“It’s a Lacetti Sport is it?”
People always smirk slightly when they see the word ‘sport’ on the side of the Lacetti and I’m not really sure why. The styling of the car is not unsporting, nor is it unattractive. In fact, I would go as far as to say that the Lacetti shares some design style with the latest Honda Civic, although the Civic clearly goes much further.
I think it’s because most people know this is the last of the cars that were originally a Daewoo, before GM wisely decided to use the Chevrolet brand instead. But the joke just doesn’t work with Chevrolet. The cars are reasonable, the brand famous and so all the jokers are left with is the juxtaposition of ‘Lacetti’ and ‘ Sport.’ I think the joke may be on them.
Coming into London on the A40 there is a shocking junction where roadworks, temporary traffic lights, lane closure and enforcement cameras compound with the heavy traffic to take my blood pressure to new heights.
The traffic suddenly stopped, just as the lights changed, and I found myself in danger of picking up a penalty charge notice for stopping in a yellow box. But the light and responsive steering, and engine’s low end torque, gave me just what I needed to jump from one lane to another and spurt round a Lupo before the cameras could start snapping away.
It’s sporty credentials took a bit of a blow on the motorway when a Corsa showed it a clean pair of rear treads, but it was able to cruise alongside an Avensis at sensible motorway speeds without any nasty din from the engine or road noise.
The seats lack lateral support, but they have a lot of ‘give,’ making them seem soft and comfortable. So provided you are not planning on leaning on the Lacetti’s sportiness through the corners, you will find the ride very pleasant. Anyway, you will do well to make this car really fly through the corners because the 1.8 litre engine’s acceleration is far from frightening.
I remember when Blaupunkt supplied BMWs with their radios. Playing with the radio in the Lacetti tells you why. It is beautifully built, easy to use and offers a super sound.
The rest of the controls, whilst not quite Blaupunkt quality, are well designed and made. The plastics, like the leather trim are sometimes a bit off colour and too shiny, which makes them seem cheaper than perhaps they are. It certainly sets an unfair tone for the car, having as it does, an extensive kit list: air conditioning, CD player, electric mirrors and windows, airbags.
That’s an awful lot for a car that costs just £12,495 new and can be found for £9,999 on the nearly new market. Like many budget brands (Proton probably being the worst) the trims are drab. If only they were in better colours – more uplifting, less grubby looking – this car would leap out of the classified pages. They would appeal to a lot of car buyers that feel a Ford Focus or Vauxhall Astra is too much money these days. Indeed a two-year-old 1.8 Lacetti is £2,000 less than a Focus 1.6 Ghia.
Out on a long motorway run, the 1.8 engine in the Lacetti means it is more refined than many similarly priced family hatchbacks that have just 1.6 litre engines. Cars like the Peugeot 307, for example, on a similar run, have been quite tiring to drive after a while.
The only time I had a question mark about the Lacetti’s competence was when right at the bottom of a gear’s range. As I squeezed the accelerator pedal, I could feel parts of the transmission straining; it felt like the gears were made of plastic and everything was about to snap. Of course it didn’t and if I had changed down a gear I wouldn’t have experienced the problem – so perhaps we need to call it driver error.
Summary
A small family hatchback that offers its owner everything found in a top of the range Focus or Astra for far less money. Not really very sporty, but very well equipped.
Road test car details:
Chevrolet Lacetti Sport 1.8
OTR: £12,495
0-62: 9.8 secs
MPG: 38.1
Co2: 183
Words: Matthew Tumbridge