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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  Think twice or roll the dice - 2015 Chevrolet Impala
  By J C Bollinger - August 2 - 2:58 pm

  4 months after buying a BRAND NEW 2015 Chevrolet Impala and the paint is flecking off of the ENTIRE front end of the car!!!! A 40K car and GM has not been very nice to me. They have blamed me for this. It started off as a little defect in the paint on the front bumper and over a two week time period the problem GREW to HUGE area the size of my Torso. It looks so bad that Im utterly embarrassed to drive this car. The paint actually flys off of the car while Im driving it. Now my family and friends make fun of me for driving a Chevrolet. Its so embarrassing. This is supposed to be the crème of the crop flagship sedan of Chevrolet and only now that the car looks like it has 400,000 miles on it will the dealership do anything about it. GM has just totally lost me as a customer. I feel ashamed that I spent so much money on this car. This is the NEW body style people. Ive already had three break downs since buying this. Left me stranded twice. I thought GM had changed since the bankruptsy but apparently not. Buyer BEWARE!!!!!! Should of bought a KIA. They have better paint jobs.

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  Gives Cheap a whole new meaning. - 2009 Chevrolet Aveo
  By David Albee - July 24 - 8:50 pm

  I have had my Aveo for going on 5 years now. I should have walked past it the moment that I ran my fingers over the grill and the black paint powder that came off on my finger was present. Now the entire reason for my purchase was that I needed a vehicle that I could drive into the dirt. I commute to work everyday and any vehicle was going to be getting aged prematurely. However, this does not excuse the wiper blades disintegrating in the second month of ownership. I understand that Korea may not have the winters that we Canadians do but wow! Anyhow, new blades on moving forward. Wait, what is that awe-full racket? It cant be the engine already... For crying out loud it sounds like the engine is trying to leap out from under the hood.... Notice in the mail, "Dear Aveo owner please proceed to your nearest Chev dealer to get your wiring replaced as the engineers have discovered an issue with the gaps of your spark plug and wiring harness." As my car is lurching and crying "No kidding there is an issue." . Okay so contact my dealer that I purchased my car from, "Sorry, we cant help you with that." "We dont have the parts to fix it right now.". Click... Wait, what? Yo Rick, I need you to put new plugs in and wiring. "Isnt that a recall? Shouldnt your dealer do that?", to which I replied. "Yes", "Yes they should." "So can you do this?" Driving my now behaving Aveo out of Ricks shop and noting the it will be a cold day in hell before I go back to the dealer. Not long later. "Hmmm, are my headlights dirty?" After looking I realized they were not dirty just one of the bulbs had burned out. No big deal, I have now replaced 3 bulbs. The creme de la creme had to be driving to work one morning and there was a little bit of snow on the road. I am Canadian and have been driving this road since 1989. No problem........ So why am I now staring at a terrified lady facing me and we are traveling in the same direction. I mean her eyes were like dinner plates. After I hit the drifted snow on the side of the road I have come to realize yet another issue with the Aveo. The rear brake has a tendency to lock. Terrifying right... I mean the freaking pad came off the shoe inside the drum...... Think about that for a second.. They are supposed to be molecular bonded to the shoe to prevent that sort of thing from happening. "Yo, Rick!!" "I need you to take a look at this rear brake, something is definitely [non-permissible content removed]!" "Umm, Dave the drum is really stuck on there." - "I know, I scared the H*** out of some lady in a SUV that was behind me, I was looking at her while i was going backward." A couple hours later... "Dave, I have never even heard of this happening." "Once i manage to get the drum off the pad was off the shoe.." Do not under any circumstance buy this vehicle, it redefines cheap and I would swear substandard parts. I honestly can not express how confused I am about how this actually made it to market. Oh and now the screws to the air filter have corroded and I will have to likely cut them and tap them to change the air filter.

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  Big Mistake - 2007 Chevrolet TrailBlazer
  By bill - July 24 - 2:53 pm

  I was looking for something smaller, by smaller, I mean smaller than my F-250 Super Cab, I needed to pull my boat and a small trailer. I saw the Trailblazer on line and thinking the price was to good to be true, I soon found out it had big problems. First I took it to my local mechanic, told him to go over it top to bottom and fix anything he saw wrong. He told me the front differential had no oil in it, they replace the belts, hoses and looked over the brakes and changes the oil. I had a new windshield installed, then I noticed oil on my driveway, the diff was leaking badly, I had to wait 2 weeks for parts. The instrument cluster was a mess, the tachometer did not work and the oil pressure gauge was pegged out, $230 to repair. I got lucky on the diff it was a seal but getting parts took 2 weeks and cost me $248 to fix. I have a Honda Pilot and my insurance was costing me $66 a month, when I got the bill for my Trailblazer it was $124 a month, WHY? I ask. The underwriter said it cost a lot more for parts and that GM parts were much larger, Honda uses small panels than GM. Another thing I noticed was that the engine seemed very nosy, I check the water pump and all the bearing, but the all seemed good, I am a little worried about the inline 6 noise, but so far the car seems to be running good. The sunroof did not work, I decided I never use it anyway why spend the $$s on repairing it. I am very picky about my cars, I grew up in a family of mechanics, and I can repair most minor issue, but in the long run I wish I had never taken the bait on this car, as my old Daddy used to say "if it to good to be true it probably is." What seem strange was it was a low mileage SUV. My F-250 has over 209,000 mile runs like a charm and everything works, the problem was it is hard on gas with that huge V-10 Ford block and hard to park. Live and learn.

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  horrible gas mileage - 2015 Chevrolet Equinox
  By marty - July 21 - 1:36 pm

  Ive had this vehicle for going on 4 months now. I switched from hyundai and kia to the chevy line specifically because I wanted to buy american. Mistake. I live in the northern virginia area, so most of my driving is city, but I visit my parents and my boyfriend frequently and both require highway driving. My office is exactly 3 miles from home - I am averaging between 16 - 19 mpg. This low average is even after Ive noticed how low it is and specifically try to drive conservatively. I feel irresponsible and embarrassed to drive a vehicle that receives such low mileage and I never would have switched had I known this was going to be the case - since switching from my kia, nothing about my commute or habits have changed and Im averaging about 10 mpg lower in this new vehicle. In addition to the low mileage - the engine sounds horrible. It literally sounds like it is eating gas the way it has to chug for any sort of pickup. I have asked several other Equinox owners about their mileage and they all agree on how horrible it is. One lady also said that her car goes through so much oil that the dealership had to replace the engine because it was burned out her vehicle is barely a year old. Other than this major complaint, my other 2 are fairly minor. The seats themselves (shape, support) are very comfortable, but the material is horrible. It doesnt bother my boyfriend, but when Im wearing a skirt, it is itchy and painful due to the hole-y pattern. The other complaint is the highly reflective material used on the trim around the gear shifter. When the sun hits it correctly, it is blinding. Things I do like: layout of the electronics panel and dials, leg room, ceiling height (Im 511), trunk space, back up camera, interior lighting, rear window wiper AND wiper fluid (this is an awesome feature). Unfortunately, all of the pros are completely outweighed by the gas mileage issue. I have officially logged a complaint with Chevy and anyone else who is experiencing this issue should too!

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  04 Colorado, A Fire waiting to happen. - 2004 Chevrolet Colorado
  By 04colorado - June 18 - 3:14 pm

  I own a 2004 Chevy Colorado they are poorly engineered and use substandard parts quality. The Electrical system is a joke and Ive replaced the electrical fan speed control relay and corresponding plug 3 times. Twice under factory warranty. Each time itÂ’s close to starting a fire. 2 Year Second time @ 34,063 Miles Third time last weekend. $27 for the Resister, & $79 For the Power connection rip-off. The blower motor only lasted 2 Years, 30,897 miles. The engine thermostat never worked right form the factory. The CD player only lasted 20,000 miles. And wonÂ’t eject or play. If you plug in a trailer, with known good wiring, and blow fuses. the list goes on................

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  UNRELIABLE DANGEROUS CAR FOR A CHILD!!!! - 2009 Chevrolet Malibu
  By kat9478 - May 4 - 12:04 pm

  I purchased this car for my 18 year old daughter. Less than a year after owning it, the ESC light is on, the Power steering light, the ABS and Traction Control lights are on. Everything that was recalled on other Malibus is wrong with this car. Chevy claims it is not part of the recalled cars, even with the same problems. In the meantime, this car is scheduled for service to repair everything wrong with it, and after that, Im trading it in on something more reliable. This car is dangerous, and if you are thinking about purchasing it for a child, RUN, dont walk away and purchase a different one.

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  HORRIIIBBBBBBLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEE - 2014 Chevrolet Cruze
  By bhenders123 - April 30 - 6:32 pm

  This was the worst experience I have ever had with a car. I bought it and within a year and a half (20,800 miles) I had to replace: the blower motor the coolant system the positive power cable the negative power cable the ABS power cable the radio power cable and the ABS sensor harness on both sides. That is horrible for it being that new and the largest concern is I had all these problems and the light never came on. THAT IS SCARY! I almost could break because of the ABS issue.

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  It was GoodÂ…For a While! - 2007 Chevrolet Equinox
  By wscglw - April 28 - 11:04 am

  Bought the car in 2009 with 30k on it and had no problems until 2014 when the vehicle hit 50k. First, the problems started with the key not coming out of the ignition. The dealer was finally able to fix it on the third try and $900. The Equinox was not affected by the ignition problem recall. Then an issue with factory defective spark plug wires and the plugs. There was an extended warranty on this issue but it took the dealer a few days to fix it. They only repaired one or two at a time, they did not replace all six plug and wires. Finally, at 57k the vehicle stalled and would not start. Took it back to the dealer. Blown Head Gasket this timeÂ…$1800 later and we were still having issues

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  Jumpy Shifting and Stalling Out - 2012 Chevrolet Equinox
  By Ryan Toombs - April 24 - 4:02 pm

  My wife and I bought the 2012 Equinox only a month ago as a Certified Pre-Owned with only 39,000 miles on it. One short month and 1,000 miles later, the check engine light came on. The actuator had to be replaced. No big deal since it was under warranty. The vehicle also shifts very hard/jumpy, like you are being slowly rear-ended. We recently stalled out in a McDonalds drive-thru because of this issue. I was told that the hard shifting of the Equinox is one of the biggest complaints they receive at the dealer. They informed me it is just how the vehicle drives and that I would get used to it. My wife doesnt want to get used to it. No going back for me, but hopefully I saved you trouble!

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  Poor Quality - 2011 Chevrolet Cruze
  By Patty Chaffee Herr - April 14 - 12:46 am

  I had to replace the air compressor at 3000 miles, The entire backseat upholstery tore loose and had to be restrung, It stopped running at 40000 miles, just after my warranty was out. I had to replace a sensor. My car turned over to 54000 and the water pump went out. Now it has 54500 and the check engine light is back on for who knows what. Tried to trade it in and I am negative about $4000, This car is a joke and I wish I had never bought it !!!So dissatisfied. This is only a disposable little car which doesnt last until it is even paid for.