We found the Cobalt quite pleasant to drive, and almost eerily quiet for a car that costs well under $20,000. Chevrolet has put what feels like hundreds of dollars worth of special door seals, sandwich steel panels, thick carpets and pads, noise blockers and noise absorbers throughout the front, middle and rear of the car, and normal front-seat conversation is possible at speeds over 90 mph.
The Cobalt LT is not the address of driving excitement, however. It's not made for that, but rather for delivering four people comfortably, five only in a pinch, on a minimal outlay for fuel and monthly payments, a transportation appliance in the longtime Chevrolet mold of the Corvair, the Vega, the Chevette, the Monza, and most recently the Cavalier.
If you want to tangle with the Japanese front-drive performance competition on the street, then you'll have to step up to the $22,000 supercharged model, which we view as a very potent competitor with a high-performance parts program already in place.
We thought the Cobalt steering wheel was a trifle small, like the one on the original Ion, but it was connected to one of GM's electric power steering units that has been tailored for good but not sports-car response, with assist tailored for easy parking, and a nice, solid feel that doesn't include a lot of road shock.
We drove an LT with ABS and four-wheel disc brakes and found them to be powerful, and progressive, with a good ratio between pedal travel and braking action.
The 2.2-liter engine, which is rated at 145 horsepower, was a bit of a disappointment. (Note that rating is at 5400 rpm and the torque peak is even higher, at 5600 rpm.) It was smooth, but never felt truly powerful until it was revving very high.
The automatic, a straightforward four-speed instead of the more modern and desirable five-speed automatic, worked perfectly.
Estimated fuel economy is expected to be 24/32 mpg City/Highway for the 2.2-liter automatic, 25/34 with the manual, and 23/29 for the SS model with the supercharged 2.0-liter manual.
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