The uninspiring, cheap interior:


I do like the faux chrome around the gauges. There is a cool effect with the dashboard illumination being reflected on it at night.

Random shot I last October. The people there took the tree out a few weeks after I took the picture so I never got a better shot.

As it stands now:












If you noticed the huge fender gap I am planning on buying eibachi sportlines for it that drops the car 1.7" in the front a around the same in the back. I am also caught up over a wing that has been offered to me free by someone on the Cobalt.SS forums who owns a tunershop here in So-Cal and wants to trade trunk lids with me, both Rally Yellow his with the Cobalt high-rise wing. I am not too big on spoilers and wings and I think having the SS/Supercharged wing on my car would look very poserish. But shit, a 400 dollar wing for free? I am too caught up in trivia so input is accepted!

I am not planning on going all out on this car. I have a Karmann-Ghia I want to drop my money into once I am out of college with a full time job. But for this thing I wouldn't mind going with an intake, headers, exhaust set up and lowering springs w/ moderately priced rims and then calling it quits on modding it.

*For YOUR viewing pleasure. Oops.

slowbalt ls.

dont even bother putting money into it, i have a "friend" who has the Eibach prokit springs a k&n typhoon intake, TWM short shifter and the GMPP touring exhaust. its gutless.

Yo, get it dusty and muddy, that's look sweet. Especially with those steelies.

I can top that. I am driving a Montecarlo LT. The car is about the same size as an impala and the same interior space as my impreza. That kinda engineerins is just impossible to achieve for anyone else.

GM products FTL

I think such broad statements mean that we get to stone the person who said them. And by stone, I mean kill by bludgeoning with rocks, not give reefer to.

GM has lots of fine products, and the Cobalt is an economy car. Alright, the Monte Carlo sucks, but that's not GM's entire lineup. You can just go suck your boring lexus.

sorry.
general motors north american division makes nothing exciting or appealing, with exception of the corvette \

and the LS400 is light years more exciting(for a "lowered" brick) than a cobalt ls, and acctually faster too.

The car is pretty decent for a plain old domestic sedan, but I honestly don't understand why people buy them and then drop $X,000's into them? Why not just put that money towards a better car to begin with? I'm not trying to be a dick about it, but if one were to buy a $10k car and then put $5k into it...why not just buy a better car for $15k to begin with and not have to gradually add bits on to "improve" it? /rant

Well, we have different aesthetic values but seeing as you are comparing a 19 year old boat to a 2 year old coupe I feel I must point out a few things. You have a 4.0liter V8 that moves your fat car to sixty in 8 seconds. I have a 4 cylinder that does the same with nearly 105 less horses and 152ft lbs of torque. True I top out at 105 electronically limited but without that it can reach somewhere in the mid-low 120s which is not bad for a 4cylinder. Im sure there was plenty less body roll in my car as compared to yours (pre-suspension modifications on your part) and I am sure your the steering in my car is light years more responsive. So until I try otherwise I believe that for driving experience I'd take a cobalt over an LS400.


As for buying a 10k car I've owned several used car and I wanted something new, something where I know I'd be the only one whose had sex in it. So I test drove other cars in in the same price range that were around the same price. The Civic was more than I wanted to pay and I wanted more power but I liked the interior more. I didn't like the look of the hatchback and i would've only taken it in SVT form which would've given me problems with my insurance agent. It had more power than the Focus and the transmission felt like it got power to the wheels better than the two previously mentioned cars. I'd be insane to get a Carolla. I hate carollas and refused to consider it. I decided I could live with the shitty interior and so far I have.

As far as modding, I didn't have much money when I bought it. I only worked part time and went to school. I still only work part time and I still go to school but now I earn slightly more.

GM can't make their own cars.. Anything that sells is either a cheap GM built econo box or an opel....

GM makes 2 good cars, the CTS and the Corvette everything else is from opel and other companies they milk designs and engineering from.

I'm not including trucks into this aspect, GM makes ok trucks...

And BTW cockmah u gotta relax and not needlessly flame benny's ride.. fucking hypocrite...

As for the car, for 10k new its an awesome deal. Here in Canada the base cobalt is miles more expensive and it wouldn't be worth the money...

What? Opel IS GM, dude. That's like saying that GM steals designs from Chevrolet. It's like Coke suing Coke Zero for taste infringement. It's nonsensical. GM is the parent company, and Chevrolet, Hummer, Saturn, Pontiac, Opel, Holden, etc are all subsidiaries.

As for the original poster, I'd keep the wing off it even if it's free. Get some nice wheels on it and some sport springs and shocks meant for shorter springs (don't just put on lowering springs or you may kill your stock shocks in a short time, ruining handling) and otherwise leave it looking stock. If you wanna spend some more money on it, get some nice sport seats in there.

By the way...crank windows FTW Just noticed that. Haven't seen those in a while.

Cobalt SS Turbo? Malibu? Aura? Solstice? Sky? CTS? STS? XLR? G8?

And if I were shopping for a large crossover the Acadia/Traverse/Outlook/Enclave would be difficult to overlook. Hell, in all seriousness, even the Impala isn't really a bad car. Sure it's not Maxima sporty, or Avalon slick, but it's damned good value for money, pretty refined, and not bad looking at all.

Then there's there are the trucks, which hold their own quite well.



First, see above. Second, I don't think it's really fair to say GM milks the designs when it damn well owns the companies. It's a global company, which includes Holden, Opel/Vauxhall, and Saab (Suzuki? Not sure about that one, but they do sell rebadged Daewoos/Chevys and the XL7). Each company shares components and platforms with each other. They design different cars based off the same platforms which they believe are better suited to different markets. To say they're simply rebadged Opels, is just ignorant. The Aura, Malibu, and G6, are night and day from their European counterparts, the Vectra and 9-3. All they share is a basic platform. The Astra, while on the face of things would appear to be a rebadged Opel, actually has different suspension settings, bumpers, etc. A lot of GM cars sell fairly well, I believe the Malibu is quite popular, so just because they don't appeal to you doesn't mean they don't sell well.

Oh, sorry about the off-topic rant Drew. But unless you've got an SS, don't bother doing anything to your car. Just get some inexpensive rims, and call it a day.

Let me ask you one question, who designs Opel, Holden? GM? It doesn't matter who owns who, the fact of the matter is that GM is using Opel's/Holden's design and engineering for their own. Then GM goes on and makes dumb commercials eg. slogan "The brand new Malibu" Brand NEW? fuck the aura and the malibu are pure copies of the Opel Vectra.... One more thing the Saturn Astra, it's not made in the USA it's made in Belgium. Driven both the Saturn and the ORIGINAL opel I can say for myself that they ARE IDENTICAL. Obviously the bumpers and lights ect. needed to be changed to meet US regulations but otherwise their the same car (apart from the engine choice obv, Europe gets a way better selection).

And moe 5 of the 9 cars u've listed are not originally GM, and XLR doesn't count as it's a fancy corvette, you've listed one more car than I have that is truly GM, I'm glad their doing so shitty financially but really feel bad for the amount of layoffs and factory closings that will be happening in the next few years here around Toronto. GM needs to die....

And the Cobalt SS supercharged, not turbo....

That's like asking: "who paints a picture, the artist's hand or the artist?" It's not one or the other because the artist's hand is part of the artist. Opel and Holden are divisions of General Motors, not separate from GM. Saying that an Opel is not originally a GM is asinine.

I think you're using the term "GM" to refer only to GM's North American divisions. That's inaccurate. GM's North American divisions, European divisions, Australian division, and Asian divisions are all parts of the one big entity we call "General Motors."



The Cobalt SS used to be supercharged, but now it's turbocharged, just for the record.

Did GM originate in Europe or Australia? All I'm trying to say is that the "real" GM built cars are all shit beside the ones mentioned above....

And sorry about the SS misunderstanding...

Consider me whelmed. Good show sir.

I dig the government wheels.

the LS400 gets to 60 in 7.8 seconds acctually

but anyways i never said i didnt like your car i just said dont bother putting money into it unless you want to buy the 6000 dollar garret/hahn turbo kit.

While GM started in the US, it's been a global corporation for not just decades, but generations. You don't think Opels are "real GM cars"? Opel has been part of General Motors since 1929. You don't think Holdens are "real GM cars"? Holden has been part of General Motors since 1931. Opel and Holden are no different than Pontiac, Buick, and Cadillac in the General Motors corporate structure. If a car is designed and built by Opel, it's designed and built by GM.

^I agree with the statement that an Opel\Holden is technically a GM, however I think that both companies operated with a great deal of autonomy, which was required to achieve success in their own markets. So I think that it is also fair to say that they are significantly different from US GMs, more like cousins to Buick, Caddy, GMC...etc, than siblings.

The only American car I have ever owned was a re-badged Mitsubishi, so Im not exactly speaking from position of experience here, but the revitalization of GM has transformed it from a company which I would not have even considered going anywhere near, and was quite biased toward, to one which impresses me with every new model they come out with (non truck and non Daewoo of course). I personally think a significant part of that revitalization is down to the realization in Detroit that Opel and Holden made some pretty great cars. (wasnt the Solstice originally conceived as a replacement fro the VX220)

I'm not sure about the autonomy thing. Saab and Opel have been platform-sharing for a while, and some Holdens are sold as Chevys in the Middle East (Caprice) and Buicks in China (Park Avenue). There's a whole lot of platform-sharing going on globally. Seems to me that Cadillac, not Holden or Opel, is the GM company with the most unique platforms. Is the CTS platform used on any non-Caddies?

Even if it's true, I think you're misunderstanding my point. I'm not saying that Opel and Holden are close siblings with Chevy, US Buick and Cadillac. What I'm saying is that "General Motors" encompasses everything from Cadillac to US Buick to Chinese Buick (very different lineup than US Buick) to Opel to Holden to Saturn. Those are all part of General Motors. General Motors is the global parent of various regional subsidiaries. "General Motors" can't "steal designs" from Opel any more than it can steal designs from Pontiac, because they're all part of General Motors.

EDIT: Maybe this should be moved to its own separate thread, "Are Opel and Holden part of GM" or something, so that we don't completely hijack this Cobalt thread. As for the original poster: for all the crap people are giving GM and the Cobalt, I don't see this as any worse of a first car than my first car, a 1999 Civic coupe with steelies. It doesn't take my breath away, but it's an inoffensive MT coupe, and that ain't a bad thing at all.

Weinerch, I think that applies to you right about now.

Ill fully respond some other time, I busy right now being dumb, looking over my 97% calculus exam....

/*deleted what I said, I wasn't thinking heavenly lets just say...*/

I don't know about filling in the blanks, but I translated that for you.

Like I'd care...

Dammit, I wish I'd seen what he erased (which I presume was a long angry rant).



Is that supposed to impress us?

All I can remember is he told Moe to get hit @ 100 MPH.

Don't they use km/h in Dubai?

^ Yeah they do. So I guess he means he wants me to get hit at about 160km/h.

With his mind-blowing 97% calculus exam score, he'd probably say "160.9344 km/h."

I actually didn't say that I wanted moe to get hit....

Pretty clear that weinerich didn't have the maturity to play nice...doubt anyone will miss him.

ANYWAY, UserDrew, GM makes good cars. I can't speak to the LS but the SS Supercharged I drove displayed an astonishingly good chassis. Certainly at least some of that has filtered down to the base models. And I know from an HHR that my friend rented once that the 2.2 has guts that betray its lower power ratings.

You mean, in favor of the HHR? It's hideous, and we know the SS model is actually pretty OK, but are the low-end models actually any good?

Out of all the giant domestic companies (Ford, GM, Chrysler Group), GM is the only one that still totally holds my support. I really have liked what Cadillac's doing lately and the Corvette will never disappoint (they've had bad years here and there, but hey, who hasn't?). The Saturn Sky and the Pontiac Solstice are both quite appealing as well.

It's worth noting that clarkma5 also has affinities for the Mazda5 and Forester over the Mazda3 and Impreza. IMO, he's got the small wagon/MPV bug. Bad.

It's true I prefer the 5 over the 3, but that admittedly has a lot to do with two things: 1) the utterly unique niche that the 5 fills in the US, while the 3 is one of many compacts and 2) the lower expectations coming into driving the 5 compared to the 3, whereas they drive very similarly. The result is a higher regard for the 5. Plus I think it looks better.

As for the Forester/Impreza, that's my brother who actually said that, I think I just tossed it into a conversation once. I like them both but I think I prefer the Impreza to the Forester.

As for the HHR, I was bringing it up because it was my only experience I could recall with the 2.2 liter Ecotec, and it was a positive one. I will admit I think the HHR is one of Chevy's better vehicles in its own right, but it's not quite my style. Too PT Cruiser-ish, albeit executed much better.

Always thought m_weinerich was a dick, surprised he lasted so long....

I would definitely go for the free wing. If you don't like it, you can either sell it and make a few hundred bucks, or leave it on there and use it as a selling point.

I love the SS supercharged wing...reminds me of the adjustable dealies on Porsches. One of the nicer wings IMHO, much better than the one on the SS Turbo.

Well, it's not entirely free. My understanding was that he has to trade his clean bootlid, for a bewinged one.

GM's cars aren't bad, they make fairly decent cars for the price oriented person who is interested not in the appeal, brand image or performance of the car but rather what the car has and how the car appeals in their own eyes. I can tell you that if I was on a very limited income I really wouldn't see a big problem in buying a GM product when you consider some of the appealing warranty and discount offers currently being given away.

I have a thing for Subaru, and can't rave enough about how much car you "used" to get for the money. Problem is that they consume way too much gas, and with the fuel being so expensive, a cheap car suddenly becomes a huge expense. I dislike the fact that Subaru moved away from some of their key elements that have sld some of my relatives on the Impreza. My in law just bought an 07 Subaru Impreza 2.5i SE for $22,000CDN and it came with almost everything. Sme model for 08 and you lose lots.

I agree that GM still has a big brand image problem, even with Cadillac. As for appeal and performance, I would have agreed with you a few years ago. Nowadays, though, I think the rule of thumb is no longer valid, given the Astra, Malibu, Vue, Outlook/Acadia/Enclave, and especially the CTS. Those are all very, very solid entries into their respective markets.

Let me compare with a company I've had great success with in the past, Honda. I suspect a Civic would make me happy as an owner, but the new Civic has ZERO gut-reaction appeal for me, whereas the Astra does. If I was shopping for a midsize, the new Accord has a lot to offer (from refinement to decent handling to a manual transmission), but it makes me cringe whereas the Malibu makes me stop and look twice. Same with the Outlook versus the Pilot, and especially with the CTS versus the TL.

Right now, with many market segments, my brain would say Honda but my heart would say GM. I never, ever would have said that about GM a few years ago.

When I see a new malibu, I .

^I think the front of the new Malibu is very good looking...better than the Camry or Accord, but the back isn't as successful...

I don't think the back looks so great either. But the great thing about the Malibu over the Accord is that the Malibu's design is coherent. It looks like it was designed by one person. The new Accord sedan is a classic example of design-by-committee IMO. It's got every hot trend in styling right now, but they're all executed poorly, and they all seem to clash with each other (the new Focus and the new TSX are two other examples of this trend).

i think the new altima coupe is pretty sexy.

Exterior styling-wise, the Altima is heads and shoulders above either the Accord or Camry IMO. And that goes for both the Altima coupe and sedan.

I think the Malibu's the prettiest car in the segment and the Altima Coupe is a pile of dog-shit.

Just throwing that in there for some variety of opinions...

The Altima Coupe is a poorly priced vehicle that is trying to compete with itself (G35). A fully loaded 3.5SE Altima Coupe with HID's, VDC, leather interior and all will cost you $40,000CDN after taxes. For that money you can buy a comparable luxury sports coupe like the G35, used for less. I won't bother talking about the 2.5S because those are no fun to drive.

Canada has funny pricing. Here in the States, an Altima coupe 3.5SE starts at $26,000, and is $31,800 fully loaded with a 6MT. The G37 starts at $35,700, and a loaded G37 Sport 6MT (not including 4-wheel-steer) is $43,500. The Altima coupe is waaay cheaper than a G37.

It's the ridiculous markups we pay on cars that screw up the pricing. I'm debating going to New Hampshire to buy my next car so I can get a good deal and pay no tax. It's only a 4 hour drive from Montreal.