Chevy Cobalt SS turbo
 

I used to own one for ~5 years from late 2010 until mid-2015. I honestly loved the car. I sold it in 2015 because I was having too many issues with it, but I honestly believe all the issues were my own fault due to being broke back then and lagging on doing maintenance consistently.

Now that I'm in a better financial position in life, I'm contemplating buying another one so I can garage my 86. My 86 is going to be my 'forever car,' in the sense that I intend to keep it for the rest of my life. I bought it brand new, and just like my dad did with his 1989 Toyota pickup, which was his first new vehicle, I intend to keep mine forever. I'm already extremely attached to the car!

It used to be the fastest FWD car around the Nurburgring. With a tune alone, the car will push past 300 whp/300 tq. I never tuned mine. All I did was add an intake for the turbo noises lol

I am just curious what you guys think of the Cobalt SS.

I used to love the Cobalt SS! The supercharged version was neat, but I really liked the turbocharged version. I don't think I've seen a Cobalt SS in years....

the swedish shifter was the only part i liked. the rest of it reminded me of everything i hate about what people did with the neon srt4.

Swedish?

I still feel confused, but at least I've learned a new term for handjobs. lol

dirty minds. i don't use urban dictionary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F35_transmission

it's got a very specific mechanical buttery smoothness that compares closely to the 86, yet it uses cables!

Get a neon srt4 instead ;-)

throwback to this forum in 2013 with those fatoni threads / Cobalt SS vs 86 flame wars.

I think they're cool. I tried a Saab 9-5 version of the same thing though didn't come away impressed, the body and interior were awesome but the engine and transmission were shot - poor shifts and took forever to come on boost but when it did it definitely felt like it was hauling ass.

I actually saw a Cobalt SS today while driving back from the gym. I didn't stop so Idk if it's was SC or TC version but still cool to actually see one.

I had a 2007 Cobalt SS Supercharged for 3 years. It had the GM Performance Parts Stage 2 Kit, that I eventually did a custom tune on with a full 3in exhaust setup. I was pushing about 300whp on the SC version. It also had the G85 package (LSD and Recaros), so it was actually able to put the power down pretty well. Loved that little car. The interior wasn't something to write home about it, but it was a Chevy in 2007 -- not too much one could expect.

There have been more than quite a few times I thought about trying to find another clean one, but they are so few of them out there. Never got a chance to drive the TC version of it, but I heard nothing but great things.

Performance wise, it was a total blast. Almost did the twin-charge kit on it or swapped to the larger Harrop TVS, but ended up getting a great deal on a Mustang GT from a neighbor so I jumped on that.

Neat car but for a DD <$10k with a late '00s interior I like the idea of a Civic Si more, but it's another high revving I4 (with an LSD at least) so something different makes sense. For boosted economy cars I'd see if I can swing something more modern, dailying something with a budget interior from >10 years ago is kinda meh.

There's a Fiesta ST near me that's been sideswiped for $5.8k... Mazdaspeed3, FoST, FiST, GTI, all can make too much power in silly ways. If reliability can be sacrificed a 3rd gen Mini is getting down there in price, along with Fiat Abarth, lots of options if you're not picky and want a boost buggy.

Do you actually care about fuel economy? Try something new, go for something with a V8 in it, 5th gen Mustangs are solidly in that price range, Lexus luxo-barge, could gamble reliability with Merc or BMW, lots of options with enough cash and carefree attitude. V6 Camaro or Mustang after they got the power bump to ~300hp might be cheap enough.

Honestly though a 4-banger Camaro seems like it'd be a great DD that would tick the boxes of getting a wave of boost dopamine but I don't think they're much below $15k yet..

I'd take one over a civic or NSRT4 or over quite a few other options. A "blurple" SS that's clean always seems to stand out more than most cars. Unfortunately clean ones are getting harder to find. I've been around quite a few fast ones, and they're very easy to modify and are pretty reliable.


I owned a CSRT4 for a few years and it was honestly one of my favorite DDs. It had something like 350 WHP, super reliable, handled well, and it was actually useful being that it was a caliber. It was also just plain fun to drive. Just throwing that in as another option since others chimed in, lol.

Thanks for the suggestions, but if I'm not going for the Cobalt SS, I'll likely opt for a beater Corolla/Matrix. I just want a cheap fun car to put miles on, and the Cobalt ticks all the boxes of a beater, except with the advantage of power.

Reliability is a must. I don't want to keep driving my 86 to work. I'm putting upwards of 300 miles every 2.5 days on it. The miles are racking up. And because I intend to keep my 86 for life, I'd rather it not end up with 20k+ miles in under a year, which is exactly what will happen if I don't buy a beater soon.

The Cobalt SS I've been eyeing is going for under $7k with under 80k miles on it. I am sure it wouldn't be as reliable as going for a Civic or Corolla, but it'll definitely be more fun while still having decent reliability. It's also a relatively fuel-efficient car. I recall averaging upwards of 27 mpg with my old '09 Cobalt SS turbo on my commute.