Chevrolet Cobalt News: Photos of the SS sedan on dealer lot

[Vintalage]

April 2005

THE VERDICT
Chevrolet Cobalt LS

Highs: Head-of-the-class refinement, mammoth trunk, sweat stains on the details.

Lows: Rent-me styling, cozy back seat bisected by a big tunnel, a dash buzz in our tester.

The Verdict: Evidence that SS GM may turn in time to miss the iceberg.


Those who pray to a higher power for the revival of General Motors should note that in many religions the savior prefers to arrive in plain dress. The new Chevrolet Cobalt has ho-hum written all over it, but nothing on sale in a GM dealership today bodes better for the outlook of the world's largest automaker. The Cobalt sparks no revolution, doesn't scare small children, and won't set hallowed historical figures spinning in their graves. All it does is quietly—very quietly and serenely—prove that when GM decides to build an accomplished small car, it can.

It had better be good, this Cobalt.



For starters, we've waited decades for its arrival. The Cobalt's predecessor, the Chevy Cavalier, was born on the same day as dirt. The first ones clattered out of dealerships in 1981. Over the Cavalier's lifetime, Toyota put its Corolla through five redesigns, while this small, strong-selling Chevrolet got mostly minor makeovers and powertrain tweaks.

Cobalt pricing puts its nose right in the feedbag of league thoroughbreds such as the Corolla. The field-stripped Cobalt sedan starts at $14,190, and $16,485 buys a mid-level LS with aluminum wheels, ABS, and power windows and locks (the LS featured here is $18,245 with an automatic trans, the Preferred Equipment Group, and a thumping Pioneer stereo). These prices shadow those of the Corolla and Honda Civic. The Cobalt plays in the same sandbox as Scions, the Ford Focus, and formidable brand-Bs from Korea such as the Hyundai Elantra, which finished a laudable second in our last roundup of bargain cars ["Double-Dip Dreamboats," C/D , November 2002].

Sure, the difference between what GM demands and what GM gets after feverish discounting pays a mortgage. At the time of this writing, Los Angeles-area dealers were already ballyhooing a $1500 rebate on the Cobalt. That brings up another long-term mission of the car: Convince buyers to maybe, eventually, someday pay an actual sticker price for a Chevrolet because, like a Toyota, it's just that good.

Is the Cobalt that good? For GM, it's miraculous, even more so considering this is the same pan-global architecture—called Delta in lingua-GM—underpinning the Saturn Ion. In January 2003 we vented three or four spleens on the cheaped-out, noisy, decidedly unfun Ion. Former technical director Frank Markus's words, "most disappointing all-new American car in a decade," echoed in the halls of GM for some time, we are told.

It takes just five minutes of driving to learn that the Cobalt works harder for your love. Your eyes fall on a dashboard where the plastic panels merge as a seamless, flush-finished unit. No jagged part lines or glaring gaps to signify where the nickels were squeezed out. Your fingers feel, well, almost nothing of the vibrations generated by the engine or road blight. They are absorbed by a stiffened structure and better-isolated suspension. Even approaching the 6500-rpm shift point, your ears hear just a distant thrum from the engine room, its noise damped by specially molded acoustical pads, doubled-up door seals, and sheets of multilayer Quiet Steel—all of which were added to the Cobalt after lessons learned on the Ion.

The Cobalt has rental-unit styling, but buyers shopping the budget aisle of the dealership generally want more practicality than pizazz. Open the trunk to see practicality personified. There are 14 cubic feet in there, a smidge more than in the Civic. Where the Ion eats space with intrusive gooseneck hinges, the Cobalt has multilink trunk supports that pack flat and swing the lid farther forward to avoid cranial collisions.

Pull the twin handles in the trunk to release each side of the 60/40-split rear seatbacks. The outboard headrests (the center seat does without) cleverly mount to the parcel shelf, so the seatbacks tuck down without having to first pry off headrests. The bottom cushion is fixed in place so the extended load floor isn't flat, but the opening is plenty roomy for monthly runs to the buy-in-bulk warehouse.


Despite the scalloped knee pockets in the front seatbacks, the back bench feels snug and vertical when used for adults, and you can forget about the center position. The Cobalt channels its engine exhaust down a prominent center hump that vaporizes all foot space. Assign the naughty children to that spot.

Certain to run up a big number on the Rockwell hardness scale, the Cobalt's front seats seem unduly firm and unyielding—at first, anyway—but then you realize why it's the one common attribute the Cobalt shares with a Porsche. A few hours in the chair, and your back and thighs are fresh, supported in all the important directions by orthopedic good thinking wrapped in premium cloth. Drivers get lumbar adjust with a hand wheel and height adjust with a ratcheting lever on the side. No telescoping steering or power seats come in the Cobalt, not even in the leather-equipped LT deluxe model. Try the Cobalt on first to make sure it fits.

When was the last time you felt coddled by a Chevrolet interior? Even the Corvette has lapses into rinky-dink. Peer through the side glass, and the Cobalt's dash could be mistaken for cheap-car standard issue, but not when you sit close. Tight fits and low-gloss sheens make the two-tone dash plastic look harmonious and expensive. It actually surprises you when it proves to be hard to the touch, not spongy as in a Lexus.

There's no skimping with the trim, not even in places where eyes rarely go, such as the seatbelt pillars and far-back corners. We've seen luxury sedans get by with schlocky mouse-fur headliners. The Cobalt's roof is upholstered with a finely woven cloth. The front passenger gets an overhead grab handle; the rear ceiling has extra-deep hanger hooks. (Curtain airbags are available for $395.)

The driver works a chrome door handle and a neatly integrated panel of short-movement window buttons set in a painted bezel that resides in an attractive cloth-trim accent. Sporty types take note: There's no manumatic function for the four-speed automatic transmission. Even the straightforward climate-control knobs have chrome trim beads. Sure, it's all done to a budget, just a better one than we're used to in a Chevy.

Goofs include the shallow cup holders, which can't hold a water bottle in place against the g-force of a freeway on-ramp, and the lack of map lights. Oddly, the rear passengers get overhead personal lights, but not the payment-maker at the wheel. Perhaps our light module was installed backward.

The Cobalt's engine does without power-pumping gadgets such as variable valve timing, but it's the largest in its peer group. The 2.2-liter DOHC 16-valve inline four with twin balance shafts to dampen vibration puts out 145 horsepower and 155 pound-feet of torque. That's enough caffeine to scoot this 2900-pound Cobalt to 60 mph in 8.4 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 16.6 seconds at 84 mph. Those times would have beaten nine of the 10 cars in our Dreamboat comparo, which was open to stick shifts only (the Dodge Neon posted identical times).

Returning 27 mpg over 600 miles, this engine isn't about max velocity. It's an appliance designed to reduce stress. Don't think about oil changes. The engine will tell you when it's time. The filter, a paper cartridge behind a screw-in cap, sits right on top so do-it-yourselfers won't get their knees dirty. The hood even lifts itself on its own pneumatic strut.

Fixes to reduce noise and vibration include a redesigned oil pump, a pricier (but quieter and more reliable, says GM) Denso alternator, and a more rigid 360-degree bell-housing mount. In motion the engine hums faintly to itself, its voice easily smothered with the optional and sensational Pioneer tweeters and bass unit, which lurks in the trunk. The only discordant sound was an occasional buzz from deep in the dash heard at certain rpm.

GM has reprogrammed the electric-assist steering, resulting in a more natural heft and better feedback. Directional control through corners is stable and sure-footed. The optional H-rated 205/55 Pirelli P6 tires gave a 0.77-g skidpad performance and ABS-stopped from 70 mph in 188 feet, above average for the class.

Still, extra body roll and softer helm responses—there's a reason twist-beam axles aren't on F1 cars—mean less entertainment for the Cobalt driver than for drivers in some other value cars, notably the Focus and Mazda 3. Yet the Cobalt drives confidently, and owners who don't regularly dust apexes on three wheels may never notice its dynamic limitations.

In the past, GM's promises of reform have been followed by the unleashing of some real dogs. The Ion and the Pontiac Aztek come to mind. If the endearing Cobalt is any indication of where the company is headed, somebody at GM has finally found a compass that works.

http://www.caranddriver.com/article....rticle_id=9267
- Car & Driver

[Vintalage]

[hotgt]

doesn't look too bad...thank god they got rid of that huge ass spoiler like on the coupe

[PontiacGT2K]

Maxima > GP GTP IMO.

Cobalt look ok.

[Rich]

i like it. i thought it was supposed to have the big spoiler though?

[bigbenSC]

Good Lord, almost 22k and not leather or supercharger???? Who are they kidding!

Edit: The GM badge looks more out of place on this car than it does on the G6.

[RedGrandTour]

From directly on the side only it looks like a Mazda 3. Even the door Handles.

[playerx4]

Why the fock would you make a 4 door SS model?

[crazypontiac03]

For the "Family Man". It looks ight. Thank God they got rid of the spoiler it looks like **** meant America.

[BigTaters]

why would u need a superchargerfor 22 grand? it has 215 hp to the wheels.. that is like 40 more than a stock grand am gt has..

[Braves299]

Wow that actually looks decent.

[Vintalage]

It looks boring to me. These changes warrant an SS badge?

[sc02grandam]

Originally Posted by BigTaters

why would u need a superchargerfor 22 grand? it has 215 hp to the wheels.. that is like 40 more than a stock grand am gt has..

i dont believe the sedan has 215 hp

[hotgt]

one more thing...could they have possible put bigger headlights on this thing?? Jeez...thats the only thing that gripes me about the appearance of the new GM Sedans/Coupes...the headlights are way too big IMO

[Rich]

so there are 2 different back ends to the cobalt? theres the corvette/impala tails or this g6 looking style tails. whats the difference? sedan and coupe? different years? i actually drove by an SS today and it had the big spoiler so maybe its an option?

[Vintalage]

I don't know what you guys are talking about the Cobalt losing the large wing. That is the Cobalt SS Supercharged which is the coupe. The SS pictured here is the Sedan. There was never a SS sedan model.

[Rich]

oh i thought all of the SS's were supercharged.

[Vintalage]

Originally Posted by Rich

oh i thought all of the SS's were supercharged.

Nope. GM has rewritten the definition of SS.

[stanjk3]

Originally Posted by Mike3800

Screw both and go for the Subaru Legacy GT. 250HP 250Ft.Lbs very modifyable.

My thoughts exactly. AFAIK all the 2.5L turbo Subarus have the same engine, difference is the turbo. I think the GTs starts closer to 26K, but for 23K I'd get a WRX over a Cobalt anyday.

BTW my wife's car is a '95 Legacy Wagon (L, auto, AWD, ABS) with 151K miles. Sure it's not as fun as my GA, but it wouldn't surprise me if it outlasts my GA.

[bigbenSC]

Originally Posted by BigTaters

why would u need a superchargerfor 22 grand? it has 215 hp to the wheels.. that is like 40 more than a stock grand am gt has..

The normally aspirated Cobalt SS, coupe or sedan for 2006, has the 2.4 ECOTEC rated at 170 HP. Which for $22,000 is a complete joke to me!