Buyer's Guide: Chevy Cobalt SS

story by robert bowen

For most consumers, Chevy’s Cavalier was a totally forgettable denizen of rental car fleets and subprime borrowers. For more than 20 years, the nameplate graced ever more downmarket cars as its technology and styling failed to keep up. Sure, there were a few half-hearted attempts at making a Cavalier that was also fun to drive, but …

Read the rest of the story

You know, I was just thinking about these the other day. For a little while there, they were part of our world. Then they kind of disappeared.

What does the hive think about them?

I still think they look great, especially with blacked-out windows, and they are a real performance bargain. If I ever get the scratch for a track rat, this would be my choice over a riced-out Civic.

SS

If I wasn't in the middle of a move, I would have been on a plane to retrieve the low-miles Ion Redline in WA that popped up on here a couple weeks ago.

They strike me as an affordable do-everything car if you can locate an example that hasn't been abused yet.

Mine is an excellent track day car, dead-reliable, surprisingly quick. I love it.

As a longtime Super Street reader I remember the issue that came in the Mail with a cobalt on the cover. 2006 if I remember right. At the time that car had the Tsukuba time attack record. I was blown away that a fwd Chevy could do that, let alone run and drive...

I love mine but I'll be posting it for sale soon as I need to reduce the fleet. Four door, non-sunroof, LSD, bright red.

266,xxx mostly trouble free miles. I did have to replace the turbo, clutch and timing chain at about 200,000. Fastest car I've ever owned but not as much fun as my FR-S.

ZZperformance.com is the center of all things cobalt.....with proven results. Worth a look....Loose C has.

I think the biggest problem with these cars was the vast majority of the owners. Most of the Cobalt SSs I see are missing a large chunk of the front bumper, driving on 3 different brands of tires and don't have a dent/rust-free body panel. They got bought by kids who couldn't afford to maintain them, or just couldn't be bothered to, and were subsequently run into the ground.

Mine is a 2010, bought new late that year. The LSD was still optional. I have read that about half the turbo cars ('08-'10) had it. I had mine installed by Werks Performance near Chicago, another excellent shop.

I know a guy that has a pristine white Supercharged one. It is spotless and I don't know that he would ever let it go.

I was always more interested in the turbocharged model.

Not going to search Craigslist...

I always thought that the 2009ish turbocharged sedans would make great sleepers. Aside from wheels and a SS badge, they look identical to the regular ones, for better or worse. They are pretty rare these days.

In reply to NoBrakesRacing: I already did. About a dozen in my area, most under $6000. Good thing I'm saving up to build a shop.

In reply to Tony Sestito: Those are unicorns for me. I've never seen an SS sedan (of any year) in the flesh before. Just the coupes.

Would really like to see what a turbo model can do with some of the tunes and power upgrades that are available. The HHR SS was stupidly fast at Nurburgring and the Cobalt can't be slower.

I have the 2004 ion redline variety. For the most part pretty practical/fun family car. I bought mine for $1,300 (I think it was) 120,000 miles, needed some work. Previous owner treated it like it was an indestructible cockroach car. It had a lot of recalls needed that only the ss cobalt actually got... And currently dealing with a pcm problem, ie throws codes on new sensors runs like garbage.

The dealer couldn't figure it out, but figured pcm was maybe it. Got another "working pcm" sent it off to zzp and got the same issues. Zzp said sometimes the pcms will work in one car but not another... Could just be 1st year run car bugs too.

To do it all again I would have bought the saab cousin with the 6spd lsd and the turbo rather than the supercharged non lsd ion.

jere wrote: I have the 2004 ion redline variety. For the most part pretty practical/fun family car. I bought mine for $1,300 (I think it was) 120,000 miles, needed some work. Previous owner treated it like it was an indestructible cockroach car. It had a lot of recalls needed that only the ss cobalt actually got... And currently dealing with a pcm problem, ie throws codes on new sensors runs like garbage. The dealer couldn't figure it out, but figured pcm was maybe it. Got another "working pcm" sent it off to zzp and got the same issues. Zzp said sometimes the pcms will work in one car but not another... Could just be 1st year run car bugs too. To do it all again I would have bought the saab cousin with the 6spd lsd and the turbo rather than the supercharged non lsd ion.

That's a weirdo Ion thing. They hate modules. Once had a GM engineer tell me that when replacing modules in an Ion, order them by the 6-pack so that you might get one that programs right. He was right. Had an Ion where the BCM stopped sending the LF turn signal output. Ordered a new BCM and put it in, now the turn signal worked but the radio and radio backlighting never turned off. Replaced it again and now the gauge cluster didn't work right and every warning light was on. Put in a 3rd new, unprogrammed OEM BCM and this time it went through and actually operated everything properly.

In reply to NickD:

The same sad story as the SRT-4...

I think they're cool but finding one in decent shape is tough these days.

Also, when looking at early Cobalt SS, make sure it is a Cobalt SS Supercharged. The regular Cobalt SS had all the appearance and chassis bits, but was missing the blown mill, instead making do with the N/A 170hp 2.4L Ecotec. I've come across a few of those rolling disappointments

I really want to find a decent example that was hit in the back and totalled. Then, harvest all its guts, and dump em into a DF Goblin, and sprinkle some ZZPerformance dust over the whole thing for good measure. 200hp mid/rear single sourced drop-in-drivetrain exocar sounds like a lot of fun to me.

4cylndrfury wrote: I really want to find a decent example that was hit in the back and totalled. Then, harvest all its guts, and dump em into a DF Goblin, and sprinkle some ZZPerformance dust over the whole thing for good measure. 200hp mid/rear single sourced drop-in-drivetrain exocar sounds like a lot of fun to me.

Did you mean 300hp?

If anybody has the Supercharged badge off the back of a Cobalt SS-S, I'd be interested in taking it off your hands.

I definitely didn't just go search C-list and definitely didn't see several for around 5k. Nope. Didn't do it.

The S/C one was a bit disappointing, coming out about the same time as the SRT4 but with less power and very little going in its favor. Then they did it right with the turbo SS, but by then most people didn't care and had already soured on the Cobalt in general and the Cobalt SS in particular based on the disappointment of the S/C.

The Turbo SS had a lot of neat stuff for a sport compact of its era - torque vectoring, a mechanical LSD, a ton of power, really trick engine management.

...and who could forget no lift shift!