Cheap (Chevrolet Cobalt in General)

Member Name: jamesontheroad

Product:	Chevrolet Cobalt in General
Date:	14/03/08 (35 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap

Disadvantages: Cheap

The Cobalt is Chevrolet's compact automobile, available in sedan and coupé bodystyles. It's also offered with Pontiac specification as the Pontiac G5.

I've spent some time with rental Cobalts. Being more used to European cars, when I first saw the Cobalt side-on I instantly recognised a hint of the profile of the Vauxhall / Opel / Saturn Astra. The cars share a platform and some mechanicals, but the Cobalt is definitely much less sophisticated than the Astra, which will soon be on sale in the US and Canada as a Saturn.

As a compact car, the Cobalt is pretty unsophisticated. I found the engine to be thrasy and the automatic gearbox pretty lethargic. Inside the build quality was average, with horrible cheap plastic and nasty seat fabric everywhere. I was surprised to find a compact that still didn't feature central locking or electric windows, but I can put that down to my rental agency offering me the cheapest model available. The steering was also pretty weird, although I later found out that the car has an electric steering system rather than the usual power steering setup - perhaps I just wasn't used to it.

You can't argue with the price, and the Cobalt is pretty good value, but I didn't enjoy the naff build quality and dead driving experience.

Summary: Cheap (seriously, it's just a cheap car)

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