Hey everyone!
I've had something on my mind now for quite a while and I think its time for me to say my piece. This isn't going to make me the most popular guy on Cobaltss.net but I say it with all due respect. Here it is..........
"The Cobalt SS Turbocharged will suffer the same fate as the Eagle Talon did"
Now let me explain.......the Eagle Talon was a marvellous car during its run. It offered amazing turbocharged performance with the bonus of AWD( sadly I wish the Cobalt TC had this, but thats another subject all together) It was a bargain and could easily keep up with cars that were three times the price. However, due to its cheap price tag and less than stellar build quality it became victim to " the wide eyed Teenagers" that performed hack jobs in their parents garage. They were too fast and too cheap all at the same time.
I grew up in Canada so we didn't have the Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX to buy, only the Eagle Talon TSI AWD. Once The Fast And The Furious came out everyone who had a Talon wanted to turn theirs into an Eclipse or put some stupid tasteless aluminum wing with the stereo typical "blitz kit" on it. Then came the less than professional wrench jobs that came next. So now I ask you this.....

"whens the last time you actually saw a Talon TSI AWD in mint condition, bone stock"

They are rare.....oh trust me, they are. Once Talons changed hands(owners) a few times they eventually fell to neglect. There seems to be a direct correlation between original owners and the mint condition of the few that are left.
I myself have owned two Eagle Talon TSI AWD, a 1990(the first year) and a 1998(the last year). By the time I owned my 1998 four years ago, I would have tons of people complement me on the condition of my Talon and then hear "ya dont see many of these left"............sadly its true.
So why the comparison with the Cobalt SS Turbo?

Cause its the same formula. Stupid fast and stupid cheap and rare. I already see a large group of guys on this site modifying the living **** out of there Cobalt SS/TC. Which is cool if done right, but what happens after the vehicle changes hands a few times in years too come........neglect! Nobody loves a car like the original owner who spent the time working on it. Also I cringe when I read some of the mechanical problems that people are already having with their Cobalt SS/TC......its just not fair!
The Cobalt SS/TC will suffer even worst than the Talon did since it was only made for 3 years compared to the 10 that the Talon did and its a lot faster and geared more towards recreational racers.
Myself.......I own a 2008 Cobalt SS/TC and I love it!!!! I plan on being one of these guys keeps their Cobalt for years and years. Ive owned my Cobalt since February and have not seen a single other Cobalt SS/TC on the road yet!!! Which makes me smile and tells me a lot.
Sooooooo I hope nobody gets offended by this. Im totally for modifying your Cobalt, I just hope the same fate that the Eagle Talon had does not become the same fate for the Cobalt. Please Please write me comments, im interested to hear your say on what I have just wrote. There has got to be a few guys out there on Cobalt SS.net who owned Eagle Talons in the past, they just go hand in hand.

p.s. when I bought my Cobalt SS/TC from the Chevy dealer, I told the car salesman that I wish GM would have made AWD and option on the Cobalt SS/TC. He looked at me with a smile and said " If they would have made the Cobalt SS/TC have AWD, I wouldn't sell a single Camaro SS. I know I know im just so hung up on AWD hahahaha

 

welcome to the forum! My cobalt will never go the way of the ricer. I plan on keeping my 1 in 17 yellow 09 SS sedan in mint condition... (might get a few miles though, lol.) The only plans for this car are some simple bolt ons and the GMS1 tune. Im even keeping the stock exhaust on.

Other small mods are window tint, and 4500K HID fogs. I've even avoided putting holes into the front bumper for a license plate.



Oh Forgot to Mention, BIG thing to look for.

Check the rear brakes to see if they are leaving grooves on the inside rotor. Most of us have already replaced the crappy stockers for some aftermarket rotors and pads

 

I just don't see this as a good comparison lol. There is a big difference and that is that these cobalts ss/sc and tc's didn't come out during the fast & the furious era. Fads change. Also you mistake price for quality. As far as I know these cars reliability are much much higher then talon or eclipes AWD models. Also even tho GM may have cheaped out on interior and other cosmetic points of the car they certainly didn't continue the trend to the mechanics of the vehicle which have shined not only in competitions but in tuners own garages where they are pushing 350 + WHP on stock motors and in some cases stock clutches. I say 350whp because OP specifically pointed out the LNF and I know the LSJ's hit the 400 mark frequently on stock everything once TC'd.

 

well regardless, i love my sstc now and eventually i am sure ill move onto something else in 4 years or so.

 

Agreed!

 

We could only hope for 20 years of after market and development for our LNF engines. As fast as manufacturers change power plants these days, don't bet your money on it.
The 4G63 was voted the 2nd best engine ever built, thats pretty impressive.

 

i think the Talon/Eclipse is a great comparison to the cobalt. im sorry but i can see the Cobalt goin the way of DSM

 

your right to a point..

I have been saying swap my 2.4 out for a 2.o LSJ or something like that.. cause their are millons of parts/ take offs, everything avilable for this car

its like the motor you can race/blow and find parts next day type thing...

its about the same as a Talon

Ryan

 

i agree with you /however me being 37 i will keep my balt for a long time /i think approx 80% will be gone like the talon tsi ----OyA remember the DODGE CONQUEST TSI same thing ////just dont see them

 

I agree with you as well. I dont have any plans of getting rid of my White SS/TC. GM made a great car and i plan on keeping it in great shape for a very very long time.

 

Ford Thunderbird Turbocoupe anyone?

 

ill tell ya the cars i had back in the day /ford super coupe 5 speed /89 tauras sho plus with the fiberglass hood man i wish i had that one back lol/1972 road runner ///come to thick of it i had alot of cars dam im old /anyway i love my 09 cobalt tc cant beat the bang for the buck and good gas mileage

 

hopefully it won't go the way of the sunbird turbo

 

Give it ten years it will be with the riced out cavys and sunfires, thats a fact.

 

nice write up!

 

Same here my car will never be riced out..bodykits are not used as often
keeping the car stock/sleeper looking is what people do now,with a lipkit or something not too "ricey"
Mod-wise im very picky on what i do
i don't want to destroy my motor by boosting too high or anything like that...but i do see the Cobalt SS/TC & Sc being over looked by many after market companies but we gotta work with what we got and in do time these car's will be recognized by others...I've owned both supercharged and Turbocharged Cobalts and the reason is because i think these are cheap,fast & impressive cars

 

definately plan on keeping mine and keeping it clean for as long as the car will take me

 

Whats ironic is this! Back in the day, all the guys wanted to turn their Eagle Talons into Mitsubishi Eclipses. A lot of them did, since the Eclipse was considered to be more rare and cooler in Canada at least. NOW...........the Eagle Talon TSI AWD is more rare than the Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX.......even in Canada, no ****!!!! I bet a lot of these guys wished they never wasted their money on the eclipse conversion and just went and bought an Eclipse GSX. I miss my 1998 Eagle Talon TSI AWD sooooo much. In fact I was going to buy one again just before I bought my 2008 Cobalt SS/TC but I just couldnt find a half decent one. The Turbo Cobalt reminded me so much of the Talon that it was a great second pick.

 

yeah if you look at my build i already have too much money into it to get rid of this car hahaha

 

i agree

 

what you mean its like the talon???


its gonna start crankwalking

 

Until the Cobalt spends more time on the back of a tow truck than it does on the road, it will NOT be the DSM.

 

How sad but true. My roommate in college had one. Nice looking car but a total POS. It died when he broke a cam shaft

 

Here's the problem with this entire thread:

The Eagle Talon was never a "marvelous" car. It was a piece of **** Mitsubishi Eclipse. Poorly built, poorly designed, ugly, crappy materials, unreliable engine, horrible wiring and components, and very poor brakes and miserable handling.

If anything, the SRT-4 is closer to the Talon, and even then thats a huge insult to the otherwise decent SRT-4.

 

I dunno. I'm on a DSM forum. Yeah the DSM's are nice, but they are also ALOT cheaper to mod, and a big thing....they are AWD. The balt runs good track times and stuff, but unless you're really into it, meh. FWD won't ever have the following that the cult like DSMs do. I also don't want to get rid of my ss/tc either, it is a good car, but I dunno if it will be like a DSM.

But some people on the same said DSM site I'm on have said, and I quote "Wow, maybe the cobalt turbo will become the next poor man's sport car like the DSMs!"

He said this in response to me posting up 1badblueberry's COTM. I'm educating them about things other than DSMs. :P

btw:

^^^

PS - TC's are still going pretty high, and costly on insurance as well as of late. So I doubt it will be like that. The balts will fall to the wayside, seeing as people are crashing them everyday. They only made so many ss/tcs and ss/scs....