Talk about unexpected , lol . I just went in to drive one , kinda outside the box thinkin I wanted out of my Bonneville SSE now , with the intentions of just getting feel what I wanna replace it with . I drove and bought a Silver one with black leather . Only options were XM , sunroof and side bags . The GM GMS program knocked a bit off , but not nearly as much as the G6 I was looking at though ( 28K down to 23K with GMS ) . Sticker was $24K and some change , after GMS it was $21,900 . All I gotta say is GM got this thing right . The most important part , is it has character and it doesnt feel like a cheap econo car with an engine . From the VERY Audi'ish interior (I worked for Audi for 3 years so I do have MUCH to compare to ) , to the kickarse pioneer audio system , the sound of the blower , handling characteristics down the brakes . I havent been able to find fault yet with with anything with the exception of the spoiler , which is going bye bye . Looking at the car , Im just gonna have the holes filled and go spoilerless . That will look 100% better than even a little lip spoiler would . About the only other thing that has to go is the shifter , though its one the easiest driving manual cars Ive ever driven ...the shifter just feel like rubber . As far as performance goes , it feels everybit as fast as any stock LT1 f-body Ive ever driven . I went out in the boonies the first night I got it just get a feel how to launch it and where to shift and what not . Launching it pretty much a joke unless you dead nail modulating the clutch and throttle until ya got some speed then nail it . You almost gotta get it just right or it go up in smoke or bogs the engine . 1-2 if ya power shift will set the tires spinning again . The car feels absolutely the best in 3rd and 4th gear , higher up in the RPM band it pulls hard enuff to set ya back in the seat a bit . I would be truely suprised if driven right with no screwups and in good air , if this wasnt a high 13 sec car right of the showroom floor .

....Anyways , hats off to GM on getting this one dead right . About the only thing that would make it that much better is turbo

 

Congrats, they are a very cool car. (for a none Camaro )

sounds like you got a good deal. I've driven just anout every small car as a rental and the Cobalt is #1 in my book, and I havn't even driven the SS yet.

 

I'd like to take a ride in one.

Swing by my house if you happen to be in the neighborhood.

 

Congrats on the purchase! Glad its not the "motor and 4 wheels" the SRT is, although I assumed it wasn't anyway. I drove an SRT-4 and its a great car to drive, but seems it would be a pain to look at every day, and the ride is awful.

A review like that makes me think if I don't drive one before I decide between the MC or the G6 GTP, I might be missing something I'm more of a bigger car person myself, but that little thing sounds sweet. Enjoy!

 

Now get that thing out to US41 and show us its a 13 second car

 

Very cool!

Congrats on the new ride!!

 

Good for you!

Enjoy every minute of it!

 

I haven't driven the Cobalt SS yet, but I've driven an Ion RL. I thought the handling, brakes, and engine were all awesome (as were the Recaros).

Combine that with the better interior of the Cobalt, and you've got a great sporty car. Congrats on the new purchase!

 

Cool!

A suggestion for the spoiler is to go back to the dealer and have them swap your trunk with the spoiler for a spoilerless trunk off one of the non-SS cobalt coupes.

When I bought a red Saturn Ion Quad-coupe 2 years ago as my daily driver it had a ugly spoiler as standard and at my suggestion the dealer just removed the trunk and swapped it for a spoiler-less one of the same color and knocked-off $400 off the price.

Since you already bought the car offer to let the them keep the wing at no charge to cover the time for them to swap the trunk since its better then having to patch up holes on a brand new car.


Note: Dont worry about the color not matching, since GM's colors stay very consistant within the model year.

 

Good for you!
Congrats!

 

Congrats on the Cobalt! These things are starting to pop up all over the place. So there be must something to it! Now if they can make a 5th gen as good, that will really be something. I think they can, and will!

 

That goes for me too, but seriously

 

I'd better stay away from driving the SS, I might change my mind on FWD.

Seriously, I've been extremely impressed with the Cobalt from the time I saw it introduced at LA. It's night and day when compared to the Saturn Ion, despite being on the same chassis.

This is the one car that unless you are a devote GM basher, you won't find anything wrong with.

 

Man dude , I am/was the same way . I seriously did not expect to buy so spontainiously , lol . I actually drove it , and was gonna come back in a week or so and crunch some #'s , but was about positive in that time I woulda found a GTP . I left , but never got back home . I just went back and worked a deal on the car I test drove and drove it home that night , hahaha .

Guy - ya really should go drive one Saw a couple on ebay under $21K .

 

I'm far from a GM basher, and in fact just looked at some of the entry level Cobalts just yesterday figuring I could get a decent deal ($12-13k) on a daily driver (Mazda3 is fiancee's).

Frankly, I came away utterly disappointed.

While the car is an improvement over the Cavalier, outside of the guage cluster I was less than impressed with the interior plastics. For the models I was looking at, the throws on the shifter were as long as I've experienced. It sounds like I'm a real GM detractor, but even the new car smell felt too "Hyundai" for my tastes. I'll admit styling is subjective, but I found these coupes still too Cavalier-like. Aside from that last styling comment, those were also my impressions of a recent entry-level Colorado test drive.

I sat in an SS prototype model at NAIAS, and it was a different ride as far as interior accents and seating. Maybe that's what you were referring too. The lower trim levels are still underwhelming.

I'd very likely take an SS over an SRT4 for the reasons others note, namely being a more complete and refined car. But I'd take a good look before reading the original post and setting off with check book in hand for a scaled back model. I'm thinking a used Vibe GT or Protege5 might be a better runabout.