Thanks for all the suggestions guys! I appreciate it. I will do a lot of them I think.

And Red_SS/TC to answer the quoted question, I don't like my Cobalts daily drive, but I don't hate it either. I would like some more refinement however. As I age this seems to be more of a need than I want to sacrifice. The power is fantastic and I love that, but I do the speed limit 90% of the time. There's also a few other good things I like! So yes the MS3 and GTI are both cars was considering, but plans changed. Some of what I wrote was me trying to justify my decision to sell; a sort of "fuel the fire" type of nit picking. Anyway, I decided to pay it off instead and focus on buying a new place to live. So I'm keeping the balt for at least another couple years. So might as well enjoy it and continue modding.

Hope that clears things up for ya.

 

MS3 and GTI are the same thing as the Cobalt. You want refinement and say MS3 and GTI...

 

Cobalt: fast, best drivetrain, easiest to mod, best handling, subpar interior and build qualbuy, most reliable.

Ms3: quick, good interior, decent handling, somewhat expensive to mod, decent build quality, crap reliability.

GTi: slow, best interior, best build quality, handles like poop, very expensive to mod pr even buy, questionable reliability.

If only you could combine the pros of the 3. Anyway that's a breakdown of the price for your "refinement" when it comes to these cars.

 

 

They'll all rattle and squeak, they're all FWD, boosted, and tight suspension. They all have decent power, handling, and ergonomics. They're the same your just arguing semantics.

 

Good decision! I was just asking since a lot of those guys were talking nonsense. My brother has a 11 ms3 and If I had the choice to do it again I'd get the cobalt but thats just me.

 

Here's my impression of the cars through my research and experiences up to post. You may disagree and have evidence to back your argument, but as a potential buyer here's what I've come up with, with my testing, research and hear say. Wrong or right, its irrelevant at this point, read on if you desire.

Cobalt; Fastest FWD in america I believe, weak transmission, easy and cheap to mod, great handling, subpar interior and build quality, Great Engine reliability, below average reliability on rest. Exterior styling is great, and overall a great car.

MS3; Quick, good interior (more refined than Cobalt), decent handling, mid $$$ to mod, decent build quality, 2010+ average reliability (a lot of the kinks have been worked out), questionable engine and transmission reliability but has been reported better than previous generation and needs help exterior styling, but not bad IMO.

GTI; Slowest of the 3, Best Interior quality and styling, Best build quality, bullet proof motor and transmission, handles better than MS3, Expensive as hell to do anything including maintain, questionable reliability with everything else non motor or transmission.

I have 2 GTI friends, one has put $$$$$$$ in repairs (not engine or tranny related 80k miles and counting), but loves his car still and says he's getting another one when it no longer runs. The other has put nothing in his car for repairs (just maintenance) and he's at 40000 miles. Both have Mk5s. The difference between the two owners is, owner 1 repairs things as they go bad or waits until he can't drive, the owner 2 does a lot of preventative maintenance and doesn't hot rod it all the time. His motto is the GTI will take care of you, but the GTI takes care!

I will say when I test drove the 2010 GTI, I was sold and it took a lot for me not to buy then and there. It was way more comfortable than the cobalt! Shifting into gear felt nice as **** compared to the cobalt and the rattles were at least 30db less than my Cobalt. There was no odd and uncomforting noises coming from the GTI and the interior put the SS to shame. However the power on the GTI was pathetic IMO. It felt like my car in limp mode haha, not really, but you get the point.

As for the MS3, when I test drove that, the ride quality was noticeably better than my car, but significantly worse than the GTIs. I noticed the interior was cooler than the Cobalts, but still cheap in places. 4 doors was nice indeed and I liked it inside and out. Good chance I won't go for it but it's a nice mid point, step up in everything the Cobalt fails and a step down in everything the cobalt succeeds. It's not the perfect car IMO.

I have one MS3(Gen1) acquaintance, friend of a friend, and he is making 385whp on a GT28 or something. His car is nice and has a lot of miles on it and is in the process of demodding and selling for a Golf R. He recommends MS3, though he said I should probably just stick with the Cobalt.

This is true I guess. The videos and many "review" sites I've read they all seem to be around the same in track performance or minor performance differences (minus GTI's drag times). Cobalt leading the pack and MS3 and GTI same or one or the other depending on the reviewer. But all reviewers preferred the GTI over MS3 or Cobalt when a comparison was available. Including myself after a test drive.

Yeah I'm happy with my choice the more and more time goes by. When I first made the choice I kept thinking I'm gonna regret it. I'm not selling when my car is worth something etc. But as the dust settled I'm glad I didn't jump ship for a lot of reasons. House or townhouse is just the most meaningful.

I'm not trying to offend anyone if they think I'm dissing on the Cobalt, I got it for a reason and my reason has been fulfilled and I don't think the car is crap. I think there may be better choices out there for me and my driving habits. So I hope you at least understand my point of view, even if you feel it's wrong.

Any way back to topic with this post.

I did have a question on powder coating. Did you guys go without a car for a few days to get it done or what? What was your process?

I called a place they said 3-5 days (cheapest place), but I have to get the tire off the wheel and bring it to them, would you consider this standard practice?

 

I'd just get a set of rims. I think your car looks good. Use a heat gun to get that rear bowtie off. It is stuck on there really well.

 

I say debadge everything but the bowties and SS emblems on the side, paint bowties black. Go deeper tint, paint wheels something different(what I am not sure of cause I still need to do the same and want to be different than everyone else going black and don't wanna clean brake dust off of white cause I'm sure I'll take the paint off), and paint your grills front and rear black with the paint for plastic (makes it look soooo much shinier than stock.), and I didn't see if you had a shorty antenna or not but it sure looks alot better than that big ass whip GM puts on our cars. Other than that, its up to you.

I'm going to be using a marballizer base coat with black from House of Kolor and take my lips and sideskirts to a body shop to have them paint em. Going to be a black/silver marble look, should be pretty sweet.

 

take off that long ass antenna

 

Sticker bomb the whole ******* car! It's talented and unique to do what 5 years old have been doing for 50 years!

 

ok you an bash if you want buut wut is evo mod? and how the hell you take off that rear bowtie? will it leave holes?

 

paiting the middle part of the lip black

 

heat & floss
nope its just a sticker

 

Wingless, De-badge. Powdercoat rims.