Im thinking about purchasing a chevy cobalt.

[antyler]

Im looking to buy a used Chevy Cobalt, there is one on a local lot for 10 grand. Its a 2005 with about 60,000 miles.

Anyone have any problems with a cobalt? are they junk? are they decent chevy vehicles?

any advice would be great.

edit: I have also taken into consideration getting a small pickup. The Isuzu i-290. I currently have an 89 Isuzu sitting in my driveway with a blown engine, but the vehicle took 230,000 miles to get there. Im thinking about replacing it with a new one.

Wont be good on gas like a civic, focus, or cobalt, but a small pickup would be great.
any thoughts on this move?

thanks

tyler

 

[BrianH1]

Have you looked around at other vehicles at $10k? you could get a nicer vehicle in this market for $10k...

 

[antyler]

Originally posted by: BrianH1
Have you looked around at other vehicles at $10k? you could get a nicer vehicle in this market for $10k...

I have looked around a little bit. But this seems to have everything that I would want, which isnt a whole lot seeing as how im restricted by budget.

Also they seem to be very gas efficient. 30 + freeway.

Im not in a big hurry to buy, just trying to get a car before my current lemon takes a dive.

 

[spaceman]

10k will fetch you a better car if you are in no hurry and dont mind running around.

 

[vi edit]

I'd look for a Malibu or G6 with the 3.5L V6 in them instead for a similar price. My wife pulls 30MPG @ 65 with her Malibu. It'll do about 32-33 @ 55MPH.

They are much nicer cars than the cobalt and are similar priced and offer very close highway fuel economy.

 

[desy]

A Focus is a better car than a cobalt, both have a big depreciation hit when buying used so either isn't a bad deal a couple yrs old

 

[CrackRabbit]

Originally posted by: desy
A Focus is a better car than a cobalt, both have a big depreciation hit when buying used so either isn't a bad deal a couple yrs old

Another Focus vote, the 05 and higher models are great and have 95% of the bugs ironed out of them and should be well under 10k

 

[herm0016]

the cobalt is a decent vehicle. but i agree, the malibu is probably better. my boss really loves his cobalt, has not had any problems with it.

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: herm0016
the cobalt is a decent vehicle. but i agree, the malibu is probably better. my boss really loves his cobalt, has not had any problems with it.

Well, generally the Malibu would be better than a Cobalt but they are in a different class.

We bought a new 07 Cobalt Coupe a few months ago. Heavily discounted from $17,500 to $12,500 with GM discounts and supplier discounts. It has been a good car so far. Mileage for me is around 31.5 mpg with combo driving (40% city / 60% highway) and around 27 or so for the wife (100% city driving).

$10,000 for an 05 with 60,000 sounds steep to me...but that's just my opinion.

 

[antyler]

Originally posted by: Engineer

Originally posted by: herm0016
the cobalt is a decent vehicle. but i agree, the malibu is probably better. my boss really loves his cobalt, has not had any problems with it.

Well, generally the Malibu would be better than a Cobalt but they are in a different class.

We bought a new 07 Cobalt Coupe a few months ago. Heavily discounted from $17,500 to $12,500 with GM discounts and supplier discounts. It has been a good car so far. Mileage for me is around 31.5 mpg with combo driving (40% city / 60% highway) and around 27 or so for the wife (100% city driving).

$10,000 for an 05 with 60,000 sounds steep to me...but that's just my opinion.

good to know about your cobalt coupe, thats a little bit more what im interested in. And i have no doubt that 10 grand is steep for this car.

as for those recommending the malibu and the focus, I would probably go with the focus a little bit more, simply because my wife already has a taurus sedan, and I just find it redudant to have two four door family type cars.

Im thinking something a little bit smaller, maybe a little zippy, like a cobalt or a focus, but the malibu is definately not out of the picture.

 

[BrianH1]

I would check into the pontiac G6. A friend of mine recently got one brand new, off the lot for $12k. Don't be afraid to walk out a few times of the dealership. They NEED business right now. Especially GM.

 

[antyler]

Originally posted by: BrianH1
I would check into the pontiac G6. A friend of mine recently got one brand new, off the lot for $12k. Don't be afraid to walk out a few times of the dealership. They NEED business right now. Especially GM.

thanks for bringing that to my attention, i was very interested in this car in the past, and wouldnt mind owning one.

 

[Vette73]

Cobalts are good basic cars. But 10K for a 2005 with 60k miles, that is way to high.


Check out craigslist, autotrader, and even eBay. You can do better price for a Cobalt or for 10k look at the G6 or other cars. Also if you still want a small car like the cobalt, look at its sister cars the Pontiac G5 and the Saturn. Same car but might find one with a good price as well.

 

[Zenmervolt]

I had one as a rental car, and that may be coloring it, but you couldn't pay me to own one. I've driven cars with under 100 horsepower and cars that are slower than the Cobalt by the numbers, but the Cobalt felt slower than any car I've ever driven. Getting up any kind of speed for merging required really mashing the throttle and overall it just didn't drive very well at all.

For $10,000 there are much better cars out there. Like the Ford Focus that others have suggested. The Focus is significantly more fun to drive. Hell, even the previous generation Hyundai Elantra is, IMO, a better car than the Cobalt.

ZV

 

[evident]

i had one for a rental and it sucked.

 

[antyler]

I found a focus thru a rental agency for sale for 10000 and it only had 40000 miles, so i know there are better deals out there. Are the ford focus' pretty fast little cars? I know you cant expect too much, but how is the acceleration?

 

[BassBomb]

bad car is bad

 

[desy]

The Focus had more than one engine choice, the newer ones with the larger engine are peppier and I still think they had a more performance engined offered in the latter yrs too.

 

[herm0016]

the cobalts you guys rented probably had the smallest engine and maybe even more restrictive air induction system. this is common to make the rental cars cheaper and slower.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: herm0016
the cobalts you guys rented probably had the smallest engine and maybe even more restrictive air induction system. this is common to make the rental cars cheaper and slower.

With the exception of a very small portion of very specialized rental cars (like the special Hertz models of the Mustang GT and the Corvette, and even in these modification are generally limited to suspension and paint) there are generally no changes made to the vehicles from their normal production forms, the one exception being the common removal or deactivation of the traction control defeat button if such a button is there.

Rental cars certainly do not have "more restrictive air induction systems" when compared to normal production versions. Whoever gave you that information was mistaken.

As far as the model goes, it was an LT Sedan. That has the standard 2.2 litre 4 that is standard in almost all models. The "Sport" and "SS" models have different engines, but the bulk of Cobalts will have the 2.2. Of note, this engine has more HP (148) and more torque (152 ft-lbs) than the engine in my first car (1988 Accord LX-i, 122hp/110 ft-lbs) and significantly more than the engine in my 914 (95hp/98 ft-lbs) yet was significantly less responsive than either.

I've driven plenty of cars with comparable power to the Cobalt. None of them felt as absolutely gutless as the Cobalt did. The engine had no midrange power whatsoever. The tip-in was decent, but then there was no power for the next 50% or so of the accelerator travel. To get any meaningful acceleration required going past about 75% throttle. Completely unacceptable. The mirrors and overall visibility were quite poor as well due to the excessively high beltline and small rear window.

Fit and finish were good, and all that, but the handling, overall visibility and comfort, and the engine's tuning left very much to be desired.

ZV

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: evident
i had one for a rental and it sucked.

I have to agree.

In fact of the last 5 rental cars I've had, this one comes in dead last. It actually made me angry to drive.

The steering was vague, the motor was rough with no punch. I could not under any circumstances find a comfortable seating position. I could go on and on.

Two things I did like:

Tire pressure monitor, I was not expecting this.

The radio - was actually decent straight from the factory with good connectivity options.

 

[antyler]

well its sounding like the cobalt is gutless, but a decent car. Not bad all around I would imagine. Im thinking that if i want something with a little more zip to it, probably go with a Pontical G5 i believe is the model.

 

[desy]

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.c...ntiac-g5-coupe-review/
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/ford-focus-review/

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: desy
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.c...ntiac-g5-coupe-review/
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/ford-focus-review/

Why not just throw in Consumer Reports as an authoritative automotive review source as well?

Sorry, but that site is atrocious and clearly not manned by automotive types. In fact, it's a subsidiary of photo.net. Now, I don't go to Road & Track for information about cameras. I don't know why on earth anyone would go to a photography group for automotive reviews.

ZV

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Rental cars certainly do not have "more restrictive air induction systems" when compared to normal production versions. Whoever gave you that information was mistaken.

well what else do you call an air filter that hasn't been changed in 20,000 miles of dusty driving!






i agree that the engine leaves a lot to be desired. the rental i had was amazingly unresponsive.