So my heavily planned trip from north east ohio, close to youngstown, to the outskirts of orlando, convinced me to get out of my un-air conditioned, 89 whp, manual, 600 lb capacity, chevrolet aveo into a 5 speed cobalt ls coupe. .
So I changed my oil, packed up my luggage, and went to pick everyone else up. I loaded up three other people, all their luggage and filled up the tank. Estimated a total weight without gas is around 1100 lbs extra.
My first tohught would be that my clutch would be fried by the time I got to florida. I was very suprised but experienced clutch engagement, lead to a supriseling normal take off everytime. My qt times weren't that great but it was still able to get out of it's own way very easily. Even with the a/c on there was not much difference. It was sluggish but it still was able to keep up with anything on the highway.
The biggest problem i was afraid of was the handling. The handling really scared me be cause of all the weight. I was setup in my car to drive for the long haul. I was about paralell to the rear door jam. We went thorugh west virginia and virginia where the speed limits were 70 mph and nothing but turns. But we left at 5 pm so we were there late at night pushing around 80-85 mph. I was white knuckiling it the whole way thorugh there. The car felt like the the tires were its weakiest point, the sway and roll were really bad and I was scared around every turn. I was so afraid of hitting the brakes on the turn, which you weren't supposed to do anyway, and trying to keep tourque on the front wheels to pull me through the turns without increasing speed. The car though the mountains actually got 32 mpg while having to heavily accelerate though the mountains.
We finally got to north and south carolina and through georgia and my average speed was 95 mph where I got around 30 mpg due to inefficiency of the speed. The car is good to about 85 mph and able to hold with 1/4 throttle. The higher speeds require alot moe pedal and are kinda scary.
Driving the car I learned NOT TO USE THE STEERING WHEEL AS A HANDLE. The steering wheel is a tool to turn the wheels. My arms and hands were so fatigued, I almost could not bear it. The power steering is horrible, it stuck to the center like any new car would have, and was very hard to turn and at random it would be eaier to turn. Very upsetting. The cruise control I almost never used because i needed feedback from the car. The steering wheel did not give proper feedback for my driving conditions. My elbow is also very chaffed because of the arm rest. It proved to be very unforgiveable and if you dont use it, bothat arms are suspended mid air, instilling fatigue. THe sterring wheel was also not sensitive enoguh to steer using one handed in the lap. My knee was also very stiff because I had to hold it in the same position the whoel time because i didnt use the throttle most of the time.
My tips:
Dont hang hardcore onto the steering wheel.
Become as familier as possible with your comfort zone in that vehicle.
Know what your car can do and not do.

My final conclusion is that i would never take this vehicle on a road trip like this ever again. it was too long and found to be very uncomfortable.
The car did hold it own at fast speeds and kept up with the best of them.

 

lol, i drove from kansas city missouri to prescott arizona, 1,350 miles, and was very comfortable and had a great drive, only thing was i could tell when i put shitty brand of gas in it, was sluggish up hills, but used shell the rest of the time and ran like a dream..

 

i drove from massachusetts to ohio in december in my base cobalt and that was perfect for me both ways. i have no bad experiences with it.

 

a good piece of advice to you with your new ls would be to get aftermarket rims and tires asap.....i noticed the same thing with the stock tires that you did....they suck....the 2 guys that replied b4 me have SS/SCs and they have good tires stock.....ours suck.....but now that i have Kumho Ecstas i am very happy......

EDIT: cobalt30 does not have the ss/sc but does have aftermarket tires and rims...you can tell in the sig

 

you do realize the car is drive by wire , so you do not get feedback from the motor like you would from a mechanical linkage

 

you can still feel vibrations and such.....at least i can....i dont have cc and i wouldnt use it if i did for the same reason.....

 

sounds to me like you need to just relax a little and be comforatble when you drive, i have took a few road trips in my LT and it was fine

 

I just did a trip two weeks ago from New Brunswick through Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont ending in Quebec and then back again. 15 hours of driving with 4 people in the car loaded with luggage. You drive through mostly mountains in the middle of nowhere during that trip. I found no problems with the brakes, steering or comfort level of the 05 Pursuit base. I used C/C on the Interstate but any other roads I did not.

 

You sure you weren't driving a Kia? The Steering is Drive By Wire, and it's got one of the best drive by wire systems out there right now. You don't have to constantly correct the steering like you do in cars with similar setups.

My wife and I have taken several very long trips in the car and experienced almost none of these problems. And we've had the vehicle up to 95 with no issue whatsoever. On stock Tires. LS. Auto.

Sounds to me like you are blaming the car for you not taking time to get used to driving it, and going faster at night in hilly/curvy conditions carrying what basically amounts to the cars full capacity of weight when you definitely should not have.

Your arm fatigue sounds more stress related than physical. We put in the armrest and I've had no problems. (yeah it does suck without the armrest and that should be standard in every car.) I had no chafing issues with the doors armrest, maybe you suffer from dry skin. :P hehe.

All kidding aside, install the center armrest, spend 500-1000 miles or so driving your much more powerful car (Seriously, did you ever drive the AVEO over 70 at all? Seems like that would have been more of a white knuckle ride to me. hehehe.) and get used to it, then don't be a total goof and drive the car loaded to capacity at those speeds.

You ever see a pickup riding at full capacity doing 85-90 in hilly/curvey terrain at night? If you did then you just saw the stupidist person alive. Same principal here.

That aside you should have really chosen a midsize car for maximum comfort for those long trips, but I guess you're probably like my wife and I and don't want to spend the money on one either in price or fuel costs. :P

 

i drove my LT from New York to Florida after I bought it so I could bring it down to school in FL, it was a REALLY comfortable trip, which shocked the hell outta me, but I do agree with Skottish that our stock tires suck. Im looking to ditch mine and I have the Michelin Energys on mine. This car is really smooth and just purrs and gets great gas mileage if you can cruise at around 2200-2400 RPM's. In fact im making the trip at the end of this week (5/20) again since schools over. I'll let you know how it is now that the car has over 7500 miles.

 

where do you go to school in FL?

 

My bro drove me to Madison, WI from Los Angeles, CA ... 2100 miles 3 days in a lifted, beefed up modded to hell Jeep Rubicon with no doors, built for off-roading. Don't complain.

 

The steering is drive by wire? The throttle is, in that a computer reads the input and gives the engine gas accordingly, rather than you directly controlling the pump.

The steering is still directly linked, however what makes it feel different from some other cars is that it is power assisted by an electrical motor, not a hydraulic one, and is also speed-sensitive. But yes, it is among the best such systems out there at mimicking hydraulic steering feel. You can definitely still tell the difference though.

 

Well whatever you guys want to say, I drove the ****, the car is not comfortable, my back was all sweaty, my passenger's arm was chaffed from the door panel. I drove, I was there, I'm telling what to be prepared for. I was at 3500 rpm most of the time, and yes there is feedback thorugh drive by wire from tourque on the motor at the wheels pulling you through the turn. The aveo would have proved to be more suitable in this case if i were by myself, but the cobalt was needed for power and a/c. So whatever you guys want ot critisize and repeat the facts I already stated, so be it.

 

I took my 115hp cavi on a ski trip with three people. It was a manual coupe with 2 people in the back seats behind me and 3 snowboards next to me on the passeneger seat. The trunk was full of bags and the poor little car had to climb the rocky mountains for 3 hours to get to the destination. We went over one of the highest passes in the Continental United states. It was at 4500-5000 in 3rd the whole way. We got passed by everything. It did have studded snow tires though so we werent being stupid. The best part was the trip down because we just coasted.

 

i drove my car home 300 miles the day i got it. i liked it just fine

 

as i recall the max load your supposed to carry in them is in the high 800's. i may be mistaken. but ive got 25,000+ miles on mine in 14 months and the only problem i have is that the damn seat cushion is flat and my butt hurts after aroud 200 miles. id love to get ahold of someones ss seat pullouts. i get 35mpg on highway trips at 90mph but i wasnt loaded down like you were. the upper door plastic does chaff you arm tho. but after awhile it wears down and goes away. now that ive got a better job im getting some 16's and better tires.

 

i have the 2lt, and drive a lot... i am a full time wedding videographer, and drive from jersey, to pennsylvania, to maryland, all over the place... i have never been uncomfortable, and thought the car was great on long drives...

 

Hmm, I drove my Ss/Sc down to melboure FL, and i live in akron ohio and i will say it was a VERY comfotable trip alot better then my SVT focus.. Im satisfied with my colbalts ride. but gas milage is a differnt thing!!!

 

Jeez, I have no idea what you are talking about... I drove my Cobalt 20 hours to Tennessee last fall and it was great on a long trip. I routinely drive it 4+ hours to visit friends in southern NY without any issues. My only bitch, and this was when he car was brand new, was that the seats hadn't conformed to my ample ass yet. Now that the car has 28,000 miles on it, they fit very nicely.

the stock tires on my car were horrible, but on a highway, they rode nice.

Scott

 

Thanks for correcting me.

 

I find my cobalt to be very VERY comfortable.

 

I suggest you learn your shift points better.... and don't over load your car. You obviously don't know how to drive if you were having that many problems in his car. I live in Long Pond where the roads are nothing but twist and my 05 LS handles like a dream.. I have to call Driver and not car on this one.

 

No the car is also steer by wire. That's why the had to add feedback back into the electronically assisted steering.

 

Hell, I ran my LT 2000+ miles to Florida and back, no complaints whatsoever. It wasn't exactly an easy trip either- mountains for a good part of the way, and constant speeds of 70 MPH or better. She ran like a top all the way!!