irishcar.com - Daewoo Matiz

The marque may only be in Ireland since January, but the distinctive Daewoo grille is becoming very evident amongst the crazily-growing number of new cars that one meets. Already the new-to-Ireland company is well on the way to meeting its target market share of 1.7% in this first year, and a dealer network that is eventually aimed at being 25-strong is only a few short of this.

It’s against this background that I took some time recently with the smallest of the four models currently on offer in Ireland, the Matiz. And it proved to be a very pleasant acquaintanceship. Surprisingly so, even, because though I had taken a brief spin in one last year, I had mentally stabled it with other recent Asian offerings in this class that looked funny and performed haphazardly.

Wrong decision. Taking a proper look at the Matiz we find that yes, it IS tall, but no, it is NOT oddly-proportioned. In fact, it’s aesthetically a quite good-looking package. Very ‘friendly’ from the front, looking rather like a scaled-down MPV from the Galaxie/Sharan/Alhambra montage. Very European, and that’s because it came from the styling desk of Giorgetto Guigiaro.

“It’s appealing, like a hamster,” suggested a colleague alternatively. Which might not exactly be what the marketing guys and gals in Daewoo would have in mind. But, hey ... sales are all about appeal, right?

And there’s much more to appeal from Matiz. But let’s look at the details first. The smooth body you can see in the picture, the flawless finish you can take from this writer’s experience. The space is super for the class, particularly for the rear passengers and for tall people like me. The capacity for luggage is not brilliant, but adequate for the normal use of a car this size.

The seating is high, giving an extra perspective over the hedges as one travels, and it also seems to be pretty well designed ergonomically because a fairly extended level of driving brought no aches or irritability. The steep rake of the windscreen allows a very airy feel when in front, as well as somewhere to (temporarily) dump things like maps and other essential travel bits like sunglasses cases.

(The kind of thing which drives my wife wild, because she finds herself easily distracted by reflections of such flotsam.)
All that said, mind you, it would be nice to have a little more in the line of storage bins around the front of the car, but I was quite happy with the cupholder recess which was a good place to park the mobile.

The instrument cluster is a model of simplicity, no rev-counter but each of the other three dials eminently clear. The driving position proved to be spot on for me.

The Matiz has power steering as standard, as well as dual airbags and central locking, and the Plus model I reviewed also had electric front windows and alloy wheels. (You can have air-conditioning too, but I’d expect it would do significant damage to power output and fuel consumption, which by the way is rated at over 44mpg on the combined cycle.)

And, of course, being from the other side of the world, the company offers a 3-year/60,000 miles warranty.

The power for all this comes from a 3-cylinder engine of less than 800cc capacity. Nevertheless it outputs 51bhp, which is respectable, and does it without unreasonable noise. Indeed, even at idle the unit is very smooth as three-pots go, while once you get it on the move there’s little to suggest that it’s anything but ‘normal’. For jizz, it does need to be pushed a little hard, and certainly you’ll be dropping down out of top sometimes on even moderate inclines. But I found it adequate for the car and its place in the scheme of things.

The price of the car reviewed is £9,285 plus the usual add-on for ‘plates and delivery’. The more basic model is even keener at £8,695, and represents very good value indeed for what you get in this under-1,000cc area.

Daewoo’s doing the business, all right. Watch them.

Daewoo Matiz is helping new marque to do the business	May 1999 by Brian Byrne.
The marque may only be in Ireland since January, but the distinctive Daewoo grille is becoming very evident amongst the crazily-growing number of new cars that one meets. Already the new-to-Ireland company is well on the way to meeting its target market share of 1.7% in this first year, and a dealer network that is eventually aimed at being 25-strong is only a few short of this. It’s against this background that I took some time recently with the smallest of the four models currently on offer in Ireland, the Matiz. And it proved to be a very pleasant acquaintanceship. Surprisingly so, even, because though I had taken a brief spin in one last year, I had mentally stabled it with other recent Asian offerings in this class that looked funny and performed haphazardly. Wrong decision. Taking a proper look at the Matiz we find that yes, it IS tall, but no, it is NOT oddly-proportioned. In fact, it’s aesthetically a quite good-looking package. Very ‘friendly’ from the front, looking rather like a scaled-down MPV from the Galaxie/Sharan/Alhambra montage. Very European, and that’s because it came from the styling desk of Giorgetto Guigiaro. “It’s appealing, like a hamster,” suggested a colleague alternatively. Which might not exactly be what the marketing guys and gals in Daewoo would have in mind. But, hey ... sales are all about appeal, right? And there’s much more to appeal from Matiz. But let’s look at the details first. The smooth body you can see in the picture, the flawless finish you can take from this writer’s experience. The space is super for the class, particularly for the rear passengers and for tall people like me. The capacity for luggage is not brilliant, but adequate for the normal use of a car this size. The seating is high, giving an extra perspective over the hedges as one travels, and it also seems to be pretty well designed ergonomically because a fairly extended level of driving brought no aches or irritability. The steep rake of the windscreen allows a very airy feel when in front, as well as somewhere to (temporarily) dump things like maps and other essential travel bits like sunglasses cases. (The kind of thing which drives my wife wild, because she finds herself easily distracted by reflections of such flotsam.) All that said, mind you, it would be nice to have a little more in the line of storage bins around the front of the car, but I was quite happy with the cupholder recess which was a good place to park the mobile. The instrument cluster is a model of simplicity, no rev-counter but each of the other three dials eminently clear. The driving position proved to be spot on for me. The Matiz has power steering as standard, as well as dual airbags and central locking, and the Plus model I reviewed also had electric front windows and alloy wheels. (You can have air-conditioning too, but I’d expect it would do significant damage to power output and fuel consumption, which by the way is rated at over 44mpg on the combined cycle.) And, of course, being from the other side of the world, the company offers a 3-year/60,000 miles warranty. The power for all this comes from a 3-cylinder engine of less than 800cc capacity. Nevertheless it outputs 51bhp, which is respectable, and does it without unreasonable noise. Indeed, even at idle the unit is very smooth as three-pots go, while once you get it on the move there’s little to suggest that it’s anything but ‘normal’. For jizz, it does need to be pushed a little hard, and certainly you’ll be dropping down out of top sometimes on even moderate inclines. But I found it adequate for the car and its place in the scheme of things. The price of the car reviewed is £9,285 plus the usual add-on for ‘plates and delivery’. The more basic model is even keener at £8,695, and represents very good value indeed for what you get in this under-1,000cc area. Daewoo’s doing the business, all right. Watch them.

Daewoo Matiz is helping new marque to do the business