Faults:

Daewoo 1.5i - 1498cc EFI engine made by Holden.

Gone wrong.

Nothing yet, only had it two weeks. But, rattles and squeaks and the usual brittle Korean plastic components! Much work done to "de-rattle" the entire centre console and dashboard. Now it seems like a different car altogether. Quieter. I suppose with 183,000 something km and 15 years old, no car is going to be perfect. Lucky with this one, especially as it had a new timing belt fitted at 163,000km (interference type motor, if the timing belt snaps/breaks, whammo!, valves through the tops of pistons as minimum damage).

Air-con not working; knew that when I bought the car. Probably needs a new/reconditioned compressor and a re-gas. Strange, all the air-con components are stamped Dayton Ohio USA.

Slight "tappety" noise from valve gear. (hydraulic lifters). Might try a Wynns product to "unstick" this one gummed up hydraulic lifter.

Otherwise, nothing has gone wrong, but it's early days yet.

General Comments:

Rides hard, too hard. Daewoo made a serious mistake with making the suspension/shock absorbers so firm. Australia does not have glass smooth roads.

That aside, being auto and power steering makes puttering from A to B easy, and fuel economy seems to be about 35mpg around town and short trips.

Interior fittings (even when new it seems) were all "ticky tacky plastic", and prone to cracking.

But, despite the 183,000 something km and being 15 years old, it seems fairly sound. Engine is smooth enough and the auto trans seems fine.

The mechanical build quality is "built for strong, not for pretty". In fact the rear suspension would do quite well in a light truck.

Seats too hard, which makes the over firm suspension seem worse.

Paint quality is fairly poor (when looking inside where the paint has never been "weathered").

The electrical bits are a bit "thrown together", but that was/is the nature of Korean built cars.

But, with a Holden built engine and a seemingly good auto trans, the rest of the car is just an occasional "tinkering job".

Daewoo went off the market here in Australia a couple of years ago, and this one (a 1.5i) being the first Daewoo model sold in Australia (1994 and 1995), parts will probably be hard to find. (hope I never need to get any).

At least NGK do make spark plugs for it, and Ryco makes oil filters for it, and brake pads/linings (whenever, we only do about 5,000km per year) should be available.