Daewoo Lacetti test drive since 2002 sedan

The mystery of the name

Daewoo Lacetti
A model with a sedan body was presented at a car dealership in Geneva in 2003.
For the Korean market, it is supplied with a 1.5 l engine with a capacity of 78 kW/ 106 liters. p., is aggregated with two gearboxes - a four -speed automatic and five -speed mechanics.
Depending on the configuration (ex, max, lux), the price of prices in the homeland is from $ 17,600 to 23,000.

For a long time I did not have to test such a mysterious car. There is no data about it even in the Geneva catalog, one of the most authoritative in the world. Having received the task for the Daewoo Latsetti test, I, of course, looked there, but in the section dedicated to the Daewoo cars, I did not find the desired car.
The explanation was found later, in the dealer salon. It turns out that under this name the sedan is sold in the Korean market. But in Europe it bears a well-familiar name of the tibia, in the United States is sold under the brand of Suzuki-Forenza, in Thailand and India is known as a chevrolet-optra.
How to attract attention
A car from a trial batch fell on the test. The fact is that the possibility of the production of this particular model in a similar configuration at the Uzdauwo plant in Uzbekistan is not excluded. The logic of dealers that promote to our market an unknown model became clear. Perhaps Latzetti will replace the popular Nexia here - it is time to rest more than once turned over the opening. In this case, Korean Latsetti with his Italian name acts as a warming group before the release of the Uzbek pop star. After the bankrupt DEU concern was taken under a wide wing, General Motors, the design of the new model was entrusted with the body atelier Georgetto Giugiaro. This is the third Italian studio that took part in the design of Korean DEU. Burtone specialists painted Espero. Nubbi is the fruit of the fantasy of Pininfarina designers. Latsetti is an apple from the same apple tree. Only from another branch.
The official sales of Latsetti in the European market began in February. But these are not quite the cars that are planned to be done in Uzbekistan. Five -door hatchbacks will be delivered to the European market, and our southern neighbors intend to establish the production of more popular sedans in Russia. If customers in the West are offered a choice of three engines with a volume of 1.4; 1.6 and 1.8 liters, then under the hood of the Uzbek sedan will be only the most powerful.]
Manages the one who is in no hurry
Salon is a homely comfortable. Sanding color, pleasant in the view and touch plastic finish organically combined with a soft velor of seats and inserts in door upholsters. All scales are well read and are not overlapped by the steering wheel, which is adjusted of the inclination. The automatic gear selector moves along the Mercedes Zigzag, which allows you to clearly monitor its position. However, there is no need to pay attention to this: the mode of operation is displayed in the window of the device. Therefore, you can devote yourself to the management process without taking your eyes to the side.
On the day of acquaintance, Moscow Street was abundantly sprinkled with snow, the avenues were not attended by a quick flight. In order not to burn the gasoline in vain, I recover the key with the inscription Hold (literally - restraining) next to the selector and observe the lazy movements of the tachometer arrows. In the urban mode of movement, it fluctuates in the area between 15 and 25 (multiply by 100). This range is quite enough to smoothly move around the city. Especially in winter. The fact is that in this transmission mode, the car in snow porridge touches with the second, or even from the third gear, and does not allow the wheels to slip even on bare ice. The driver can press the accelerator pedal to seizures - the electronics will calmly adjust the fussy actions of the sitting at the wheel - smoothly disperse the car and switch the transmission. Moreover, you can guess that this happened, only observing the arrow of the tachometer.
But what if you turn off the restraining mode? The car began to gain speed more, and at a sharp start, she began to desperately rotate with wheels, striving to slide along the slope of the asphalt to the sidewalk. The arrow of the tachometer nervously pushed to the number 50, but this did not add joy. Again, I press the coveted deterrence key and no longer touch it to the end of the dough - with a one and a half liter engine Latsetti, in any case, is not a sports car.
By the smoothness of the course and behavior on the road, Daewoo Lazetti resembles a familiar to many Espero. The predictable calm reactions to the actions of the driver, good as a whole, noise insulation. True, the noise of the tires annoyed the noise of the tires even when driving around the city. The explanation here is twofold: either the all -season kumho itself is so noisy, or the sound insulation of the wheel arches is insufficient. By the way, there are no shelters in them that are very desirable in our conditions.
As for the salon, the absence of an armrest in the back of the rear seat disappointed. By the way, the latter does not add up, which means that you can not transform the luggage compartment.
The airbag is only one. Probably, Koreans, like us, are too much on the planet, so there is no such reverent care about the life of passengers as in Europe. Well, excesses in the form of electric drives of mirrors and rear windows are not at all. Such a useful thing as the ABS system is also absent here. Actually, for $ 17,600 they could offer a risk set. The car was in the minimum configuration of EX. True, it is not known how much the same costs in Korea.
Nevertheless, the general impression of Latsetti is good. If in Uzbekistan they are able to establish the assembly of this car and, most importantly, to reduce its price, then our streets will soon decorate fresh samples of Italian design with a familiar Daewoo emblem on the hood.

SUMMARY
+ Attractive appearance, high smoothness, good handling, excellent operation of the automatic gearbox.
- High price in minimum configuration.
 

Sergey Klochkov. Photo: Alexander Kulnev
 

Source: The magazine "Driving"