Daewoo Matiz love - FRED RESURRECTION

[dollywobbler]

Right then. Because I love them, and others have admitted to a fondness for them, here's a Daewoo Matiz love-in.

The Matiz story starts in 1993, when Giuigaro unveiled his take on a new Fiat 500.


Fiat decided to turn the cute Cinquecento into the hideous Seicento instead. UR RONG!

So, Daewoo paid up for the design pretty much lock, stock and barrel. Apart from the addition of a roof and more doors, the finished car is very close to the original design.



That's Cobalt Blue, just like mine bought new in 1999 was - though it's an SE+ while mine was a basic SE. The SE+ got you eleccy front windows, alloy wheels and a tasty rear spoiler.

I was stupid to sell it, and even more stupid to replace it with a Subaru Impreza, but I was young, had just secured myself a £6k a year payrise in IT Project Management (admin...) and felt like being foolish. Or rather, I was just demonstrating the lack of good buying sense that persists to this day...

To make up for it, I hired a Matiz in Malta in 2003. Super-povo spec but with much-needed air-con. It was great!


It wasn't my last Matiz encounter either. I chose a garage to service my Isuzu Trooper Mk1 purely on the fact that they had a Matiz courtesy car. They were shit too, but I did enjoy thrashing around in this for a day or two.


It was a very unusual spec. On an 02 plate, but we'd long since moved to the facelifted ugly Matiz by then. Had unusual trim and body-coloured door mirrors. This angle shows off the pert rear styling. It all works so well. No clutter (bar the graphics...), just clean lines. I was horrified when they facelifted it. There were neat touches too. The quarter-lights reduced buffetting when you opened the windows and the black plastic trim above the bonnet neatly deflected air over the windscreen wipers, so you didn't get that annoying thing where screenwash and drips blow up the windscreen. I was thrilled to discover that the wiring for rear speakers was fitted to all cars, so upgrading the CHOONES was easy - though the Sony head unit they fitted was a bit crap. Very poor bass response.

I wasn't convinced by the later engine options though. To start with, you got a Tickford-tuned, 42bhp, 796cc triple, which barked like a muted Porsche and was huge fun - though hideously shit on fuel if you enjoyed it. Which I did. A lot. A 1-litre, four-cylinder option came along later, but that was a bit like your gran trying to prove she can still dance like the young'uns in a nightclub. It didn't really work. It was like they tried to make the Matiz a serious contender as a supermini, which was ambitious to say the least. As a perky city car, it worked well. It wasn't dreadful on motorways, but it was quite buzzy. I once hit 100mph, at which point the rev limiter kicked in. I didn't try it again...

Here's a facelifted one, just to show you how much they ruined it.


There are very few cars launched since the mid-1990s that I've thought were stylistically spot-on. The Matiz is, perhaps surprisingly, one of them. T725 LBD remains one of very few cars I've owned that I'd love to track down again too.

[Lankytim]

Best of all Allegro wheels fit! Love em!

[Negative Creep]

Afraid I'm not feeling it. We had them as delviery cars and they were shit to drive. Horrible seats, nasty sounding engine and handled like a filing cabinet on coasters

[philibusmo]

Once saw a family of 3 outside Homebase doing there level best to fit a bath tub in their Matiz despite it being quite obvious it would have been easier to fit the Matiz in the bath tub.

 

Otherwise, I can't say they have ever really registered on my car radar, and nor do I think they ever will. Not really feeling the love guys, sorry.

[freebird]

I like them.

Was given one as a hire car years back when in Rhodes.

The engine sound made you want to drive it hard, I found it comfortable ( Im 6ft 1 and broad ) and it handled no worse than any other shite city car.

While I wouldnt want to go up and down a Motorway in one everyday, as a car around town it still cuts it.

Pure autoshite.

[Station]

Not too fond of the styling, and never driven one, but will probably grow fond of it when they get rarer.

[gallondrunk]

Feeling the Matiz love! I had no idea about the design history, thanks for that.

 

Shame we didn't get the black bumper and silver steelies model here in the UK, it looks fantastic.

[binboy]

Had loads of these as my job is a car trader, if they have been really well looked after they are a nice little car that's quite fun to drive. But most early ones are proper shit now with rotten sills and rusty brake pipes, had a couple with head gasket problems one only had 29k on it. Also the rubbish plastic inlet manifold cracks and leaks water. There not the best small cheap cars around.

[Morgan84]

Whats the difference between a Daewoo Matiz and a Sheep ?

 

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It's not so embarrassing being seen getting out of a sheep

 

 

( Not that I've tried sheep )

[SambaS]

I'm so pleased someone likes these. I band them in the Hyundai Atoz/ Daihatsu Move/ Suzuki Wagon R catagory. I have no love for them whatsover! Sorry. Although. There was an Atoz in maroon sat up the scrapyard and I thought to myself. Who the hell is ever going to speak fondly of these. Then I felt a bit sorry for it, it had such a sad face. Maybe I will stash one away. As you say futureshite.

[Des]

I picked one up for my brothers missus a few years ago, about £120 and well and truely hg-effed / dripping in Kseal, but it had about 6 months MOT, 9 months of tax, and a CD stereo. Block and head were pretty bad so I did a JB Weld number on it thinking run out the MOT and cash in the tax, but even now the thing is still going and has seen a lot of insanely long motorway jaunts. When it's MOT came up a sniff of the exhaust indicated a knackered cat / lambda, only to be expected from the antifreeze blue rinse, that should have been that but a new cat was only £45, must be a loss leader or something, following MOT it only wanted for a cv boot.

First time I drove it I was very impressed and thought it not at all the Noddy car it appeared, lively, smooth comfortable ride, a good feel to the steering, couldn't fault it but then I went and exceeded 30 MPH where it revealed its true character as the Noddyest of Noddy cars, how they keep returning to the motorway in it I cannot understand, but as a town car it is pretty good.

[STUNO]

An interesting start to life, I had no idea of that. And one day Des your sis in law will find her 120 pound, Jb welded Matiz will expire in a cloud of steam at 70 mph. People will look at it and say to each other "shit cars those Daewoos"

[pandamonium]

 

[SambaS]

Love that top one Pandamonium. Well that's me swayed!

[Cavcraft]

I love the look of them and will defo have one one day. Seem to recall their NCAP rating is about the same as coming down Mount Everest in an MFI wardrobe though.

[Lankytim]

I seem to remember the NCAP rating being quite good on these, for a bubble car anyway.

[face]

I like these.

 

I too had one as a hire car, although I was in Kefalonia where it is rare to get a car into fourth, let alone fifth gear. It was perfect for the job, nippy and made a nice sound.

 

Same for the Atoz too, I hired a face-lifted one of those too a couple of years back and it was fine for the Greek island roads.

[dollywobbler]

I should point out - I would never claim that these are great cars in any sense that involved giving it 5 out of 5. I thoroughly enjoyed owning mine. The seats being a bit small was about my only real complaint. I have always thought the looks were great - but then I like Ami 6s and other cars that look slightly like a startled frog.

[cort16]

I heard the build cost before shipping, duty and what not on one of these was £600, which is what gave them room to offer long warranties, free servicing.

When Daewoo launched the orginal Nexia and Espero they were less than average cars but well priced and with better warranties and customer service than any manufacturer offered so they knew it would appeal to the white good type car shopper. Daewoo put customer service as their main priority as they knew the cars where a bit naff but happy customers can go a long way to counteracting that. They went straight to NO 1 in the JD Power customer satisfaction stats and sold a shit load of cars. When GM took over they ballsed it all up obviously.

 

I'm sure they did a deal on Espero that if you bought one in 6 months when the new Leganza came in you just brought in your Espero and drove away a Leganza for no extra £.

[Volksy]

I seem to remember that Daewoo did BOGOF on some cars.

 

When I lived over in NZ, I sold new Daewoos for a while, well, tried to. The huge influx of cheap Jap imports meant that anyone with the kind of money to buy a new Daewoo bought a imported known brand instead. I think one person came and test drove a Nexia in my entire time at the dealers. We had far more interest in the used stock which included a Hyundai Stellar running on CNG, and a Mitsubishi Galant Auto in JRG.

[richardthestag]

MiL got a spanking new 02 plater in exchange for a dozen tins of whiskers and a can of cherry cola. probably

 

anyway it has done her proud, she has thrown literally 18k at it in the ensuring years, and the only thing that has gone wrong was the windscreen washer pump went. £12 from the parts counter and 1/2 hour to fit.

 

I drove it for a week when my first Range Rover disgraced itself. round town it was pretty nippy, it felt dangerous on the motorway but that was compared to driving a canyonero. given a push and need for a cheapo runabout I would probably go there

 

She asked me what i thought it was worth late last year and they seem to go for anything south of 1k for a nice dealer jobby so I told her probably £750. FiL said his man in the know told him £1500 but funnily enough man in the know wasn't prepared to stick his money where his mouth was . Anyway MiL decided to hang onto it

 

the only thing that bothers me, for such a puny, tiny car with at least 5 cylinders missing from the engine... how come the road tax is so expensive?

[cms206]

Better half's mother is on her second Matiz, current example being an 07-plate Chevroletwoo with nearly 50k on it. It's a 3-pot and she loves it. Only reason I think it's still here is because she can't get another one.

[gricer]

Actually designed by Fabrizio Giugiaro, son of Giorgetto.

 

His first production car design.

[Lord Sterling]

I quite like these too. Built for the town and sound like they do what they are built for. I don't think I've driven one but I coukd be wrong, I drove a fair few cars at the garage I used to work at.

[stuboy]

mate had the se plus was great little car plenty of oomph (especially when i drove it ) and room for both of us up front he being 24 stone and i was almost 16 stone !!

 

nearly brought it my self when he sold it on

[Mr Lobster]

Whilst I quite like the original concept (first pic) I've got to say the Matiz does nothing at all for me.

 

Had one as a hire car in Rhodes a few years back and whilst it wasn't the best example in the world (it was utterly fucked tbh) it just seemed to be just about acceptable enough as transport and nothing more.

 

About as appealing as a Picasso tbh.

[MK5 Escort]

I was also quite fond of the early Matiz. Quite neatly designed and liked them in that metallic bile yellow or metallic snot green. I didn't like the revised ones anywhere near as much.

 

What appealed to me the most was that during the first couple of years of production, they come with that heavily pattered velour interior which always reminded me of a comfy old sofa. I found the inside of the early cars quite inviting as a result… Then in around 2000/2001ish they ditched that and replaced it with oh-so-tedious cloth.

 

I've never driven one though so can't comment on that front. I'd imagine them to be fine around town but not exactly ideal for outside of it with their diddy engines… Anyone up for a charity Lands End to John O’ Groats run in one?

[Cavcraft]

Snot green?

 

CYBER BULLY GREEN

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DAEWOO-MATIZ- ... 35c62add4b

[Geep]

Got some love for these myself. Never paid much attention to them until my daughter wanted her first car. After looking at Atoz, matiz and similar and she said if she had a matiz, it had to be one with 'eyebrows'. Turned out the 2000 or so on have a bulge over the headlights instead of a flat bonnet. After a while she explained to me by pointing it out. Never even noticed myself . A 51 plate matiz came up buy it now on ebay for good money. Cue Dad going off on train to pick car up from somewhere in Norfolk. Looked it over, seemed fine, paid the man and drove it back some 200 plus miles! I was quite impressed, for an 800 it went well, was ok on the motorway and good on juice. She's had it a year now and it's been fine, due a new MOT soon so will see how it's faired over the year. She loves it and says she'd have another one.

[gtd2000]

For the true shiteist you'd need to go for a Chery QQ