2005 Cobalt
Thread Starter
Registered!!
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 11,505
Likes: 0
From: Vernon BC Canada
Rep Power: 415 
2005 Cobalt Howdy all,
Just thought I'd write a mini review on the 2005 Cobalt... A car, or car brand for that matter, that I never thought would end up in my driveway.
Now, don't panic. The civic is still in the driveway too -- me and my wife decided to retire our '92 Blazer after the fuel pump died on it.
So, for starters, I want you all to know that me saying positive things about a chevy wasn't entirely likely about a week ago. I, like most of you, have brand loyalty to think about and I would've done everything in my power to get my wife into a Honda if the numbers added up to it. This time around, however, they didn't.
Price... Yes the price is retarded. Why buy a $23,000 (CAD) chevy when you could buy a $21,000 Honda? That answer is very simple... GM is blowing so many incentives out the door that the price ends up being significantly less. First, employee pricing. Bring that $23,000 down to about $19,900 (guestimate). Also GM Canada is doing a gas card in which we get $0.20 off per litre of fuel we buy with that card... so thats an extra $500 off. Lease / Finance rates are so ridiculously low on GM lots we're saving at least a few thousand there... and it all adds up to a low payment on a fully-loaded Cobalt where we could get into a base civic for about $25 more per month. My parents also gave us $1200 in GM points they'd collected and weren't going to use... so as you can see, this is adding up to a CHEAP car once all the incentives are in place.
Resale Value... Yes, I know, once we drove it off the lot its worth less than 1/2 -- that's okay... we have the Civic for resale value, this will do in a pinch.
Gas Mileage -- this is where you can tell there is something different between the cavalier and the Cobalt. The numbers aren't quite up to that of the Civic, but they are getting better than what GM had on their lots 2 years ago. We have yet to see if this car will actually get what its rated... Coming from a 1992 blazer, anything is better.
Features -- This car has some nifty things like exterior temperature readouts and the like. Mostly just to make owning the car more simple. While I don't really need something like this... my wife will benefit from seeing that her oil has 50% of its life left.
Exterior -- we bought an LS Coupe... I don't care for the sedan body styling, but the coupe is alright. Here is another quality point between the Cavalier and the Cobalt -- You will notice all of the body panels actually have even amounts of space between them all throughout the car. You can't say that about any later model cavalier or sunfire... Plus the car has been stabilized and handles much smoother, preventing a lot of body roll which will prevent these things from going haywire after a few years.
Cargo Space -- The trunk is huge. Bigger than what's in my civic. One problem is the trunk mouth, its very small. Large boxes will simply not go in. Actually really anything wider than 1 square foot won't likely go in. That's fairly shabby but still OK for nothing more than a grocery getter.
Interior -- Thank you GM for finally abandoning your old interior styling and coming into the 21st century. The interior of this car is very appealing and comfortable. Controls are reasonably placed as opposed to their old "put them wherever they fit" method that GM used to use. The front is roomy, and this is the FIRST car I've ever driven where I don't have to have the seat all the way back in order to fit all 6' of me in there. I found I had some trouble seeing the gagues in the sedan but the coupe is better for that. Headroom in the rear is poor but the front is good (for coupe)... for sedan its okay all the way around.
Interior Sound -- Wow these cars let you hear a LOT less road/engine noise than my Civic. This is something much appreciated but alas, it does add up to extra body weight.
Stereo -- The stock stereo is decent in this car... Haven't had much of a chance to mess around with it but it has sufficient controls to get a really fine-tuned sound if desired... also more simple settings allow you to switch between classical, rock, jazz, talk etc sound themes.
Interior Storage -- Not many compartments. Small glove box. Boo.
Power -- we're still in the engine break-in period. I'll possibly write an update on this later.
More on Features -- this car is loaded with them. Everything from steering wheel stereo controls to the previously mentioned things like temperature readings. Air conditioning works great. The only huge downer of the features is there is so many different packages to choose from. It gets really confusing and I thought our car didn't have cruise control when we bought it -- but turns out it did.
Overall Opinion -- This cobalt is not something I would buy if I had a bit of a higher budget... but after incentives it turns out to be a great car for the price. It is stylish and sporty, comfortable to be in, and so far seems to be a significant improvement over its predecessor in terms of build quality and attention to detail. If I were to pay full price for the car, I doubt I would have gone ahead with it as there are significantly greater options -- However as I said before with the incentives it comes down to even cheaper than a Nissan Sentra yet has a full entourage of equipment. My wife loved the car as soon as she saw it -- and really it's the only economy car I could get her in to so she can save me gas money
After all is said and done though, I have to say I'm happy with it.
If this information helps anyone... woohoo. If not... woohoo. Peace out all -- and I'm still alive for anyone who misses me (laff)!
Just thought I'd write a mini review on the 2005 Cobalt... A car, or car brand for that matter, that I never thought would end up in my driveway.
Now, don't panic. The civic is still in the driveway too -- me and my wife decided to retire our '92 Blazer after the fuel pump died on it.
So, for starters, I want you all to know that me saying positive things about a chevy wasn't entirely likely about a week ago. I, like most of you, have brand loyalty to think about and I would've done everything in my power to get my wife into a Honda if the numbers added up to it. This time around, however, they didn't.
Price... Yes the price is retarded. Why buy a $23,000 (CAD) chevy when you could buy a $21,000 Honda? That answer is very simple... GM is blowing so many incentives out the door that the price ends up being significantly less. First, employee pricing. Bring that $23,000 down to about $19,900 (guestimate). Also GM Canada is doing a gas card in which we get $0.20 off per litre of fuel we buy with that card... so thats an extra $500 off. Lease / Finance rates are so ridiculously low on GM lots we're saving at least a few thousand there... and it all adds up to a low payment on a fully-loaded Cobalt where we could get into a base civic for about $25 more per month. My parents also gave us $1200 in GM points they'd collected and weren't going to use... so as you can see, this is adding up to a CHEAP car once all the incentives are in place.
Resale Value... Yes, I know, once we drove it off the lot its worth less than 1/2 -- that's okay... we have the Civic for resale value, this will do in a pinch.
Gas Mileage -- this is where you can tell there is something different between the cavalier and the Cobalt. The numbers aren't quite up to that of the Civic, but they are getting better than what GM had on their lots 2 years ago. We have yet to see if this car will actually get what its rated... Coming from a 1992 blazer, anything is better.
Features -- This car has some nifty things like exterior temperature readouts and the like. Mostly just to make owning the car more simple. While I don't really need something like this... my wife will benefit from seeing that her oil has 50% of its life left.
Exterior -- we bought an LS Coupe... I don't care for the sedan body styling, but the coupe is alright. Here is another quality point between the Cavalier and the Cobalt -- You will notice all of the body panels actually have even amounts of space between them all throughout the car. You can't say that about any later model cavalier or sunfire... Plus the car has been stabilized and handles much smoother, preventing a lot of body roll which will prevent these things from going haywire after a few years.
Cargo Space -- The trunk is huge. Bigger than what's in my civic. One problem is the trunk mouth, its very small. Large boxes will simply not go in. Actually really anything wider than 1 square foot won't likely go in. That's fairly shabby but still OK for nothing more than a grocery getter.
Interior -- Thank you GM for finally abandoning your old interior styling and coming into the 21st century. The interior of this car is very appealing and comfortable. Controls are reasonably placed as opposed to their old "put them wherever they fit" method that GM used to use. The front is roomy, and this is the FIRST car I've ever driven where I don't have to have the seat all the way back in order to fit all 6' of me in there. I found I had some trouble seeing the gagues in the sedan but the coupe is better for that. Headroom in the rear is poor but the front is good (for coupe)... for sedan its okay all the way around.
Interior Sound -- Wow these cars let you hear a LOT less road/engine noise than my Civic. This is something much appreciated but alas, it does add up to extra body weight.
Stereo -- The stock stereo is decent in this car... Haven't had much of a chance to mess around with it but it has sufficient controls to get a really fine-tuned sound if desired... also more simple settings allow you to switch between classical, rock, jazz, talk etc sound themes.
Interior Storage -- Not many compartments. Small glove box. Boo.
Power -- we're still in the engine break-in period. I'll possibly write an update on this later.
More on Features -- this car is loaded with them. Everything from steering wheel stereo controls to the previously mentioned things like temperature readings. Air conditioning works great. The only huge downer of the features is there is so many different packages to choose from. It gets really confusing and I thought our car didn't have cruise control when we bought it -- but turns out it did.
Overall Opinion -- This cobalt is not something I would buy if I had a bit of a higher budget... but after incentives it turns out to be a great car for the price. It is stylish and sporty, comfortable to be in, and so far seems to be a significant improvement over its predecessor in terms of build quality and attention to detail. If I were to pay full price for the car, I doubt I would have gone ahead with it as there are significantly greater options -- However as I said before with the incentives it comes down to even cheaper than a Nissan Sentra yet has a full entourage of equipment. My wife loved the car as soon as she saw it -- and really it's the only economy car I could get her in to so she can save me gas money
After all is said and done though, I have to say I'm happy with it.If this information helps anyone... woohoo. If not... woohoo. Peace out all -- and I'm still alive for anyone who misses me (laff)!
Last edited by brill; Jul 20, 2005 at 09:24 PM.
Drunken Master-7thgen Ninja
iTrader: (21)
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,976
Likes: 0
From: georgia
Rep Power: 336 
my friend just bought one a month and a half ago and he likes it. all the incentives got him too. the motor is the decent 2.2 liter thats in all the other small gm cars like the sunfire. your gonna get around 30 mpg if its auto and more if its a stick, if they make those with sticks. but great point on the bad resale value. don't worry about that, just get a decent mechanic and ride the warranty as much as you can. if your ever in Ga ill run your cobalt. itll be fun lol. good buy. good luck with it. your the first person with a cobalt i know of that don't hate on hondas.
Registered!!
iTrader: (11)
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 4,576
Likes: 0
From: Lakewood, 562
Rep Power: 320 grats on the new car. Still kinda makes me worried that the largest auto manufacturer in the world is selling cars at cost. Makes you think about the longevity of the manufacturer. Side effect is that consumers benefit.
How well is the handling compared to the civic?
How well is the handling compared to the civic?
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 9,308
Likes: 0
From: Long Island, New York, US
Rep Power: 396 Congrats on the purchase. My wife and I actually considered the Cobalt when we were trying to break the lease on her 02 civic Ex coupe. She needs a sedan and we liked the look and the interior of the cobalt, and all the good things I Have been hearing about the cobalt were nice too
Scott
Scott
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 26,704
Likes: 0
From: Poco, B.C. Canada
Rep Power: 563
Originally Posted by soonercivic
Congrats, nice car.
They have them sitting on the lots around here.
They have them sitting on the lots around here.
same here...not hard to get at all.
Registered!!
iTrader: (1)
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,468
Likes: 0
From: centeral jersey
Rep Power: 276
Originally Posted by WhiteCastle
congrats.. The new colbalt SS is a beast, Its hard to find them right now
Premium Member
Hey! Look At Me!! I'm a Supporting Member!!
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 2,856
Likes: 0
From: Clovis, California, US
Rep Power: 319 The Cobalt is a nice little car.
BTW there are two SS versions (stupid if you ask me). There’s the 2.4L and there is the 2.0L S/C.
BTW there are two SS versions (stupid if you ask me). There’s the 2.4L and there is the 2.0L S/C.
Nothing works better than a Chris except a Honda.
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 5,346
Likes: 0
From: Baltimore, MD
Rep Power: 346 I've heard so many great things about Cobalts... I wonder how the praises will be in several years. Its about time that GM brought their small cars into the 21st century.
Thread Starter
Registered!!
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 11,505
Likes: 0
From: Vernon BC Canada
Rep Power: 415
Originally Posted by TemjinX2
grats on the new car. Still kinda makes me worried that the largest auto manufacturer in the world is selling cars at cost. Makes you think about the longevity of the manufacturer. Side effect is that consumers benefit.
How well is the handling compared to the civic?
How well is the handling compared to the civic?
The handling is great from what I can tell. It is really difficult to do a real comparison though as I still have my old winter tires on my car this summer so my civic handles like a wet rag. As I mentioned in my post, though, body roll is minimized and it seems like a very stable car.
Thread Starter
Registered!!
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 11,505
Likes: 0
From: Vernon BC Canada
Rep Power: 415
Originally Posted by CivicsRdBest
I've heard so many great things about Cobalts... I wonder how the praises will be in several years. Its about time that GM brought their small cars into the 21st century.
Glad you like the car, this and the G6 are two cars that actually made me pay attention to GM. I'm seriously considering getting off the Honda bandwagon when it comes time to purcahse my next vehicle. I test drove a cobalt and I have to say I thought it was a very nice car. Do you think the cobalt is a better car than the civic? If not, what about the cobalt is not as nice as the civic?
I wish I could get one too. Nice buy 
Registered!!
iTrader: (1)
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,468
Likes: 0
From: centeral jersey
Rep Power: 276 hmm the new G6 is going to have a option of a six speed and 240hp in coupe form. I read this on Gm insider.com. Looks nice, maybe a cheap alt for guys that want more power.
Thread
Thread Starter
Honda Civic Forum
Replies
Last Post
brash99
Mechanical Problems/Vehicle Issues and Fix-it Forum
4
Sep 29, 2015 08:42 AM
AffliictiioN
General Automotive Discussion
12
Sep 16, 2015 02:21 PM
