Here’s how Daewoo Motors tried and failed to gain independence from GM
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- čas přidán 13. 08. 2021
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In this episode I provide the history of Daewoo Motors, starting in 1988 with the Pontiac LeMans, which was a rebadged Opel Kadett. After that car's failure by 1993, Daewoo launched three new cars of their own in North America, the Lanos, Nubira, and Leganza, starting in 1998. But all three of those cars were gone by 2002 following Daewoo's bankruptcy. GM would then acquire Daewoo's assets to become GM Korea, where they later built the Chevy Aveo, Spark and Sonic, as well as other cars still being produced today long after the death of the Daewoo brand. - Auta a dopravní prostředky
8:12
Fun fact: the Daewoo Lacetti did make it to North America as the Chevrolet Optra in Canada and as the Suzuki Forenza in the US
That's right. And I believe the Suzuki Reno was its HB counterpart, a friend had one and it was far from a good experience
I have sat in a Chevrolet Optra before, and while its interior held up pretty well after 17 years, it isn't fun to drive at all. It's surprisingly hard to shift that car into reverse (it's a five speed dogleg manual transmission). You'd normally pull the piece of rubber under the shifter to shift it into reverse, but even that was very difficult.
In Colombia My grandfather’s last car was a Chevy Optra 5 speed manual I remember taking road trips with it
@@damilolaakanni Had an Optra. Was a great little car. Shifter was fine and reverse no issue. The strange thing was front power windows back roll up windows.
There was 3 models the optra, optima and the spectra that were all Korean.
I got one for you! The Suzuki's final years in The USA, mainly there attempt to sort of re-launch themselves in The early 2000s, models like The Verona and Forenza.
Poor Suzuki. I think they actually had something with the little SX4, but no dealership network or marketing budget to sell them. The introduction of the Kizashi as their last attempt made zero sense to me; should've tried a bigger and/or upmarket SX4.
@@timothyhh I remember an established Lincoln-Mercury dealer around where I live, opened up a Suzuki dealership across street from there main dealer.
One day, I went over to take a look at the Suzuki's and liked the looks of cars. However, with little dealer network and a tarnished name I knew the dealer wouldn't make it, the owners never advertised it or anything either. In 2012 when it was announced Suzuki was leaving The US market I wasn't too shocked. I'm sort of waiting for Mitsubishi to do the same thing.
I rented a Verona in New England back in 2004. It was a perfectly fine car to me. Had never heard of it until then, but still.
@@JL-sm6cg I sat in one but never drove it, I liked the feel of it and the way it was laid out.
@@JL-sm6cg I bought 2 of them over 3 or 4 years. They were very comfortable cars to drive and had a wonderful interior layout. Unfortunately, they just had no longevity. One died at 99k miles and the other died at 150k miles. The odd thing was they both had the same issues through ownership. The transmission was jumpy, the steering wheel radio controls didn't work, and wheel bearings. Eventually both had blown head gaskets. They were treated well with oil changes and services on time.
Bought an Aveo new in 2006. Because of the damn gas price surge. Still have it. Runs perfect, no rust, comfy, lots of glass to see out, none of the tech sh*t that is stuffed in the new crap built since then. An engine that doesn't have GDI or turbos! Scarilige!!! 😁
Bought an Aveo new in 2005. Pretty good car today, though it's now relegated to second-car status at 135,000 miles. It's been fairly reliable, a few repairs along the way but visually it still looks good and is comfortable to ride in. It's one of the cars people love to hate, alas.
You forgot to mention that several Daewoo models continued to be sold in the 2000s as rebadged Suzukis. For example, the Lacetti was sold as the Forenza (sedan) and Reno (hatchback).
i was gonna say that looks like the forgettable Forenza
Admittedly I was a Suzuki fanboy back in the day of the original Geo Metro (Suzi Swift) and Suzuki Sidekick, I just like their simple design and ease of maintenance. In the past decade or so, the Suzuki name has been utter garbage and I found out it was because they were just rebadging Daewoos as Suzukis. Instead of backing out of the American market where they couldnt keep up, they decided to destroy any reputation they had by buying and then reselling some of the worst cars available at the time. What a shame
Lacetii was the Chevrolet Optra in Canada
@@JackieTheTruck unfortunately they seemed to be a company that could only make affordable small cars, they did have the decent looking Kizashi in the US at the end but it needed to be part of a brand that wasnt dying. Surprising they could never use their motorcycle heritage and brand to expand offerings.
@@tomd815 I totally agree, they were great at making small economy cars. It's always odd to me that companies wont stick to a segment even if its not glorious, since so many American companies really struggled to make decent economy entry level cars in the 90s and early 2000s
What about an episode on Daihatsu. I always thought the Rocky was an interesting competitor to the Suzuku Side Kick.
Yes! I had a Charade, and it was an amazing car. I pulled a boat from Ohio to Florida, and a tiny camper from coast to coast all along the I-10 corridor. It was a beater when I got it, and only paid 30 hours of labor for it. It was probably one of the most memorable cars I've ever had.
Good 1
I have one. It is awesome, economical and reliable.
They were generally regarded as very good cars and still being built in Japan. But they pulled out of many European countries due to heavy competition in their typical small car segment. Especially the Toyota Aygo / Citroën C1 / Peugeot 107 (same car from the same factory) was much cheaper but those were built in Eastern Europe and neither in Japan or France.
@@CheapBastard1988 I think the main problem was the currency. The Yen was very high, which made Daihatsu more expensive.
Still I think it is a waste, in some countries in Europe Daihatsu did really well. I still hope for a comeback, especially as more and more companies are pulling out from the smallest segment.
I'm still driving my Leganza as daily driver since we purchased it new 21yrs ago. It's a great little car.
i have leganza in my garage too. but in my case, it's a summer weekend car. i also have Daewoo Evanda [magnus] that is my daily driver and with 340 000+ km on clock without any bigger issues i can't really agree with anyone who says daewoo built bad cars.
@@lordmmx1303 Well the fact that you have your Daewoo in a garage says a lot. It also helps if you or your family have had it since it was new. Because they didn't really like the wet weather and the salty roads. My friend had a Lanos and it was pretty decent when it wasn't very old yet (and he got it cheap). But as it got older (not that old only 12 years), it developed a very hard to find reliability problem which turned out to be caused by corrosion on the ECU ground connection on the chassis under the passenger seat. Also rust was starting to form everywhere and expanded rapidly (in the typical '90's Opel fashion). Also the interior wasn't very well finished and wasn't made of very pleasant materials either. Of course at that point it was also made on an ancient platform which was becoming noticeable in both handling and safety. As a second hand car a few years down the road, it felt much older than it actually was.
And that car was taken care of much better than my current 2001 Ford Mondeo but even at nearly 21 years old, it is still in better condition than that 1998 Lanos was in 2010. I wouldn't say that Daewoo was awful or even bad but just not as good as most other (granted more expensive) brands. They were very well priced second hand and that made up for a lot. But given the opportunity I'd prefer an older car from a different brand for the same price.
@@CheapBastard1988 actually no, i'm second owner but first owner was a cop who spent most of his life in police car so leganza was resting most of the time in garage and was not driven during winter at all. That's what saved it from rusting away. But on the other hand i had many daewoo cars since day i got driver license. I had two nexias, espero, lanos and now i have Evanda as a daily. Next one will be Tosca after Evanda ends up in scrap. I also had some opels and have bmw x3 2014 but I'm having way more problems with single bmw than with all daewoos combined.
I agree that plastics in lanos aren't the best, but in lanos 2 they were way better quality. Lanos was in fact based on kadett platform just slightly moddified (many parts from nexia fitted into lanos) , on the other hand it was so cheap to maintain and i never had an issue with rust on lanos, but i did some rust proofing on day i bought it. Also there were plastics covers available that you could install over rear wheels to protect car from rocks and sand and dirt that was thrown around by wheels.
@@CheapBastard1988 oh and yes, i got lanos for 400 euro and sold it for 400 euro 4 years later. Bargain. I got espero for free from friend but it had issues so i scrapped it after 2 years. Nexia was my first car, i got it from parents but they never did any rust protection so even after many efforts it rusted so bad i had to scrap it. Well, it served me for 6 years. And since one point i always had at least 2 cars at the same time. Right now I have leganza, evanda, crossland x and x3 .
@@lordmmx1303 I was wondering why you've had so many but still liked them. The price makes up for a lot. Though the main thing I didn't like about the Lanos was the upholstery. It never felt nice to touch with bare skin (which is hard to avoid when wearing a t-shirt).
I've been driving the same 2001 Mondeo for nearly 13 years. It wasn't cheap @ €7000 back in early 2009. But it still lasts even though I still regularly drive back home from work at about 170km/h (indicated) and even top out at 215km/h (nearly 230km/h indicated) several times a year. Also I haven't washed it for years now and rust still isn't that bad. Even after that tree fell on it which only damaged the bonnet.
BMW's are typically major headaches when it comes to reliability. I've read that BMW tuning enthusiasts replace the Variable Valve Timing (known with BMW as Vanos) solenoids every 60000km just as preventive maintenance. Well designed systems usually outlast the rest of the car. Also several V8 BMW engines were just designed badly. Up to the point where a dealership would sell a new base engine block for cheap as they would fail so often. Personally I would prefer any Daewoo to a modern BMW or VW when it comes to reliability.
Actually Daewoo initially did very well in Europe with their friendly dealerships and hassle free warranty claims and BMW and VAG dealerships/importers are the worst I've ever seen (especially on warranty claims like the awful VAG TFSI engines). Mercedes on the other hand have been outstanding where you could still buy brand new parts for 35 year old models at the dealership. Ford in my experience was varied, depending on the dealership in question not that a cheapskate like me often visits a dealership.
I worked for a car rental company for a couple of years in the early 1990s when the Lemans was still being built. The owner of our franchise bought a bunch of the Lemans at auctions so that they could be used as cars to encourage customers to upgrade to a better car. However, our sales department actually like the Lemans and always said they seemed to have fewer issues with those cars when they were sold than some other cars with better reputations.
I worked for the local Chevy dealer in 1989-90, and had bought an 88 sedan model off the used lot because I was young, not rich, just married, and not well-informed on what was really a good or bad car. I worked in the parts department and I did realize that we rarely had them in the shop for repair. I actually enjoyed the car. Fuel mileage was great and it wasn't unpleasant to drive, but it did have valvetrain problems about a year in.
It wasn't an expensive fix and when I traded the car off it wasn't because I didn't like it. My wife simply wanted something bigger.
Fun fact: the technician who repaired it said the engine was Brazilian-manufactured.
@@k.b.tidwell - I worked for a Pontiac dealer & we didn’t see too many Lemans (Daewoo) in for major service - just lots of little things, like seat belt lights, radios, etc.
It boiled down to German Opel design/engineering via Korea - German reliability at reasonable cost.
@@k.b.tidwell this car was called Chevrolet Kadett here in Brazil. Sold really well.
@@walterty3627 Actually the MK2 Astra (Daewoo le man's) was designed and built in the UK, nothing to do with Opel or Germany, in fact the current model is still built in the UK and imported to Germany to be rebadged as an Opel.
Every other Opel\Vauxhall is as you say, designed in Germany by Opel, the Astra is the one exception.
I remember working at a Dodge and Daewoo dealer in 2000, my favorite part was rolling the Daewoos off the truck and straight into my bay for recalls.
Have you done a video on the first gen Mazda MPV? I had an 89 that I kinda liked.
The first car I ever drove on public streets at the age of 14 was a Daewoo Leganza. My dad and I went on a trip out to California and it was our rental car. We found ourselves in the middle of nowhere and my dad asked if I wanted to drive, and I eagerly accepted. I drove for an hour or so without incident, enjoying every moment.
In retrospect, the car was nothing special, but it holds a place in my heart.
For the short time I had one, it ran good, only issue I had was with the sound system which surprisingly, was one of their big selling items. Looked nice, but was cheaply made, especially the side panels & the cheap, so called leather.
Nice memories
Thanks for this episode! I have such a soft spot for Daewoo and still lust after the Leganza with a passion. Sadly they’re nowhere to be found :(
Yes, the Leganza! That was the car I wanted as an upgrade to my Lemans. So sleek. Beautiful sporty sedan.
@@ericmcclellan5391 Had a Leganza with the leather seats. Was the most cost effective car we have ever had.They did have a finite lifespan of 200k before rust gets them completely but they were very competent for their price point. NOT sporty by any means tho with less than 140hp.
I've owned mine since new in 2000, still my daily driver with 163K miles on it. You're right, they are far and few between now. I never see another one on the roads nowadays. We affectionately refer to it as "the Woo".
@@jjthegreat1981 lol, “Sporty” is a matter of perspective. In those days in Korea, motorcycles were restricted to a maximum of 250cc. Hyundai was just reaching the luxury and quality level of the Japanese with the Sonata III. There were no “sport cars” per se. With lines inspired by the original LeMans, the monicker oddly rebadged to the compact 1.6 liter, the Leganza was a closer incarnation of Pontiac’s muscular legend, even if only in lines and more power than a subcompact. It truly was a “sporty” alternative in Korea.
Bad boys drove Leganzas.
Daewoo Leganza can be still seen in Poland
I remember walking into a Daewoo dealership in CT when the cars were first launched in 98 or 99. The cars were gorgeous and the price was slightly less than comparable Toyota’s, Honda’s, and Mazda’s. The biggest thing that worked against these cars were weak transmissions and awful marketing (never mind legal problems for the CEO).
Just before their launch, the idiotic marketing team for North America decided to open up dealerships in predominantly southern college-towns, offering a 30-day free test drive, and then giving a replacement car to anyone who didn’t LOVE their cars! 60 Minutes and the New York Times both did stories on this screwy marketing campaign and how kids in Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, etc were picking up their free cars and (literally) trashing the demos. Once done, they’d just return the car and say, “No, thanks.” and that was it. How moronic!
I personally knew football players at Ole Miss and LSU that did this, as well as frat boys at Texas Tech! Some of those guys were actually given second and third cars to destroy.
By the time I walked into the beautiful, new CT dealership, the first question I asked was about the 30-day test drive? Sheepishly, the salesman admitted that Daewoo has since stopped that program.
LMFAO!!!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂
I worked for Daewoo in France from 1994 until 1997. It was a great company ; we used to sell lot of cars and the brand had a good image with customers. Price and quality were just perfect by the time for European market but GM killed us😢😢 .... We still can see many Daewoo on the road 20 years latter !!!...👍👍👍
nice cars
I live near one of the Daewoo test markets (Delaware) so actually saw a fair number of Daewoos on the road back on the early 2000s but they disappeared pretty quickly and the ones that remained looked way more clapped out than any 5ish year old car should look.
I had the opel version, a GSE 1.6 i. stick shift. What an amazing car, reliable, fast, fuel efficient, had a 60 mile drive to work, 100mph, all day, every day. I enjoyed that drive. loved that car.
Opel did not have a GSE/GSi 1.6i. You probably drove a GT or Frisco model which were pretty good performers for only 75hp.
Here in Chile Daewoo cars sold for the most part pretty good, the first ones sold okay, the matiz was a best seller, the Aveo was of course awful but it still sold well into the 2010s (practical, cheap to run, compact sedan you could buy new for a very low price) the spark and Sonic were extremely popular in their segments, mostly thanks to the modern design.
Viva Chile!
Also Pontiac Matiz G2 in Mexico, Chevrolet Spark in Asia, copycat Chinese Chery QQ in China, 3 wheeled Matiz as SNYDER ST 600 in the US.
Fun fact: The Cielo (spanish for heaven) was sold here as Daewoo Heaven, and older models also sold as daewoo racer, mostly sold to be used as cabs
I did see quiet a few Daewoo buses in Middle East. It was very nice buses.
even today you can see some lanos and nubiras in chilean streets.
I own a 2004 Aveo 5 door hatchback. It is doing fabulously well.
The Achilles Heel on these cars is the fact that the timing belt needs to be replaced every 60K miles. And it's not so much the belt as the idler pulley which is made of plastic and eventually cracks apart (!!) Many owners have ignored the belt change and being an interference engine, the pulley failure becomes an engine killer. Consequently these cars are becoming very rare on the street, but not in the boneyard. There was also a recall on the daytime driving light module that was said to be a fire hazard, but mine has never been a problem.
I acquired my car in 2020 at 65K miles, immediately changed the belt/pulleys/water pump, (The idler pulley was cracked halfway through the radius) and did some other routine maintenance, and the car is a joy to drive. It is a peppy and nimble little go-kart of a car. It is comfortable and roomier that it would seem to be.The sheet metal is a bit on the thin side, and being in Chicago, I did acquire it with a certain amount of rust, but nothing unmanageable.
Anyway, bottom line is I love it and am babying it...no salty winter driving on this baby. I have a Cherokee XJ for that. The Italian design is distinct. I do believe the 2004-2005 5 door hatchbacks are a classic design. I am routinely complimented on the car being cute...and it is. Aerodynamic with rounded edges. Of all the Aveo/Sonic/Spark models, I like this design best. I consider it a collectable. Gas mileage could be better (28 highway, 20-22 city) for a 1.6L engine, but I'm not complaining. It has been a totally dependable daily driver . It's a keeper over here.
Thanks for the comment. I always appreciate hearing an owner's first hand experience
I had a 88 lemans , it was good to me as long as you kept a timing belt in the glove box . Changing the timing belt was a breeze and you could change the clutch and throw out bearing without pulling the transmission .
I agree, the engine must've been a 'non-interference' cause my daughter's Lemans snapped & I was able to replace it on the side of the road & continue driving it. The 2nd time it happened, we traded it in on a Pontiac Sunbird.
Nice!!! I love hearing stories about obscure car brands :)
Me too. I honestly had forgotten that Daewoo even existed until I saw this video.
Well, Daewoo isn't all that obscure to the industry and it's still a big corporation today.
Daewoo not only used European designs but they used Holden designs from Australia.
Fun fact - @2:37 - the black plastic across the back of the Pontiac’s trunk/hatchback, as seen in the thumbnail was just there to cover over the wide European license plate indentation stamped into the sheet metal seen at 2:37.
If you looked on the inside of the trunk lid you could still see it.
I used to be obsessed with Daewoos back when I was little, due to their extreme rarity in the US.
Dae...WOW!....lol.
Aveo was also available in Chevy Trim in South Africa, I found it to be a very nice car, The Spark is really an awesome little city runner
Bring one to Northern Minnesota...YOU'LL EXPERIENCE FIRST-HAND WHAT PILES OF RUSTING CRAP THESE "CARS" REALLY ARE!
Aveo had decent torque for its weight, it was actually nice to drive for its price. But it is VERY insecure .
My wife and I purchased two Nubria wagons at our local Daewoo dealership when the company announced they were shutting down.
We bought them as inexpensive, paid $16,000 for both, commuter cars to save our "GOOD CARS" for the ravages of daily use.
Both racked up over 200k miles with minimal issues.
Not the greatest cars we have ever owned but not nearly as bad as urban legend suggests.
They never left us stranded or failed to start.
The next generation of Lanos Nubria and Leganza were indeed sold in North America.
Not as Daewoo vehicles but as Suzuki .
The Reno Forenza and Verona were designed and built by Daewoo.
my lanos had a couple issues. one time the car shut off as I was driving because the injectors were clogged. never had that happen before or since in any other car. I do pretty regularly put a bottle of lucas oil injector cleaner in the gas tank nowadays though, so that might help. don't feel it's necessary in my hyundai, but do it just in case. the next time I had to park it due to a part failing was when the two halves of the plastic thermostat housing that were held together with epoxy came apart. car started overheating and spewing coolant all over the place. the mechanic found a similar, but metal, thermostat housing that would work and replaced the garbage stock one. never had any problems again.
Your videos are quite interesting to see. I find them informative. Daewoo did sell the Chevrolet Cruze as the Daewoo Lacetti, and the Holden Caprice as a Daewoo Statesman and Daewoo Veritas.
Yup..A SHAME!
Wrong...The Daewoo Lacetti Premiere was sold as a Chevy Cruze!
@@echipaconstructii6614 In November 2008, the second-generation Lacetti was launched as the Daewoo Lacetti Premiere, a badge-engineered version of the Chevrolet Cruze, co-developed by GM Daewoo, Holden, and General Motors.
@@OLDS98 man, you throw me copy-paste from wikipedia:))
The same wikipedia says : "In 2008, GM introduced the Cruze compact car, carrying the "J300" internal designation.[27] Mainly developed by GM Korea, this J300 iteration serves as a replacement for the Chevrolet Cobalt, Daewoo Lacetti and Holden Astra compact cars".
You see what it says? Mainly developed by GM Korea.
GM Korea is Daewoo. It was renamed GM Korea in 2011...in 2008 it was still Daewoo. I recognise a Daewoo when I see one.
A friend of mine had a 2000 Daewoo Leganza in the early 2000's at the time it was only 4 years old and had 21,000 miles on it. It have a variety of problems including the faux leather dashboard peeling off, back doors that didn't open, a sunroof that didn't open and leaked, and an air-conditioner that randomly turned on even in 20° weather just to name a few.
In Mexico, the Daewoo Matiz was sold as both a Chevy and Pontiac with both using the same Matiz nameplate.
The Lacetti was brought to America, but it was rebadged as a Suzuki Forenza.
I was about to say this 👌🏾🥂
Ohhh ....so that's why i dont see Forenzas running around anymore😂
@@boricuacarenthusiast2553 The timing belts all broke. They have a 60k interval and no one changes them
quickly becoming one of my fav channels i learn so much keep up the great work would love one on the olds delta series owned both a 88 and 98
I remember the Consumer Reports review of this car being particularly bad, followed by years of nothing but black circles in their annual reliability ratings. Just another car in GM's lineup that showed their contempt for the people they were theoretically trying to sell cars to.
And its only gotten worse over the years. "NEW GM" HATES their customers with a passion. Yet they keep going back every few years for more.
GM had CONTEMPT for their buyers since the mid-1950s! Cheaply built CRAP that (with a VERY FEW exceptions) was ALWAYS THERE TO RIP BUYER'S OFF!
The “gold standard” for CR bad reviews remains the 1986 Yugo GV. They advised you purchase almost any used car over this one as new.
Ah yes. The Daewoo Lanos. Earliest memory of that car is when I was 10 and was struck by one while crossing the street on my bike in 2011. Car was totaled. I was surprisingly fine apart from a chipped vertebrae. Ah the memories.
I know two people who still own and drive Daewoos. When it comes to pronunciations I always go with the US advertising. In my opinion the ad was approved by the company and that is what with which they were happy.
how many miles they have on the Daewoos?
I was born in 93 and that scene from Pineapple Express was the first time I ever heard of a Daewoo and was hoping I'd see that clip in this video. You did not disappoint great video and channel
"Day-oo" is the correct pronunciation. In Korean, it's 대우. "대" (day) "우" (oo).
Also, the "y" in Hyundai is not silent. Hyundai = 현대 = 현 (hyun) 대 (day). If you're not sure how to pronounce the "hyun" part of Hyundai, think of a cowboy trying to get a bunch of cattle moving : "Hyah!"
Day is pronounced as '데이' in korean. Not '대'
Hyundai often sounds pronounced like Honda in the USA.
Hyundai is pronounced HUN-day
Most accurate way to pronounce is Deh-ooh (read like American). Anyways I don't really care if they pronounce it wrong.
"Day oo" would just be "대이우"
Each to their own, I heard a yank pronounce a jag as a jag-wire
We had the Opel Astra F sedan, Daewoo cielo and Daewoo lacetti as cheverolet optra and cheverolet cruze in India 🇮🇳 in the past . All GM cars, they were successful except for the cielo which flopped . The trio of Astra , Optra and Cruze were treated as sedans with built quality, Features and luxury from a segment above. The poor man's Mercedes if you could call it that. It started with Astra F sedan in the 90s for GM in India and then optra and cruze took it forward to another level. Hell the cruze is still considered as a cult classic among sedans even today when GM has left India in 2017.
Cruze by Cruze is one of the worst car in the USA last 10 years.
@@djkenny1202In India till recent years cars is considered as luxury, only few can afford it and mid to fullsize sedans like elantra, accord, camry are super rare and most of us never seen one, that's the reason why they're considered as luxury cars
My friend who don't know about cars was surprised when he found 2015 cruize for 4k AUD
@@pranaym3859 I think that the 1.4 turbo models are pretty alright cars. There's a small aftermarket for those here in the US
@@pranaym3859 Elantra is decently common even the accord is seen many times even when it is out of production in India but the camry , that is super rare because its a CBU import , hence expensive as hell . People go for Toyota fortuner SUV at that price point. Plus Toyota here in India charges extra for reliability unlike others who try to price it aggressively despite being similarly reliable like Honda , Suzuki and Hyundai.
My first car i bought when i was 20 in 2012 was a 2008 Suzuki Forenza which was a rebadged Daewoo, i loved that car being my first ever!
Everything else on the car said Daewoo except the steering wheel and badges outside the car.
I was a big fan of Top Gear then too so i obviously had to have their name and Logo on my rear windshield.
When I was a kid my dad had a green Daewoo Leganza he bought new. It spent more time in the workshop than in the road, it was a clunker but we loved it. He gave the car for free and bought a Camry which he is still driving with no major flaws
So glad you made this video!!!!!!!
We had the Vauxhall Astra in the UK and I was UTTERLY confused and bewildered as a child visiting the US in the 90s as to why there were so many lookalike Vauxhall Astras with various different wheel trims, logos and styling quirks! 🤣
When Daewoo finally landed in the UK with a rebranded “old” Astra I was done 🤯
Never realised there was such a Dark history to the company either - $80bn!!??
I tell you what, as teen, my Le Mans handled muddin' surprisingly well. Otherwise it was a hunk of junk.
Oldsmobile Alero. I know you did Grand AM, but the Alero was the last Olds ever produced. I had an '02 Alero and drove that thing till the wheels basically fell off, lol.
So, you did make it to the first oil change! Congrats!
@@milfordcivic6755 huh? I had the car for 6 years and had no problems at all out of it. Put almost 160K miles on it before I sold it.
I had some Opel/Deawoos here in Australia.My Nice Still Drives a 96 Deawoos 1500.Put new Camshaft in 3 Years ago!Great Cars.
As always excellent video with tons of detail and info
9:39 I'm glad the insects and arachnids chose such a slow car to ride on. If they had picked a Camaro or a Mustang, they would all have died gruesome deaths against the radiator, sucked into the vanes by the cooling fans. As for the grasshopper shielding the ant's eyes from the dragonfly impact, he should have covered the caterpillar's eyes instead as it was the juvenile. Just saying.
Had one of those Sonics/Aveo. The insects would die with the smell of coolant, it was all-over the place and the cooling system was mediocre at best.
@@rjft7003 Let me have one thing, just one single thing, in this cruel world that makes me smile, dammit! LOL!
No mention of Tank and his Deawoo from Madtv 😂
Oh yeah,the lime green one with the cheesy orange flames!
His Daewoo had some great hydraulics
Was not expecting a Daewoo video to start with the greatest car ad campaign of all time.
I still remember long after Daewoo left, seeing a Daewoo dealership sign in Kalamazoo Michigan when going to help my brothers move back home after ever college semester at Western Michigan.
Man...please keep making these vids, love them !
One of my friends got an Aveo pretty much as a hand-me-down last year. This year it had a serious battery/wiring defect and died, was revived by my S40, caught fire and died again.
An ’88 LeMans was my first car. Absolute. Worst. Brakes. Ever. Period. Sometimes I thought I was going to have to stick my leg out of the car and Fred Flintstone it to a stop. To this very day I still have the habit of breaking whenever I see brake lights no matter how far in front of me.
Aside from the horrid brakes, cheap interior, cardboard thick doors (I could go on) it did have some redeeming qualities. One, it was rather reliable. And another, it never, ever ran out of gas. I am pretty sure that thing was still running on the gas from the dealership when I got rid of it.
Corsa and Kadett over in Europe had the same problem. Your really needed to apply brut force to the brake pedal and then it would stop.... After locking the wheels and turn 180⁰ or going off the road.
To make things worst, I remember everyone of my friends with Opel claiming it had excelent brakes and that the ones on my Renault were crap... Guess what? They weren't
@@TheAllMightyGodofCod it depended greatly on which version you had. Also remember that the pontiac lemans was based off of literally the lowest spec'd Opel Kadetts and any and all higher spec they did add was done by GM and their korean subsidiary at the sime. The higher spec kadetts didn't have much issues, were really good quality and were especially better when they went into their facelited version. I don't know which renault you're talking about, but just like with many of the smaller, cheaper cars in every euro range at the time, underpowered brakes isn't uncommon on lower specs.
@@TheChill001 I had the 19. The brakes felt "underpowered" to somo due to the fact that the pedal had a big travel but if you were not afraid to let the pedal sink, the car would stop very quickly and with no wheel lock. It was very progressive.
The Kadett really looked well when it came out but they have all disappeared from our roads but other cars from the same period didn't. Still see a bunch of Golf MK2 driving around or even Corsas from the same period.
Keep in mind that in the 80's I was a total fan of Opel and I really thought the Kadett E was amazing but it really was not. I would say it was the worst of the Kadetts, so much so that the name changed... And yes, I know it was to have a single name between Vauxhall and Opel but you have need to consider they could as easily swapped the Vauxhall Astra for a Vauxhall Kadett nameplate but they didn't.
@Sean Gavin I believe you... Never drove a Golf MK2. However I have driven the Renault 19, from 1991 (we had 2, one from 1991 another from 1993) and both had far superior brakes and I do still drive the Passat b4 (based on a golf MK2 platform but with some... A lot... Of imporvements) and the brakes are absolutely spot on. I do admit the ones on the golf might be rubbish but I never heard anyone say that before.
My friends first car...it lasted well into the 2000s the main complaint was no power steering.
Thanks to take time in your videos to highlight the differences with the Canadian market!
Fantastic video, hilarious snippets. Nice.
1:30 and 9:24 are Chevrolet 1700, a Korean copy of the Australian Holden LJ Torana
I haven’t seen a Honda prelude, Eagle and Daewoo in a long time.
There were a lot of Daewoo factories in Europe and other neighbouring countries. We had one in Romania until 2008, when Ford came and took over. Funny enough, I have a Nubira 2 from 2002. Back in the day, Daewoo was the best alternative to a Dacia.
There was a Holden link too. For example the Daewoo Royale Prince had its body panels stamped in South Australia by Holden and were off the Holden Commodore, itself a heavily revised Opel with unique Australian motor and much suspension work to strengthen the car.
It was also available as a Le Mans in Canada my neighbor had two.
That's one sad story about a car company, but has a sort of happy ending at least. Those Tellurides are pretty nice.
@ladawg81 You’re in the minority. It’s a nice SUV and most people love them.
@ladawg81 most people love the lights, the rectangle lights as you said, as well as the rest of the car. You can't even buy them, have to order them and wait.
I knew a lady that bought a Lanos brand new. It was a good car for her, but she didn't know the timing belt had to be changed. One day it broke and the car immediately burned to the ground, on the spot pulling out of a parking lot
Oh my gosh!!! That's how I reacted when I saw my first car in your thumbnail. There is so little information about the 90's Pontiac Lemans I was beginning to question whether I ever owned one. Haha. Mine was a 92 or 93 hatchback, neon green like your thumbnail, stick shift, with no radio or ac. I put a radio and a sunroof in. And with some pinstripes, it ended up being a nice-looking little car. The stick shift gave me trouble from the start despite it being practically brand new. The fact that I was just learning how to drive a stick didn't help. I'm driving a 2009 Aveo5 currently. And yes, I also have been pronouncing it A-v-oh just to find out recently that most other people in my area pronounce uh-VAY-oh. Finally, wow, I'm so shocked to find out the Trax and its cousins are made in Korea and that the Sonic was made in America. Entertaining and informative video to watch. If you have any more info on the Lemans, please make another video.
Interesting video on Daewoo, I would like to see a video on the 88-90 Daihatsu Charade.
I bought a new Charade in 1990 drove it for 10 years 162,000 miles and only thing I did to it was a tune up, oil changes and tires , I sold it to a guy who needed a car to drive to work and heard he got several more years out of it before it got totaled , I have to say it was a really good car
@@gregggoins1103 very solid cars. Just overpriced originally
Did you know that in Canada, we had also the Suzuki Swift in mid 2000 that was also a rebadge chevy Aveo/Pontiac Wave?
No that was actually a Suzuki built in Canada along with the Pontiac Firefly
@@billyjack5957 i dont talk about the 90´s version on the suzuki swift, i talk about the mid 2000 swift
A medical firm I worked for used the Pontiac (Daewoo) Lemans for delivery vehicles .I and 2 other drivers were involved in crashes where the brakes would fade, then lock up .
I remember Dewoo in Poland, they had purchased FSO in 1995 and started to manufacture Daewoo Nexia, then Nubira and Lanos. As I recall Nexia was a rebadged Kadett, but they were decent cars vs Polish Polonez or Fiat. Nice video!
I remember it being call "Day-Eww".
IT LIVED UP TO THAT!
You should do a GMT400 video, they have from 454 SS to 6.5 Turbo Diesel
My buddies first car was a Pontiac LeMans GSE. We beat the brakes off that car. That car was a screamer. She would top out at 120 but at that speed the vibrations literally felt like the car was gonna break apart right underneath ya. Man I made some good memories in that car. Thanks for the video.
I had a 2009 Aveo and it was a cheaply made POS but I made a lot of great memories with it. I had such an emotional bond with it that after I got in an accident I replaced it with a Sonic (made in Michigan but very similar) that sadly only made it 70,000 miles before everything starting falling apart, my wifes Sonic has over 70k and has never had anything break on it though.
The South Korean economy in the 80s and 90s was growing fast but over-leveraged and over reliant on heavy industry and manufacturing. A country of 50 million, it had 5 independent car manufacturing companies. The 1997 financial crisis shook things up a bit.
The problem with the Leganza was that it never offered a six cylinder engine! It was supposed to but later on Suzuki offered one in the Verona!
It’s a real shame that Daewoo had the reputation that it did because, as a young family, our first better family car was a Lanos. I absolutely loved that car. I felt relatively safe in it & it was a blast to drive. I was disappointed when we had to sell it due to our growing family. I replaced it with a Toyota Previa minivan.
I don’t know if you’ve done this already but I’d love to see an episode on the Pontiac Grand Prix!! I once owned a 1996 Grand Prix GT and loved it!!
I love the videos, keep it going. I got a good suggestion for an upcoming video. Since we once sold French cars in the U.S, how about do a video on the Renault Alliance/Encore? AMC/Renault sold a good amount of those in the 80's, but now, they've all but disappeared. It should be interesting to watch.
Keep an eye out later today...
Great piece of Daewoo history, here in the UK the name was considered thrifty and an updated Vauxhall so had reasonably good sales. Whilst now the GM based cars have substantially decreased in numbers the Daewoo Matiz has somewhere in the region of 2000 cars left in the UK.
It would be great to have an episode on the Peugeot 504 / 505 / 604 the family of rear wheel drive cars imported to the US from France especially those diesel models, NY taxi fleets etc.
I saw chevy aveos when I worked as a wash guy at a chevy dealership as a 16-17 year old now at 30 I own a chevy spark EV which was only made as a compliance car for 3 model years 2014-2016 thank you for this video! Interesting to learn the history of Daewoo!
Great video! Thanks
I owned a 1987 Chevrolet Sprint Turbo. It was a rebadged Suzuki . It had a white exterior with red exterior accents and a medium/large decal ( turbo logo on the doors) and grey interior and nice red, orange, yellow stripes on the nice sporty bucket seats! One of my favorite cars I had owned in the late 90's!
Great video, thanks! I once had a 1980 Toyota Corona Liftback in Australia. It was maroon with a purple velvet interior. I loved that car! I don't know if it was available in North America. I would love to see a video about that car because you just never see any reference to them.
We had a Daewoo dealership in a town close to me in the late 90’s. It didn’t last very long.
I’m really enjoying your videos. How about covering the late 70’s/early 80’s Renault Gordini or Fiat X19? My older brother had both of these cars back in the 80’s. I have fond memories of them.
A few cars I had that I'd love to see you do this on were my 1986, 1983, and 1984 Isuzu Impulse and my Mitsubishi Starion.
Lots of informaiton explaining the nature of the relatiohshp between Daewoo and GM. Thankful Daewoo existed. THanks for explaining their story.
Yes! 0:44 I see my post. In Toledo Ohio, Taylor sold these for a brief while. Taylor has locations in NW Ohio selling Kia, Hyundai, Cadillac, and VW. A former co-worker of mine at the time had a Nubria Wagon back in the early 2000s. I have not seen a Daweoo in many years.
Thanks for replying to my request! 😁
LeMans was also used by some departments as a 9C1 police package (Catoosa County and the Georgia State Patrol to name 2) and was driven by Jackie Gleason in the movie "Smokey and the Bandit"
Had a brand new '21 Spark as a rental car a few weeks back. Excellent little car, night and day difference from my brothers Aveo. He got in a minor fender bender and it destroyed the transmission and electric harness. You could barely see the body damage but the car was totalled. He was glad to be rid of it
The same 3 door hatchback model was sold here in Brazil as Chevrolet Kadett and I had one in 92, a basic model with 1.8L ethanol fueled. Used to love its style. Still do, but used to, too.
The only Lanos I ever saw belonged to the vice principal of my elementary school. Never saw one anywhere else
I had 2 Vauxhall Astra GTE,s . One a 8v and then the big boy 2.0 16v which was rapid but with bad lift off oversteer. Found that out up in the Moors around Bolton.
We did have the Lacetti in North America. It was sold in Canada as the Chevy Optra in sedan and 4 door hatch.
Everytime i hear Daewoo I think of Pineapple Express, then you played the clip! Great video
Every stoner movie needs a Daewoo, or some other cheap car.
In 2018 I've bought a 1990 Opel Kadett E 1.4i (60HP) 5-door hatchback as my first car.
In 3.5 years and around 35000km I've never had some serious issues. The only thing is, that it was build with rust inside of it.. that's why you can rarely see them here in Germany. All rusted away
We had a Le Mans (the Korean one) as a rental once, it couldn’t even drive from Victorville to Big Bear. It overheated, and we had to turn around. It was brand new.
The only other two Daewoo branded cars that I can recall off the top of my head would be the Suzuki Forenza and the Suzuki Verona. I did go over them on my channel, Normcore Motors, a while ago, but I don't remember them all offhand.
05:43 in Italy the Nubira wagon was prominently featured in the film "Tre uomini e una gamba" ("Three Men and One Leg"), arguably the greatest success of the comic trio Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo.
I've never seen one on the road though
I looked it up and I must say it had nice color, one of the prettiest Daewoo’s tho especially wagon
I Delivered pizza for a large franchise that supplied their own vehicles in the form of a two door hatch back Daewoo Lanos with no ac .and an oven in the back seat . It was just begging to be beat on and 'man' did we beat on them . tough little car. It took longer to kill then i thought ..
It’s interesting to hear all the various brand/model names Daewoo was sold as in North America, whilst here in Australia, with the exception of some later models, they were all sold *as* Daewoo’s (Cielo, Lanos, Nubria, etc). Although the Lanos and the Nubria Sports Wagon sold reasonably well, they were all considered pretty junk.
We also got the Captiva which although initially sold very well, has had massive reliability issues and most people now won’t touch them with a 50-foot barge pole.
However now GM has completely bailed from the Australian market.
In the video it was mentioned the quality of Korean cars had greatly improved and it is definitely true. I remember traveling to Camp Humphrey, South Korea as an army national guardsman and seeing the earlier Hyundai cars. Soldiers bought them because they were cheap, but the rust was terrible and the interiors were falling apart. Crazy as it sounds, the Chevrolet Corsica or whatever it was called in South Korea was an upgrade at least from my point of view.
The former Dagwood Lacetti was also imported to the U.S. as a Suzuki model, and was sold here for several years.
So much good info in this video.
I owned a few Buick Opel's from the late 60's. I do remember the Daewoo in the US but nothing of their foreign makers.
Yeah, I had the German built Opel, in the early 70’s. My girl friend bought one in ‘78. Must have been a Daewoo. I liked mine better
I had a chevy spark for my first car. Loved it. It was the electric version only sold in california. It used the same motor as the bolt so you got 200hp and 400 lb ft of torque in a car smaller than the mini cooper of the time.
Already sold it?
My mom had one of these it was badged as a Vauxhall Astra GTE in the UK... Well that was the equivalent of the LeMans GSE anyways... I remember had a really cool digital dashboard... unheard of in those days.
I had an 88 Lemans hatchback five speed and I absolutely loved that little car. From what a salesman had told me, it was Pontiac’s competition to them second generation Honda CRX. That little car had excellent gas mileage. Never really had any issues with the car. Had to replace the clutch one time, and then I cracked the head trying to drive 10 miles back to Napa auto parts store. But both of those were operator error. The GS model looked absolutely cool as hell to me. I was looking for one before I bought my 1990 sunbird. The sedan Lemans just looked plain as hell to me. I guess the hatchback made it look a little bit sporty here.
I remember these Daewoo’s coming from the auction off a 2 lease and retailing for $3799 used with under 30k