Looking to buy/lease 2010 Cobalt SS
07-05-2010, 04:36 PM
#26
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I'm right at 20k miles on mine right now and it's purely a daily driver. With this in mind here are some of my observations - good, bad, or indifferent - FWIW.
- I'm averaging right at 28.5 mpg with ~60 miles/day round trip to work with the GMS1 tuning. This is mostly highway, but some stop-n-go.
- I'm averaging right at 28.5 mpg with ~60 miles/day round trip to work with the GMS1 tuning. This is mostly highway, but some stop-n-go.
07-05-2010, 06:16 PM
#27
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About 15% of my commute is at 75-80mph at which point I'm turning almost 3k RPM and (according to the DIC anyway) the instantaneous mileage stalls at about 28mpg or so on average. Here is where the addition of a slightly taller sixth gear would help a good deal IMO. With tuning especially it seems that the LNF can already make good torque in that 2200-2600 RPM range. If I could cruise along the highway at 75mph and, say, 2500 rpm I could see this thing getting 33mpg easy.
07-07-2010, 01:57 PM
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I'm right at 20k miles on mine right now and it's purely a daily driver. With this in mind here are some of my observations - good, bad, or indifferent - FWIW.
- I'm averaging right at 28.5 mpg with ~60 miles/day round trip to work with the GMS1 tuning. This is mostly highway, but some stop-n-go.
- Driving manual trans in traffic is a non-issue for me - been doing it for decades. While I'd have liked a 6-spd trans in this car, it does fine with the F35. There is plenty of torque at low RPM that you don't find yourself hunting between 1-2 in slow moving traffic. If you've ever driven an older 2.0L WRX you know what I mean - poor gear spacing and turbo lag =
.
- I'm a pretty mellow driver and my OEM Conti front tires were down to the wear bars after ~ 18k miles. Rears still have good tread (haven't measured it exactly). This is expected with a nose-heavy front driver and soft tires. Just something to be aware of...
- I have grooving of the inboard rear rotors like many others. I did pull the guide pins and lube them when I first bought the car as they were dry as a bone. I will be installing new OEM rear rotors and Hawk HPS rear pads next week. I had no issues with the OEM rear pads other than the wear. I've had good experience with Hawk HPS on other street-driven vehicles so I'm going to give them a try on the rear. I've had no issues with the fronts.
- On same note these are aggressive pads from the factory and will make some noise - mostly when cold - and a good amount of dust. Doesn't bother me, but some folks don't care for it.
- Interior is Cobalt/GM - it will rattle and vibrate. You're used to this already I would guess.
- Paint on the hood, front bumper, and forward front fenders takes a beating. Not sure if this is the shitty road maintenance here or the quality of paint. Probably a combination of both although it "seems" to be worse with this car than previous vehicles I have owned. The dark color obviously contributes.
- Car is nimble and IMO fun to drive even in traffic. Steering is weighted perfectly for my tastes (I like it on the heavier side) and brakes are great. Ride is pretty darn good when you consider that its on very short sidewalls and sporty suspension. Expansion joints and potholes will make themselves known, but, again, that's to be expected in a car like this.
- Overall, I think this is a great, sporty daily driver. I've owned the car for around 18 months now and even with some of the little issues I would still buy it today if I had it to do over again. IMO there's nothing in this category that competes with this car for performance bang-for-the-buck.
Hope that helps...
- I'm averaging right at 28.5 mpg with ~60 miles/day round trip to work with the GMS1 tuning. This is mostly highway, but some stop-n-go.
- Driving manual trans in traffic is a non-issue for me - been doing it for decades. While I'd have liked a 6-spd trans in this car, it does fine with the F35. There is plenty of torque at low RPM that you don't find yourself hunting between 1-2 in slow moving traffic. If you've ever driven an older 2.0L WRX you know what I mean - poor gear spacing and turbo lag =
. - I'm a pretty mellow driver and my OEM Conti front tires were down to the wear bars after ~ 18k miles. Rears still have good tread (haven't measured it exactly). This is expected with a nose-heavy front driver and soft tires. Just something to be aware of...
- I have grooving of the inboard rear rotors like many others. I did pull the guide pins and lube them when I first bought the car as they were dry as a bone. I will be installing new OEM rear rotors and Hawk HPS rear pads next week. I had no issues with the OEM rear pads other than the wear. I've had good experience with Hawk HPS on other street-driven vehicles so I'm going to give them a try on the rear. I've had no issues with the fronts.
- On same note these are aggressive pads from the factory and will make some noise - mostly when cold - and a good amount of dust. Doesn't bother me, but some folks don't care for it.
- Interior is Cobalt/GM - it will rattle and vibrate. You're used to this already I would guess.
- Paint on the hood, front bumper, and forward front fenders takes a beating. Not sure if this is the shitty road maintenance here or the quality of paint. Probably a combination of both although it "seems" to be worse with this car than previous vehicles I have owned. The dark color obviously contributes.
- Car is nimble and IMO fun to drive even in traffic. Steering is weighted perfectly for my tastes (I like it on the heavier side) and brakes are great. Ride is pretty darn good when you consider that its on very short sidewalls and sporty suspension. Expansion joints and potholes will make themselves known, but, again, that's to be expected in a car like this.
- Overall, I think this is a great, sporty daily driver. I've owned the car for around 18 months now and even with some of the little issues I would still buy it today if I had it to do over again. IMO there's nothing in this category that competes with this car for performance bang-for-the-buck.
Hope that helps...
07-07-2010, 08:02 PM
#30
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Agree on all of above, I enjoy this car about as much as my old SRT4, but at 6500 miles the tires were gone and the rear brakes were about done. Not what I would expect out of a car that was advertised to be a track car. In all fairness, I did two track days and I drive fairly aggressive, but rarely if ever spin the tires. And I'm lucky to get 22 mpg in mixed driving out of it, got 29 on a trip. Car 100% stock (my daily).
07-07-2010, 08:15 PM
#31
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The tires wearing are no fault of the car unless they were worn unevenly. That's just a result of the way you drive. If you have the Contis, they kinda look worn down even when they're not. I'm at 10K miles on an '08 and I still have the stock Contis. They look about 60% done.
07-07-2010, 08:39 PM
#32
Senior Member
Yeah, I do realize that the way I drove the car contributed to that, but the stock tires suck. This car is one of the most trackable cars I have ever driven in bone stock form, I just feel they could've put tires better suited for track use on the car. They last about 5 laps before they become all but useless.
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