The Chevrolet Cobalt returns to the traditional Chevy car style in many ways, aside from the Corvette-like round tail-lamps. It takes the standard small car and adds a certain touch of class and comfort, and sells at a small premium if you ignore the rebates.

The interior has a quality look absent from many competitors, and the ride is smoother without giving up much in cornering. Overall, we liked the ride/handling balance and the engine’s willingness to move at speed, and regretted a bit of low-end hesitation and some quirks.

The standard engine is peppy at high rpms, with a smooth but clear “power program” transition. At times, we wished for better off-the-line acceleration, but the standard 145 hp four (with 150 lb/ft of torque - something you won’t see on a four-cylinder Honda) moved the Cobalt automatic faster than most of its stick-shift equipped competitors, including the Civic EX and Corolla (around 8.5 sec).

That’s especially good when you consider the hefty weight of the Cobalt - 2,824 pounds - partly to assure high crash-test ratings. A weight-sensing passenger airbag and available side airbags help to increase safety as well.

Chevrolet Cobalt LS

Tags: USA cars, Chevrolet, Chevrolet Cobalt LS, review, cars engines

This entry was posted on Friday, January 4th, 2008 at 12:36 pm and is filed under Chevrolet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.