I have an issue with vanity. I have no sense of color schemes and often offend those with a good sense of fashion. I oftentimes find myself thumbing through four-year-old photos of myself, only to realize I am wearing the same shirt in said photo, except now with a four-year-old fade. I don't understand people who pay for prefaded jeans. Why would I pay a new price on something that looks old? Don't people have old pairs of jeans lying around? Those are free, the last time I checked.


"Oooooh... It's so shiiiiny!"
With roughly 15,000miles on the clock, I've washed my car three times. This morning was the third time. Hell, the second time, I didn't even bother wiping the sideskirts, and the first two times, I didn't even dry the car... because like most people, I live in an area THAT HAS RAIN. I just can't be bothered. After scrubbing off six-thousand miles of brake dust from the wheels, I backed up to get better look at the complete product of my labor. "Ha! I forgot these wheels were this freakin' shiny," I thought to myself. Unfortunately, all the hard scrubbing of brake dust left traces of black spots all over my forearms and arms, making most to believe I had caught some new strand of the bubonic plague.
Shiny:


Begin Angry Review: 2008 Cobalt SS Coupe, All Factory Options


I purchased my Cobalt in January with 3600mi on the clock from a private seller. I paid roughly 17,900 for the car, which is basically the base price for a brand new Honda Civic LX. Even new, the car itself is a bargain, which so many blind consumers fail to see time and time again.

"the slowbalt entirier [sic]is so shitty not like my (MS3/GTI/Civic Si/WRX/Ralliart)"
The usual battery of interior design testing involves a lot of tapping, scratching, and prodding of the interior trim. I too did this when I first sat inside the Cobalt. Yes, the interior is CHEAPER when compared to equivalently priced competitors, but I really don't feel like the dashboard is going to fold like tracing paper, crack and/or shatter into pieces. I've read complaints about the parking brake feeling cheap. How is this even a valid complaint? Does your morning commute entail stroking your parking brake brake while you drive along at highway speed? If so, then maybe, but ONLY maybe it's a valid complaint. I've also read "The gearknob looks cheap."

Why is a cheap interior such a common complaint for an economy car? The only surfaces that you normally touch to and from your commute are the seats, the steering wheel, the pedals, the shifter, and the radio. Who the hell is tapping, scratching, and prodding at their interior trim while driving? Do you take naps on your dashboard on your lunchbreaks? Do you carpool with interior designers who criticize your car interior throughout the length of the commute?

While the cloth material does feel cheap, the suede and synthetic leather inserts are lovely. They're well bolstered and will hold you in place with no problem. Lumbar support and height adjustments are nice to have as well. The steering wheel is pretty big and meaty (that's what she said), and controls on the steering wheel are always a plus. The shifter boot does look kind of funny, but call me crazy because I actually like the look of the gearknob.

The GM radio is very well integrated with the car, uniting multiple systems together -- Onstar, the onboard phone, and for 2009, USB and Bluetooth capabilities. It comes with an in-dash six-disc CD/MP3 CD changer, auxiliary jack, the Pioneer seven-speaker sound system, XM radio and automatic speed compensated volume control. The equalizer to adjust bass, mid, and treble helps to fine tune your listening experience. The subwoofer takes up virtually no room in the trunk.

The trunk of a Cobalt is its interior forte. I often times whip the trunk open and tell people to behold its vastness. Cargo capacity is comparable to that of a trunk found in a mid-size family sedan, especially with the rear 60/40 split, which is more than the Subaru WRX Sedan, Mitsubishi Ralliart, and Honda Civic Si. Also, the trunk uses space-saving trunk struts, rather than the cheaper alternative that intrudes into the trunk.

Visibility out the rear window with the high-rise spoiler has always been a common complaint. The actual issue with rear-visibility is due to the coupe lines of the car. The rear window is at such an angle and position that even with no spoiler, a tailgater easily falls out of sight. Then again... why is this ******* tailgating you to begin with? Downshift and leave him in the dust, or get out of the passing lane, Grandpa.

The optional high-rise rear spoiler always causes arguments. Yes, I'll agree it's not attractive. The only reason I have it is because the original buyer opted for it. It attracts attention from the cops and generally causes many to conclude that you're a ricer. However, I'm glad he opted for the high-rise. On a windy day, driving at a steady 75mph on the highway, or across a bridge, I realize the benefits of rear-end downforce. This is a properly designed spoiler is that is ugly and underappreciated. The only thing reminding you that it's windy outside are the SUVs and trucks struggling to stay in their lanes as you cruise calmly by at high speed, enjoying your music, in a relaxed driving position with one hand on the steering wheel barely moving. Of course, the high rise will also help you with braking under hard cornering, for those track days your car should be a part of.

And that's another thing that amazed me the day I drove this thing home. The interior noise isn't just tolerable -- it's actually comfortable, with the exception of tire noise while driving over rough surfaces -- very uncharacteristic of a sport compact on low-profile tires.

Four-Piston Monobloc Fixed-Caliper Brembo Brakes...

... On a Cobalt? I was making conversation with a gas attendant (New Jersey, full service gas), and commented at my wise decision to use Brembo brakes. "They're pretty expensive though..." he commented. "Maybe... but they're standard from the factory. Came with the car."

Fuel economy is great for a car with this level of performance. At a steady highway cruise, I've been able to hit 29.9mpg, at an average speed of 59mph, with occasional overtaking and a few WOT overtakes around tractor trailers.

I often read minor complaints about the performance braking system. It gets very noisy in the winter, makes your pretty wheels dirty, and the rear rotors tend to groove in a manner that is not pleasing to the eye. After 15,000mi, I've inspected my brakes a handful of times after a tire rotation to look for unusual pad wear and inspect the rotors to see if they were out of spec with the shop service manual. I've noticed the inboard pads are worn down more than the outboard pads, but still not worn down enough to require servicing. I've also mentioned the scoring of the rotors, but my technician tells me that the rotors are within specification and this type of wear is superficial and at worst is offensive to the eye, which makes a lot of drivers uneasy, understandably so.

There's no denying there are people on this forum that are having problems with the braking system. Creative criticism on our car's weak points are always welcome, and thankfully our forum is here to help resolve such issues in a quick and intelligent manner.

But back to the issue of the unproductive bitching and whining. Just like on any car forum, you will see a lot of bitching and moaning about things like brake dust, squeaks in the winter over bumps, and brake dust making your wheels not-so-shiny. These people that are simply here to say how "bad of a job GM has done" just don't understand the point of this car. It's not designed to be a pretty show car that will never see a track day or never leaves a showroom, the only place this car will be its shiniest and have smooth rear rotors. Besides, we're all on the same team here on this forum. We can leave it to the unintelligible badly written diatribes of fanboys on other forums to give our car a bad name. We don't need to do it to ourselves. Is it so much to ask for us to take pride in a car we all bought that consistently smokes the competition?

The 2008 / 2009 Cobalt SS really begs to be driven, which is why it's so hard to stay in vacuum. Having some mechanical sympathy asks that the car's oil is gradually brought up to temperature after eight to ten miles of driving. After this, feel free to open up that throttle body and let that K04 turbo flow. It's hard not to. If you're worried about how unshiny your 18" wheels are or how unsightly your fender gaps are, you fail to see the point of this car as a whole. From the factory, everything that works to move this car forward and around a corner is excellent. Everything that that car does to keep the car stable at high speed, in the corners, and under braking is excellent.

I like to think of my Cobalt as an underappreciated blue collar worker. When idling, it sounds a bit unrefined, much like my old 1984 five-cylinder turbo diesel. When it goes about town, doing its business, its transmission makes it clunky, and kind of noisy. But dammit, this car is tough, and gets the job done on par, if not better than the competition where it is physically put to the limits, on the track. It's not afraid to get its feet (wheels) dirty, and maybe that's just part of the appeal. Much like a blue collar worker, it comes home with soot on its exhaust and brake dust all over its wheels UTQG 200 treadwear tires shredded to pieces. It's the ultimate bargain and a great tribute to the once powerful Detroit, old home of the big three, showing the now bigger companies that the Americans have not given up on making a great car.

 

The dealership will always tell you that grooving of the rotors is "normal" but it's not. Check your e-brake adjustment to make sure it isn't dragging. I did a full eval of my rear brakes when I brought the SS home, and both rear brakes were dragging badly from the factory because the e-brake was adjusted too tightly.

 

That was a great write-up. I agree with your synopsis 100%. Nice work and thanks for taking the time.

 

finally .someone doesnt trash my tc ..good write .

 

Great write-up, made for a positive first thread of the day . I couldn't agree with what you've said more.

 

I have to disagree on the brakes. Getting new rotors and pads every 10k miles is ridiculous considering the SS/TC doesn't come with full race brakes. GM and Ford have procedures to check for the width and depth of the grooves on rotors before replacing them under warranty.

I had facotry old geezer pads on my 2000 Crown Vic and they chewed the sh*t out of all 4 rotors (both sides of each rotor). They weren't thin cut grooves, but instead the rotors looked like mountainous terrain, the one you find on the earth globes they used to sell. This occurred at less than 3000 miles.

My advice on the rear brakes is to have your dealer re-adjust the parking brake and lubricate the caliper slide pins. Switching to a new pad compound may also work but the dealer is going to fight you on switching to Saab 9-3 pads or Solstice/Sky pads.

Otherwise, I agree with the rest of your review. I ordered my SS/TC for its value. I knew ahead of time the interior and exterior build quality was typical GM fare (sub-par). I test drove a Mazdaspeed3 and felt the interior was on-par with Audi, the seats and ergonomics were decent, etc... but the Cobalt SS/TC offered much more: 4-piston Brembo front brakes, sunroof, USB port, 30+ MPG highway, better handling, and faster acceleration. The MS3 had single piston front brakes, no sunroof, and a meager 26 MPG highway. The Mazda folks told me the lack of a sunroof was due to extra reinforcement beams in the roof.

It's interesting that the Cobalt doesn't have such reinforcements, this might be why the car flexes like origami even when you jack the unibody at the recommended locations.

 

The problem with the brakes is duly noted. I've been keeping track of my inner pad wear and showing it to my service advisor. I told him if the inner-pads prove to be problematic, I will be asking for a discount on at least the inner rear pads, possibly the rotors. Thanks for the input, metroplex.

 

The whole brake problem is weird. I've had my car for 11 months and have 7,500 miles on it and I can't find a single groove on my rotors. I took my finger nail and ran it over each rotor on both sides last night and there is nothing to speak of...not even something that would need to be turned if I was doing a brake job.

I believe that a lot of people are having issues, but it seems to be blown way out of proportion. Or...it is indeed just a parking brake issue. I don't think the pad/rotor combination is a problem...it must be something else for those having issues...

 

While I agree with you whole heartedly on everything regarding the performance aspect of this car, I do have to disagree with you about the interior. The interior quality is below sub-par (Except the seats). My gaps between dash panels and center console pieces are almost embarrassing. The fact that after only 2,033 miles on my odometer I have the following issues: My sunroof squeaks and rattles around like it doesn’t fit right. My driver side door sounds like it’s shifting positions and falling off every time I drive slowly over uneven ground (ie backing out of my driveway, speed bumps in parking lots etc.). My center console rattles right by my shifter a lot. My dash rattles like crazy on the passenger side. So it’s not like it’s a problem that it looks boring and has the properties of a Rubbermaid garbage can…it’s that it’s not well put together….the craftsmanship is way off. I’m not taking naps on or poking and prodding at the cheapness of the interior and nor do I drive with interior designers that critique my aluminum painted plastic pieces or my buttons on my steering wheel that don’t fit right. I just wish that there was a little bit more pride taken in putting the interior together and knowing that after X amount of miles…it won’t rattle…guess that’s what happens with Union workers eh?

For example: my mom has a 2003 Mitsubishi Galant ES that she drives to work every day and has racked up a solid 53,000 miles (more than 50,000 more than my car has) and she has not one rattle, not one squeak in her sunroof, not one piece of the interior that is loose or flimsy. She just has a well-built, reliable car (has NEVER been into the shop for anything but tires, brakes, and oil changes). My dad drives a 2005 Chrysler 300C (and man does that Hemi sound awesome!) and has about 68,000 miles or so on it (He drives A LOT). His car is the same exact way as my mom’s thus far. No rattle, no squeaks, no groans or creaks…nothing but regular maintenance.

So the problem with the interior on the Cobalt is not so much the cheapness of the materials used (I mean it’s a Cobalt not an M3) but instead it’s the cheapness of the way the cheap pieces were put together. The craftsmanship and quality of the build are just miserable. It wouldn’t be so bad if the cheap pieces were well fit and firmly put together.
So, like I said…performance of this car is off the charts and has by far the best bang for buck in class when it comes to being a driver’s car from the powerful LNF engine to the Brembo brakes. However, the car falls short, really short, in pretty much any department related to quality.

 

I'll echo your sentiments. It's a hyped-out econobox but a damn good one at all the points that really matter (to me). It's also (by a landslide) the most fun I could cram into my budget.

I'm not getting squeaks/rattles however more use of the sunroof could apparently change that.

 

That was a good write up man. Good job. Im not just saying cause you didn't bash the Cobalt, it was just well wrote. I suck at those kinda things and getting the wording right.
Good job. hmm did i leave the good job part out?

 

Yeah, just when I open my trunk and look at the sound deadening, a little part of me dies on the inside. It's all floppy and doesn't look like it fits properly. Damn lazy Ohioans! Even my previous 2007 Civic EX, assembled in East Liberty, Ohio smells of rushed build quality...

 

I traded my '04 SVT Focus in on the '09 SS. After 43,000 miles and 4.5 years, the Focus held up quite well. No real rattles to speak of and it never had to go back to the Dealer for any problems.

So I've only owned my '09 SS for <2 months/1,000 miles now, and there are a few things I've noticed.

Fit and finish is not as good as the Focus, but it's nothing that bothers me on a daily basis. Some interior pieces do seem a bit on the cheap side as well. Also, the engine does not idle anywhere near as smooth as the 2.0 Focus engine did. It makes plenty of brake dust too, but so did my Focus - Price you pay for great brakes!


Beyond that, the more I drive this car, the more I enjoy it. I like the seats more than the SVT Focus. The Stereo is easily as good. I think it handles even better than the SVT, and that was rediculous(in a good way). And as you already know, there's no comparison in performance stock vs. stock. So far I have no rattles/squeaks to speak of as of yet, but again, I'm only at 1,000 miles.

As a bonus, I took it for a ~90 mile trip (each way) to eastern NJ last weekend and averaged 29.5 on the way over(at ~75-80mph), and 30.5 on the return trip. That included a couple of boosted passing runs on the T-Pike too! I can only hope it holds up as well as my Focus did.

If I have one major bitch, it's the stock horn. It sucks the meatstick. I originally bought these for my Focus, but now they're going in this car.

www.Hornblasters.com



And oh yeah, this is what I went to Jersey for!