On my last trip to Lost Wages...er...Las Vegas, I rented a 2009 Chevy Aveo to get around town. I was staying in a hotel at the far end of Henderson and driving to all parts of the area. In the course of four days I put on nearly 250 miles. The weather was good for the entire trip so I didn't have to face anything more than a couple of clouds passing over. I did a lot of highway driving and a lot of street driving.

The Chevrolet Aveo was a rental from Budget Rentals. I chose it because it was the economy car. As I did my inspection before taking the car I noticed a lot of paint wear on the bottom edge of the car. This didn't appear to be scraping the curb or accidents. It just seemed to be the way road debris hit and chipped or wore on this car. In a similar vein, there was a large patch paint worn off just beneath the trunk. I figured this one out as I watched people load and unload things from the trunk of the car. The trunk is relatively good sized and quite deep. Getting items more bulky than shopping bags out seems to require moving them over the back lip of the trunk. The spot on the back is where my suitcase rubbed as it came out. No doubt on a rental car, that happened a lot. With the white paint job, it was very noticeable.

The Aveo really is an economy car. It has hand operated door locks and windows. It was a four door which is terrific when you find yourself driving folks all over as I was doing.

My rental had a nice radio/stereo system which included a mute button - nice touch! I tend towards NPR type stations in the car. For that purpose the sound quality was more than sufficient. When I did turn to music, it was good sound, but not exceptional.

I'm a rather short individual. The Aveo fit me well. All my passengers the week that I was in Vegas were woman of 5'7" or less. They all seemed to think the car was reasonably comfortable for the drives we made. My writing partner is about 6'1". I think he would have been comfortable in the front seat, but suspect his knees would have been under his chin in the back. The longest trip took about an hour because we were lost. The oddest bit of interior convenience was the cup holder - just one. It was located behind the gear shift in the center of the car. It would be nearly equally accessible to the driver, front seat or rear seat passengers.

The visibility in the car is very good. I felt like I could see everything around me clearly.

The car I had was an automatic. The gear shift was small and sort of odd, but as I only had to pop into gear and forget about it, that was fine.

The car drove very well. Las Vegas has rather long on-ramps and I had no problem being up to speed as I entered the freeway. While not powering past others, I certainly had no difficulty in keeping up with traffic. The ride was smooth and quiet. It was quite warm while I was in Vegas so I ran the A/C constantly. It was easy to moderate the temperature in the car. This wasn't a car I would drive for fun. This was basic, reliable, comfortable transportation. For this trip, it was just the ticket.

After 250 miles, the needle indicated the car still had between a quarter and a half a tank of gas left. The gas tank holds about 13 gallons.

I will be buying a new car in the next year or so. Based on this 250 mile "test-drive" I would not rule out the Aveo. I was very content with it. I don't generally drive for pleasure; I drive because I need to go. For that purpose, the Aveo would be a reasonable choice.
Amount Paid (US$): 29/day
Model Year: 2009