1996 Daewoo Nexia GLXi from UK and Ireland - Comments

The first Daewoo I purchased developed a leak in the foot well. Despite only having owned the car from new a few months, Daewoo refused to replace it from new. They did (eventually) replace it with a car returned from a previous owner.

I have had the car serviced from new, by the main dealer. The cam belt was replaced by them at the 4 year service. This belt failed only 16000 miles later, causing £1000 of damage. Daewoo have said I am to blame by missing the last service by a few months. They have refused to assist in any way. The customer complaints manager was dismissive from the beginning. He initially refused responsibility before he had investigated the facts.

The car now sounds poor and is running badly. This is disappointing on a main dealer serviced car, with only 46000 miles on the clock.

Not only will I not buy another Daewoo, but several colleagues have said they have been put off by the poor response.

Despite having written to the Chief Executive on several occasions, I received no reply direct from him. Even when I was complaining about the poor response from customer services, my letter was passed to customer services to deal with.

Well, I have little sympathy for you situation if you are one of those type of people who doesn't ogranise the appropriate servicing of your vehicle. If you had had the car serviced the fault with the cam belt would have been detected and the subsequent costs and damage to your engine avoided.

Just commenting on the above comment that someone wrote regarding the review about the cambelt on the Nexia. I was loaned a Daewoo when my Mazda went in for a service. This car is just one piece of thrashy junk, the interior appears to be made from an old plastic school chair, the engine is as gruff, harsh and as unwilling as they come. I have genuine sympathy with your cambelt going, and the person who wrote the first comment sounds like a typical Daewoo owner. Cambelts shouldn't go when you are only a few months over due, mind you knowing Daewoo the belts will be made from some old plastic. My Mazda has now done 147,000 miles and still runs like clockwork, I only got its first cambelt done at 125,000 miles, try a mazda next time.

My brother bought a second hand 1995/6 1.5GLXi Nexia with FMDSH and 36000miles on the clock. Within 2000miles and 3 months the heater refused to work, the electric window switch self destructed and the cam belt broke (cam belt pulley seized) causing a grand's worth of engine damage. Currently the ABS has a fault and is not functioning. The cam belt problem is well known in the trade, but Daewoo were unwilling to help with repairs or cost. His previous car was a Proton that ran reliably for over 100000 miles showing that a cheap car can be made fit for use/reliability. No wonder a low mileage 6 year old Daewoo can be yours from only 250 quid!!!

My company ran three Nubira 2.0 models and all suffered cam belt failure well before the scheduled replacements were due. All three needed replacement engines and in each case, Daewoo tried to get out of paying for it. Of course, they didn't have a leg to stand on because all three cars had been serviced "on the dot" by Daewoo themselves (it was free after all). When solicitors were mentioned, the work was carried out FOC.

The sad thing is, Daewoo engines are based on late 80's Vauxhall designs which were bombproof and totally reliable in their original forms. Seems someone started penny pinching here and there and went a bit too far. These cars are a total joke and should be avoided like the plague unless you really can find one for £250, run it into the ground and then throw it away. There's no point in maintaining a car like this at all - just drive it until it goes bang and dump it at the nearest scrapyard.

On the other hand I have had a daewoo for 3.5 years and its has sailed through each m.o.t., the most expensive m.o.t. being the time it needed a new tire!

Furthermore, I don't really think the mazda driver need make any comment, it sounds like their car is very old with 125,000 miles on it. In addition, Mazda is hardly at the upper end of the japanese market segment (Honda and Lexus). Mazda is dual owned by ford and is at the lower end of the jap segment, competing against nissan and daihatsu.

Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones...

My daewoo espero cdxi automatic shows ABS light on. Despite having two new sensors fitted, light still showing. Any suggestions on how to get this repaired, as two garages are floundering-they think it might be the wiring, but I am loathe to spend any more out-cost already £225. Any ideas anyone? From a helpless female.

I've discovered that the Espero ABS is prone to wiring faults because it's stretched too tight and the wire inside the plastic insulation breaks or cracks. You may need to replace the wire from the sensors right up to the ABS ECU.

Following on from my earlier comment regarding the comparison between my car, a Mazda, and a Daewoo Nexia as a loan car, I have noticed someone passed comment on 18th September. My car is not that old, it is a 1997/P 323F 1.5LXi with 154,000 miles on the clock. Even if my car was made in 1985, I can guarantee I would last a lot longer than a Daewoo. There is a complete lack of build quality in Daewoo's and reliability is poor, particularly in terms of cambelts snapping. Why build a car in 1996 that is based on a 1984-1991 Vauxhall Astra? If Mazda's are not in the higher end of the Japanese scale, as this person put it, why have the following models won car's of the years in the last 24 months? Premacy as MPV 2003 and 2004 JD power, 323F sports hatch as small family 2004 JD Power, MX-5 as best convertible 2004 JD Power, Mazda 6 Auto Express car of the year. Mazda's may not make some of the most feel-good factor cars and their brand image, even though it is improving, is still rather middling to high (above Nissan however), the fact that 3 models won cars of the years this year 2004 in the JD Power survey connotes their quality in terms of mechanic excellence and general appeal. Where do Daewoo's sit in the survey? Well lets be kind and say that they are very close to the bottom, but is this not expected?

I have owned a daewoo nexia initially and more recently I have switched over to a daewoo nubira. A 1996 nexia with PAS, ABS, Air con, Central locking, velour interior and isuzu engine bears little resemblance to its predecessor the late 80's/early 90's vauxhall astra.

A daewoo nubira's build quality is fine, everything works well and the doors close with an acceptable thunk. On a hot sunny day I would be pleased to overtake an old mazda 323 owner in their hot and stuffy car, whilst I sail passed in climate controlled nubira.

Daewoo's are styled by Italdesign studio and are now allied to vauxhall, though realistically these companies have been known to work in collaboration for years.

JD power surveys are interesting and have placed daewoo highly at various times, I would refer you to USA results in 1999/2000 where daewoo was placed in the top 5. It is fair to say that different car companies fare differently during the pasing of time.

I am only thankful as a daewoo owner that we are not advertised with a joke of a slogan "zoom, zoom". I would rather stick with "that'll be the daewoo.." Daewoo cars have a more reserved and restrained advertising tone.

Perhaps you should get rid of your P reg Mazda and open your eyes to modern motoring...

How can you say that a Daewoo Nexia is modern? This person clearly knows nothing about cars. Virtually all Daewoos are based on old Vauxhalls. The Nubira- a Cavalier, the Nexia/Lanos- an 1984-1991 Astra. One way that demonstrates this is the colour of the dash lighting and the steel wheels are exactly the same as Vauxhalls. I'm sorry I don't agree that Mazdas, or even Hyundai's are bettered by Daewoo. It is like saying a Fiat Uno is a better car than a Mercedes E320! The person who wrote about the Mazda has not responded, but a 1997 323 1.5 is likely to have air-conditioning, so it looks like you can sail along together and the Mazda owner might be kind enough to give you a lift when the lovely hot sunny weather gets a bit too much for your beloved Daewoo and it cuts out!! Italdesign certainly never showed in the likes of the Nexia or Espero! That'll be the Daewoo- yes that'll be the Daewoo over there being towed by the AA man.

Daewoos were mostly rehashed Opels (Vauxhalls) from the eighties so what do you expect. One telling thing about Daewoo, is the fact that the marque is about to die, since it has such a bad reputation, and all daewoo cars will now be called Chevrolets.

The best thing to do with a car is to get one with good heritage (reliability or design)

My Espero just snapped its cambelt, 96,000, changed at 80k together with waterpump and tensioner, word of caution, added K-Seal headgasket sealant one week ago so am somewhat unsure whether this could have overstressed waterpump bearings, as would not expect cambelt or water pump failure after 16k.

Head leak repaired though!

Also had wiring loom failure on ABS over lefthand strut (a common occurrence apparently), but repaired the loom myself.

Aircon failure also occurred at 3 years of age.

Have now decided to scrap the car, would not buy another Daewoo.

To the commenter of 12th July 04, you must be eating your words now. Who's doing better, Mazda (stupid adverts or not) or Daewoo. Oh wait a minute, I forgot. Daewoo collapsed and are now gone. Good riddance too.

I had a 2000 Nubira 2.0 CDX and it was a pile of junk. Apart from being nothing special to drive, it was clearly built by monkeys! Bits of the interior fell off, the cambelt broke and destroyed the engine (at 23,000 miles!!), the immobiliser died twice, the stereo packed up, the demister never worked properly from day one, the outer CV joints broke up, the front lower balljoints started knocking and the engine started stalling every time I turned the air-con on. All this before 35,000 miles when I swallowed the loss and outed the heap.

Maybe the new "Chevrolet" Nubira (snigger) will be better. However, it's a bit worrying that in 1.8 CDX trim, it costs a whopping £12,000! I can buy a spanking new Mondeo 1.8 LX on-line for £750 less or from a dealer with a bit of haggling for a couple of hundred quid more. Who are Chevwoo trying to kid?

I have owned a daewoo nubira W reg for 6 months. The interior is good quality and the exterior is metallic silver, with modern styling contributed by lexus. I'm a professional person (Optometrist) and the car fulfills all my requirements for commuting between practices.

Regarding the above mazda dispute: my cousin has 2 mazda's - a premacy and a 323, both have failed their mot's and have cost in excess of £1,000 in repairs. Incidentally my daewoo went straight through its mot.

Who cares if daewoo has now merged into chevrolet, can't some of these commenters grow up? Clearly some people have no idea how the car industry changes and evolves over time. Are people aware that datsun merged into nissan? Just look at the current dreadful situation with our british mg rover.

I would have no hesitation in considering a new chevrolet car when my current car is due for change. I will be considering chevrolet alongside toyota and honda. And no I won't be considering hyundai/kia - I do draw the line somewhere you know.

My Deawoo nexia ABS light is broken when ABS is fine. However this car is fine apart from that and is quite fast tbh. I am also inpressed with the sound it makes. Evan befor I put my bigbore exhaust on, However it might be the old astra it is still a fast car and I can leave cars of the same age and engine on a green light. The big diff between the astra and the nexia has to be the paintwork, I am happy with my nexia, but it seem to me that everyone seems to have this ABS fault.