I absolutely loved my 1st-gen XB as an appliance car, got a consistant 31+ mpg and if you ran it out and worked the shifter it was acceptably zippy, certainly better than any 70's econobox. Huge interior room too; 300#+ 6'5"+ friends always marveled at the amount of room they had both front and back. Sure it got a bit slower with 4 adults in it or pulling a trailer, but it was still faster than my 4-cylinder S10. I put 42k miles on it in 18 months before trading it in on the MINI that I just sold after only 22k and 8 months and never once had any issues with anything on the car. I may even buy another at some point when the prices finally start coming down.
My GF has an Aveo and it's not as bad as all that. Sure it's a Daewoo, but the engine is the same Family-2 motor that's in the Suzuki Reno and Forenza and appears to be based on the old Opel red-top 16v motor which is pretty highly regarded. Asuming the body hold up, which may be a big asumption I know, it should prove to be a decently reliable appliance car.
