Overview & Reviews

Chevrolet sells an impressively wide range of vehicles, from subcompact hatchbacks to huge vans and SUVs. If you're looking for a reasonably priced vehicle, odds are that Chevy will have something to fit your needs.

Chevrolet got its start in 1911. After William C. Durant had been ousted from General Motors, he joined forces with Swiss-born racecar driver Louis Chevrolet to found the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. The company's first offering was the Classic Six. Introduced in 1912, this five-passenger touring sedan could top 65 mph, fast for the time. Chevrolet's storied bowtie logo -- reportedly inspired by the wallpaper of a Paris hotel room that Durant stayed at -- made its first appearance in 1914.

By 1918, Chevrolet's profitability allowed Durant to purchase enough shares in GM to regain control. Chevrolet became another division of GM, and was its largest volume division by the mid-1920s. By 1927, Chevrolet outsold rival Ford, with sales in excess of 1 million units.

In the mid-1930s Chevrolet introduced independent front suspension, which provided a smoother ride over the rough roads of the day. The 1940s saw continued success with affordable coupes, sedans and pickup trucks catering to American families, farmers and businessmen.

By the mid-1950s, Chevrolet, GM's entry-level division, had added a V8 engine, power steering and brakes, power windows and air-conditioning to its list of available features, allowing luxury for those on a tighter budget. Around this time the iconic Bel Air model -- available in coupe, sedan, convertible and wagon body styles -- proved very popular. The company introduced its alluring Corvette in 1953; the vehicle was the first mass-produced car with a fiberglass body.

The 1960s saw the unveiling of the popular, air-cooled Corvair compact, which held the distinction of being the first domestic production car with all-around independent suspension. That decade also witnessed the launch of the compact Nova, the midsize Chevelle and the sporty Camaro, the latter Chevrolet's answer to the wildly successful Ford Mustang. The Camaro proved an instant hit, comprising 10 percent of Chevrolet's total sales in 1967, its first year of production.

In the 1970s, Chevy responded to changing preferences by introducing small cars like the Vega and the Chevette, and by downsizing larger models such as the Caprice and Malibu. The company combated the market domination of foreign nameplates in the 1980s by rolling out the Cavalier. By the end of that decade, trucks and SUVs had started to become increasingly popular with the general consumer, and the brand's mid- and full-size models continue to this day to be some of the most popular on the road.

The '90s and the early 2000s saw the company raising the performance bar with its Corvette (notably the Z06 and, later, ZR1 variants) and reincarnated Impala SS. Chevrolet's Silverado pickup truck and Tahoe/Suburban SUVs continued to be hits as well. By 2010, the Camaro had returned to the lineup after a seven-year hiatus.

Modern times have seen Chevrolet make significant improvements in its small and midsize car models and introduce the Volt plug-in hybrid. The latter provides a nearly 40-mile range on electric power alone, and adds to the company's already well-rounded lineup of cars, trucks and SUVs. Though today's marketplace is very demanding, Chevrolet seems poised to remain a power player through its affordable and innovative vehicles.

User Reviews:

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  Not a great car.. very dissapointing - 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt
  By Ashley - April 25 - 1:13 pm

  I have had this car for one year and in the last month I have had to take it to the dealership 5 times. Each time the dealership is unable to find what the problem is. The problems range from shifter column malfunction, stalling, poor gas mileage, sluggish to drive, broken CD player, needed a new heating and cooling system, key gets stuck in the ignition, car wont shift from park to drive, foul odor from vents when heat or vents are used.

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  2000 Cavalier is junk - 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier
  By KPoole - March 11 - 10:00 am

  After only 2 years, Already have major engine problems. Vehicle began overheating and cutting off when idle. Returned to dealship and mechanics believe new engine is needed. They claim I am responsible. The back seat is also coming out. This vehicle was a bad investment. I now have negative equity in this vehicle. It is absolutely worthless.

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  Chevy Fan no more - 2015 Chevrolet Colorado
  By BillyA - February 27 - 10:09 am

  I absolutely love this truck...as long as I dont have to drive it. It is the worst driving experience of any vehicle that I have ever owned. If the "variable speed transmission" is the wave of the future, I want nothing to do with it. If Chevy wants to continue using this transmission, there needs to be better communiction to their service managers. I have heard so many lame excuses as to why this transmission is terrible, i.e. "Its learning your driving style.", "Its designed to do that.", and "You need to drive a little more aggressive." Are you kidding me? So unless you are buying this as a first car for someone who wont know any better, dont waste your money!!!

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  Not a very good truck - 2005 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
  By Phillip V. - January 22 - 10:12 am

  I bought mine one year ago this week, it has complete car fax records for every service since new, 82K miles on it and no rust, which is amazing since most of these are absolute rust buckets. It had a guage failure on the way home, zero oil pressure, new to the truck I didnt realize faulty guages are normal and a recall item, so it got flat bedded home, one week later the belt flew off, another flat bed trip in for repair, then one cold day a tire went flat while I was driving, we could eventually get the spare down but it was rusted to the lowering mechanism and would not come off, then we couldnt get it to go back up, so flat bed trip number 3 in 3 months. Now the ABS is acting up, another know Silverado issue with the front hubs which will cost another $660 to fix. Since purchase I have driving 7900 miles and spent $2471.00 on repairs and regular service so about $0.24 cents per mile on repairs, gas milage is about 12-14 mpg, not great and the power is very limited on the V-6, on a windy day using the overdrive is a pipe dream, overall the worst truck I have ever owned, cant wait to dump it.

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  47/48 mpg is a straight up lie! - 2016 Chevrolet Malibu
  By John - January 12 - 10:40 am

  I bought a 16 Malibu hybrid to replace my Jetta tdi (scandal buyback) from the first tank I was skeptical of the posted fuel economy, my dealer had excuse after excuse( break in, cold weather, driving habits) for the poor fuel economy, I have yet to get better than 35 mpg out of a tank, lifetime average of 34.7mpg over 6300 miles. I drive 60,000 miles per year which translates to an extra $2000 in fuel costs getting only 75% of the window sticker economy of 48 mpg. I contacted gm but they would do nothing at all and said it had to be my driving habit. Given my vw is a diesel and not a hybrid, its rated for 42mpg and since 2013 Ive had very few tanks of fuel less than 50mpg (8 mpg over rating) so Im fairly certain its not me. 2017 malibu hybrid is rated for 6 less mpg than 2016, odd considering the power train hasnt changed, hope they start a class action against gm, Ill join in! And for anyone thinking Im a gm hater, Im not, I also have a 15 duramax sierra Denali, a 14 Acadia Denali, an 02 quadrasteer sierra Denali and an 06 envoy, all of which Ive been very happy with. I can honestly say after this experience Ill never buy another gm product, not for the car itself, but for the way I was treated, gm may as well just said "hey, thanks for being loyal and spending almost a quarter million dollars on our vehicles in the past ten years, now bend over and accept our thank you" because thats how i interpreted it! Long story short, Stay away from the hybrid!!!! And if you buy any Malibu, invest in a travel pillow for your back, youll need it if you drive more than a half hour!

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  Worst vehicle Ive ever owned - 2010 Chevrolet Traverse
  By TRAVERSE IS a LEMON - January 8 - 5:07 pm

  Catalytic converters will go out, good chance will go through plugs and wires, front AC blower and a power steering pump. Vehicle was in the shop more then it was on the road. Uncomfortable, cheaply made and lots of mechanical issues. Would steer completely clear of a Traverse. Chevy fan my entire life and will never buy another.

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  If you have it, sell it, and dont ever purchase - 2011 Chevrolet Malibu
  By Kyle Phernetton - December 30 - 9:22 pm

  What a mistake this piece of junk is. There are countless recalls and they are all on insignificant things. Do yourself a favor and google "2011 Chevy Malibu Engine Power Decreased" and read the reviews about this POS. There is no recall for a problem that costs not only $2,000 TO FIX, but can be deadly. Long story short, there is a faulty sensor that goes out somewhere between 50,000-120,000 miles (roll of the dice) that is going to without warning make your car shake and reduce your engine power. There are stories about people on the freeway that had this happen while driving and their car dropped to 25 miles per hour. Go in to get it fixed, $2,000 to replace the damage this stupid sensor has caused. Dont buy this car. Ever. For any reason. Until there is a full recall dont touch it.

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  Volt Sucks Never buy - 2013 Chevrolet Volt
  By Sravan - September 24 - 8:29 am

  I had 2013 Chevy volt leased from Mark Christopher Auto Center in Ontario, CA for 39 months 48,750 miles. Im at 46,600 miles all of sudden got message Engine Heating up turn off AC, followed by engine oil life 0%, turnoff engine and change the oil immediately with check engine light. Had got it towed with AAA & took it for oil change. Even after oil change when I switch to engine keep getting message engine heating up turnoff the car. I took it to the dealer but he says warranty for the car is either 3 years or 36K miles only on Bumper to Bumper. Even the the powertrain has warranty for 5 years/100K dealer says Hose is broken and powertrain is damaged so cannot cover it under warranty. If you look at onStar reports its well managed car and always got serviced from dealer also has only 18K on powertrain. Not sure how would Hose even break or powertrain fail on such low mileage. Now the dealer asks $1400 authorization to bring down the powertrain and repair might go anywhere upto $6000 on their finding. This sucks cause you buy $40,000 car that can only run 36K miles without issues and will end up paying thousands of dollars more than what you saved on gas.Also look at depreciation value on this car is valued $10,000 on this mileage in good condition. I had taken this upto manufacturer but still no proper response so left out with sharing my experience in social media so atleast few people that read can think before they buy these kind of cars in market. Apart from the cars they sell you can also look at the kind of service you get buying such cars from them.

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  We all make mistakes - 2007 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD
  By businessownr - August 22 - 4:46 pm

  I get poor gas MPG with the 6L VORTEC V8 which should be bore tech because between the crappy shifting in the 6 spd trans always shifting drives me nuts and the 9.5 Miles per Gallon, with only a work box on it. Plus the suspension in can not hole the work box, Max payload is 3800 lbs. and the box alone weights that. Bad choice by me, and listening to the salesperson get rid of an old truck and not paying a little extra for what I really need. Bad part is I would loose over $8,000 dollars to sell it, Plus what it would cost to get a new one! Upgraded suspension cost installed, $3875!

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  It Isnt good.... - 2001 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
  By 5002 - July 28 - 10:00 am

  Since 4 months after I bought it, it has been nothing but trouble. It has had 2 sencurs replaced, the power seat replaced, and it hasetates and they cant fix it