Chevrolet's compact, continuing with three trims for a two-door coupe and four-door sedan, gains an optional CD deck capable of playing MP3 files. Also optional are seat-mounted torso air bags for the driver and front-seat passenger.

Trim levels for both coupe and sedan extend from base Cavalier to upgraded LS and top-end LS Sport with GM's FE2 sport suspension. Each pull power from a dual-cam 2.2-liter EcoTec in-line-four engine that produces 140 hp and mates to either the standard five-speed manual or optional four-speed automatic.

You can also dress Cavalier in optional gear like chrome aluminum wheels, a tail spoiler and leather to wrap the steering wheel and shifter stick's knob.

What can you say about a svelte two-seat sports car that runs to 40 mph in only the first of six forward gears, packs hardware to control suspension, traction and brakes, and tops out at well over twice any legal highway speed?

Only one word comes to mind - Corvette.

For 2004, Chevy's Corvette attains peak performance and automotive sophistication with three models including the hatchback coupe and convertible plus Z06 hardtop coupe with power points added, positioning it in the exotic club of plus-400 hp rippers.

To mark Corvette's wins with the C5-R racer, special commemorative editions of all three versions appear in the lineup. The Commemorative Edition Coupe and Convertible wear special badges with body paint in Le Mans Blue and the convertible's top in the shade of Shale to match the interior color. Z06 Commemorative Edition also in Le Mans Blue has a striping scheme patterned after the C5-R, with polished Z06 wheels and a hood made from lightweight carbon fiber.

Coupe and convertible use the LS1 Corvette engine, a 5.7-liter V8 producing 350 hp. Souped-up Z06 with the LS6 V8 soars to 405 hp.

A new itsy-bitsy economy car is heading to Chevrolet, arriving later in the model-year in formats of a four-door sedan and five-door hatchback. Called Aveo, the new model comes together in South Korea under a joint-venture arrangement between GM and Daewoo.

Despite the assembly in Korea, styling for the curvy Aveo looks downright Italian due to handiwork of stylists at the Italdesign studios of Giorgetto Giugiaro in Turin. And cabins of both models seem far more spacious than the subcompact dimensions imply. Seatback folds flat in the sedan to boost cargo capacity, but on the five-door hatch the rear seat folds and flips forward to forge a generous cargo bay with 42 cubic feet of room.

Two trims, base and LS, go to both models, but there's only one powertrain. It's a frisky 1.6-liter in-line four with twin cams and a rating of 105 hp with standard five-speed manual or optional four-speed automatic. (...BACK)

Read our Review: Chevrolet Aveo