Chevrolet Lacetti Station Wagon   Women's view

You Wont Have Been Thinking About Buying Chevrolets Lacetti Station Wagon But If Youre In The Market For An Affordable Yet Specious Estate, You Possibly Should Be. June Neary Has Been Checking One Out

For me, Station Wagons are essentially American in origin. So not surprisingly, large, spacious and thirsty visions filled my mind when the prospect loomed of a Chevrolet Lacetti Station Wagon filling my driveway for a week. As it turned out, this couldnt have been further from the truth. Well, the thirsty bit anyway.

As far as large and spacious are concerned, well, you could argue it either way. On one hand, theres no point in imagining space for grandfather clocks. But then, as an estate based on what is essentially a Ford Focus-sized Family Hatchback, you wouldnt expect that anyway. On the other hand, this is a surprisingly large and spacious car given its underpinnings.

And the affordable £11,395 price for the SX model I tried. In fact, I couldnt imagine that many people needing anything much larger. Would it suit me? If I was in the market for, say a Mondeo or a Vectra Estate, then realised I could have one of these with nearly as much space for £4,000 less, then yes, I think I could well be persuaded into one.

Why does this car make so much practical sense? Because someone has sat down and thought about how its going to be used and made the best of the dimensions available. The rear lamps are stacked vertically for example, thus ensuring a decent wide hatch. The loading bay is generously proportioned, this most modern of estates subscribing to the old school more is better philosophy when it comes to hauling ability. Theres 400 litres of space available with the rear seats in place but a whopping 1,410 litres available should you drop them down.

Like most good Family Hatchbacks, the rear bench features a 60/40 split for added versatility and theres an auxiliary 12v power supply to top up the kids Nintendos in the luggage bay. Chevrolet told me that there were no fewer than 25 individual storage spaces but I confess that I couldnt be bothered to search for them all. I did test the generous headroom for the driver and front seat passenger and would agree that the legroom in the rear is among the best in class.

Under the bonnet, I found an unremarkable 109bhp 1.6-litre petrol unit but a 1.8-litre 122bhp petrol engine is offered with the Sport variant for people seeking more power. No diesels apparently for some time though, which might be a drawback for some.

On paper, the 1.6-litre unit will get the car to a respectable 116mph and yet will also return a combined fuel economy figure of 34.5mpg. The ride and handling were OK, but it wasnt the kind of car I looked forward to driving to be honest.

Still, few buyers in this sector will want more than competency in this regard.

Chevrolet focuses wholeheartedly on value for money. Which is of course why this car only costs eleven grand. Its also why the marque is able to build one car every seven seconds. In fact, Im told that one car in every sixteen sold worldwide is a Chevrolet and over 175 million of them have been sold to date.

Britain hasnt contributed much to that tally so far but with this car offering air conditioning, ABS, electric windows plus a CD player (and just about all the other main items wed all put on our wish list) for such an affordable sticker fee, that could change.

I came away feeling that Chevrolet have found a useful niche in the market somewhere between the Korean cheapie value brands and the more conventional mainstream models. Its a niche that will interest many, in the case of the Lacetti Station Wagon, offering everything you need and nothing you dont. I can relate to that.