Chevrolet has produced an uppper-end economy car that I like the looks of. Has anybody bought one of these, or had any experience with one, or know somebody who has? We would be looking at getting a five-speed manual transmission sedan.
The coupe evokes images of a modernized early Camero.
Yup, the consensus in the auto press is that the Cobalt is a fine car.
A friend of mine got one as soon as they came out. So far he is quite happy with it. Its a good mix of style and economy. He needs it for transit to and from university which for him is about 60km a day. Currently it goes to his work and back about 40km a day and he hasn’t complained. I haven’t ridden in it yet, so I can’t say anything about the ride, but it should be a fairly safe bet.
I’m renting a brand new four door model (automatic) while I’m out here in Phoenix for 9 days. I’ve driven it for about a week now, and I’ve found it to be a fine car. Plenty of room up front for us taller folks too. I took it to the Grand Canyon and it drove nice for the 7 hour round trip. Pretty good on gas, and it’s pretty comfortable. Plenty of acceleration for going up the hills here in Arizona. And I don’t even like small cars. But if I were to get one, it would be this one.
My mother bought one earlier this summer and is really happy with it. Plus, my dad has enough room when he’s in it, a challenge since he’s a big guy.
When I was looking at new cars, the Cobalt wasn’t out yet. I would have considered it, but of course that wasn’t possible.
My only real concern is I’m usually reluctant to buy a car in it’s 1st model year. There’s usually some bugs to be worked out…
Other than that, it looks like a very nice car…
I rented one this morning. It’s a nice looking coupe. My only real complaint, for the first 15 miles I’ve driven, is that the rear window and mirror seem to be a bit small and give limited rear visibility. The ride is very smooth for such a small car but still has decent road feel. Electronics and controls seem fairly easy to figure out. Styling is good/very good. Seats are comfortable, particularly for the size car. There is some very small noise/rattle coming from somewhere near the front passenger floor.
The Cobalt is basically just a redesigned Cavalier. Cavs generally were pretty solid cars, although they can be a pain to fix when they do break.
If Chevy made a hybrid version (and I had the money,) I’d buy one.
I read a review on the Cobalt, and apparently it’s a little more than a re-designed Cavalier. Rumour has it that they tried to fix all the flaws with the Cavalier, with the rationale that it’s cheaper to build a better car than have all the recalls and such.
Good point about the first model year, Lips. We may lease it rather than buy, which might be a better idea with an unproven model.
I am driving a rental cobalt right now and so far I like it a lot. It has good pickup, is roomy and comfortable inside, it handles like a dream, and has a turning radius that you wouldn’t believe. Personally I am a little disapointed by the gas mileage (I got about 200 miles out of my last tank, and my sentra usually will give me about 325) and I don’t like the side mirror at all, they are too small and I dont feel like I can see behind me very well. On the other hand it has automatic headlights which are fairly nifty.
I would recomend it overall as a nice driving car, but I still like my car better.