The Chevrolet Cobalt has to live down the reputation of all the small Chevrolets that came before it. It's simply a fact that all previous small Chevys were seriously flawed automobiles. Some had diabolical handling, some rotted away from rust seemingly overnight, and others were just plain dreary in both performance and build quality. It may not have been saying much, but when the Chevrolet Cobalt went on sale as a 2005 model, it was easily the best small Chevrolet ever built.
The Chevy Cobalt two-door coupe and four-door sedan were built atop GM's "Delta" architecture. An international platform, the Delta parts were also used in Europe and Australia for cars built by GM's subsidiaries there. And the Delta was the base for the Chevrolet HHR, Saturn Ion and the Cobalt's Pontiac doppelgänger, the G5. A conventional front-drive platform, the Delta platform positions four-cylinder engines transversely in the nose with MacPherson struts up front and a semi-independent torsion beam suspension in the back. It may not be exotic, but the Delta was a solid base for the Chevrolet Cobalt.
At launch the Chevy Cobalt offered a 2.2-liter version of GM's "Ecotec" four as the base power plant, supported by either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transaxle. The Cobalt SS coupe used a 2.0-liter version of the Ecotec boosted by a belt-driven, Rootes-type supercharger. A non-supercharged SS coupe and sedan were added to the line for 2006, powered by a 2.4-liter Ecotec engine. In 2008 the normally aspirated SS coupe and sedan were renamed "Sport Coupe" and "Sport Sedan" and the supercharged engine in the SS coupe was replaced by a new turbocharged version that made more power. By 2009 the two Sport models were deleted, and a turbocharged SS sedan was added. The Chevrolet Cobalt ends its run during 2010, replaced by the Chevrolet Cruze.
The Chevrolet Cobalt did have a star in the Cobalt SS. While the supercharged Cobalt SS coupe was criticized for its heavy feel, the reworked turbocharged version handled extremely well and its 260-horsepower engine was exceptionally responsive. And the SS alone may be enough to make some enthusiasts miss the Chevy Cobalt.
