The journalist leant against the carpark railing, eating a lunchtime salad roll and inspecting his test-car Matiz parked nearby. He walked around the car, examining the huge headlights, opening the rear doors and peering in at the generous legroom, lifting the hatch. Half-eaten roll in hand, he looked down at the 155-section tyres, considered the tall-boy body and thought about the lack of power steering. But all the time - dominant in his mind - was the incredible price: eleven thousand, nine hundred and ninety dollars... for this brand new car.
Someone else had been watching the inspection... a man sweeping the carpark of leaves and other debris. And after some time the watcher could remain distant no longer - he sauntered over.
"I just love this car," he said. "The shape, the lights - everything. The other day I said to my wife, in ten years' time all cars will look like this one. It's wonderful."
The journalist said, "It costs just $11,990."
"Eleven nine ninety?" said the man in an astonished voice, "that's fantastic."
"Yep, and it's got central locking, passenger and driver airbags, air conditioning, CD player, front electric windows..." said the journalist. "Of course" he added dryly, "it doesn't have an engine..."
The irony going over the onlooker's head, the man instantly said, "It's electric then?"
And that's the problem with the Matiz. The ground-breaking Italian styling and unbelievably high equipment levels make you expect a similar level of innovation under the tiny bonnet. A hybrid electric/petrol system, perhaps? Or a tiny diesel turbo getting economy of the order of 3 litres/100 km? Or even a turbo injected DOHC jewel of an engine, able to provide good mid-range torque and the zippy performance that the Daewoo feel-good advertising and unique looks lead you to expect?
Unfortunately not. Instead there's an EFI SOHC 800cc 3 cylinder chaff-cutter, noisy and uninspiring with 37.5kW at a ludicrously low 5900 rpm. With peak torque at 4600 rpm - and 780kg to drag around - the Matiz is a car desperately in search of a 21st century engine...
Along with the Daihatsu Sirion and Suzuki Wagon Type R, the Matiz is amongst the cheapest new cars that you can buy in Australia. At the time of writing - with pricing an incredible $11,990 - it is the cheapest. Lavishly equipped, the Matiz never feels barebones - even with the vinyl door trims and tiny 155/65 13 tyres. Instead first impressions are of the airy and spacious cabin, achieved in a total vehicle length of just 1495mm. The large windscreen slopes steeply, its base a very long way ahead of the front seats. In fact, the LED clock placed centrally at the bottom of the windscreen is an incredible 1.3 metres away from the driver's eyes. When viewed from outside, the waistline is high, but the even higher hip point of the seats makes sure the car never feels claustrophobic.
The dash is divided into two binnacles - the centre bulge containing the clear and simple HVAC controls and the other, the main instrument pod. Dials comprise only a speedo (marked to 180 km/h), coolant and fuel gauges. The dash is well-finished, except for two prominent Philips head screws positioned each side of the steering column. Less forgivable is the absence of a tacho - more on this later. The electric window controls (fronts only) are on the floor behind the gear lever, while a single cup holder is positioned further forward. More oddments spaces can be found in the narrow door pockets and the very small glovebox. Why the glovebox is so tiny is a mystery - the depth of the dash means that it should be cavernous. Perhaps the 90 litre passenger airbag takes up all of the space - although it shouldn't. But this is one of the very few packaging shortfalls of the Matiz - in the main, the car is a lesson in how to fit a lot into little.
The driving position is comfortable, with a fixed steering column and front seats adjustable only for rake and fore-aft travel. Even with the front seats back as far as they will go, there is a large amount of rear legroom, helped enormously by the high mounting of the front seats - rear passengers can almost place their whole feet under the front seats, not just their toes! Headroom for front passengers is fine, though it can be a little squeezy for tall rear passengers. The pedals are close enough together to allow heel and toeing, but drivers with big feet will fine that their shoe fouls the inner guard well before the throttle is fully depressed.... a bit depressing for the driver as well!
At 104 litres luggage space is small, but the rear seats fold forwards in the normal 60/40 split, creating 512 litres of two-person luggage space. The boot floor is made from only corrugated plastic sheet covered with thin carpet - the careless placing in the boot of a sharp-cornered box or the dropping in of other luggage could easily damage it. In the boot there are also large expanses of painted metal - to each side, the inner guards in body colour, and at the front, black-painted metal across the rear of the seats. It doesn't take much imagination to realise that with only normal use, the boot will very quickly start to look worn and shabby. Provided tools include a reversible screwdriver, screw-in towing hook and scissors-type jack.
The front suspension uses a conventional MacPherson strut design, located with a transverse link and hefty anti-roll bar. At the back - and contrary to Daewoo's advertising - a non-independent system comprising a dead axle, two trailing links and a Panhard rod is fitted. The ride and handling are quite competent. While the low speed ride suffers from the feeling that the unsprung weight is relatively high - the car tends to fall into holes with a dull, harsh thump - the car doesn't become overly jiggly, especially considering its compact dimensions. The damping is well specified. Handling is dominated by understeer, but the little Kumho Power Star tyres worn on 13 x 4.5 inch steel rims do a good job - the car hangs on well. Throttle-off oversteer (at least in dry conditions) is not an available option.
At high speed the stability and handling are very good, the steering precise and the cornering lines able to be established with ease. 'Course, it helps that every road suddenly looks like a freeway when you're in a car about half as wide as normal... Gusty crosswinds do little to upset the Matiz, even when cruising at 120 km/h; in fact the little Daewoo is quite competent on long hauls. The gearbox needs to be used frequently, and the air con switched off at appropriate times, but a well-driven Matiz can keep up with most rural traffic, even over hills and against headwinds. The latter totally prohibit passing manoeuvres, though!
However, most frustrating when trying to gain the utmost from the noisy and harsh threshing-machine up front is the lack of a tacho. When peak torque and peak power are only 1300 rpm apart (Daewoo make much of the fact that 88 per cent of peak torque is available from 3500 rpm - but it never feels a relevant spec!) a tachometer is an absolute necessity. If you wish to accelerate as quickly as possible, the only way to do it is to memorise the speeds in each gear that are achievable just before the soft rev cut occurs. But when you're winding the engine out as you struggle up a hill - or trying to keep up with fast-moving city traffic - the last thing that you should have to be doing is saying to yourself - was it 60 or 70 that I can get in second? These questions become damn' important when changing early can cost 10 or 15 km/h - or many dangerous seconds on the wrong side of the road. Get rid of the central locking, or twin vanity mirrors, or lights-on alarm, or rear wash/wipe, or even the rear speakers if you have to - but please fit a tacho, Mr Daewoo!
The non-power rack and pinion steering - which is a delight on the open road - can become a little heavy around town. Certainly, the young women that we had sample the car - the target group for the Matiz advertising - complained about the steering effort needed at slow speeds and while parking. At 4.25 turns lock-to-lock the steering's also slow - lots of lock needs to be quickly applied to negotiate right angle bends and U-turns. Brakes comprise front discs and rear drums, which give stable, adequate retardation. The clutch is incredibly light, as is the unfortunately noisy 5-speed gearshift.
The sound system is a reminder that Daewoo is also a huge electronics manufacturer - it's the same Daewoo CD AM/FM head unit that's used in the more than twice as expensive Nubira. The 35W x 4 system works with four competent speakers - sound is fine for cars even a couple of classes above the Matiz. Other Daewoo-manufactured items include the glass, headlights and speakers.
The engine uses a conventional distributor type ignition system, knock sensing and an unconventional fuel supply system lacking a return line. Boasting a compression ratio of only 9.3:1, the longstroke design (bore 68.5, stroke 72mm) was developed with help from Tickford in the UK. The fuel consumption of the Matiz reflects the hard work its small engine is required to do. In a mix of urban and rural driving (a lot at full throttle...) the Matiz gave 7.1 litres/100km. The AS2877 figures are 4.4 (highway) and 6.1 (city).
With the coarse 800cc engine the Matiz shows clear - but unrealised - potential. We understand that larger engines are in the pipeline, and while a lift in mid-range torque and peak power would be welcome, a reduction in NVH from the engine should also accompany the revisions. In fact, wed be happiest to see a turbocharged version of the current engine with some added sound proofing - the lift in performance would make the Matiz unbeatable in its class. Even if it did cost a few thousand more....
http://www.daewooauto.com.au/
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