Gm North America Map 2014 Bluetooth Audio Pairing

For about 1,500 more, the 1LT adds MyLink with the 7-inch touchscreen dashboard display, a USB port, Bluetooth audio pairing, audio controls on the steering wheel, and built-in Sirius XM radio with 3 months of free service.

Its quite the deal for a new car, if you can do without the connectivity features that make the step-up 1LT so appealing.

In all, you end up with a new batch of small cars like the Spark, for which styling and features arent thrown to the wayside.

Addressing both of those new concerns is the Spark, which is a very small five-door hatchback that, at exactly three feet shorter than the Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan, fits into the city in ways that few other cars on the market do.

But with somewhat more grown-up proportions than most other cars in this class, the Spark doesnt quite look as small as it is at first--provided you havent parked it next to a Chevy Suburban, that is.

Overall, accent lines, black-plastic panels that continue the window line, and a large Chevy twin-opening grille help to hide the slab-sided, snub-nosed box-on-wheels look.

A long roof spoiler extends to frame the rear window opening, giving depth to the rear and improving the Sparks aerodynamics, too.

The textured hard-plastic dash isnt particularly uplifting, while the synthetic cloth seats wont have anyone fooled as upmarket.

But we like the body-color inserts on the door trim, inside the door bins, and on the dashboard; they bring in some attitude, and recall the painted interior metal found in economy cars (and sports cars) of the Sixties.

Inside, the instrument panel has a motorcycle-influenced instrument panel, with a pod mounted on the steering column and a small vehicle information display.

All LT trim levels feature a 7-inch color touchscreen display in the center stack.

The Spark comes standard with a five-speed manual gearbox, and if you drive aggressively you can hustle it along; a new continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) replaces the former four-speed automatic transmission this year.

While we havent driven this model with the new CVT, we hope its faster than the former automatic, without too much of the coarse engine drone that afflicts small cars with such a transmission.

The new CVT does improve fuel economy to 30 mpg city, 39 highway (34 Combined)--up 2 mpg versus last years automatic.

This is the quickest of the new crop of affordable all-electric models, with a 0-60 mph time of just 7.6 seconds, and up to 400 pound-feet of torque on tap from its 105-kW electric motor system.

Meanwhile its 21-kWh battery pack helps provide an EPA-rated 82 miles of driving rangeand based on what we saw on this first drive, that will be quite easy to achieve.

GM has also claimed that its the worlds most efficient production passenger carat least, on an mile-per-gallon-equivalent basis.

Its tall enough that passengers will feel the Spark leaning on hard corners, while its relatively small wheels and tires worked hard to hold the road.

The electric power steering offers some road feel, and while its hardly as fun to toss around as the MINI Cooper, the Spark can change lanes into spaces other cars couldnt fit into, and its a joy to park.

The rear seatback is upright, but with a little negotiation between front- and back-seat riders, four adult male humans can occupy the Spark and travel in reasonable space.

Gm North America Map 2014 Full Paper Grocery

With the rear seat up, the Spark has 11.4 cubic feet of cargo space--enough to hold 10 to 12 full paper grocery bags with ease--which expands to 31.2 cubic feet when the 6040 split rear seat is flipped and folded down.

Outward vision is good, too, despite the lack of a rear camera system.

The Spark earns a four-star Overall rating from the federal government, with impressive five-star side and side pole ratings.

And in Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) crash tests, the Spark and Spark EV were the only minicar models to achieve an acceptable in the tough new small overlap frontal test.

Gm North America Map Update 2014