1995 Daewoo Nexia GLX 1.5

Summary:

There are worse wrecks out there

Faults:

Nothing in the year I owned it until the clutch went. This made it uneconomical for repair.

General Comments:

This car was end of life when I bought it. It was a stop gap until I decided what I wanted to invest in.

The air con was deceased, but all else worked fine.

Quite nippy, but I think it would have been better with a bigger lump. Sadly someone had taken to the metallic graphite with something abrasive, so it didn't win any beauty points.

It wasn't particularly good on fuel, but not terrible either.

Very comfortable.

Whilst it was OK for the £300 I paid for it, I think if I'd have had it new, I'd have been a bit disappointed by performance, but then it probably drove a lot better when newer. It had a hard act to follow, as I remember the hype in its original guise as a Vauxhall Astra MK2, which had excellent performance for the era.

I doubt I'd buy another, but then it wasn't a choice purchase to begin with.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 5th August, 2012

16th Jun 2021, 15:26

Yup, remember these cars well. Lots around in the 1990's, not many left now. Cheap and nasty, but oddly reliable enough and very low running costs, so cannot really complain. Friends parents had one from new, dark green (popular colour) 1995 N reg, was good the first couple of years. But cosmetically it looked awful after a short period. But the engine soldiered on even after the infamous 100,000 mile mark.

18th Nov 2022, 13:27

They had awesome deals on these cars when brand new. Very cheap at the time. Never knew anyone to have one longer than 5 or 6 years though before they fell to bits.

19th Nov 2022, 19:26

Never knew them to last more than 5-6 years? The one in this review lasted at least 12-13 years.

21st Nov 2022, 09:26

The reviewed car aside, perhaps the point the comment at 13:27 was making was that these cars are built poorly and do not last. I live in the UK and can confirm this, we had one in the family. The Nexia was a re-badged older generation Vauxhall Astra, based on the already old outdated early 1980's car; by the mid 1990's it was just a re-shaped design. These were not great cars.

My Aunt had one from brand new, and (among other problems) the door seals were coming away unstuck and there were rattles from the dashboard even when it was barely 2 years old. You may be able to nurse these cars through their life and make them last 10 years or more, (the engine was reliable enough) but certainly people never kept such a cheap nasty vehicle too long. Depreciation was also at its worst, these cars lost most of their value very quickly.

22nd Nov 2022, 11:40

Funny how times change. They may have been that way when built. Nowadays, however, they are increasingly hard to find and borderline collectible. The company itself lasted over 60 years (1937-2002). It has already been 20 years since the last one rolled off the assembly line.

1995 Daewoo Nexia GLXi 1.5

Summary:

Great value for money runabout

Faults:

Rear window motor gone @ 6yrs.

Halfords managed to drop a valve when replacing timing belt @ 4yrs - all sorted under warranty.

Air-con doesn't blow very cold, but uneconomical to recharge/fix.

Driver's seat broke @ 7 yrs (not really it's fault, I'm a very big chap!). There are plently of nexias in scrap yards now - a replacement seat was only £25.

General Comments:

I bought the car when it was just over 3 years old with less than 30,000 miles on it. It had the warranty extended to 5 years.

It's basically a Mk II Astra with an fuel injected Isuzu engine. Apart from the timing belt problem, which was entirely Halfords fault, it hasn't missed a beat in over 4 years. Admittedly, in that time I have only covered some 17,000 miles, but it is used for the short work/nursery run every week day. It never fails to start, even when left for weeks at a time in the winter. I just make sure it gets serviced properly every year and that's about it.

If you want a cheap reliable car packed with extras (electric everything, ABS, airbag, air-con) you'd have a problem to beat a good low mileage Nexia.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 22nd March, 2003