2016 Chevrolet Spark Offers New Reason to Go Small
Designing very small cars can be problematic, in styling, space and packaging. Designing one that doesn’t look awkward or in some way strange is a difficult thing to do. The Fiat 500 is successful, but the Scion iQ is not. Chevrolet’s last Spark fell into the awkward category. But a thorough redo of the South Korean-built city car unveiled at the 2015 New York International Auto Show has proven that once awkward need not mean always awkward.
Related: More 2015 New York Auto Show News
The new Spark is genuinely attractive, a much more adult and grown-up design than the cartoonish previous vehicle. Gone are the tall headlights that dominated the front end and gave the Spark a permanently surprised look. In their place are much more attractive horizontally oriented units, flanking a split grille that gives the car a much lower, planted look. Some interesting bodywork stretches down the side to well-integrated taillights, and the overall look is far more appealing than the outgoing model.
This is a car you won’t be embarrassed to show up in, something that can’t necessarily be said for the current model.
Inside, the Spark gets some upgrades as well, but one wouldn’t call it upscale. Chevy is keeping the exterior body-color-matching interior trim options for only certain colors, such as green and blue, with the rest of the lineup getting either black or silver patterned trim.
It looks good inside, but it’s still obviously a car for folks on a budget — leather quality … well we’re pretty sure it isn’t leather, which isn’t unusual in this class. Space is adequate, but it’s narrow inside, as most cars in the micro segment usually are. Headroom is plentiful, however, so you don’t actually feel cramped up front. Full-size adults can fit in back, but will require the front-seat passengers to compromise their own legroom in order to make sufficient comfortable legroom in back.
The cargo area isn’t very long, but it is surprisingly deep. A good-sized roller-board suitcase should fit with no problem, and with the backseats folded, the Spark can swallow far more cargo than one might suspect.
It’s a strong redesign for a car that’s actually sold more than 1 million units worldwide — just not many of them in the U.S. — and the updates to this latest model should help make it more appealing stateside.
