Chevrolet Lacetti Range : SERIOUS VALUE

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Chevrolet's range of Lacetti hatches, estates and saloons aims to prove that spacious family motoring doesn't have to cost the thick end of £15,000. Jonathan Crouch reports

Every sixteenth car on the planet is a Chevrolet. Not in Britain of course, though over time, that is going to change now that the marque is establishing itself on these shores. Key to that process is sales performance of the Lacetti range we're looking at here, a car now being offered not only as a five-door hatch but also in saloon and Station Wagon forms.

Smartly styled by Guigiaro, the Lacetti certainly doesn't smack of something bargain basement, even if prices starting at around £10,000 for the entry-level 1.4SE 5-door Hatch pitch it against Superminis rather than larger family fare. Actually, in size, it sits somewhere between the Focus and Mondeo-sized classes, though if you're travelling in the rear (where the legroom is particularly impressive), you might pitch the car towards the upper end of that comparison. A recent package of changes aims to further strengthen the car's value proposition. The price of the entry-level 1.4-litre version has been reduced, despite the fact that the car now comes with alloy wheels, an alarm and rear parking sensors. Other prices in the line-up are pretty much unchanged, again, despite careful extra tweaks to the specifications of various models. The 1.6 SX variant for example, gets little touches like preparation for trailer connections, rear seat heating ducts, a rear seat coathook and a space saver spare tyre. It features alloy wheels too.

"Chevrolet have, by and large, done their homework wellâ€¦."

Break out the tape measure and you'll find that the Lacetti's wheelbase is a full 2600mm long, longer than cars like the Audi A3. Given that most cars in the Mondeo class campaign with a wheelbase of around 2670mm, you'll appreciate that the Lacetti offers a surprising amount of room for a `compact' car. And as we've suggested, with 932mm of rear legroom and 275 litres of boot volume, you'll not feel claustrophobic in the back of a Lacetti. Fold the rear bench down in the Hatch for example and, while keeping a keen eye open for animal welfare types, you'll be able to swing a generously sized cat in the 1,045 litres of fresh air at your disposal. If space is a particularly key issue, then the 1.6-litre Station Wagon version could well appeal. There's 400 litres of room available with the 60/40 split rear seats in place but a whopping 1,410 litres on offer should you drop them down. Alternatively, there's a 1.8-litre Station Wagon with automatic transmission or a five-door hatchback Sport version. Chevrolet have, by and large, done their homework well. The company claim that almost two-thirds of all petrol engines in this segment, for example, have a capacity of between 1.4 and 1.8 litres, so the three power units available for the Lacetti would seem to fit this bill very well. There are 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8-litre engines which all drink from the green pump. The petrol engines available are all tried and tested twin overhead camshaft powerplants driven by a toothed belt with four-valve technology. The entry-level power train in the Lacetti 1.4 Hatch generates 92 bhp and will accelerate the car through 60mph in 11.3 sec and on to a top speed of 107 mph. Overall fuel consumption is a very creditable 39.2 mpg. Next up is the 109bhp 1.6-litre unit, offered in hatch and estate bodystyles. This manages a top end of 116.2 mph and it dispatches the benchmark sprint in a sprightly 10.4 sec. With an even better fuel economy figure than the 1.4 (39.7mpg combined), the Lacetti 1.6 has a range of over 520 miles from the 13 gallon tank. The 122bhp 1.8-litre engine used in the Saloon provides some entertainment and can notch off the dash to 60mph in 9.3 seconds and will only run out of puff at a heady 121mph. The Lacetti's ride and handling have been optimised for European driving conditions, Chevrolet doing most of their chassis tuning at MIRA near Nuneaton. Twin front and side airbags, four-channel anti lock braking and five three-point seat belts are offered as standard on every model, the front belts featuring load limiters. Equipment levels have to be good to give the Lacetti any real chance against cheap Korean brands and by and large they are. As well as the features already mentioned, all buyers can expect to find central locking and electric front windows, while only the entry-level 1.4-litre Hatch does without air conditioning. Credible, quality, affordable cars always have a place in the family hatch sector and of late there have been precious few to fulfil those three criteria. Korean built it may be but Louis Chevrolet would have found a lot to like at the wheel of a Lacetti.

Facts At A Glance
CAR: Chevrolet Lacetti range
PRICES: £10,175-£13,265 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUPS: 4-7
CO2 EMISSIONS: 171-210g/km
PERFORMANCE: [1.8] 0-60mph - 9.8s / Max Speed - 121mph
FUEL CONSUMPTION: [1.8] (combined) 38.1mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front and side airbags, anti-lock brakes WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE ?: Length/Width/Heightmm 1925/1452/1180mm