The 2009 Chevy Cobalt is an interseting car. Having seen the ads where it is depicted with the Corvette, I'm anticipating a really zoomy car, maybe one missing some of the more comfortable items.

But I was disappointed and pleasantly surprised at the same time.

Exterior:

The outside has some zoomy, swoopy lines that give it more than the boxy look. it isn't a Corvetter, but what is?

3 stars

Interior:

I was comfortable in this car. One of the things I appreciated most was that everything was where I expected it to be, and functioned as I have been used to a car funcitoning. The displays were well lit and clear. My one complaint was the phone and cruise control buttons: They set right where my thumbs set when I'm driving on 9 and 3. I activate the phone once and turned off the cruise control more than once. That was truly annoying.

The seats were comfortable. I was able to slouch or sit up straight without major discomfort. (and when you're in the car for 12 hours, that's a good thing.)

This was probably the "pleasant surprise" in that the interior was thoughtful and well laid out and functioned as expected.

3.5 stars

Performance:

This was the disappointment. If you advertise a car with a corvette, you'd better find some get up and go. Not that the Colbalt was a complete dog, but it wasn't the G5, either. The response from a stop was what you'd expect from the GM 4 cylindar: sludgey. Once you got out of the hole, things picked up a bit, but nothing like what I expected from marketing.

2.5 stars

Handling was crisp and concise, although I heard some tire whine on the pigtail turns when I didn't expected it. Still, even on those long terms, the car seemed fairly well balances.

3.5 stars

Miscellaneous:

I didn't see a readout for milage, but it seemed that I was getting 29-30MPG, which puts it about 10% less than the leaders in this class.

2 stars

2008 Nissan Versa

Exterior

Stubby nose, high interior, stubby trunk. Not sure what car makers are thinking these days. I can see the advantage of function in the design, but it is definitely at the cost of form.

1.5 stars

Interior

The controls were easy to read. The first thing I noticed was that there was no computer readout. I couldn't tell what kind of gas mileage I was getting. If there was a control I didn't find it.

The radio was AM-FM-CD. The controls were easy to see, however, the tuner was two buttons one pushed to change the station, one up, the other down. Maybe it's just me, but I prefer the dial. Worse, the seek function sucked. It seemed to stop at any sign of any signal, and between 1000-1400 seemed to stop at every number, with most being just static. Plus, when I started to get away from a station's tower, the radio would start putting out a high pitched whistle. At first, I thought it was the tires on pavement, but the whistle went away when I turned off the radio. Happened with several radio stations.

The seats were somewhat uncomfortable. It seemed that I was shifting positions frequently to relieve some ache or pain.

The power mirror control was very odd. It was on the dash, but below the steering wheel and to the left. I could not see it well or operate it while driving.

The cruise control was a nice change. The set/coast and resume/accel was on an up/down switch, and seemed very intuitive. It was nice to have controls that consisted of "On/Off", "Cancel" and this one switch.

2 stars

Performance.

Remember back in the '80s when a 4 cylinder car would whine when you accelerated? Well, Nissan has gone retro on that aspect. This car was underpowered, and whined when pushed. In the mountains, we spent much time out of top gear when going up hills, especially on cruise control. Passing was a chore. One time I hit the accelerator, and the engine whined, and for about 4 seconds, I went nowhere. I wasn't gaining on the car in front of me at all. The next attempt, I took this into account and timed it better.

1.5 stars

Handling

The handling was probably the best aspect of this vehicle. Both wet and dry, the car handled solidly and comfortably. Unfortunately I wasn't able to really test how solid in cornering, as the engine wasn't helpful.

3 stars

Miscellaneous

No computer, so no MPG, but it seemed to not do as well as the Focus. Maybe 30-31MPG?
The trunk was spacious. (I finally remembered to bring my golf clubs.)

2008 Ford Focus

Exterior

This is the typical Ford Focus. A bit boxy, but it looks efficient. Nothing to write home about, good or bad.

2.5 stars

Interior

The dash was well laid out and easy to read. I believe I had Sirus radio, and between that and the heating/cooling controls, the center console looked like mission control on steroids. Buttons and dials everywhere. Not that it was hard to operate, but when you first look at it, there is a sense that one may need an engineering degree.

And with all this, it took me 6 hours to find the button to change the info on the computer read out. Not that I was looking the whole time, but that's when I found it down below the center console. As I like to check the odometers and gas mileage frequently, it was inconvenient.

The seats were comfortable for the whole trip, both ways.

4 stars

Performance

OK, it wasn't the G5, but acceleration wasn't horrible, either. In times when I needed to take off quickly (like toll booths) it responded quickly and with surprising spunk (for a Ford). Passing on two lane highways was quick and efficient. I had some downshifts on the steeper slopes in the mountains, but they were predictable and concise.

4 stars

Handling

For it's boxy look, the Focus was a solid handler. Even in the mountains going around tough corners, I was confident in it's cornering, even if there was a downshift. And all this without the "sporty" feel of the G5, in that it absorbed the bumps of the road admirably.

4.5 stars

Miscellaneous

Computer said 34MPH highway

2007 Dodge Calibur

Exterior

I'm not a huge fan of the mini-SUV look, and I think the Calibur is the worst of the bunch. The boxy exterior was augmented with things that jutted out in various directions, which weren't helpful at all. Worse, the post between the front and rear doors blocked any view looking over my shoulder.

2 stars

Interior

The interior was better. The dash was clear and easy to read. This car did NOT have XM or Sirus, but the AM-FM worked as expected. The cruise controls were acceptable on the steering wheel. Not sure why, but I felt like I had to look down to make sure I was pressing the right button. I suppose we could say that wasn't intuitive.

The seats were ok at first, but became increasingly uncomfortable over time. Moving the seat back made some room for my legs, but then I was uncomfortably far from the foot pedals.

The mirror controls were acceptable.

2.5 stars


Performance

The 4 cylinder enging was what I normally expect from a 4 cylinder engine: a bit boggy off the line, improving as RPMs increased. I don't think the mini-SUV body helped, as acceleration seemed heavy at times. In the mountains, downshifts were frequent going up hills. And they were certainly not smooth. The most aggrivating part was that the transmission seemed to disengage partly to increase the RPMs, and the would slowly engage to increase speed through clutch release rather than RPM increase. It was quite disconcerting, and didn't seem to help. Passing on a two lane road was worrisome.

2 stars

Handling

Remember when I said the transmission would partly disengage during a downshift? Well, the worst part of that was that I felt completely disconnected from the road when it would do that. I nearly filled my pants a couple of times when cresting a hill while going around a corner (in the rain), and when car downshifted (cruise was on), I felt like I was hydroplaning, so I kicked off the cruise, and let it decelerate, only to find that things were OK, they just didn't feel OK. Needless to say that the cruise was off the rest of the mountain part of my trip.

Handling otherwise was a bit heavy, probably the weight of the vehicle.

1 stars

Miscellaneous

Computer said I got 32MPG highway.
The hatch in the back seemed very small

2008 Pontiac G5

Exterior:

As you would expect from Pontiac, this car is a looker. It's sleek and sexy. The swoopy lines and profile of this car just screams, "Drive me fast, honey!"

4.5 stars

Interior:

The interior was equally sporty. The dash was well laid out, and a computer readout gave you pretty much everything you'd want to know when on a trip. This car was equipped with XM radio, and the controls were easily assimilated. The knob to change the stations was easy to operate both searching one station at a time, and looking to traverse several stations at once. The heating/cooling controls were also easy to operate and very handy.

The power mirror controls were on the armrest and easy to adjust both sitting still and when in motion. This car was not equipped with cruise control (which sucked, but I won't hold that against the car.

The driver's seat was... sporty. Firm but comfortable. I did have to shift around a bit after driving a few hours, as the firmness didn't quite suit me, but it wasn't horrible. The cup holders were ample, although when I used one as a change holder, it was hard to pick up the coins from the bottom. Not a huge deal, but a coin holder would have been useful.

4 stars


Performance

This engine wanted to go. For a 4 cylinder, it was happy to jump off the line and giddy up. Acceleration smooth all the way up to the speed limit. The engine was a bit throaty, pleasing, if you like to hear your engine roar. As I recall, when I arrived going both ways, my ears were ringing from the noise level, and it took a bit of time for that to go away. I blame this in part on having the windows open, but this was the only car I experienced this in. Cruising down the highway was smooth. Even going through the mountains, I didn't experience a lot of downshift to go up the hills. Passing on the 2 lane highways was a breeze. Just push down, and hang on!

4.5 stars

Handling

This is always hard to evaluate. I drove this car on dry pavement and wet. On dry, this car was solid and responsive. The steering ratio was excellent. I felt confident going around a mountain corner at the speed limit, with zero worry about whether it would stick. I didn't make the car drift, but it appeared to be well balanced.

On wet pavement, I was less confident. The wider tires seemed to want to slip a bit on wet pavement. Nothing serious, but the feeling wasn't as solid as on dry. Nothing huge, but something of note.

Overall, I felt connected to the road and I felt as though I was in control and the car was predictable both wet and dry.

4 stars


Miscellaneous

The computer said I got about 32 MPG, all highway.
No issues filling up the gas tank.

What can you expect here?

I came up with this idea after I was relocated 800 miles away from home, and was renting a car to drive home (12 hours) many weekends.

I figured if I was spending this much time in a car, folks might want to know about what they're like. I'll try to get different kinds of cars each time, but given the distance and the cost of gas, you will be more likely to see fuel efficient cars.

Please feel free to comment on any review.