1999 Daewoo Lanos Not Sure review from North America

Wow, where to start? I purchased this car from a Toyota dealer after trading in my trusty Corolla for something newer. The Daewoo was affordable and had air conditioning, two things I was looking for. The car only seemed to run well the first few weeks, and then everything went downhill. The A.C. system seemed to be cooling insufficiently, so I took it back to where I bought it from (good luck trying to find a Daewoo dealer in Northern Cal.). They brought it in the shop and looked at it, and in doing so found that some old car parts were left on the air cleaner, and by chance they had stayed there since the day I bought it. They recharged the a.c. to correct it.

Next, the radio quit working on me. Had an aftermarket unit put in that the Dealer paid for. OK, I said. That's when the downhill went from "bunny slope" to "triple black diamond." I was accelerating to get on the freeway, and the car felt like it had no power. It would bog down, hesitate, and feel like it was going to die. This was not when it was cold, it was certainly at operating temp. Took back to the Dealer I bought it from, and they said that every Daewoo they'd ever seen performed exactly the same way, just a characteristic. Since Daewoo is being phased out, I cannot hope for much support, and I feel bad bugging the Toyota Dealer about it because they don't know much about these models.

The car scares me to drive. I don't know if it will die on the freeway, and I certainly cannot accelerate fast enough to merge onto freeways, go up hills, even take full loads of people. I pity those that have taken the cheaper road and gone with the Daewoo product, I sure have learned my lesson.

Hey, I wonder if the dealer will let me get my Corolla back?