Junkyard Gem: 2002 Daewoo Nubira SE Sedan

Daewoo Motor America sold cars in the United States for the 1999 through 2002 model years, and there were but three models offered: the Leganza midsize luxury sedan, the Lanos subcompact and the Nubira compact. We’ve covered the first two in fairly recent Junkyard Gems, and today we’ll examine a final-year Nubira sedan found in a Northern California wrecking yard.

The first Daewoo-built car model sold in the United States was the 1988-1993 Pontiac LeMans. After that, Daewoo Group CEO Kim Woo-choong decided that American car shoppers would be eager to buy new cars bearing Daewoo badging.

The first Lanoses, Nubiras and Leganzas showed up as 1999 models … right about the time that Mr. Kim fled South Korea and went on the lam in order to evade fraud and embezzlement charges (he ended up behind bars later on). This wasn’t a great look for Daewoo Motor America, but the cars were temptingly priced.

The 2002 Nubira SE sedan had an MSRP of just $11,699, which amounts to something like $20,747 in 2024 dollars. That undercut the price of the cheapest possible 2002 Toyota Corolla sedan ($13,370) as well as that of the most affordable 2002 Chevy Cavalier sedan ($14,035). In fact, the Nubira didn’t cost a whole lot more than the cost of the much smaller and equally South Korean Hyundai Accent sedan ($10,649).

The Nubira was available as a four-door sedan and as a four-door wagon.

This one has the optional four-speed automatic transmission, which added $800 to the cost ($1,419 in today’s money). The 2002 Corolla CE’s optional automatic was a three-speed, one of the very last cars so equipped sold in North America, so here’s one way in which the Nubira honestly out-featured the same-year Corolla.

It also has the $850 air conditioning ($1,507 now), which reminded me that shooting junked cars in 105°F Central Valley heat can be challenging.

The engine is a 2.0-liter DOHC four-cylinder rated at 129 horsepower.

Daewoo went bankrupt in 2000, so it took a brave buyer to purchase a 2002 model. During that period, GM ended up buying all of Daewoo’s car-building operations that it didn’t already own (but not Daewoo Motor America).

This car never even reached 100,000 miles during its life (unless the speedometer cable broke at 87,070), which is typical of the junked Daewoos I’ve documented (though I have found a Lanos that made it past the 200,000-mile mark).

The end of Daewoo-badged cars here didn’t mean Americans would be deprived of Daewoo machinery. The next-generation Lanos became the Chevrolet Aveo, the upgraded Nubira appeared here as the Suzuki Reno and the revised Leganza showed up as the Suzuki Verona.

Some suspension of disbelief required.

Even more suspension of disbelief required.

Serious hallucinogens required.