CTC Review: 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt LT

[CD_Editor]

Picture Gallery:  2007 Chevrolet Cobalt LT Day 1: Click Image to Enlarge It has been a while since I've gotten the keys to a press vehicle that has come in priced around the $20,000 mark.  This makes this week's review all the more interesting, as this is what the average Canadian is looking to spend on a vehicle.  With a starting price of only $17,385, the Cobalt LT packs a solid amount of value in a vehicle that should appeal to many.  More...

[tpl]

Is this a North America built car or a Korea built car... just for interest.

[airbalancer]

I think the interior would look better in a darker colour
Also why would you get  aluminum alloy wheels ($1,165) and a body-colour rear spoiler to top it off ($420), 10% of the price on really useless options

[Stuff]

I think the interior would look better in a darker colour

Probably available on the a higher model. This is the only reason on I bought the Pontiac GT model. The lower ones have this ugly interior interior.

Is this a North America built car or a Korea built car... just for interest.

The Pontiac is American built, I believe it was Ohio. It would be from the factory wouldn't it?
Despite finding the 4-door rather ugly myself, I've seen lots of them on the road

[BlackS40]

My sister-in-law actually had one of these as a rental.  As expected, it's loaded with plastic, but I was amazed at how quiet the car was, both in the city and on the highway.  The engine seemed quite refined for a car in the segment.

[wing]

airbalancer that was a mistake I have corrected, they are actually steel wheels for $1165 which includes ABS.

[EV Dan]

I thought cobalt was a rebage of some european opel. probably rumors after all.. 2.2 ecotec.

[Ken Ku]

I had a Cobalt as a rental while on vacation in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. I felt the car was underpowered and had a hard time driving in hilly terrain. It sure did not feel like 148 hp. I think part of the problem is with the 4 speed automatic which was very slow to kick down to third gear for steep hills. The engine noise was quite noticeable and harsh once the transmission decided to shift into third. It wasn't very nice being passed by campers and loaded VW rabbits.

[Trainman]

It has been a while since I've gotten the keys to a press vehicle that has come in priced around the $20,000 mark.  This makes this week's review all the more interesting, as this is what the average Canadian is looking to spend on a vehicle.  With a starting price of only $17,385, the Cobalt LT packs a solid amount of value in a vehicle that should appeal to many. 

Quite the jump from what the average Canadian is looking to spend to what they really spend:

Record spending on new vehicles: StatsCan
Last Updated: Monday, April 23, 2007 | 11:06 AM ET
CBC News

Canadians drove the number of new vehicles sold in 2006 to its second highest annual level — and paid more for those vehicles than ever before, says Statistics Canada.

Consumers bought 803,166 of these vehicles in 2006, up 2.3 per cent from the previous year.

The average sale price of a new vehicle also hit a new high, rising by 1.7 per cent to about $32,700.

.....

[mdxtasy]

I don't think the average price of a car in Canada has been 20k for a long time.

[mmret]

It has been a while since I've gotten the keys to a press vehicle that has come in priced around the $20,000 mark.  This makes this week's review all the more interesting, as this is what the average Canadian is looking to spend on a vehicle.  With a starting price of only $17,385, the Cobalt LT packs a solid amount of value in a vehicle that should appeal to many. 

Quite the jump from what the average Canadian is looking to spend to what they really spend:

Record spending on new vehicles: StatsCan
Last Updated: Monday, April 23, 2007 | 11:06 AM ET
CBC News

Canadians drove the number of new vehicles sold in 2006 to its second highest annual level — and paid more for those vehicles than ever before, says Statistics Canada.

Consumers bought 803,166 of these vehicles in 2006, up 2.3 per cent from the previous year.

The average sale price of a new vehicle also hit a new high, rising by 1.7 per cent to about $32,700.

.....

"Average Canadian" isn't a numeric average. The average selling price is.

There's a difference between the Average Canadian's target price and the Canadian Average target price.

[mdxtasy]

What is an average Canadian?  I consider myself an average Canadian.....

[dorin]

What is an average Canadian?  I consider myself an average Canadian.....

   

Okay, that was a good one. 

[mdxtasy]

What is an average Canadian?  I consider myself an average Canadian.....

   

Okay, that was a good one. 

Single Income.  Two kids.  Married.  One house.  Two cars.  Can't get more average than that.

[dorin]

What is an average Canadian?  I consider myself an average Canadian.....

   

Okay, that was a good one. 

Single Income.  Two kids.  Married.  One house.  Two cars.  Can't get more average than that.

The apparently quite high single income alone makes you and your family not average.

[mdxtasy]

The apparently quite high single income alone makes you and your family not average.

Details details....I may not have an average/typical Canadian lifestyle...but I consider my life typical....

[dorin]

Ahh, but the devil is in those details.  Ain't he?

[Wolfe]

I had a Cobalt as a rental while on vacation in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. I felt the car was underpowered and had a hard time driving in hilly terrain. It sure did not feel like 148 hp. I think part of the problem is with the 4 speed automatic which was very slow to kick down to third gear for steep hills. The engine noise was quite noticeable and harsh once the transmission decided to shift into third. It wasn't very nice being passed by campers and loaded VW rabbits.

That's interesting. I had a Cobalt rental about a month ago in Calgary and I found the 2.2L engine to be fairly well suited to the 4 speed auto. We took a trip out to Canmore and drove up above the town to Spray Lake so I did get to try the car on some fairly steep hills. Seemed pretty decent to me. The Cobalt has more torque than most other cars in its segment.

One thing that really annoyed me about the Cobalt though was that the door sills are quite wide and I got my pant leg dirty a few times when getting out of the car.

I don't think the Cobalt is a bad car but I can't think of one single feature that stands out as being better than the competition (IIRC the Mazda3 2.3L matches the Cobalt for torque.) It adds up to a package that is mediocre at best.

[Traum]

I've had the Cobalt (probably a base model) as a rental before as well, and have easily found that its best character trait is the stout Ecotec + auto tranny combo. The Ecotec pumps out a healthy dose of torque and loves to rev as well. The tranny nicely complements the Ecotec by not hindering the revs and will kickdown quickly if you mash the go pedal a little more. The vehicle rides nicely for what it is, and the cabin is sufficiently quiet. I can even put up with the plastic as well since they have a fairly nice texture.

Unfortunately, the longer you poke around in the car, the more evident it becomes where the cost cutting measures took place. Your back will start to complain because the seats are too soft. Your back passengers will complain as well because their seat cushion is too short. The engine cover is obviously made out of metal, but the material feels so flimsy that it flexes and gives when you press on it ever so lightly when closing the hood. The flexing of the hood almost scared me because I thought I was gonna leave one big dent (the size of my palms) when I was closing the hood.

If you look around in the wheel wells and underside of the engine bay, you'll see how there is absolutely no liner material covering the wheel wells at all, and that a lot of a the car's chassis / frame seems to be directly exposed. Without any sort of lining, I can only imagine how bad rusting will be in the wheel wells and on various other parts on the underside of the car.

-Rick

[D70]

  I rented the Aussie version of this Opel Astra in Perth 3 yrs ago, An Holden Astra! with an 1800cc engine .More than adequate for 2 of us. 

   Controls were opposite to that found on the larger rear wheel drive Commodore (soon to be the Pontiac G8)

   Economy with the auto was not that great but it was easy to maneuver and park in the city and surrounds.

  Should be good value as a used car after a yr or 2 - a good domestic transportation appliance.

  Saturn gets the new Opel Astra this year as its small car. This is the previous generation