Much The Same Again
by Jim Currie (02 Dec 00)

Daewoo took time out from their cash wrangles to introduce the Matiz Mk II at a black tie do in London. I don't know if the preferred apparel had any significance, but the whole event was on rather a grand scale for a small car, all things considered. Still, like the Leganza, the Matiz is one Daewoo that doesn't look uncomfortably like something out of the GM catalogue of a decade ago, so I can understand why it has been singled out for special treatment.

Changes from the original will completely escape the casual observer. Daewoo personnel insist the nose is - in their words - "less overtly cute, with an added degree of worldliness to it", a description that simultaneously means everything and nothing.

Most of the exterior revamp is confined to tweaks around the bumpers, licence plate location, tailgate handle - nothing of any great significance there. Inside you get better trim, an extra cupholder (the provision of which seems an industry preoccupation at the moment) and different colours on the instrument cluster.

Under the bonnet, things are also very much as they were. The little 796cc engine still whirrs happily on flat roads before becoming seriously asthmatic on climbs. Top speed remains at a theoretical 89.5 mph, although I have yet to come across a motoring writer who has got anywhere near this figure, and, more meaningfully, fuel consumption sticks just this side of miserly at a combined 46.3 mpg.

Actually, most people will expect something rather better, but they will have to wait until the power-to-weight ratio is balanced out next year by slotting in a bigger engine.

In city traffic I had no complaints about the Matiz whatsoever. All-round visibility is excellent, and even the compulsory 500 gearshifts necessary to get from one side of the Blackwall Tunnel to the other on a weekday evening were accomplished without the usual graunching which comes with overheating oil and diminishing enthusiasm on the part of the driver.

On the open road it is simply a matter of following the old adage - keep the revs up and everything will be fine. If, on the other hand, you wrong-slot on a tight bend or when entering a roundabout, be prepared for the odd toot of annoyance from the rear.

Steering is light and positive, roadholding blessedly free of the bouncy castle effect to be found in so many cars of this size, and the seats are reasonably supportive.

As for braking, it goes without saying that the units fitted are more than adequate to stop a car of this size in not much more than its own length. Only BMC ever managed to produce a small car which wouldn't stop properly, although Citroen had a tilt at it with the 2CV.

Quite frankly, I don't know why Daewoo thought it necessary to relaunch a successful little car when so little about it is new. Anyone else would simply have called it next year's model and left it at that.

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