2001 Daewoo Nubira SE review from North America

Front brakes at 31,000

Chrome peeling on interior door handles

Parking brake.

This is the best car value that I've ever owned... and I've owned over 40 vehicles. This is my commuter car and lately I've been putting 500 - 600 miles weekly on it. I paid $3500 for it two years and 27,000 miles ago and I'm pretty sure I can get about $3000 for it today. Not bad.

This is a GREAT car! I drive at least 500 miles a week for work and some weeks over 600. Virtually all of the roads are 2-lane secondary highways through hills and dales with very few straight or flat sections of any note. I was getting right at 30mpg and when gas went through the roof I adjusted my driving style (slower acceleration and more even application of the throttle... and lots of coasting in neutral) and now I get around 36 mpg!

The car now has almost 51,000 miles on it and runs like a new one. What I like about the car is the 4-wheel disc brakes, ride, handling, seating position, quality of construction... and with 130+ HP and the manual tranny it is surprisingly quick. What I am not particularly enamored of is the looks, questions of "what is that?", and the thought that there are only small number of places to get service (however a former dealer (still a Dodge dealer) still does service about 50 miles from me) and parts are available on-line through Daewoo's web site and other places. Not that I've needed any service other than routine maintenance. If I keep this job with all the freakin' driving... then I'm going to get the timing belt replaced soon. If you look on eBay there are usually several for sale that don't run because the timing belt broke and the valve train is all jacked up. Of course a good portion of OHC cars have the same issue with timing belts.

I have 2 other more expensive and newer cars, but I almost like the Daewoo better. I'm thinking about test driving Suzuki Forenza (the next generation Nubira)