Stab the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt’s throttle, and you’ll hear an exhaust note reminiscent of a coffee-canned Civic. Its muted blare is pleasant and sporty, but rising engine revs overpower it with an unrefined droning that doesn’t inspire spirited driving. Even with an automatic transmission, the Cobalt is lively enough around town, but it hates climbing hills despite the fact that the transmission does a good job of holding a steady gear. Stab the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt’s brakes, and it’s clear that GM has saddled its new econo-car with front disc, rear drum brakes. Four-wheel-disc brakes, which cost more but also deliver better brake pedal feel and stopping performance, are only offered on the Cobalt SS Supercharged. Other Cobalts make due with cheaper and less effective drums, which create the nasty side effect of a grabby brake pedal that offers little feel and is difficult to modulate. When using the mediocre brakes of our test Cobalt while its body was unsettled, such as when threading S-turns or traveling around a rotary, the pedal felt grainy and the brakes resisted application. Handling is better, as long as you don’t take hairpin turns at much more than the posted speed. Our Cobalt LS’s Continental Touring Contact AS all-season tires folded over and begged for mercy, generating plenty of understeer, or push, in tight corners. At least they didn’t howl their discontent…much. The Cobalt’s electric steering is an incremental improvement over previous GM efforts, with decent heft and response. But road feel is still totally MIA. Gratefully, the Cobalt’s middling capabilities are comfortably neutral, helped by predictable weight transition and a suspension that, though not the most modern in design, sticks well unless the car encounters a mid-turn bump, at which point the rear end skitters a bit to one side or the other, depending on which back wheel hit the hole. Ride quality is taut, but not stiff until a big impact slams through the front struts and into the cabin. We didn’t have much fun driving our Cobalt LS Sedan test car, but then, that’s what the SS Supercharged is for. Like the sedan, the SS Supercharged is based on a Saturn Ion, in this case the hot-rodded Red Line edition. Now that’s a fun car, and with the Cobalt’s superior design and materials, the SS Supercharged should be a good time. But a Cobalt like our test car, well, it’s Point A to B transportation.
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