KELSEY MAYS
Living Editor
Ten rental-car companies compete for attention in the arrivals terminal at LAX. Tourists congregate at various collection points along the drop-off lane and board buses to nearby lots, where they sign paperwork and swipe credit cards to spend the next few days puttering around town in Chevy Cavaliers. When they return, they pry themselves out and swear they’ll never again rent — let alone buy — anything resembling this car.
Next time around (now it’s Fort Lauderdale or Phoenix), they sit dumbfounded behind the wheel of another Cavalier, wondering how in the world they forgot last summer’s pledge.
Fortunately, times are changing. General Motors, parent to Chevrolet and umpteen other brands, axed the ancient Cavalier in 2005 for a fresher car built on GM’s Delta platform, which also underpins the Saturn Ion and Chevrolet HHR. The Cavalier’s replacement is called the Cobalt, and it’s larger, quieter and higher-quality by leaps and bounds.
Under the hood is GM’s all-aluminum, 2.2-liter Ecotec engine. It’s a few years behind the most advanced engines some competitors use, but it gets the job done with 145 horsepower and 155 pounds-feet of torque. Considering that Cobalts start under $15,000, this motor is not too bad of a starting point.
Cobalts come in coupe or sedan form, and both are available in base, LS and LT trim. A high-performance SS coupe with a 205-horsepower, turbocharged engine is also available, and it tops out the range at around $22,000. For 2006, the trims get shuffled around a bit, and there is now a cheaper 171-horsepower, non-turbo version of the SS.
My test car was a 2005 Cobalt LS sedan with a long list of options: a sunroof, heated leather seats, a premium sound system and alloy wheels, to name a few. The sticker came to $20,915.
Acceleration is hardly breathtaking, but the 2.2-liter engine has noticeably more torque than a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. There is adequate pull from a standing stop, and the pedal feels linear, so there are no surprises stepping down. It gets noisy under heavy acceleration, and there is not any extraordinary power at the top end. But outstanding engines are an exception rather than an expectation in this segment, so I don’t penalize this example too much.
There is plenty to dislike about the transmission, though. The optional four-speed automatic in my test car is one gear behind the Civic and Mazda3, and it shows. On the highway, it allows a great deal of pedal play before downshifting. More gears would allow better shifting strategies for quicker pedal response.
A five-speed manual transmission is also available. I haven’t driven it, but it probably livens up the car a good deal.
Most Cobalts come with front disc and rear drum brakes. They feel fairly spongy at first and grabby at the very end. Considering that many competitors have four-wheel disc brakes, it’s high time Chevrolet follows suit.
If the brake setup is any indicator of handling prowess, then we’re in for economy-car mediocrity. A few canyon roads confirmed my suspicions. The suspension allows significant body roll through the corners, and the steering feels too light to give much road feel. But fortunately, there’s a trade-off — the same suspension keeps occupants reasonably comfortable down bumpy highways and never feels overly harsh.
The interior is perhaps the biggest step forward. Gone are the Cavalier’s curvaceous plastic pieces, traded for an attractive two-tone dash with aluminum-painted inlays and a chrome gearshift accent. Dashboard surfaces are still a bit hard, and the climate control switches seem a bit cheap, but it certainly is a far cry from the mess that once was.
Entry and exit are fairly easy, with a high seating position that allows plenty of visibility. The rear seat can accommodate two people reasonably well, and folds down in two pieces for trunk access.
Whether Chevrolet likes it or not, the Cobalt will continue, like the Cavalier, to be among the lowest common denominators for a compact car. Its wide-eyed stance and clean, compact styling will leave onlookers with no lasting impressions, and neither will its cozy, well-dressed interior. For rental-car drivers, this means that next time, it’s OK to choose another Cobalt.
But for real-world buyers, there are other choices. For the same $15,000 or $20,000, a Kia Spectra or Honda Civic has six standard airbags to the Cobalt’s two, and a Ford Focus or Mazda Mazda3 offers a more engaging driving experience. It’s not that the Cobalt is a bad car — it would have been a home run three or four years ago, and it is still a worthy choice today — but in a value-oriented segment where maximum features per dollar equates to a new winner every year, Chevrolet will just have to make do with an honorable mention.
11-03-2005
