My new lukewarm hatch

Hello fellow GRMers. It was time to replace my Subaru Baja, and what else do you replace a half car half truck head gasket and two thousand dollar  cat  time bomb with besides a domestic lukewarm hatch

Afew months ago I brought home a 2015 Chevy sonic RS,  I found it on carmax with 60k miles, rally armor mudflaps and weather tech floor mats. This was my second time dealing with Carmax but my first time paying cash. The first time was for my wifes 2018 Nissan Rouge. On this transaction she found another Rouge she liked better a week later. Carmax let use drive the thing for 6 more days while we waited for the "better" Rouge to go from Las Vages to Sacramento. We basically drove the first Rouge for free for almost 2 weeks and then just brought it back and did some more paperwork and left with a differant Rouge with "better" options. They also gave us to much money for our 2005 Hyundia Tuscon.

Buying the Sonic I was in a bit of a rush and just had ten grand cash in my pocket. everyone seemed confused why I had cash but the transaction went smooth enough.  

On to the car. It is not fast. it feels great but not fast. before the Sonic my newest car was the Baja(2006) and for a newer car that is mostly computers the feel and feedback is great. 6th gear is shorter than I would like for longer drives but MPG doesn't suffer to much. I have had to work out of town a few times now and its not a bad place to spend some time. mine has the Mylink system that works well. seats are a good mix of comfort and support. it is a torquey little thing and if you are not paying attention it will change lanes for you. 

The plan going forward. I have ordered a ZZP intake and down pipe,  A 4H short shifter(had to order for the UK) and  will be ordering a BNR tune.

I lost my home in the Campfire here in norther CA and I now live in the apartment attached to the mini storage I manage so I will be borrowing a garage to do the install when all the parts arrive, as well as buy a windows laptop for tuning. so updates might take a bit.  I will have to hard park it and up load some pic's of a stock white sonic soon.

If anyone else owns or has owned a sonic RS let me know what you have done or what not to do.

If I was ever to be a food delivery technician this would be top of my list.  Gotta be a hoot around town.

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new ride! Sucks about the home but at least it sounds like you have somewhere to stay. 

Are all the RS's hatchbacks? I always thought the Sonic hatch was kinda neat looking. 

There is a thread in the build section by "Robbie" on him building a Sonic RS. Check it out. He does some pretty nice upgrades and details his build quite well.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/2013-chevy-sonic-dailyautox/144736/page1/

cant turn traction control off and its the cut all power type of tc so hopefully the tune fixes that.

Welcome to the forum.  I've shopped the Sonic RS many times.  I agree with your post header, I thought of it as a lukewarm hatch.  It didn't set my heart on fire but I didn't find it a bad place to be.  For how cheap you can get a 2-3 year old one, I think they're a great buy.  I've heard the Trifecta tune really helps wake them up. 

kevinatfms said:

There is a thread in the build section by "Robbie" on him building a Sonic RS. Check it out. He does some pretty nice upgrades and details his build quite well.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/2013-chevy-sonic-dailyautox/144736/page1/

"Robby" not me. Awesome build for sure!

Vigo said:

Are all the RS's hatchbacks? I always thought the Sonic hatch was kinda neat looking. 

Yes. The RS package was only available on the hatchback. The LTZ trim you could get as a sedan, and the LTZ is kind of the better buy. The RS had different trans ratios that put a hit on fuel mileage but really didn't do much for performance. So the LTZ is just as quick, but gets better mileage, although you're stuck with rear drum brakes (although everything from the RS rear axle bolts to any Sonic and ZZ Performance sells all the parts to do the swap)

Incorrect.

RS is/was available as a sedan.

I've driven RS and LTZ cars back to back and noted a significant difference, which could be the tune, but the RS certainly felt more aggressive under power.

cant turn traction control off and its the cut all power type of tc so hopefully the tune fixes that.

Also incorrect. You can shut off the TC (as well as stabilitrac). I have done it to get through heavy snow. You can pull the ABS fuse to completely disable it.

In reply to Suprf1y :

I could be wrong, but if I remember correctly the RS and LTZ have different gearing.  That could explain the RS feeling more aggressive.

Parts are starting to trickle in. I am just waiting for the Bad News Racing tuner to show up. Then we can shove it all in at once.

Gauge pod, wideband and boost gauge showed up today.

Had to jump through a hoop or two to get the autocal tuner and canned tune shipped to CA. An issue that was not addressed until 5 days after I payed for the service. I totally understand it is a pain dealing with CA laws but would have been nice if it did not take 5 days to let me know I had to state in writing this all was for an offroad only vehicle.

Let's get some lukewarm pics