Shift20

1.I have 98 eclipse turbo and i am considering trading it in for a cobalt, rsx, celica. I was just wondering how well th cobalt handles and how quick it is. you guys all own one so i figured you would know.



2. also..is it worth gettin a cobalt LS ? I intend on moding my car too., the SS is hard to find and possibly a lil over my buget. thanks guys

Cirrus

1. The SS/SC and SS both handle great on the road and are incredibly fun to drive. The SS/SC runs a mid-14 for the average driver, mid/low-15 for the SS (I believe, correct me if I'm wrong) and the LS/LT's run very high 15 to low-mid-high 16's depending on the driver...

2. The LS is the 2.2 and the slowest of the Cobalts. The SS is the 2.4 and would be your best choice if you wanted to turbo (and other big mods) it later. The SS/SC is the 2.0 and is your fastest package out of the box and has GM Stage packages that boost you into the mid-high 13s (without saying goodbye to your warranty.) Also available for the SS/SC are the Intense Stage kits which go up to Stage 5 now...

As I only have the 2.2, I can really only speak for the 2.2... I can tell you on the stock 15" Continentals, the traction absolutely sucks in the rain (from a stop tires spin no matter how little gas I give it-- auto transmission). On dry roads though, they perform just fine. Cornering is very good, never had any fishtailing. Has a nice pickup for a base model car, but definitely feels slow after getting out of a SS/SC or SS.

Shift20

thanks bro

StinkBOMB

Either buy the SS/SC or keep your turbo Eclipse. The support for turboing the 2.2 and 2.4 isn't here just yet. It's right around the corner, but it's just not here.

wes_woodbridge_ss

If ur will to chop off ur nuts and slap on a set of **** i would definitly pik the celica. If coballt ss to the end. But thats jus me. Good luck

joey26lil

i have a 2004 eclipse gs and im hopefully buying a 2006 ss/sc for around $16,900 with only 6500K on it, i wanted to know if the cobalt handles better than my eclipse (totally stock suspension)

N8s07SS

I would pretty much guarantee the Cobalt handles better, but check some of the car mags for road tests & compare data. That will be a better answer than anyone can give you on here.

joey26lil

thanks man i appreciate it...

artawesome

if it helps theres a few of us base/lt cobalts that are (or already have ) trading up to the ss s/c. plan to have mine this friday. if you can get it in the budget get the ss s/c! you ll be happier !

joey26lil

yeah thats what i said im buying the ss/sc for 16.9 not bad i didnt go see it yet but hopefully it all works well..wish me luck

BLKblurr06

the Hahn turbo kits for these cars are perfectly fine in regards of performance and quality, other choices are not really necessary unless it would help to bring down cost...IMO


But to answer the 1st post, handling is superb making exit/on ramps a delightful pleasure, acceleration is sweet too, but to make any good use out of 1st gear you need traction mods, which should be your first interest in regards of modding, IMO

joey26lil

haha thanks..hopefully my first mod would be an intake then some traction/suspension mods..

Littlegoose

It'll be argued for eternity, but I'd say the Celica will handle better than the Cobalt, but the SS/SC is MUCH faster in a straight line. I would say that on a road course, the difference in handling is so marginal in comparison to the power difference that the Cobalt would still win stock for stock. Boost is better than Lift, and the Cobalt has the torque that the Celica doesn't. Much better torque curve on the SS/SC than the GT-S. Like someone mentioned earlier, GM's Stage kits (or Intense's Stage Kits) are really nice and prove that the Cobalt is easily quicker and more easily modified. As for the RSX, they are ok too, but I would still choose an SS/SC (as you can see) over the RSX because its still quicker and easily modified. While it may not hold its value in comparison to the Acura or the Toyota, I think it is going to be the most responsive to mods, and the funnest car to drive.

PolishPauL

The Cobalt does have better handling than the Civic Si and GTI. Not sure bout the other cars you said, but the reason car and driver said it had better handling was b/c of the tires but they really loved how it handled. Theres a video somewhere bout it. Edmunds said it has dull handling but thats for all models, not sure if they were talkin bout the SS.

Make sure your first mods are mounts b/c wheel hop sucks. Second should be intake for the whine

Edit: http://www.caranddriver.com/features...ercharged.html
The cobalt has artificial handling

http://www.autosite.com/content/rese...21&vcat=Review
Ok maybe it wasnt car and driver. See it does have REALLY good handling

R&C_rallySS

x2! for sure

gocanucksgo

The Celica will out handle the Cobalt out of the box, anyday...and I'm willing to put $$$$$$$ on it. Have the G5 GT and have driven a Celica GTS for about 3 months, handles on rails. Just no torque, once it gets going though, it's not too bad.

Can't say for the others...

StinkBOMB

1)If you check the dates of my post, it was 100% accurate at the time it was posted. Thanks for quoting me in the same year I made the post.
2)Hahn has their turbo kits out? I ask because I haven't been keeping up with turbo Balts for obvious reasons. I thought Tag was the only vendor with the initiative to actually come to market with a kit.

JMH

Just go to car and driver.com to view any road tests concerning the vehicles you're interested in. There are many "head to head" comparisons worth reading aswell. You stated that the SC was out of your price range but none the less, there is a comparison between the RSX-S and SS/SC that may be informative. It basically states that the Chevy spanks the Acura/Honda in virtually every performance category, but lacks refinement in key areas , so the two are essentially a wash.
Road and Track, Motortrend, Automobile mag etc. also offer an excellent testing articles.
Apart from test drives, these resources were very helpfull in making my purchase decision.............an SS/SC.

BLKblurr06

sorry dude, but dont tell me you have never quoted a post without looking at the date before

SS/SC has different suspension than the base SS or the G5 GT, I've never driven the celica GTS, but a friend of mine has one that gave me a ride in it..I liked it alot, but for one it doesnt handle better, but does handle very well IMO, Celica also cant accelerate as well out of a corner because it doesnt have LSD. The only reason it may come close to handling as well as the Cobalt is its low curb weight of 2600lbs IMO

Shortbus

I had a 04 celica, and i can say it handles better than the ss/sc.

chevysalesman614

the cobalt ss s/c is definitly the fastest out of that group of cars stock vs. stock

but if you are gonna be seriously modding, i say keep the eclipse. you will save about 20 grand....

as far as handling, the cobalt also out handles everything on that list too.

according to feb '07 r&t magazine the cobalt pulls a .84 on the skidpad, the rsx-s pulls .83
toyota's piece of **** celica wasn't even tested
same source:
rsx-s = 15.0 @ 94.9 with 6.7sec 0-60
ss s/c = 14.8 @ 96.8 with6.2sec 0-60
btw.. the cobalt is cheaper than the type-s, and will ape rape it on any track, period.
however, the rsx-s has a much more sophistocated, and all around nicer interior. you can get the recaro's in the ss s/c though. that gives you big interior points.
and let us not forget the awesome 7 speaker pioneer sound system that comes STANDARD in the ss s/c

maybe, but it's a chicks car, and the gts is slow as *****

Apex

The car handles awesome and you have quite a bit of power anywhere you are in the rpm's w/ the ss/sc.... however the turning radius on these cars suck... thats my only beef

L.P.

The reason the celica can handle better is that it lacks just that Torque, and power.