Matiztastic (Daewoo Matiz SE 5-door)

Member Name: icklegirly

Product:	Daewoo Matiz SE 5-door
Date:	06/09/01 (1269 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Fun, Dead nice

Disadvantages: Not the fastest car on the road

OOOH lucky ol' me. I got a brand spanking new Daewoo Matiz for my 21st birthday. Grand.
Ah, but I see you're eager to know more. Well hold your horses and I'll tell you all about the Matiz.

THE MATIZ SE EXTRA: Is wot I've got. The SE is the basic model in the Matiz range, meaning it comes without all the extra bits and bobs like electric windows, central locking, bits of fabric on the doors and so on. The standard Matiz SE costs £6595, the SE+ is priced at £7295 and the SE+ A/C will set you back about £7795. However, I've got an SE Extra, which means those kind people at Daewoo have cut £600 off the price of the Matiz SE and swapped the radio/cassette player for a swanky posh CD player. Which was nice.

All Matiz models are 5-door, have dual air bags and an engine imobiliser. And mine has a sun roof because my Dad like to haggle.
The Matiz is available in several colours, although only two of these (red and blue) are "solid", meaning that you'll have to stump up the extra (£149 for metallic, £199 for gold mica) if you're fussy.

Inside, the interior is comfy, but not startlingly luxurious. The front seats are substantial and easy to adjust, and the back seats are slightly raised so that passengers can see through the windscreen (and are thus less likely to be car-sick!)

The dash is clear and well designed, but it is clear where costs have been cut. Little things like the finishing on controls betray the fact that this is a budget car. Never the less, the interior is spacious and the car feels comfortable to sit in. The boot isn't huge, but the back seats split and fold to give a bit more room if you need it.

However, its the outside of the Matiz thats the real winner. Its been designed in Italy and it shows. Its so cute, god darn it. Aww, bless it, its headlights look just like eyes. It just looks eager to be driven. Aww.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that the
Matiz isn't the fastest car on the road. This is, as I've said before, a budget car (The Auto Express Best Budget Car 2001, don't you know). It's 0.8 engine is hardly a throbing piece of raw, rugged machinery, and with a top speed of about 89 mph (I haven't tested this), you won't win any races. That said, this car isn't supposed to be a fast car, and it doesn't pretend to be. It has no trouble reaching top speed up hills and its fairly quick off the mark, which is all you need really. What the Matiz does aim to offer is a car thats cheap to buy and cheap to run, and it does this quite nicely thankyou. I drove from Newcastle to Edinburgh and back (about a 6 hour round-trip) in my Matiz on less than £20 worth of petrol, (which makes it much cheaper than the train) and Daewoo reckon it does about 54.3 miles per gallon, which isn't bad at all.

The Matiz isn't a silky smooth, silent car to drive. It does make a bit of noise (the indicator is also quite loud), but its a new car so the noise is still at a reasonable level. It also comes with power steering and a nifty little gear stick which clicks nicely into place. And a rear wiper. And a third brake light. Well I'm impressed.

All in all, if you're a boy racer, don't get this car, if you want something dead posh, don't get this car, bit if you want a dinky little car thats cheap to run (the small engine means lower road tax too), and nice to drive, the this is the car for you. And the added extras that Daewoo offer as standard (3 years warrenty, 3 years free servicing, 3 years AA membership and a free advanced driving course) make the whole thing, well, just peachy.
I think its great anyway :-)

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