Just curious to hear some opinions on this. the SRT-4 had a slow start, but now is hard to find at a car lot due to popularity. You think the same thing will happen with SS? Or will it flounder?

 

Are dealers trying to price gouge the SS the way they did the SRT-4?

SRT-4 got off to a slow start because dealerships were trying to mark them up $3k-$8k. When I got my '03 in May of '03, I thought I was getting a deal at MSRP. One dealership wanted $29k for theirs (they only had one).

The dealership I bought mine from got 3 in on a Thursday, put on the lot Friday Afternoon, I bought mine Saturday and the other two had sold by Sunday.

Eventually the other dealerships caught on and dropped their extreme mark-up.

 

The t.v ads showing the Cobalt SS/SC in my opinion are doing little to nothing in helping sell these cars, when I first saw there ad I didn't like the SS but once I saw one in person I thought I've got to get one of these some day. Around here there's several SS/SC on dealers lots but people just don't go over where they keep the SS/SC, more need to be seen on the street to help sell these awesome cars.

Al

 

I bought the first one to arrive in Nebraska so when I paid MSRP I didn't really care. They want more than I paid for one with 53 miles on it now. You think GM dealers would have learned it's lesson with the ugly GTO's, they tried the market value increase on those and now some lots still have 2004 models priced at $25,000 or less.

 

When i went to go buy my SS which was like 1 month ago most dealers were offering it to you at MSRP no lower. I went to the local dealer and tehy wanted 2k more than window. I told them they were crazy and when they got three of them in the finally dropped the 2k. Went in and bought mine for sticker. Traded in my CTS which was a **** box and got my new baby.

 

I would rather have it were only few people have the SS (few as in only the people who truly enjoy the car, id rather not have it turn into a G35 or 350z where any one who thinks the car is "cute" can drive it, like a mid 40 yr old mother takeing her kids to school), also the fewer the better (not to few that there are no parts, but i dont want it to turn into a mustang, having 8 stang sin one block radius is to much!)

 

I don't think it will turn into the mustang. It would be nice to have more of them for the purpose of aftermarket advancement, but I would also like the numbers to stay low. Having the car at this point gives it some exclusivity and I like that.

I think you’ll unfortunately see the Cobalt turn into how Cavalier was with the LS being as common as the base to Ls Cav, and the SS being a little rarer than the Z24.

 

I think the car is selling better then expected and is serving it's purpose, to get people excited about GM compact cars. I don't think it will ever break sales records but it should keep steady sales. I do think Chevy needs to more properly advertise the SS to at least bring more people into the showroom as everything I have seen it simply placing the SS in the last 1/3rd of a regular cobalt add. I also think that if Chevy is wise they will in 2yrs offer an even higher then SS variant to give all the SS owners something to turn over too, either that or they can screw their heads on straight and make a Camero, I wouldn't mind moving from my SS into that!

 

I hope these cars are not that rare, and I'll tell you why....resale value! I used to own an SVT Focus, in which only about 11k were made in a three year period. They are sweet cars, and very rare. In fact you received a production certificate from SVT, with the sigantures of the creators on it, as well as production number. But, becuase of this rarity and bad marketing, the SVT tanked bad in value, and dealerships wouldn't give me any more for it than a regular base model focus. There is no market for them, therefore they lose value.
Same thing is happening with the RL. They sell for about 22-24k new..but I saw '04's going for 18k already. So I hope these cars catch on like the SRT-4 for resale and aftermarket reasons.

 

The SVT Focus tanked because the dollar to performance ratio sucked.

Having 8 million of a model doesn't make it worth more.

 

Did you read my post..CodySS? They only made a few thousand of them. Also, the bang for the buck was one of the best in '02-'03.

170hp
Xenon HID's
6-speed
leather
Recaro seats
moonroof
300 watt 6-disc cd changer
11.8" F / 11.0 R 4 wheel ABS disc brakes
115ft 60-0 stopping
4-2-1 race header
2.28" exhaust w/ 4" chrome tip
17x7 rims/tires
mid-15 sec car

All that, and more for only $18k! And only 3,985of them were made in '03. So you're telling me that the bang for the buck sucked? Give me a break (John Stossel: 20/20)