Travel Swellness: 2016 Chevy Spark
The “ultimate mobile device” is music to my ears. If you hang out with me for a day, it becomes obvious that I like to be connected–I’m often posting on social media (or checking what other people have posted), and, of course, I’m always working on getting shiz done–as a freelancer, I’m used to, and I’d say required to, always be on top of emails and texts–if an editor is trying to reach me, or if I’m offered an assignment, for example, I can’t afford to delay replying, and in spare time, say, waiting in line, I’m often reading news and articles and staying on top of trends on my iPhone.
So when I heard “ultimate mobile advice” from Chevy a few weeks ago, I was pretty curious. Turns out they were talking about the 2016 Chevy Spark, which is wifi-enabled; now, I can honestly tell you that I don’t know if I appreciate how much torque a car has (I always need to ask the GM pros to explain that concept to me each time I see them), but I do appreciate a car that has wifi.
To help us discover the Chevy Spark that day, which is affordably priced and thus making it a good option for the very first car buyer, we were asked to spend the day as millennials. Ironically, while I’m certainly not a millennial, I’ve never owned a car. (Well, I suppose I’ve partially owned two cars, but they were secondhand, so I don’t feel like that counts).
My first impressions of the Spark? As a visual person, I like the sleek and short (in height) lines of the Spark. It’s pretty darn cute and compact, wouldn’t you say? Especially in this Electric Blue shade (although I’d call it sky blue…), which I showed no shame on calling dibs on. The car’s lower profile, besides making it sleek and attractive, helps to reduce aerodynamic drag, making it more efficient, while changes made to the interior mean that the ample headroom inside hasn’t been affected. In addition, the interior now has upgraded materials, higher density seat foam for greater comfort and a great deal of attention to detail (I couldn’t help but notice the subtle pleasing graphic on the inside of the car doors and dashboard).
More exciting to me is that way your phone can be integrated with the car’s technology. If you have an iPhone 5 or later, the colour screen in the car displays content from it through Android Auto and Apple CarPlay features. Which means you can use apps from your phone including phone, messages, maps, music and more on the car display. The Spark’s MyLink radio features a touch colour display, and the interface is the one most of us know thanks to our smartphones (I wasn’t forever searching for where to press on the screen for once, since it looks much like my iPhone screen so it was easy to use, plus you can swipe and pinch, for example, much in the same way you use your smartphone). Oh, one of my fave features: many of the features on both Android Auto (such as Google Maps) and Apple CarPlay can be controlled by voice command through a button on the steering wheel; my friends who drive have all had me lecture them if I find out they text and drive–those dangers of texting and driving PSAs really hit a nerve with me, what can I say, so anything that helps drivers keep their eyes and attention on the road, is important to me.
The Spark’s engine is all new, but I’m not going to talk engines because I’m not an expert on them (yet–but I’m driving more often it seems to trying to learn more); I’ll leave that to the hardcore car experts to describe to you. As for price, the Spark LS starts at $9,995 and at the top end is the 2LT, which starts at 18, 195.
After taking the Spark for a quick drive to get a feel for the car (during which we stumbled upon the Humber College Lakeshore campus–how appropriate given our millennial theme of the day!), we were given one task from Chevy: to go to IKEA armed with $100 from them and shop for items to donate to a worthy cause of our choice. A friend of mine is helping a number of Syrian families get settled into Toronto, so Megan of www.immrfabulous.com (my friend and buddy for this Chevy Spark day) and I picked up a ton of kitchen staples such as plates, pots, tools and the like, loaded them into the trunk (surprisingly spacious given the compact feel of the car) and then dropped off the IKEA haul to my friend.
Then with the millennial lunch budget Chevy gave us, we filled our growling bellies with delicious, affordable vegetarian bowls at Fresh. (But let’s face it, a truly budget-friendly meal when you’re in college is more like a 99 cent package of ramen! Or a poutine. I lived off of poutine in CEGEP!)
Good deed of the day done, while getting to test out this zippy little car, which thanks to its compact size was a dream to park (one of my least favourite driving tasks!), we reluctantly gave back the keys to Chevy Spark and bid adieu to our day as millennials with their first new car.
Can’t wait to see what my next adventure on the road is with GM!
Leave a Comment April 6, 2016