More to the point, this bottom-drawer Bowtie is delightfully crude, not fast. Think about it: you can drive the XFE to an inch of it’s life (your life?) and still not piss off the neighbors. But that’s all, because redlining the Ecotec nets in more four-banger thrash than its competition, giving the impression of an underhood Anthrax concert controlled by one’s right foot.Īlso credit the idiot-proof fun to the Cobalt’s pothole friendly (mushy) suspension and tires with less grip than an Iraqi dictator: adequate for daily commutes, but easily surpasses their comfort level at 7/10ths. Shifter, there’s plenty of hoonage potential at school-zone friendly speeds. With 155 horses and a reasonably accurate But don’t forget the iPod: eco-friendly tires turn into the howling hounds of hell on coarse roads.īut there’s fun in those fuel-economy tires: even if the 2700lb Cobalt XFE is not a performance car per se. Not to mention the reasonable grunt (a flat 150lb-ft of torque) enabling those low engine speeds (2500 revs at 70mph) in the proud Detroit tradition of turnpike cruising. Which is surprising, even if it isn’t: credit the daddy long-legs gearing and low resistance tires. The most gratifying number arrived on said economy gauge at a steady state cruise at 65mph: 39 miles per gallon. And though the “upshift” idiot light gets old after the first mile of traffic, a useful instant MPG-meter makes the pain go away with every drop in engine vacuum. Items like the missing center armrest, or the bubbling chrome plating on the interior door handles won’t win any friends. Or what you don’t sacrifice at a Hyundai dealership. There’s even a CD/MP3 stereo with a decent set of horns at each corner, and XM radio so they’ll never take a coffee break.Īnd the XFE-tuned Cobalt works, provided you don’t see the perks of spending more for a Honda Civic. The Corvette-worthy tiller and decent gearbox get the job done with Jon Stewart-like modesty. The seat fabric might be crafted from recycled milk cartons, but they put the same stuff on the doors for visual warmth and long distance comfort. Yes, the interior polymers are made of the same brittle rubbish of GM’s stock in trade, but that dashboard doesn’t look like its crafted from a single piece of plastic. That little badge reminds all and sundry just what makes GM’s unloved compact so special.Īnd if there’s a soft spot for a lightly optioned, purely functional mode of vehicular travel in your heart, prepare for the Cobalt LS-cum-XFE to tug at your sensible side.
#CHEVROLET COBALT COUPE FULL#
But, with the XFE in full effect, that’s the point. Sure, the split grille has a swept back demeanor and the C-pillar verges on being an elegant sports coupe, but there’s nothing to love about a (non-SS) Chevy Cobalt.
But the rest of the package is mundane Cobalt.
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