11th May 2008, 18:38

Well, I also have a Chev Optra and it is the worst car I have ever owned for gas consumption. Supposed to get 11 litres/100 km and I am lucky to get 13.5 to 14 litres/100 km. It has a 55 litre gas tank and I have never gone more than 380 km on one tank of gas - and this includes highway driving. GM says - too bad, so sad. Tried to go to arbitration, but this is considered an advertising problem. Dealer says nothing is wrong with the car!

6th Jun 2008, 11:28

I am some what pleased with this car I drove it to Alberta and back to PEI and it only cost 260.00 in gas one way. But on the other hand my carpet got wet and the smell was so bad, I threw out the underlay and replaced it only to throw it in the garbage again. I've talked to a few other owners and they have had the same problem.

22nd Feb 2010, 17:07

I've had my Optra for the last four years, and I have had a lot of electrical problems. If I could go back, I would never had bought this car. I do know that I will not be buying another GM car in the future; I've had the worst service from them.

18th May 2010, 18:21

5 June 2006:

I bought my Optra new in Calgary. In the first year it ran smooth...

In and around the 2nd year, the speakers start buzzing when you play the stereo at a certain volume...

Then today, all hell broke loose... I am driving along happily and next thing the engine makes the most awful sound. The D for drive disappears off the dash while the car is still in Drive!!! I had to pull over. Then could only drive it in 3rd gear..

Has anyone had this happening to them?

Thanks.

27th Jun 2010, 10:37

I bought my Optra 5 in 06, and at first I loved it... well not so much now.

My rear has always seemed loose, kind of like it's traveling all over the road... GM says nothing's wrong.

I have a manual, and the shifting seems very loose and sloppy.

At 60,000km I had my head gasket crack. Not sure if it's called head gasket, but it's the top metal engine cover. Either way, it cracked and started leaking oil on the belt, which in turn made a mess of everything. Long story short, I replaced it, and now 10,000km later it cracked again in the exact same spot. I am NOT rough on my car, so I don't understand why such a major part of the motor is failing. GM doesn't care. No help from them.

Also my diagnostic hook up doesn't work? Maybe never did, I don't know.

Gas mileage is good. Acceleration is kind of jerky. Fuel pump squeals a lot when first turned on.

Very road noisy, sloppy handling, and overall cheap feel.

I will personally never purchase a GM again based on value of this car and service received after purchase... Screw you GM.

The only thing that makes this car bearable to drive is the fact that I replaced the stock stereo with about 3000.00 worth of Kenwood, Kicker, and 2-12 Rockford fosgate P2's as well as limo tinted the windows. Also put 18" rims with extremely low profile racing slicks. The car looks and sounds awesome going down the road. I need all of this to help me forget the overall crappiness of the car.

What do other owners think?

18th Sep 2010, 07:58

I just bought a Chevy Optra 5 2006 a couple of weeks ago on the fly. I should have researched the car a bit more before I bought it, but oh well.

Mine is an automatic, but let's be honest, it drives like a standard. You can feel the car switching gears, and when you put it into park, it rolls back. I'm not a punk who needs to blast my stereo to look cool, so I've probably never put it up loud enough to experience the buzzing sound that everyone else has. Other than my car driving like a beast, I really do like it.

We drove from Toronto home to Sault Ste. Marie on a tank of gas, which cost me $38 Canadian and it's an 8 hour drive. I found I got about 750-800kms for a tank of gas on the highway, which was great because I thought it was going to be way worse for a Chevy. In town we drive it around a lot, and the gas mileage is still not too bad; we've had to fill the tank once every week and a half.

The only thing I'm a little nervous about it the way my Optra drives. The lack of smoothness in the shifting for an automatic car is a little weird. I'm just hoping nothing blows up. So for future car purchasers, do your research!

7th Mar 2011, 02:12

I enjoy my Optra 5, it's a smooth ride with easy turns and pretty good pick up, but after about 5 years of usage, I have started to experience some electrical problems, especially in the past 6 months.

The air bag light and the engine light went on, as well as the steering wheel light going on from time to time. The high beams light do not work when turned on, but when I go to flicker my high beams they do work. It's slowly getting worse even with monthly maintenance.

But I guess that comes with age...

3rd Jul 2011, 19:45

I have a Chevrolet Optra 5, and can't figure where the tank to fill the rear wiper fluid goes?

22nd Aug 2011, 23:36

Hi there. The rear wiper's spray does not have its own compartment, it all comes from the compartment under the hood.

23rd Sep 2011, 15:50

Where is the pump to draw the water from the front?

23rd Jan 2012, 02:02

There isn't one; it's an all one unit. When you fill the front one, the back one gets filled too.

3rd Jul 2012, 01:39

My Optra won't shut off, and the first time it happened, I already had my foot out the door and it was taking off in first gear. I'm pretty sure it was due to a big puddle I ripped through, and it took a few days for the problem to go away.

By the way, the only way to shut the car off was to open the driver's door, and it would shut down the engine, and two months ago, a spark plug blew the threads out of the the hole, and had to be re-tapped with a perma coil (never ran better after the fix and new timing belt), but I can't get the interior light to stop burning up every couple of months. Any ideas (2004 / 2.0L/ 56000 km / 5 speed)?

Mark.