Chevrolet Spark

Stepping inside the cabin of the 2020 Chevrolet Spark, one cannot help but be impressed by the premium feel the interior has to offer. Unlike other economically priced hatchbacks in the segment, Spark breaks away from offering a traditional interior comprising broadly of crude plastic. Instead, we find attractive materials extensively used across the cabin and quality fit and finish on every panel. For a car in this segment, we were pleasantly surprised to find leather trim and heated front seats as factory options offered in the 2020 spark.

Every Chevrolet Spark also comes with a 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system as standard which gets 4G-LTE Mobile hotspot compatibility and is equipped with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The infotainment system is offered as standard across every Spark variant along with a pair of illuminated USB ports and a 12-volt outlet which are located in the center console. The rear cabin space is limited and passengers might feel cramped especially adults. The 2020 Chevrolet Spark offers 11 cubic feet of cargo space which further increases to 27 cubic feet when the rear seats are stowed away.

The 2020 Chevrolet Spark gets an updated front end which features a redesigned front grille and headlight clusters. The American car manufacturer also offers additional exterior color options which include ‘Caribbean blue’, ‘Passion fruit’, ‘Raspberry’, and ‘Orange Burst’ along with completely redesigned alloy wheels. For the Chevrolet Spark ‘Activ Sans E’ the company offers a standard manual transmission with an option of an automatic gearbox. This variant comes with plastic lower cladding, roof rails, chunkier front end, and special 15-inch wheels.

After only a few hours behind the wheel, it becomes obvious that Chevrolet Spark is not meant for long journeys but only to be thrown around the city streets. The steering is quite responsive and chucking the car around corners or through lanes in slow-moving traffic is quite easy. The car’s short wheelbase and turning radius make it easy to maneuver Chevrolet Spark in tight spaces and driving the car around tight lanes are not at all unnerving. As compared to other competitively priced offerings in the segment, Chevrolet Spark offers a very quiet cabin and only allows minimum levels of road and engine noise filter through into the cabin, however, the ride does get compromised while taking on large potholes bumps and other uneven services.

Under the hood, the 2020 Chevrolet Spark gets a four-cylinder motor which comes mated to either a standard 5-speed manual gearbox or a continuously variable automatic transmission. The 1.4-liter EcoTech 4 cylinder engine produces 98 bhp of power output at 6200 rpm and 94 lb-ft of peak torque at 4400 rpm. The acceleration time from 0 to 60 mph stands at just a sliver under 11 seconds and it takes another 7.6 seconds for the little hatchback to sprint from 50 to 70 mph.

Chevrolet Spark is offered with a firm brake pedal which makes the deceleration instantaneous and bestows confidence even at high speeds. All four wheels come equipped with ABS which allows the small hatchback to offer is immediate, consistent and incredibly responsive braking characteristics.

The 2020 Chevrolet Spark has not been crashed tested by either the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. We do however expect the car to perform fairly well in the safety crash tests, as Chevrolet offers some impressive driver assistance and safety features as optional extras on the more expensive variants of the 2020 Chevy Spark which include forward-collision warning system, lane departure warning, rear parking sensors, and automated emergency braking.

In a segment where Mitsubishi offers a million miles or 10 years warranty on the powertrain of its Mirage hatchback, Chevrolet Spark’s limited powertrain warranty might insinuate doubts in potential buyers, but an attractive package, impressive handling, and feature-laden cabin, along with Chevrolet’s 60,000 miles of road assistance incentive does make Spark a great offering in the segment.