Now that the Cobalt is sold and gone:

Dasfinc

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Sep 28, 2007
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My over-all experience with the car has been nightmarish, but here is my review, and the last bit of drama for the saga.

Cliffs: I don't hate all Chevrolet's because of my experience, but I will never buy a low or mid-end GM car ever again due to poor fit/finish and component quality that is so apparent in the Cobalt after owning it for 3 months.

Pros:

Great power vs mpg *it got 37.6mpg on its way to its new owner on the Iowa border*
Alot of features available *7 speaker stereo, heated leather, MP3/CD Changer with Aux/Ipod, LSD,etc*
Good sized trunk despite the size
solid handling

Cons:

Transmission may be stout, but is VERY hard to shift smoothly all the time
Drive by wire has more hangtime than it should
rear seats are worthless for people over 5'5" in the coupe
stock rims are vunerable to curbs because they are 'flat fronted' and nearly flush with the tire all the way around
paint on bumpers chips CRAZY easily
Climate control and heated seat control buttons are garbage IMO (Service history showed both being replaced twice)

The Take-Away:

The REAL problems I experienced with this car I will be honest and say "Aren't because its a chevrolet"

The rear brakes seizing are the fault of the previous owner painting them almost certainly, and the 2 weeks it spent in the shop are the dealers fault for screwing up the car repeatedly.

The car was cheap, and powerful, and got good fuel economy, but my 10+ year old trucks both have better fit and finish as far as the interior is concerned, and I feel that was my biggest let-down above all others as I didn't expect the car to have more squeaks/rattles, and a rougher ride than my trucks..... I really feel that Chevrolet has 'dropped the ball' on interior quality of MANY of its new cars *Not always poor quality, but just bland* I drove a new Malibu and a HHR during the time the cobalt was in the shop, so I'm not just basing this on the cobalt.

All in all I 'lost' $280 on the car outside of the money I had spent on the payments, which isn't the end of the world, but I will never buy any low-end general motors product again. my 07 focus had far better fit and finish, and I traded it in with 10K more miles on it than the cobalt had, and it never gave me a single problem since the day I bought it minus a single random airbag light from a clockspring.

I also have come to terms that if I ever buy a 'newer' *2000+* Full-size truck, I would buy a GM hands-down.

--End Rant--
 

Dasfinc

Ready for the EVlution
Sep 28, 2007
20,919
1,321
Wheaton, IL
Stick to fords.

I just wanted to get it out there that "I don't have all chevrolets because of the cobalt"

It was cheap, I should have had lower expectations, but Yes, I will stick with my fords, as they have proven to be higher quality, and more reliable to me across the product range Vs. chevrolet's made in the past 20 years as far as cars and light trucks are concerned.
 

wombat

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Sep 29, 2007
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drive a cruze and tell me that low end GM models are shitty.... that car is nicer than a civic or corolla

This. I test drove one, thing is fucking AMAZING and for a ticket price of 21k BRAND new it's an outstanding deal.

I've had 2 different cobalts (first one we had to surrunder to the bank due to it being in my moms name, long story short) for about 3 years now, and my brother owned one. Cars are great, hence why I bought my second one. You got a shitty car, and I don't care if you admit it or not but you probably beat the piss out of it (or the previous owner did). And when I said beat the piss out of it, I mean fucking HARRASS the thing. I bought my first one with 36 miles on it not knowing how to drive stick. My stock clutch went out at like 26k and it was my brothers fault. (thought it would be cool to do second gear burn outs in my car while it was wet out :roflpicard: ) Other than that the little problems that I've had with mine I have caused..With the exception of a wheel bearing that was bad when I bought the second one.

I'm not a hardcore OMG COBALTZ ARE THE BESTTTTTT (Because the base models drive nice but are nothing to brag about) but I'm saying you had a bad experience probbaly because you beat the car up more than you should or the previous owner did. The reason I said fucking harrass the thing is because when I had my first one I was younger I liked to street race, beat the piss out of it...hell I hot lapped it at the track on 4 different occasions and I NEVER had a problem. And some of the cons you posted are clearly driver error, no offense. The cars shift flawlessly and there is NO hangtime between shifting...

That being said, I just think you jumped into the car too fast and got a shitty one. :dunno:
 

Stink Star

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Well I will be the first to reccomend a cruze to anybody.... The car really is incredible, espically because of the price.

Now about the cobalt.... Well I'll just post a rant I made on facebook about them so you know how I feel.


Sean Buchar ‎^^^^this guy talking about me?^^^^

turbo cobalt with a tune and exhaust also falls apart at approximately the same rate as every other cobalt, no lift shift is dildos and launch control is a joke. not everything is about horsepower... i work on cars (chevys particularly) for a living and i can tell you the two biggest piles of garbage that GM makes are the cobalt and the impala, im not joking when i say they are trashbins.... not only are the cars an engineering joke, the people who buy them are generally the lowest of class individuals i have ever seen (there are a few exceptions as with anything in life). lets start with the chassis... could they make it flex any worse? how about make some bushings that dont fall out of the mounts every 10,000 miles? how about make an exhaust pipe that doest crack off after 20k miles.... oh wait that means they would have to design an engine mounting system that didnt cause massive wheelhop. and not to mention the interior.... like seriously ive seen better fit and finish on "little tykes" toys!"thank you for leaving the casting mark where the 2 halves of the mold meet up.. now i can see how you assembled my dashboard" like seriously what the fuck!!! and whats with that shitty chome plated plastic and painted trim that always rubs off and looks like shit? how can chevy get the malibu soooo right, and get the cobalt so wrong? do the "leather" seats need to feel like such shit? and the climate control knobs are about as tactile feeling as a wooden spoon in a bowl of oatmeal. no wonder GM is the laughing stock of the automotive community! the only good cars they make are priced as high as compedators and most people dont want the stigma of having a car thats related to car of the neckbeard low class scum of the typical bottom of the line GM buyer. now i will say this, now that they stopped making the cobalt, the cruze is an amazing car, and in my mind is even better than a civic (and i used to have a top of the line fully loaded civic so i do indeed have room to talk) GM WILL sell the shit out of them. well at least i hope they do, to erase the shit stain that is the memory of the car that put GM firmly in the toilet in peoples minds... the cobalt!
September 27 at 6:36pm · Like · 1 person
 

Stink Star

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Sad part is that I was Still holding back... I could go on for hours about how the newest gen W bodies and A bodies are complete garbage. The fact that somebody can test drive one and then be inclined to purchase it afterward is simply unbelievable to me.... GM made garbage, and 90% of the clientel that buys those particular cars are also garbage. This conclusion is not spur of the moment by any means, years of firsthand research have gone into this. I mean it's almost a rare occurrence to NOT find a drug stash in a cobalt while doing a power steering motor recall... The girls all use the back seat as their closet and the front upholstery as a makeup wipe. The guys all buy the base model but then try to paint various interior bits and install stereos, breaking every retaining clip in the process. The ones that don't mod the cars usually have at least one speaker blown out from blasting their B96 music to impress the ladies. And I'm convinced they must have bad blind spots or something because for some reason every car has curb rashed wheels and "city bumpers". Ughhhh I mean for fucks sake the mirror adjusters have visible foam wedged inside to hide the mechanism, like it would have been too hardto make a ball and socket joint or even a rubber boot like they have on every other car with manual mirrors for the last 100 years. Speaking of which....manual mirrors and windows? It's the fucking 21'st century and these cars don't have standard power windows? Jesus fuck, cars have goddamn nutsack ventilators now but the cobalt has "air conditioning by Armstrong?!?!? (that's manual windows if you don't follow) I couldn't imagine being more embarrased than spending tens of thousands of dollars on a brand new car and showing my buddies my sweet manual locks, crank windows and fucking drum brakes.



I better stop for now before I get into this
 

Angus

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This. I test drove one, thing is fucking AMAZING and for a ticket price of 21k BRAND new it's an outstanding deal.

I've had 2 different cobalts (first one we had to surrunder to the bank due to it being in my moms name, long story short) for about 3 years now, and my brother owned one. Cars are great, hence why I bought my second one. You got a shitty car, and I don't care if you admit it or not but you probably beat the piss out of it (or the previous owner did). And when I said beat the piss out of it, I mean fucking HARRASS the thing. I bought my first one with 36 miles on it not knowing how to drive stick. My stock clutch went out at like 26k and it was my brothers fault. (thought it would be cool to do second gear burn outs in my car while it was wet out :roflpicard: ) Other than that the little problems that I've had with mine I have caused..With the exception of a wheel bearing that was bad when I bought the second one.

I'm not a hardcore OMG COBALTZ ARE THE BESTTTTTT (Because the base models drive nice but are nothing to brag about) but I'm saying you had a bad experience probbaly because you beat the car up more than you should or the previous owner did. The reason I said fucking harrass the thing is because when I had my first one I was younger I liked to street race, beat the piss out of it...hell I hot lapped it at the track on 4 different occasions and I NEVER had a problem. And some of the cons you posted are clearly driver error, no offense. The cars shift flawlessly and there is NO hangtime between shifting...

That being said, I just think you jumped into the car too fast and got a shitty one. :dunno:

1. Your last sentence does not match with you paragraph above where you accuse of 'beating the piss out of it'.

2. His complaints with the car do not really have anything to do with a car getting the piss beaten out of it. He was complaining more of the fit and finish. Unless every time he went to use a feature and was frantically stabbing the buttons like Charles Manson...
 

Fish

From the quiet street
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Aug 3, 2007
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2. His complaints with the car do not really have anything to do with a car getting the piss beaten out of it. He was complaining more of the fit and finish. Unless every time he went to use a feature and was frantically stabbing the buttons like Charles Manson...

People do that. I absolutely HATE when someone has to wind up and slam the car door to close it. Then they wanna control my radio and A/C.
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

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my cobalt was just fine.. other than the high insurance.. it looked good, was quick, and got great gas mileage.

i just hated the "stigma" that went with the car. I had a supra give me a thumbs down :( I love supras.

x2 never had any issues with my cobalt, i put 32k on it in less than a year and beat the piss out of it and never had a single issue (other then me frying the clutch). grant it it was not stock when it came to things that stinkstar is complaining about plus i think all the other balts other then the sc/tc are junk and look like shit. i also totally agree that everyone and there mother rices out the piece of shit cobalts thinking they are fast.

dasfinc, you had a piece of shit. i never had any shift issues or delay in acceleration. it was the car or user lol
 

Stink Star

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^^^^this^^^^

It's almost amazing how delicate a car is. You fuck up once and bam! Like little stuff like being careful that your fingernails don't catch the rubberized coating on most center stacks of controls. Or making sure your knee doesn't catch the left corner of the dash while getting in and out of the car. I don't care if it's an aveo or a Mercedes, if you close the doors unnecessarily hard things start to loosen up and rattle over time and then subconsciously you treat the car worse and worse because you see how shitty it is. And it sucks because all it takes is 1 little fuck up and the car is broken forever, and you have to deal with it for years.

For me being a mechanic it's hard to describe the steps I take that are general to prettymuch any car I work on. I hate leaving fingerprints (even normal fingerprints, not grease or dirt) on peoples paint. For example I will get a car and pull it into my stall.... When I open the door the only thing I touch is the inside of the handle, I don't grab the outside edge of the door to slow it down like 90% of people do. Then when I get to my stall and get out, when I close the door I don't grab the edge of the door and swing, I generally put my finger in the keyhole and give it enough pressure to let it barely swing closed. On occasion I will push the door handle if it is a large truck or something. I also keep a clean microfiber in my box to wipe and prints the service writers leave from getting in and out of the cars. Another thing I can't stand is the "trunk fingers"!!!! Ever drive behind somebody and see the three lines at the bottom edge of the trunk? That's where they grabbed the thing while it was up and swung it closed.... I ALWAYS grab the thing from the inside and swing it closed, occasionaly using the underside of a spoiler/ front of a plate to send it home if necessary.... Same goes for the hood, I can't stand those fingerprints there. It's amazing how just slight behaviors like these can dramatically increase the well being of your car, and keep it nicer for longer
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

TCG Conspiracy Lead Investigator
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^^^^this^^^^

It's almost amazing how delicate a car is. You fuck up once and bam! Like little stuff like being careful that your fingernails don't catch the rubberized coating on most center stacks of controls. Or making sure your knee doesn't catch the left corner of the dash while getting in and out of the car. I don't care if it's an aveo or a Mercedes, if you close the doors unnecessarily hard things start to loosen up and rattle over time and then subconsciously you treat the car worse and worse because you see how shitty it is. And it sucks because all it takes is 1 little fuck up and the car is broken forever, and you have to deal with it for years.

For me being a mechanic it's hard to describe the steps I take that are general to prettymuch any car I work on. I hate leaving fingerprints (even normal fingerprints, not grease or dirt) on peoples paint. For example I will get a car and pull it into my stall.... When I open the door the only thing I touch is the inside of the handle, I don't grab the outside edge of the door to slow it down like 90% of people do. Then when I get to my stall and get out, when I close the door I don't grab the edge of the door and swing, I generally put my finger in the keyhole and give it enough pressure to let it barely swing closed. On occasion I will push the door handle if it is a large truck or something. I also keep a clean microfiber in my box to wipe and prints the service writers leave from getting in and out of the cars. Another thing I can't stand is the "trunk fingers"!!!! Ever drive behind somebody and see the three lines at the bottom edge of the trunk? That's where they grabbed the thing while it was up and swung it closed.... I ALWAYS grab the thing from the inside and swing it closed, occasionaly using the underside of a spoiler/ front of a plate to send it home if necessary.... Same goes for the hood, I can't stand those fingerprints there. It's amazing how just slight behaviors like these can dramatically increase the well being of your car, and keep it nicer for longer

you sound like you have ocd lol
 
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