Chevy gets practical with solid Cobalt
Its coffers flush with profits earned from truck and SUV sales, Chevrolet spent a quarter of a century downplaying its entry-level vehicles.
The Cavalier, Chevy’s veteran budget compact, debuted in 1981, was freshened in 1995 (though it retained its outdated platform) and soldiered on well past its prime into the new century.
All the while, Honda and Toyota were raising the bar with regular updates to their Civic and Corolla, respectively, and Toyota spun off its entry-level Scion family; Ford introduced the Focus; Mazda added its Mazda3 and Hyundai got into the game with the surprisingly good Elantra.
Even the most optimistic partisan knows against a crowd like that Chevrolet won’t win back its old market-share numbers, but the company has finally broken its entry-level stasis with a two-car strategy that will slow the bleeding.
At the lower end is the Korean-built Aveo (from $9,950) and now comes the Cobalt, a larger and more luxurious compact priced from $14,190.
The Cobalt is head-and-shoulders a better car than the Cavalier. It’s more solidly built, rides on a contemporary platform and achieves levels of refinement once unheard of among affordable domestics.
It’s technically less sophisticated than the class leaders but the Cobalt offers decent performance and commendable ride and handling. Equipped with optional curtain-style airbags, it’s rated by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety among the safest cars in its class.
The Cobalt shares its underpinnings with General Motors’ European-market Opal Astra. The new platform allowed engineers to stiffen the body structure, reduce noise and append a capable suspension.
The TV spots created for its launch portrayed the Cobalt as a puppy-dog of a car with attitude, playfully nipping at the metaphorical heels of its big sibling, the Corvette. In reality, it has a subdued and relatively conservative nature.
In fact, Chevrolet may be positioning the Cobalt for another good, long lifecycle, as evidenced by its attractive, though wholly benign, sheet metal and understated interior.
Likewise, its 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine aims for something short of earthshaking. It has double overhead cams and 16 valves and makes 145 horsepower. A five-speed manual transmission is standard on all but the up-level LT edition, which is available only with a four-speed automatic.
For those in search of a bit more gusto, Chevy makes a supercharged Cobalt SS with a 205-horsepower supercharged engine, sport suspension and 18-inch low-profile tires. It comes only with a five-speed manual transmission.
Zero-to-60 comes around in just 6 seconds in the SS, 8.4 in the standard Cobalt.
In other GM products, the same engine comes across as rough at idle and noisy under acceleration, but the Cobalt has been engineered to filter out mechanical and other transient noise. Molded acoustical engine-mount pads quell under-hood noise and vibration, while double door seals and layers of so-called Quiet Steel help tune out road and wind noise.
The cabin proper is no Taj Mahal, but it is a giant step closer to the big leagues than the Cavalier’s. Fit-and-finish is dramatically improved, and the Cobalt is absent the visible gaps and abundant squeaks and rattles that attended the previous car. Materials are vastly improved, and in such areas as the dash and headliner they support the near-luxury theme in appearance, if not in fact.
The dashboard appears to be fabricated of a soft-touch plastic, but in actuality is made of a well-executed hard plastic.
Switchgear has a good, solid feel, and the controls and gauges are laid out logically, although Chevy has “simplified” the gauge cluster by eliminating all but the speedometer and tach.
The front seats are perhaps more firm than those to which buyers of domestics are accustomed, but they are supportive and comfortable over the long haul. Power seats are not available, but the driver’s seat has manual height and lumbar adjustments.
The steering wheel tilts but does not telescope and I was unable to find a driving position with which I was completely happy.
The Cobalt has a smooth, well-damped ride in urban conditions and on the road exhibits the solidity of a larger car. Its rear suspension, while independent, includes twist-beam technology, which limits its effectiveness in the corners.
GM’s variable-assist electric steering system is better here than in most other applications and its heft and action feel natural.
Owners hoping for spacious rear seats will be disappointed, as they offer barely enough room for large children. The 60/40 split folding seatback is uncomfortably upright (to make it less so would have meant moving the bottom cushion forward, further diminishing rear-seat legroom) and a rear-seat cupholder and exhaust tunnel team up to rob the center seating position of legroom
Chevy cleverly mounted the rear-seat headrests on the parcel shelf, so they need not be removed when the seatbacks are folded down to increase cargo area.
The trunk offers up a spacious 14 cubic feet of cargo area (with both seatbacks in the upright position) and multilink supports allow the lid to open wider than usual and fold out of the way. The sill is higher than it might be, though, increasing the effort needed to load heavy objects.
Chevy’s challenge with the Cobalt is to attract a new generation of young buyers on the theory that today’s satisfied Cobalt buyer will be back one day for a new Malibu or an Impala.
The Cobalt was designed with an eye to re-establish Chevrolet as a vendor of practical entry-level transportation. It’s not likely to knock your socks off because it’s not meant to, but it will remind you that Chevrolet has more tricks up its sleeve than one great sports car and a flotilla of gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs.