austinw304

I'm looking at getting one of these, found one with 60k miles for a decent price. It would be a 5 year loan on the car though. My main concerns are reliability, it seems most of you guys are having a lot of problems with these cars and I don't want to be taking it to the dealer every week while paying for it monthly, I'd like to keep this car and not trade it in until it's paid off. Is this car worth investing in?

crispino

Depends if you mod it, more mods equal more problems. Plenty of people on here that have well over 100k miles with little or no issues, some even heavily modifed. I made the jump last year. 08 with 47k miles when I bought it. Put 20k on so far and only replaced the evap solenoid for 25 bucks.. lol hope that helps some.. wait for others to chime in ! Overall I'm very happy with the car. And the 2010s ironed out a lot of the problems. Can't beat the performance for the money.

714ionredline

iTrader: (1)

I bought my 09 ss/tc with 53k and up to now I haven't had one single problem(knock on wood). It currently has 91k, the only thing I have replaced are tires at about every 10k. It is also modded, it has trifecta tune 23 psi, KnN intake, full exhaust, upper and lower chargepipes, TR8 intercooler, and forge valve. So I guess it's a hit or miss with these cars. Just keep in mind that just because they are 5 - 10 ppl in here with problems, that doesn't mean they are hundreds of us without a problem. Good luck....

exninja

iTrader: (1)

If you come to a car forum it's going to seem like every car is unreliable because half of the reason to come on a forum is to ask how to fix it. So you can't judge a car's reliability based on it's internet forum.

Edit; I should've read the previous post all the way through before I repeated what he said.

austinw304

Thanks for the feedback! Yes I do plan on modding it, that's what attracted me to this car so much.

ForceFedDork

If you need to take a 5 year loan on a 5 year old compact car, this car is too expensive for u.
If you need to take a 5 year loan on a 5 year old economy car, I'm sorry but you do not have the financial stability to modify cars as a hobby.
Please don't take it the wrong way, I'm not trying to be mean, and despite the fact that u'll ignore my advice here's the thing: the faster a car is, the more high strung it is, the more likely it is that things will break, and cost more to fix. If you start modifying it, u'll start finding weak links that cost money to replace or upgrade.
I find the cobalt to be pretty reliable, I'm glad I bought my cobalt and modified it, but as far as reliability, it doesn't even come close to the reliability of the camry I sold which was much older, way more miles but still way cheaper to operate and repair, cause it never broke.
Just my 2 cents.

ForceFedDork

By the way, unless a car is some sort of a rare collectable that you don't drive, a car is not an investment. They devalue, need maintanance, rust, get in accidents, etc. My goal is to lose the least money, you don't make money on daily drivers unless you have a specific nitch like a mechanic or dealer.

austinw304

I appreciate the feedback, I make good money, and my current vehicle that I'm trading in is $13,000 more expensive than the cobalt im looking at. So the trade should lower my monthly payment about $200 a month, plus I'd save on gas because I'm driving a truck atm. I just don't have a lump sum of money to put down. Also I'm selling my streetbike which will bring me around 3,000 that I'll keep for problems/ maintenance/ mods. Basically I'm stuck between - get a lame reliable low mile daily driver with a low payment, stack money and enjoy a nice vehicle in the future, or get something I want nowand hopefully enjoy it without making a mistake

double clutch

iTrader: (1)

If your trade in is worth that much then how are you gonna have a payment at all?

Devin86

Get it. My 10 hasn't had any real issue like said they got most the bugs out by 10. You will have fun everyday in this car if u enjoy dropping a few gears now and then. Even if there are some issues cheap fixes 80% of the time even cheaper if your good with a wrench haha

austinw304

My current vehicle isn't paid off, I owe about as much as it is worth

double clutch

iTrader: (1)

Ah ok thats makes sense. How much are they asking for it?

austinw304

$14,000

ForceFedDork

I am super cheap but 14k seems a little high. It better be absolutely freaking flawless to the point of disbelief for 14k. These cars are really fun to drive, if ur willing to work on it u'll be fine. If you expect a shop to fix everything it'll get significantly more expensive to own as it gets older. .

umrdyldo

iTrader: (1)

You can get an 09 for 8-10k. Dont over pay on a chevy ever

hawkssoccer11

iTrader: (13)

ive had my car now for 4 years. bought it with 13,500 miles on it. only issue i ever had with my car was the porus block with the 2009 cobalts, the 08s and 10s dont have this issue. i had that done just before 20k and then i had a ridiculous tune on my car from a tuner that is banned from here and me being the dumb one i am trusted him and he destroyed my trans in 60k miles. other then that i am now fully bolted and tuned on E47 and have had no issues with the trans or motor now. im going to be replacing an axle here in a couple weeks but thats because my car has 100k on it and it has coilovers lol. i say get the car they are very stout cars and very reliable and cheap to fix.

Mr Mall Cop

iTrader: (1)

if your going to finance a used car for $14,000 that's worth about $10,000 you better have a very good to excellent credit score before a bank will touch it.

CudaJoe

iTrader: (1)

Had my my car for 6 years+, im at ~87,000 miles. Half of those miles have been on a 24psi tune. I feel these cars are pretty damn reliable. Its when you meet a certain torque or HP level that **** starts breaking. You can make 300whp reliably on these cars without doing anything to them other than a tune.

Only issues ive seen on this car were the uneven pad wear in the first 10k miles, the key got stuck in the ignition when the tumbler broke, and now I have a clunking noise (either after hitting a pothole or switching to aftermarket wheels, no idea... how important are those wheel centric rings?)

CudaJoe

iTrader: (1)

See if you can get it for $12.5k or less than $13k

sc4door

iTrader: (8)

Bought my 09 about 2 years ago with 63k miles on it and I'm almost at 81k now. I've put a fair amount of money in it but that's all been mods to it. The only thing I think I've had to replace because of a problem were the cam actuators and they were like $20 a piece

Pretty important if you don't like changing wheel bearings frequently

Staged07SS

iTrader: (25)

These cars are very reliable... All depends on how well you maintain them.

Had my car since 2007, purchased brand new, never had one issue with the car.

thahof

Just to be sure the one you're looking at is turboed correct? I wouldn't pay that much for an n/a ss. my supercharged 07 is pretty reliable considering I shift at 5000-5500k a lot unless im in traffic. only major problem that I wasn't able to fix myself was rusted holes in fuel line. $1100 dealer fix just cause I didn't have the time to do it. what im trying to say is make sure you keep minor maintenance up on it and keep it washed (especially undercarriage since you're up north) and id say go for it. I told myself I would never buy a chevy but this one hasn't let me down

austinw304

I think the reason it's so high is cause its certified, and it's a dealer, not private seller. But yeah I'd like to lower the price. I think it's hard to negotiate when you're not paying for the car in full though

ForceFedDork

Consider waiting for a better deal, or buy private. Also there have been a good number of people that called it overpriced now. I was gonna say pay 12k, I guess 12.5k since it's a dealer?

CudaJoe

iTrader: (1)

Well Im not seeing any of the symptoms of wheel vibration and what not. Whats the size I would need for m52s?