After recieving a nice little promotion at work I have begun contemplating getting myself a nice daily driver for once. I want it to have some good power, get decent gas mileage, and last me well past the point when I pay it off. I've considered the Cobalt SS/SC because it seems to fit all my categories except one. I've been reading numerous posts on here about head gaskets failing, clutches frying prematurely, and cruise controls not functioning. How many of these problems are the direct result of the owner modifying their cars beyond what they can handle? Is it possible the clutch surfaces are too small for the power the car is putting out? are the headgasket failures possibly a bad head gasket material being used from the factory? I know this car hasn't been out very long to find all these things out, but the shear number of threads I have been reading about these problems is a bit concerning to me. Finally, I can get this car with the GM employee discount and was curious if anyone knew about what I would be paying if Iwere to buy one new. I figure someone on here has bought one with the GM discount. Thanks in advance for the information!

 

those problems are generally attributed with alot of modification and some shoddy driving to be honest.

The clutch in these cars arent the best....but if you understand how a clutch works, and know how to drive a stick properly i doubt youll have a problem.

the headgaskets have almost all been on cars with 2.5 or 2.6 pulleys and pretty heavily modded....i dont want to offend anyone but i know some of them werent monitoring their cars properly which probably had alot to do with it.

Basically the cobalt ss/sc is a very well priced car with plenty of get up and go.

If you dont mod it im sure it would run well for a long time.

the trick is avoiding the mod bug. and most people dont lol.

 

Havent actually heard much about the Head Gasket (on stock cars), and Power Steering. I am sure that is the exception and not the rule.

As for the clutch, that is a hot topic, and has been debated to death, but in my opinion, clutches are failing from abuse. Granted, they are not the best by any means, and eventually will have to be replaced, but if you know how to drive a stick, and dont abuse it to much, you should be fine!

Good luck either way and welcome to the site!

 

now even though i do not own a cobalt myself (yet), i can see where you are coming from with the whole reliability issue. I will admit that there are quite a few threads and posts about broken this or busted that, but in all seriousness, someone would not post anything about having no problems. I have heard a lot of great things, and I'm sure that the majority of ss/sc's on this site are fine, and have no or extremely minor problems. Welcome to the site as well.


As a side note, these cars apparently have a lot of wheel hop, but that’s nothing a torque dampener cant fix

 

Yeah 2.5 pullied here, still stock clutch with almost 23,000 miles. It's going but it lasted me this long I used to beat the crap out of the clutch but have stopped since I don't feel like putting in a new clutch anytime soon. I really think I can get another 7-10k miles on the clutch, but if I drove it like I stole it, maybe like another 50-60 miles lol

 

I'm afriad it won't matter what I buy it will end up modded a little bit. Most that I would do is a CAI and maybe some exhaust work. I wouldn't want to risk seriously damaging my daily driver. I probably won't be making this purchase until next year, but I am thinking about it heavily now so I know what I want later.

 

You should have no issues if you don't plan to mod heavily. An Intake/Header/Catback + a GM Stage 2 is very reliable. Not to mention, you should be making a decent amount of power for a daily driver. The biggest issues you will have at that level are:

1) Wheel hop causeing an axel to break. This can happen at stock power levels also. I would reccommend Control Arm Bushings (CAB's), Tranny Mounts and a torque dampener or poly engine mount insert (depending on how many cabin vibes you can put up with).

2) Clutch failure due to abuse. I'm convinced that with proper usage and no abuse, the stock clutch can handle these power levels just fine. That's only opinion though. I haven't driven any one else's SS/SC but mine.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do. This is a great car and I don't have any regrets about purchasing it...

 

I've had my SS/SC for close to 7 months now, just getting ready to roll over 8k miles. Not one problem yet, and they arnt the most babied miles on a car if you get what I'm saying.

 

i drive my cobalt SS/SC like it wants to be driven and have had no problems with it yet i have had it for 8 months and it has 13K on it and not a problem yet. Good cars On the gas issue......depends on how you drive. for the most part they are not bad.

 

44K miles , lightly modded for me and ive had 0 mechanical failures yet . I replaced my clutch and flywheel with aftermarket @25K miles , but my factory clutch was still good . It was just a matter of preference , the spec clutch suits my preferences much more than the stocker . Other than that , Ive had a couple minor interior trim issues and my wheels were replaced for paint defects ...both situations were covered under warranty .

My SS has been completely awesome