro, Corvette, Colorado).
My ex and I drove her first gen from Raleigh to Atlanta absolutely LOADED down with bags and gear for a con. The car was great on the highway and had pretty good pulling power for an automatic. The ONLY issue I had with the car was that it felt like a regular car minus 1. Like the seats were ALMOST big enough, the steering wheel was ALMOST big enough, the controls were just a tad to close together, things of that such.........
i had to buy a seat cushion for mine ..cheap car =cheap seats.
But it does the job!
@@htimsid it did but she didn't
I actually think the seats are ok, not the best ever, but comfortable. I like Ford seats personally, always seem the most comfortable.
I had one for years. It got totaled in 2019 because a semi trailer ran me over. It saved my life and I’ve got a special bond with this quirky little sub compact.
I drive the VE equivalent to the spark; the polo and most of the good points you make about the spark apply the same to it. It is a shame that in the US it’s getting harder and harder to get those kind of cars but, for anyone who likes driving, this small simple cars will give you a smile, juts as Mr Regular said if you can, really consider them, they are really worth it.
I got one. I don’t want to get rid of it
Boomers will tell you they want more simple cars like the Chevy Spark, but then they'll go spend their retirement money on a new GMC Sierra with a heated steering wheel they never figure out how to use.
My parents have had a Chevrolet Spark since 2013. Has always been nice to drive, and still runs great!
FYI the stall is smooth and the electronic throttle is from a feature called “stall saver” and it’s actually working pretty well on that. But it’s on all new GM cars. It detects stall type of conditions and tried to prevent it. It’s cool to see a reviewer finally notice it. It’s pretty complicated.
I think you’d love the Chevrolet volt (last gen, I know you reviewed the first) it’s an incredibly versatile car that can cruise quietly with high e-mpg on the highway, or you can put your foot in it in a corner and watch one of the front tires belt out the high notes as you whip around the corner and the car transforms into a little oversized gokart. Also you can brake with a paddle on the back side of the left side of the steering wheel, for some reason.
The paddle is for high-level Regen. If you time it right you can basically one-pedal drive it in the city.
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FIRST REPLY
Surprised you don't have to give any gas to let off the clutch
@@vonte88 the 1,4 ecotec is really strong in first gear.
I let my nephew drive in a carpark (private) and we almost crashed into a wall because the stupid things just kept chugging along with the handbrake on in 1st gear
@@eelcoberg392 was the handbrake broken?
@@zevihome4809 no , it was his first time driving a manual shift, so he panicked that it didn't stop. I pulled the handbrake and the rearwheels locked and just before it went really bad it stalled
Thanks for checking out the Spark. I've had mine since 2016 and I love it.
I rally crossed a couple of these and they were always a ton of fun, and very competitive in Stock Front class. You could consistently get close to the cones without worry, and it had plenty of power.
This was just...a lovely video. God I love RCR. Thanks man!