1996 Daewoo Espero CDXi from UK and Ireland - Comments

Electric window motor (not replaced, too expensive)

Rotor coil caused jerkiness and bad starting (£50 including fitting from local mechanic)

Driver seat collapsed a bit. Welded and rivetted this myself.

Boot gets damp, but cannot find where water comes in?

Sunroof can be leaky if rubber seal not cleaned regularly.

Air con squeals like a bansee sometimes (Not the belt, but the electro-magnetic clutch on the alternator)

The bonnet wouldn't open; the cable retaining bolt had loosened (in the engine compartment) The Daewoo dealer wanted to charge £50 just to open it and another £50 + parts and VAT to fix it, hah no way!

Slight steering fluid leak, caused by corroded cooling pipe in front of radiator, I replaced the pipe myself.

Despite the listed faults, I found this car very reliable, in 3 years it has only let me down once, my fault for neglecting signs of the rotor coil beginning to fail, which initially causes jerkiness at low revs.

I do my own servicing, change the oil about once per year and lubricate the usual things, the car has sailed through MOT's.

The electrics need maintenance on this model, I use switch cleaner or wd40 to lubricate the switches, this stops most of the problems with intermittent/dead electrics.

The air con is great, but severely affects the performance of the car, turn it on and acceleration is 50% less. The electric windows and mirrors are prone to problems, again preventative maintenance helps.

The front, passenger, door window motor failed completely, after 2 weeks of ownership, it's not easy to replace and Daewoo Dealers wanted £150 just for the part. I can't be bothered to mess with the window mechanism, it's all rivetted on and runs on wire and pulleys, eeuuch. I never did fix that!

Performance is adequate, third gear has especially long legs and good torque, so you can pull quickly from 20 to 70 MPH, the best acceleration is in the mid band at about 40-65, just where you need it.

Top speed is surprising, as witnessed by a disguised police speed camera van, which clocked me at 98 MPH on a clear Dual-carriageway, one sunny morning, I was slowing down, saw it too late damnit.

The ABS brakes are excellent, you can use them to get around dodgy corners and roundabouts when the car understeers; yes the car has a habit of understeering, but not in a scary way, very predicable.

Being front-wheel drive, it's no good hitting the throttle too hard from stand-still, as that's what you do (stand still) with rubber burning off the tires. But once moving you can quickly accelerate up to 30 mph (when nipping out in between traffic)

Things to watch out for.

Bulkhead: Has a weakness, "MAY" split, this was a recall by Daewoo, they will fix it for free: To see why it may split, get someone to turn the steering wheel back and fore while you look at the brake servo, attached to the bulkhead, it moves an inch or so either way, this is because the steering rack is attached to the bulkhead and the bulkhead is weak, so it may cause splitting of the seams. Mines OK, but I keep an eye on it!

Watch for signs of oil on front of engine manifold, or a slight smell of burning oil. A 3" hose from the Cam cover to an exchange pipe, takes oil back to the sump, it will rot or tear. Mine split and oil dumped onto the manifold, causing a real stink and lots of smoke, thought the car was on fire. Cost me £4 from a hydraulic pipe specialist.

Rust spots and stone chips can quickly bubble up and will hole the bodywork if not treated!

The car seems to run cool when cruising on the motorway, especially in the winter; I changed the thermostat, but it made little difference, maybe a bit of rad blanking would help, seems the cooling system is a little too efficient!

Overall a very comfortable car that drives well, is fully loaded, including a 6 CD changer and electric sunroof etc. The car is easy to maintain, nothing too complicated (except the window winding mechanism)

I drive it to work every day, it's a 5-10 minute journey, in the winter, when it's dark on the way in and on the way back; you'd think the car would kill the battery, but no, as long as you maintain it properly it's fine!

I am about to sell this car, we have a baby now, we need a bigger car for the runs up the motorway to visit relatives on a few weekends a year. I'm getting a Volvo 850/V70 Estate in the next few days, I know it makes sense, but I think I'll miss the Daewoo, at least for a day or so heh!

David.

Hi you talked about the bulkhead failure and that it was a recall? mine has fallen of and they say there was no recall. I tried to bye the mounting area as it is only spot welded and bolted and they told me it only comes with a new body shell. any ideas!

Can anyone who has had this bulkhead problem email me at mr.plum48@ntlworld.com.

Does any one know where in the UK I can get my Daewoo Espero sunroof fixed, cause it leaks, and can I get a left hand dash board for the car?

I recently fixed my Espero N-reg sun roof. There is a local sunroof installer where I lived, and even he couldn't find the correct size rubber seal, but he did help me.

The reason it was leaking wasn't the rubber seal, but the sealant they used between the top and the roof and the bottom and the roof. The sunroofs were installed at the docks when the cars where imported and were done in a rush. The sealant they used is like a double sided sticky version of the foam seal that goes around your front door. After a few years it degrades and becomes... well leaky.

Any ways, we managed to get the rubber seal out in one piece and it was actually still in very good nick minus the crappy old glue still stuck to it.

What we done was take the roof to pieces, and then used windscreen sealant between the bottom and the roof, and the top and the roof, and then gentle screwed it back together.

THE IS A TWO MAN JOB!!! DO NOT ATTEMPT IT BY YOURSELF!!!

I tried to do this at first by myself, and couldn't hold the two pieces in the right place and do the screws up at the same time. Seriously, don't bother, get a mate to help you out for 30 minutess.

After this we used the the same window sealant to seal the rubber seal back in. It is a whole lot easier if you can take the glass out. One of my screws wouldn't undo, so we had the glass rotated out (which my mate held) and then I put a fat bead of sealant in two corners and the short straight in between them and ran the rubber seal into them. MAKE SURE YOU GET IT THE RIGHT WAY AROUND!!! Then we done a long straight and pushed the rubber in without stretching it. Finally we done the other two straights and corner, and pushed the rubber in. The first time we done this I had a bit of extra rubber seal sticking up. If this happens to you don't panic! Just go around the corners and make sure the seal is pushed right in the corner and that the straights aren't being pulled tight.

After this we put the glass back, screwed it in and then put a bucket of water on the sunroof to apply a bit of extra pressure.

WORDS OF WARNING

THERE ARE MORE SCREWS THAN YOU THINK. You will have to unclip the bottom cover and a load of screws behind it, there are more screws behind the light and sunroof switch. If it doesn't move easily there are still screws left.

DO NOT SLAM THE DOORS!!! When you close the doors the air pressure inside changes and lifts the sunroof up, leave the windows open or slightly open and close the doors very gently.

DO NOT OPEN SUNROOF FOR A FEW DAYS

The sealant sets very quick, 1 hour, but can take 5 days to fully set. So make sure you follow the advise about closing the doors during this period.

CHECK FOR WATER LEAKS AFTER A WEEK

I poured a watering can over my roof after a week and not a single drop came through.

WATER POOLING

My sunroof will collect water at the front (on top :-) ) but runs off as soon as the car is moving. It done this before my leak and still does it now, as long as it doesn't leak, don't worry about it.

If I had to do this again I reckon it would take 1-2 hours, but it took me all day because A) I didn't know what I was doing. B) I didn't have the right tools & supplies. C) I didn't have this.

If your going to attempt this and are a handy person, leave at least 3 hours and have a mate there to help. If you are not a handy person, leave ALL day and get two mates to help!!!

I hope this helps you

Alex.