Chevrolet Enjoy LTZ diesel review

I spent 4 days with a 4 month old Chevrolet Enjoy LTZ and I am not really impressed by the vehicle during my 1230kms drive. This post is my review of the vehicle.

I hadn't driven many Chevys- a little of Spark and Tavera is all I've driven, so I was looking forward to Enjoy experience. Cost cutting initiatives are obvious all around the car and direct impact is on the quality of materials used and craftsmanship. Over the course of my usage, I observed multiple failures and this turned me off instantly.

Some of the things that weren't right:
1) Fuel tank cap wouldn't close properly, leaving the vehicle susceptible to fuel theft and danger from firecrackers during deepavali
2) Central AC Console flap wouldn't open properly. The two flaps are supposed to open simultaneously, but because the link between them was broken, each need to be opened separately.

3) A small box in the central dashboard, with a metal door, came off completely after me opening and closing it just twice.

4) Passenger airbag-badly positioned. if there's an airbag, bashboard is expected to have an incline, which discourages people from storing stuff on it. In Enjoy's design, the bashboard is flat and Indian passengers tend to keep their bags etc on it. Placing any heavy object may prevent airbag from opening, defeating its purpose.

 5) Cheap LEDs are used for light. Two third of the LEDs were not working on the front lamp.

6) I feel seat controls are badly positioned for driver's seat. Where I was expecting a recline adjustment lever, I got a height adjustment one. But this is not really a complaint, people can get used to it.

7) 2nd row seats won't fold completely, like in Xylo or Innova. We can't tilt the seats to create more space to enter and exit 3rd row. Hence getting in and out of 3rd row will be a challenge, more so in an 8 seater. In a 7 seater, it makes more sense to go to centre of second row, use the gap between 2 bucket seats to get into 3rd row

8) Second row bucket seats get an arm rest, but it is fairly impractical. it is so thin, our arms can't rest on it steadily. After sometime, people would fold the arm rest away.

7) Door pocket can't even hold a half litre bottle

8) Trip and Odometer: Black digits on blue background was not easy on the eye. Also trip meter supports only 3 digits. If you're going on longer trips of few thousand kms, you'll have to remember the thousand separately

The features of Chevy Enjoy LTZ

The top of the line LTZ variant gets 2 airbags, alloy wheels, power windows, fake wood inserts, bucket seats with armrests (useless ones), fog lamp, second row AC vent, reverse parking sensors, drive height adjustment, steering tilt adjustment and 3^rd row charging point. No turn indicators on the rear view mirrors, no steering mounted controls, no climate control, no telescopic adjustment. Cheaper variants will be missing on some of these features.

What is good wth Chevrolet Enjoy?

Central locking has a proximity sensor. If I go too far from the vehicle without locking it, it makes a noise and alerts me.

The drive:

Chevy Enjoy diesel LTZ gets a de-tuned 77PS multiget Engine from fiat, same one that does duty in Ertiga, Swift, Manza and a host of other cars. An MPV of this size could have been offered with at least 90 PS power. 77PS feels slightly underpowered. It gives a top speed of 145 kmph, which is less compared to its peers, who easily touch 160kmph. Beyond 120kmph engine starts protesting, by offering wide range of resistances, expressing its unwillingness to speed up and begging you to slow down. Even the pickup is not at par with its peers. All these de-tuning was expected to return high fuel economy, in the range of 20kmpl. However, during my 1230 kms drive, I got about 14kmpl average, +/- 5%. This is partly because we used AC most of the times and drove at a higher speed of 100kmph most of the time, with a load of 4-5 people.  Driving slower, with less load and without AC would have got few more kms per litre, but what purpose would that serve? Practical mileage is what counts. This 14kmpl is still better than Xylo or Tavera, so taxi operators can consider Enjoy without too much hesitation, given the 2-3 lakh savings Enjoy offers, compared to Xylo or Tavera.

There were instances where I felt sudden drop in power. I felt as if I am in 4th gear instead of second or 3rd instead of first. I double checked that I am in right gear and engine not giving any pull was disturbing. had to slow down and cajole the car a bit to get it behave properly. This kind of behavior can be deadly during overtaking.

Even the brakes seem to have been designed to operate at lower speeds. High speed braking or tight cornering tends to de-stabilize the vehicle with brakes making scary noise. So Enjoy is not for the driving enthusiast in you. It is better off with a yellow number plate.

How Chevrolet Enjoy fares w.r.t competition?

Enjoy Vs Ertiga
Ertiga is more powerful and has better build quality. Ertiga commands better resale value and price difference between Ertiga and Enjoy is minimal. Ertiga makes a better buy in all aspects, except that Enjoy is more spacious

Enjoy vs Xylo
Xylo is more powerful and comes with lots of features not offered in Enjoy. But then Xylo is expensive and gives less fuel economy. Hence Enjoy might be preferable for short trips.

Read Xylo E4 review

Enjoy’s rival, Nissan Evalia got a facelift recently, with an inch bigger tyres and a host of other minor improvements. GM should do same for Enjoy-

My wishlist for Enjoy facelift is as below

-Provide 90 PS power & improved braking

-Door pocket should be able to hold 1 litre bottle

-Better build quality