Hey everyone, Im new here. I actually do not have a Cobalt, however I have been in the market for a sportier car that still gets great fuel milage and have decent power. Of all the sport compacts, within a price range of $25000 or less, the Cobalt/Redline seems to be the one that I am drawn to the most.

Anyways, on to my question. First and foremost, cars are mostly transportation to me. I am a motorcyclist, and am turning into a track junky. My problem I am having right now is finding a vehicle that can tow my bike, or bikes to the track. Right now I am using a '99 Chevy Tracker 2.0L to tow my bikes. This thing has a measly 124 hp and 130+ torque. Its pretty pathetic. Not to mention that it gets blown around all over the place when driving. To describe my current vehicle, I refer to it as a driving billboard.

I am considering the Cobalt SS/SC because it has 200 ft.lbs of torque, and is still a sipper when it comes to fuel consumption. This is more than I would require for my needs, but for some reason Chevrolet/GM recommends not towing with it.

I wont be towing more than 1000 lbs, 1200 at most if I throw the other bike up there. I mean, I can pick up the tongue of the trailer and push the thing around myself, so I assume a car with boatloads of torque shouldnt have a problem.

So the question is, why is towing not recommended? Is there a fear of having the supercharger constantly blowing in pressurized air into the engine causing additional stress to the engine for the time it is towing? Is it a problem with the brakes? Can they not stop the car and an additional 1000+ lbs of weight? Or is it just still that 'ole saying that if you are going to tow, you should tow with an auto trans. I know the SS/SC only comes with a manual, and my Tracker is a manual as well. I have had no problems with premature clutch failure on any of my manual trans cars, though I have had no luck with auto trans cars all my life.

I am courious of your thoughts on this.

BTW, nice place you guys/gals got here.

 

Well usually cars are not made for towing, especially small 4 cylinder cars that are very light such as the cobalt (even if it has 200 lbs of torque). Personally, I would not use a car for towing. I always use my fathers Tahoe when I need to get supplies/equipment/etc. around. I would never use my car. Like ferraris, they have like what 400 lbs of torque? Even though they have a lot of torque, that doesn't mean it will be able to pull a lot of weight in the rear. Their frames aren't meant for added weight being pulled in the back. I don't know maybe I am totally wrong on this topic.

 

Hmm...i seem to remember the manual saying only not to tow anything during the break in...still tho, why buy a sport compact to tow **** around? Sounds like you need a pick-up buddy

 

you shouldn't tow anything with these cars because the engine and tranny will overheat.

Plain and simple.

 

As long as your pulling something as small as a motorcycle I think you should be ok. Guys don't bash him, it's not that impracticle. Because of our rear bumber you might run into a few problems. I haven't done any research on any of this, so I don't know if any companies make a hitch for our car. But I know there are some companies that actually have the hitch come out behind the license plate, so when you tow you move the license plate, and when your not its hidden. Do some research and see what you can find. Our car shouldn't have any trouble pulling a motorcycle, or even 2.

 

Your tires, brakes, engine, transmission, etc all have to be capable of doing this and gm has deciced that it isnt safe. Even the dodge ram srt-10 regular cab from the first year isnt meant to tow with, so it it could be any combination of things.

 

Actually the reason out gear ratios are so weird and why 2nd is soooo long is because this tranny is from a saab in europe where they tow crap and 2nd is long to allow the turbo to spool up and get the thing you pulling some momentum. So technically this car is made for towing and GM even sells a tow package, for the Ion at least. The engine and tranny will not overheat, the cooling system in this car is way above par. However when you tow stuff in a car your putting added stress on the engine and drivetrain which is never good but If I needed to tow something I would have no reservations about doing so, as long as it wasnt everyday.

 

I say if yuor goig to tow with it get the 2.4L car not the S/C car.
Reson for that is you can get it in an auto.
There are more then a few people haveing problems with the clutch in the S/C car without towing ****. I cant speak of there driving style but there is enuff that I would not be willing to try it with my car.
The auto trans that GM used in the cobalt is vary good. ANd the 2.4L makes 171Hp and like 165lb of tourqe. That should be more then enuff for you.
There is a company selling hitch kits for the SS on ebay.
That is the only place I know of that you can get one. (Not that there is not other places)
Other then that I would say get a new Colorado I5 with the sport packege and have some fun with that. And this is probably your best bet.

Later

 

I'm assuming that you are talking about an open traler, which is just a platform on wheels. Our car will have no problem pulling this, it weighs almost nothing. I've seen geo metro's (2 door 3 cylinder 1.3l) pull small pop up trailers. Assuming you can find a hitch that fits, I don't think you should have any trouble pulling your bike.

 

just buy a truck, a 2001 and up toyota tacoma with the TRD package and factory supercharger would be tons of fun. buying a car to tow with is like buying a .22 to hunt deer with, you can do it, but WHY??????

 

alot of not towing with a forced induction engine comes from the fact that it will be underboost all the time, gets the engine hot. You guys remember the GMC Syclone? There was big lettering in the owners manual 'DO NOT TOW OR HAUL OVER 500LBS WITH THIS VEHICLE"

Same reason.

Scott

 

I feel the need to to address the comment stating the S/C is a "sipper" when it comes to fuel......Ummmmm.....if you call an average of 23 MPG "sipping", then you're right, and that's with NO load....You'll burn the fuel even faster with the added weight.

 

As a matter of fact, the transmission in our cars was originally built by Saab specifically geared for towing. I think it's more of a frame integrity thing that they are worried about. It should be safe up to 1,000 pounds seeing as how the GVRW is nearly 1000 pounds more than GW. You should be okay on a 250 pound moto/trailer.

 

I am surprised nobody mentioned the warranty if GM says towing is a no no and something goes wrong they might not pay. You might get away with you car breaking at the track but hiding a hitch is a little harder.

 

I don't know where all you guys are getting our transmissions were made by SAAB. The SS/SC transmissions were made by GETRAG. Their website is HERE (LINK) and it says nothing about Saabs....

 

It's a well known fact that the SS/SC transmission is also used in one of the saabs, it's either the 9-3 or the 9-5 potentially both. Since you are so adept at using this wonderful tool called the internet why don't you read a few magazine articles on our car and one of them will mention it. If you're still not satisfied go to saabs website and check the gear ratios against those of the SS/SC and ask yourself if GM would spend money on two different transmissions with identical gear ratios.

Also our chassis is shared with the opel astra, but you won't find that on the chevy website either, doesn't mean it isn't true.

 

Did you even look at the LINK I posted? I am not arguing the fact the GM may have used the same transmission in one of the Saabs I was just pointing out the fact that our transmissions WERE NOT MADE BY SAAB. That is all.

 

this kind of car isn't supposed to tow

 

the saab stamping on them is one clue.

(wait, that might be oilpan. have to crawl under car again)

 

They are all saying that becouse the trans was first used in the saabs.
And any one that cales that towing with this car will not over heat the motor should go try it befor you say any thing.
As stated above runing the motor on boost for a long time will heat soke the intercoller and will couse the motor to eventualy over heat. That is IMO. Im not willing to try it my self to find out.

Later

 

As Jephron said...Yes, they ARE used in the Saabs, the 9-3 is the only one I know for sure, although I could see applicability in the 9-5. Bottom line is this, the car was not designed to be used as a tow vehicle. Yes, the drivetrain is stout, no one disagrees with this, but it's the rest of the car that is in question. If the fuel loss alone from the added weight, resulting in more constant boost to get up to speeds, then the fact that it will most likely void your warranty should tell you all you need to know. Best advice, go buy a used, but still decently running old truck, and use that. You'd be better off.

 

I agree. You should not use the Cobalt to tow anything. Nothing on the car was built or designed to handle the extra load. Buy the car and get a POS truck.

 

The Clutch is Weak. IMO if you baby it it will work but not "Ideal"

 

I was told that towing with the 5-spd will cause increased engine wear, but I occassionaly tow my ATV or my jetski. No trouble at all. I towed both before with my VW Fox that only have like 90HP. I will tow, just not all that often.

Scott

 

I think the original poster has Expired..