Low price is Aveo's claim to fame

Few consumers know it, but they can find the lowest-priced new car in America in Chevrolet showrooms.

The Chevrolet Aveo, which has new styling, a slightly larger body and new suspension for 2007, beats all Korean- and Japanese-branded cars sold here with a starting manufacturers suggested retail price, including destination charge, of just $10,560.

This is for a base, 2007 Aveo five-door hatchback with four-cylinder engine, five-speed manual and no air conditioning.

It compares with the next lowest-priced new car, the 2007 Hyundai Accent three-door hatchback, that starts at $10,995 and the 2007 Kia Rio sedan that starts at $11,350.

Like the Aveo, both the Accent and Rio have base models with four-cylinder engines, manual transmissions and no standard air conditioning.

The lowest-priced car from a Japanese company is the 2007 Toyota Yaris, whose starting retail price, including destination charge, is $11,770 for a three-door hatchback with four-cylinder engine and manual transmission. Air conditioning is standard on all Yarises.

OK, there is one caveat. While the Aveo wears the Chevy badge and is sold at Chevrolet dealerships, it is built in South Korea by Daewoo.

Chevrolet's parent company, General Motors Corp., took control of the financially struggling automaking business at Daweoo in 2002 and imports the Aveo from there. Thus, the Aveo is the top-selling Asian import rebadged for a domestic brand in the United States with annual sales of more than 55,000.

As the entry-level Chevy, the Aveo does a decent job mixing low price with practical features and nice looks. The new styling and bit longer, wider body doesn't make the Aveo glamorous, but the test Aveo LT sedan had pleasant, mainstream styling.

Optional fog lamps were well worth the money -- $110 -- because they added substance to the front, where an oh-so-short hood resides. The back of the Aveo LT sedan even looked like that of a more expensive car, because the taillamps were large and trimmed with plentiful silver-colored plastic and the trunk lid sat high.

Inside, the test Aveo had acceptably supportive front bucket seats, and I was impressed to find a pull-down center armrest at the right side of the drivers seat.

Additionally, manual height adjustment for the driver seat gave me a comfortable, high driving position to see over the dashboard and even into cars ahead. I also appreciated the excellent dead pedal -- a foot-sized, flat, bracing point -- that was well positioned.

Don't worry about headroom in the Aveo. This sedan stands nearly 5 feet tall and the ceiling is high and accommodating, though unfortunately the ceiling's finished in a cheap-looking, coarse material.

The Aveo sedan has many storage spots, though all the ones in the center console, between the front seats, are uncovered and visible to nosy pedestrians.

The back seat, while tight width-wise for three adults, offers noteworthy legroom of 35.4 inches. Seat cushions are up high, and passenger legs tend to extend downward more than forward.

The Aveo sedan's trunk space of 12.4 cubic feet is commendable, too, though most of this space is wedged under the rear window shelf.

The only Aveo engine is a 1.6-liter, double overhead cam, inline four cylinder. It generates 103 horsepower and 107 foot-pounds of torque at 3,600 rpm, which is pretty much on par with its major low-priced, small car competitors.

While the performance numbers don't sound like a lot, keep in mind the Aveo is a lightweight car. The tester, for example, weighed just over 2,500 pounds, or half the weight of a Chevy Tahoe sport utility vehicle. Indeed, the test Aveo sedan with optional four-speed automatic transmission moved well, particularly in city traffic.

City fuel economy in the high-20 miles a gallon and highway mileage of 30-plus miles a gallon, per U.S. government ratings, is in the top quarter of small cars.

But I heard the Aveo engine nearly all the time, from idle to acceleration. More noticeable were the "ba-boom" sounds from the suspension and tires as the Aveo traveled over patched and bumpy city streets.

The ride in the car actually was acceptable for passengers, with many road bumps not making their way to passenger seats. But you wouldn't know that from the noises emanating from under the test car.

The new suspension, with tighter tuning than before, helps the Aveo handle in a more predictable manner. But the lightness of the car and a sometimes loose feel to the steering made the tester feel skittish at times.

Front-seat side-mounted air bags are standard in the Aveo. But curtain air bags, which are standard on the Accent and Rio, are not offered.

And the new Aveo appears to have taken a step back, compared with its predecessor, in some government crash tests.

The 2007 Aveo received five out of five stars for driver protection in frontal crash testing by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But front-passenger crash protection was rated at four stars, a decline from the five stars that the 2006 Aveo sedan received.

The 2007 Aveo received four out of five stars for front-seat passenger protection in side crash testing. But rear-seat passenger protection was rated at only three stars, which compares with four stars for the 2006 Aveo sedan.

Last October, 17,676 Aveos from the 2007 model year were recalled after a government frontal crash test caused short circuits in the car's fuse block and a fuel line to fracture that could lead to a fire. Under the safety recall, dealers installed a newly redesigned fuel line section and a new fuse block.

Meantime, predicted reliability of the Aveo is rated at fair, according to Consumer Reports magazine.