08SSTCRD

What do you think the Civic's dash is made from?? Corinthian leather?? Get real.

These cars are all in the same class and are built to a price point. I recently looked at an '07 Civic Si for sale with 33K on it, and the interior was falling apart. The shift boot was all worn out and peeling, the silver paint was coming off the window controls, and it also had an airbag light on due to a failed sensor in the seat.

Personally I think the Cobalt's interior is much more attractive than the Civic's ass ugly spaceship design.

SS-Performance-RS

I just pulled your GM/Man Card.

kissmy05ss

squeaks and rattles are problems! they are meant to be heard and fixed. the cruze better come out with a bad bitch ss model or no one will envy it and buy it. if they're gonna compete with the civic, they better beat the SI!!!! CHEAP BASTARDS LIKE TO GO FAST TOO!

HunterKiller89

iTrader: (1)

there are different levels of plastics you know... BMW does not use the same cheap plastic on their cars as GM does with their cobalt. ****, GM doesnt even use the same plastic in the CTS-V that they do in the cobalt. The cobalt has very cheap plastics

CptTheAlex

I have had two Cobalt SS, 1 SC and the current N/a. I have had the N/a for 30k miles and only had to change the side marker bulb. It squeaks a tad and a little bit of rattle but for the price im cool with it. Turn the f'in music up, if your that bothered. All of my friends who have rode in my car love it and consider it a badass car, they all drive 10 yr old p.o.s for what its worth. My best friend has a 03 focus wagon, thats the cheapest piece of **** i have ever been in.

Its never a good business practice to come out though and flame the hell out of one of your past products. What i got out of that read was "if you bought a cobalt your an idiot" and i think he was talking about listening to his 17 yr old daughter for advice on the cruze?? I may have misread that but if thats the case that guy needs to be fired!

08SSTCRD

The plastic used on our interiors is perfectly acceptable for a car that you can buy new for $14,000. Sure it would be nice to have slightly better plastics on the SS model, but you're paying that extra money for the performance features, not luxury features.

I think the Cobalt's dash looks plenty nice, but obviously the quality of the plastic isn't going to be that of a Cadillac. And reasonably so.

TheWarHam

You mean the ugly bland generic cheapo buttons-falling-off-in-a-year rattle-machine you call a civic? That car is meant to please the general ******* public who seriously suck - and yeah that means sofa-like suspension... I often wonder if the target audience of that car is more concerned about how much their glovebox fits than what kind of tires it's using. PS - they are

I always see their interiors falling apart (ours is cheapish but here to stay) and the exterior screams "IM AVERAGE"

PS- electric steering is sweet
PSS- I have a CHAMP 12" sub and my car really doesnt rattle? Serious. Just a tiny from the rear deck if your outside the car

but thats me. I know the cobalt has faults... but they did a lot right





and yeah I feel insulted by that GM executive, honestly this type of customer-bashing will come to mind the next time I do shop for a GM car

graumail

My opinions on the cobalt.

I have a 2006 LS model (blue granite metallic, which is IMHO the best color and I have no clue why it's not available as SS). I've had it a little over a year.

Car has 70,000 miles on it. I've put a CAI in, put it on SS/TC suspension and 17" elbrus wheels, debadged and blacked it out. Also put in some "racing" type buckets to help with the comfort level. Overall I've invested about $2-3k in a car we paid $11k for.

The car has 0 issues, 0 noises, is really peppy compared to the absolutely terrible, terrible feel of the civic and corolla i tested. I enjoy the interior, the plastics are easy to keep clean, and I've had no issues with their durability. You can spend $50k on a car and you will still get interior plastics.

I really like the way this car looks. One of the big issues I have with most cars in the 15-30k range that have performance in mind is the appearance. The cobalt sedan and sedan SS are some of the better looking cars in this range (provided you dont keep the steelies). Looking at the overblown, kid-racer styling of the STI and EVO makes me want to puke. Clean lines, slow curves, simple design. I enjoy these things. I also like the the cobalt feels a little bigger than it is. Whether its a WRX or a kia, small cars usually feel like tin cans. the cobalt does not, it feels like a car!

For the SS guys that are LS-haters; keep in mind im not saying my little LS is fast, it isnt. Its pretty quick when properly equipped, and extremely nimble with the upgraded suspension. It's great to just casually go around corners at 25-30 mph, without the car shifting all about or squeeling. With these few upgrades to the car, it feels amazing, the best daily driver I've had (had a few different grand prixs before, a short stint with a corolla and have a '02 miata on back-up for occasional weekend jaunts with about 8k on it). I love getting 32 mpg in the city, and 48 on the highway (I cruise at 55, try it sometime your MPG will make you **** your pants). I use purolator filters, high quality synthetic oil, and take good care of my car.

The cobalt is a good car, with a lot of people having negative preconceived notions about it. I know I'm not the average guy on this forum, but I am one of the biggest petrol-heads in existence. durability and reliability are a big deal to me. The cobalt (just like my 89 toyota hilux) looks brand new, even with relatively high miles.

Picture included for reference (this is from right after I installed the new wheels, and before the suspension.

http://s872.photobucket.com/albums/a...0000000car.jpg

HunterKiller89

iTrader: (1)

THIS IS MY WHOLE POINT!
the cruize AND the cobalt were/are meant to appeal to the general masses, and the cobalt fails at this compared to a civic because of a number of reasons!

Why is this concept so hard for so many of you to understand? I loved my cobalt, clearly, but I was still well aware it was a POS in the build quality and quality of materials department which is exactly what the masses want in their car.

[quote}PS- electric steering is sweet[/quote]
I agree...too bad its failing so much, but you can expect to see a LOT more cars implement electric power steering soon.

I agree, theres plenty that was done right, but i think a lot of what was done right was done to appeal to enthusiasts, not the general market.

northvibe

iTrader: (1)

Cruze interior
http://www.youtube.com/user/chevrole...17/wXot6TMOpMM

Cruze exterior
http://www.youtube.com/user/chevrole...16/cWsX7XGcbOg

msfitoy

Sounds like you got a "Friday" production run...I've been lucky with mine...42k in one year...full bolt on and pushing over 300 on stock clutch and she's purring right along...my biggest complaint is not that GM didn't invest enough into percieved quality interior (gives me something to do over the next few years), but the engineering build qualities that are lacking...the more I look at my baby through the many hundreds of hand washing, the more strange bumps and ripples I find on the exterior body panels...GM cars are designed 100% in 3D CAD so the highlights are perfect in the virtual world...but these manufacturing defects have more to do with the stamping/assembly than styling...I even have a strange "outtie" dent which appeared to have come from some cluts on the assembly line jamming a tool from the inside of the car...wtf?!?!?

That's what my wife told me and I said it's true...it's to save weight on the SS...so she's not driving it because she can't push it out of the garage...

Blue_Balt

iTrader: (1)

This.

I drive a LS and the interior is the only thing is off a bit. Other than that it's not a bad car for what it is. The 5 speed gives a bit more pep than you would think it'll have.

Dude, most people don't care about the SS model. I believe only 5% of Cobalts on the road are SS models. Apart from us, most people don't care about performance.

will20four

I just gave GM feedback about their commits on the Cobalt/compact cars. As a supporter of the cavy/sunfire and now owning a 06 s/c cobalt and my wife has a 4 door cobalt. I, like alot of yall, have been supporters of GM's compact cars. How can they expect CEO/Excevitive's test drive a cobalt and like it when they have luxuary cars or top of the line. Ya they wont like the ride, look, feel of a small compact car, DUH. And his commit said "so many people" so alot of people must have liked the Coblats.

link to email chevy

TXRLU

All I see is GM trying to hype up their cars. I remember seeing GM try something similar when the boxy Cavalier of the 80s was replaced with the new version of the Cavalier. When the Cobalt replaced the Cavalier GM called the Cavalier junk. My biggest problem is, sure they call it "junk" when the old one's about to be replaced, but IMO if it's junk when they replace it with the next model that's being rushed in to replace it, why isn't the new one junk when it comes out? I'm not sure when it happened, but GM's culture and idea of what quality is has really eroded.

bryce712

in the 1st movie the dudes knees where in the steering wheel !

munron

I wish I'd thought of that before my wife figured out how to get it in reverse. Then I wouldn't have to wrestle her for the keys every morning to see who gets to drive it. It does seem odd that GM made reverse so tricky to find. I've had a couple of people who borrowed my car call to ask how to get it into reverse.

Not sure what everyone's whining about here. We are totally in love with our Cobalt. Its and '06 SS/SC with 100,000 km on it and I have trouble finding a fault with it. In my opinion GM did am amazing job on it and should be proud of it. Can't speak for the base models, but definately nothing wrong with the sport model.

Nighthawk243

Every car company does that. They purposely point out the flaws in the older car that is being phased out in order to try to make the newer product look good. What the automakers try to do is put the thought into the mind of the owners of the old model that their car is inferior to the new one. By doing that, they are attempting to make the owners of the previous models think about "upgrading" to the new one. Sure, it alienates the enthusiasts (aka: us), but the average consumer usually tends to buy into the hype and trades in their old car for a new one. If the owners of the current car is told their car is still perfect, and they still think that it is a great car, they are much less likely to part with it when the new stuff comes out.

Around 2004-2005, the J-body cars were absolutely thrown under the bus after the Cobalt was penciled in as the successor. I can safely assume that GM probably threw the F-Body under the bus too when the Zeta platform Camaro was announced. I know they did in the Transformer's movie when they had Megan Fox bitch about the 76, causing it to drive off and hand the reins over to the concept.

DeftonesFan867

Boo ******* hoo.

You own a car that wasn't the best GM could do and is being replaced by a superior model.

There are alot of aspects of the Cobalt that never should have made it out of GM.

You would have to be on some kind of super smack to think otherwise.

Mikes455Wagon

After a year and a half, I have to say the car is pretty impressive in the performance category. However, this car like many others have known weaknesses. My 2 biggest gripes are these.... 1. The interior rattles...this wouldn't bother me as much if I didn't have a 74 GMC that I tow with all the time with 100,022 miles on it that is just as tight and quiet as it was in 74, 0 squeaks and rattles. Why can't we make something now when quality should be higher that isn't that good? 2. The rear brakes have a problem, GM needs to fix this. Maybe since they got Brembo to do the front, they should call them up for some insight on how to do the rear ones... I really like the looks of the car and it is a total blast to drive. I smile every time I get on it. It's so docile just cruising around then when you call upon it for duty, the turbo spools up and it turns into rather much of a little monster. Would I buy one again, probably. Will I buy a new GM vehicle in the future, probably not. I am going to have to find me another 70's vintage GM truck that is nice and has low mileage. I think back then they built a product that was better then they do now. Look around at how many older gm cars even through the early 90's you still see driving around, its a bunch. How many cobalts and malibu's, and hhr's do you think we are going to see on the road in 30 years?

CurtisBAMF

Why put it in production if you don't like? Stupid Executive *****

DeftonesFan867

You idiot he wasn't part of it.

soundjunky

iTrader: (4)

it doesn't matter;

1. he's an executive of a company; that makes said "terrible" car
2. said "terrible car" is currently being produced
3. hurting sales in any way can only hurt a companies bottom line - which ideally would affect his own bottom line

in this case negative publicity is not a good thing.

msfitoy

lol...I was kidding...I did show her how to move my car so she could mow the lawn but she won't drive it for fear of causing damage to my "other GF"

I don't have much complaints but on trips longer than a couple of hundred miles, the cruise would strangely stop working...ie, not able to turn on...and the tire pressure monitor would also cry fowl...irritating but once I stop for rest and restart, everything's back to normal...

3fo893013L

I read in a recent article that GM knew first hand early 2000's while it was still in testing phase and development that this car would NEVER be an industry setter and was to market only to appease the consumers that GM had another small car to offer and try to off set other foreign markets.

GM actually took a big loss in making the Cobalt. It wasn't a very profitable venture and they already knew before it was sold to the public it was a a turd.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/automo...56/detail.html

Looks like the Cruze already has issues which they say they fixed.

northvibe

iTrader: (1)

when was the last time you saw a "C" or exec know a **** about what the company actually did?

yup sounds about right. good link/read.