2008 Cobalt Sport Coupe

2008 Chevrolet Cobalt Coupe

On a recent Southern California adventure I had the opportunity to put a 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt LT Coupe through its paces on two week car rental. The car had 00014 miles on the clock, making me the first to drive it. This was the second time I had drawn a Cobalt at the rental agency in as many years.

I'm used to driving full sized four door sedan with full power options so you can imagine I am less than enthused driving a four-cylinder two door sports coupe piece of basic transportation. The Cobalt Sport Coupe is an upgrade over the entry-level model, which goes by the moniker LS. This little car is one that would seem appropriate for a younger operator to drive.

The Cobalt Sport has a cute tudor (two door) body style with a fast back and trunk with a rear spoiler wing. The build quality seems to be better than the Cobalt I drove last year and seems solider and more attention to the small details. I didn’t detect any noise or rattles during almost 1,000 miles of driving.

The standard engine is a transversely mounted 2.4 liter DOHC 16-valve four cylinder that pulls 173 horsepower. That’s up 5 ponies from last year. The engine runs smoothly and quietly and while not to be accused of excessive acceleration, it does allow you to get out of your own way, which was a complaint with the 2007 standard engine. Acceleration is enough to allow you to safely merge into freeway traffic with a little extra margin so that is a plus.

There are optional larger engines and trim levels, with attendant price increases, but my opinion is you would be better off staying at the lower end of price with this model as building up the price will mean a bigger loss at the end. For my dollars I would rather buy a larger, more stable and durable model car if I wanted to add performance or luxury. The Cobalt is an entry level choice and in keeping with that class has only the minimum in build and materials to get it past the warranty period, at least that is what the company is betting. After three or four years you will be shopping for a new car and the value of any options you’ve added will have evaporated and you will have a fully depreciated piece of basic transportation, assuming it still drives.

The transaxle on my 2008 Cobalt Sport was an automatic four speed with the floor-mounted selector. This is actually an upgrade from the box stock five speed manual transmission that comes with the base model. On the automatic, the detents for the various gears were not positive and you didn’t get a good feeling of what gear you were selecting unless you looked down and visually verified the position. That is the same complaint as last year’s model and an electronic PRNDL display at eye level in the instrument cluster would not seem to be too expensive for them to add for safety’s sake.

Handling is OK under average conditions, but the turning circle is extremely large for a compact model. You would think GM would learn after so many years of building front drive subcompact cars. The 17 inch black wall tires (P205/50R17) are mounted on nice looking polished alloy wheels. The 4 wheel power disc brakes seem merely adequate to safely stop the little machine but fade rapidly on a panic stop. Watch your speed. These two handling features are a definite negative.

The interior, while improved in appearance from last year’s Cobalt - is by no means luxurious or even plush. It is plastic and cloth, with bucket seats in the front and a bench in the back. The driving position in this two door is decent with good visibility all around and no big blind spots. A tall guy (more than 6’) might have trouble with the headroom. The front seats are adjustable forward and backward only. The back seats in this two door Coupe are in name only. Don’t expect anybody larger than the family dog to get in there.

The dual power side view mirrors have a good range of adjustment, unlike the manually operated mirrors on last year’s Cobalt which had a limited tilt range. The windows are power also. There is a rear defogger as part of the standard Air Conditioning.

The Cobalt comes standard with manual air conditioning and an AM/FM CD radio. I liked the air conditioning using it mostly for keeping the windows defogged. The radio had an XM Radio upgrade where it was easy to tune in crystal clear stations in both AM and FM. There was a CD built in but I didn’t use it. This Cobalt Sport Coupe also had a two way moon roof, which I enjoyed. On a basic transportation car like the Cobalt it is a mistake to pile on options because the money will not come back in resale and the actual life of the car is probably not much longer than the warranty.

However, GM is happy to load on options as far as your pocketbook is willing to go. The base price for this model is $21,500, according to Edmunds, and that is due to the longer list of standard equipment and power features. You are not getting larger engines, SS trim, or any of that other stuff. The one I drove was probably $21,500 plus tax. That is just too high for what you are getting. I still think the Japanese imports are a better buy than the Cobalt, in terms of perceived quality and durability. I would look at the similar sized Toyota or Honda if I were buying. As always, your mileage may vary.

My overall impression of the Cobalt Sport Coupe is it is a notch better than the previous Cobalt with more power options standard and better attention to build detail. We should not forget that it is basic commuter transportation and not adaptable to much else – I mean I hope you are not planning on cross country trips with one. Also, the steering and braking are only marginal on this model. Be careful.