Hello all,

So I need to get a car over the next couple of months, I was looking to spend 20-25k CAD and up until a couple of weeks ago it was between a Nissan 350z, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution or Suburu Impreza WRX. That was until I decided to test drive a cobalt SS for the hell of it and found that it was close to OR on par with those vehicles for the most part when it came to handling and power, and I could buy one new with a 5 year warranty for the same priced a used one of the above cars would cost me.

Anyway there's a bunch of things I ended up really liking about the SS but I have a number of questions, if any owners could chime in and let me know that would be great:

1. Does it take premium only or can you run it on regular? If you can run it on regular, is there a significant difference in performance using 93+ premium?

2. How is the gas mileage? My last 4banger turbo (Toyota MR2) ate gas like a fiend and took premium only, so even though it was a "small" engine it certainly didn't feel like it. ($)

3. How is the stock stereo? I have never kept stock stereo systems in ANY of my cars as I always wanted more features and more loudness then they could supply, but it seemed like the SS audio was pretty much everything I wanted. Is the 10" sub noticeable even though its not in much of a box?


Thanks for any responses, even if they're telling me to go to hell with my list I have done a lot of lurking/searching and had most of my questions answered, but the above I haven't been able to get a good idea of (maybe my searching skills are sub-par)

 

1. You need premium with any forced induction car
2. I get 26 mpg average with a mix of city and 45mph country roads, I get about 33 highway. Click on "new threads" and find the SS/TC mpg thread, it just started a few days ago.
3. The stock system is ok if you don't want a lot of bass or listen to it loud. Get some subs though and it sounds great. The sub is o.k. with the bass cranked all the way up, but if you're willing I would suggest an upgrade if you like to listen to music alot, although most of the guys on here will always tell you performance first.

 

#1 is good to know, thanks.

#2 I will check out those threads, thanks.

#3 Yeah im not really a racer track kinda guy im more of a casual cruiser so having a premium audio system that can really crank it out is a higher priority for me then intakes and intercoolers and all that stuff

 

1. 91 oct or higher
2. mmm i get like 24 city 33hwy and I drive FAST. So I can see mid 30's on hwy easy. mid 20's city.
3. Stock pioneer stereo w/ sub in trunk is fine. Sounds good, has good base, better sounding than most stock stereo's but its not the best. I think my ms3 bose one was slightly better but, this pioneer works well for me, im not a stereo horny guy though.

Love my ss handling/power specially with GM stage 1 kit installed and some ottp suspension mods like the rear sway bar. Also the choice of a 2 door and 4 door turbo is great.

 

1. Stock or staged run 91 octane only. The car will run on 89 and below but it will retard timing, cause loads of knock and ruin your fuel mileage. You won't gain much from running 93+ but I've run 91 and 91 only since the day I purchased the car.
2. Since you're in Canada I'll use the L/100km system. On the highway if I drive normally I've seen as low as 7.5L/100km, some even report hovering around 7L/100km. On average however it's more in the ballpark of 8.5L/100km but that's from say London->KW where I'm up and down hills on the 401...just as a comparison. Long story short I can get anywhere from 500-600km per tank out of the car if I do all highway (I once pushed 675 but almost had to push it to the pump ). In town depending on where you live in Toronto and how much stop/start the car sees, I average 9L/100->10.2L/100km living in London where lights are about horribly out of sync to give you a general idea.
3. The stock system suffices for my needs, I don't throw heavy equipment into a car that I purchased to take to the strip and rip around from time to time. If you're use to a heavy banging stereo you won't find it here but it's decent. I'd go back for another test drive and ease it up a bit after modifying the bass/treble levels and see what you think .

Hope that helps.

 

holy crap you got down to 7.5L/100km!?!?! that's insane.
I can get around 9 - 10.2, then in the winter I climb to almost 13. In my G5 GT that is.

 

I was on a highway that's an 80 so for the hell of it I maintained 90km/h straight through with the cruise control enabled. The nice thing about the boost gauge is lower vaccuum = greater fuel mileage so I can make small adjustments to drop further into vaccuum when I'm crusing on the highway...bit more leg/head work but it does the trick . On the 401 I don't expect that low particularly because London's elevation in comparison to surrounding areas leaves me with some nice hills going east bound, and west bound I always feel like I'm in the Indy 500 .

Now on my 2.2 I could get it as low as 6.5L/100km if I really worked at it but average was more 7.0L/100ish just to put this in perspective .

 

Thought about this thread when I got home today from a 150km (93 miles) highway trip average speed 105km/h (65mph), 30kPA into vaccuum (4.35PSI) and went to check my fuel economy. Here ya go xBurntx, see, it is possible



US Conversion = ~30.55mpg

That also includes some random stupids like a pull from low 2nd through high 4th NLSing and a couple passes in 3rd on the highway which is an excuse to romp on it .

 

I just bought a '10 SS for my son and they're an absolute bargain right now. It's hard to pass on this car at $22800.00 with Stage 1 and few other accessories.