Oct 27, 2004 11:43 PM
9875 Views
(Updated Oct 27, 2004 11:47 PM)
I bought a blazing red Chevrolet Optra LT manual transmission in Aug 2004. I picked the Optra after checking out Elantra, Corolla and the Octavia - and trust me - Optra rules.
I am doing an average of 2000 kms per month, mostly on highways. The first thing that strikes you about the car is the incredible ride quality over bad roads. You can easily do 90 kmph over broken and pothole ridden roads without batting an eyelid. You can do a 500 kms trip non-stop and your passengers would come out of the car fresh - it is that comfortable.
Optra can cruise merrily at 120 - 140 kmph for long distances with the engine spinning at 4000 RPM. We once did 180 kmph on the Bangalore - Mumbai Road (part of Golden Quadrilateral) but the car got a bit jiggly.
Optra LT in red colour gets lots of stares from people - the styling is extremely striking. Other things to like about the Optra are the elegant alloy wheels, awesome 8 speaker CD changer, steering mounted audio controls, leather seats, electric sunroof and the electric mirrors.
However, Chevrolet Optra is not perfect. GM has flicked passenger side airbags and ABS (Both Corolla and Octavia have these). Very bad GM - you could have atleast given these as an option. The acceleration in the 5th gear could have been better. Also, I was expecting atleast 13 kmpl on the highways.
I am getting 8 kmpl in city (with AC on) and 11 kmpl on the highway (with AC on).
