2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS - Americas Best Handling Car Comparison - video Dailymotion

MotorTrend

We test the 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS as part of Americas Best Handling Car comparison competition.

Transcript

00:00 Our next contender in the Best Handling Car competition is the Chevy Cobalt SS, a new

00:08 direct injection turbo engine with a stabilitrac control system with competition mode and 18

00:13 inch tires make it look pretty promising for handling.

00:16 Let's take it out to Laguna Seca and find out how she does.

00:45 So this is 260 horsepower from this little 2 liter.

00:48 Did you notice a lot of torque steer?

00:50 There was a little torque steer in second gear.

00:52 I didn't notice it in third gear.

00:54 In fact, I had very little use of fourth gear.

00:57 The car's geared pretty darn tall.

00:59 I'm surprised to be able to hold third all the way up the hill towards the corkscrew.

01:03 For a front drive car, I thought the shifter was fairly accurate, especially for a GM product.

01:08 It was a good shifter.

01:10 I was pleased.

01:11 Now for steering feel.

01:12 How did it, how did the sensitivity and the feedback feel to you?

01:15 I think the steering was very linear.

01:18 There was no sense of play and a little bit numb.

01:23 I would have liked a little more feel, but I think part of that feeling was due to the

01:27 fact that there was quite a bit of understeer right through the middle of the corner.

01:30 But I understand that's built into a car to help try to make it stable.

01:34 And considering its price point, not a bad handling package at all.

01:39 I felt the shock dampening was really very good.

01:42 The car was not harsh, yet at the same time, the body roll, the movement in the body was

01:49 well controlled.

01:50 It was well damped.

01:51 Okay.

01:52 And did you sense the stability control or were you able to cut that out entirely?

01:56 I don't think it was off all the way.

01:58 Out of the corner of my eye, I believe I saw that little flashing light winking at me because

02:04 any time I got the little bit of rotation, it went away right away.

02:09 It reigned it right in.

02:10 Yeah.

02:11 It was not as obvious as a lot of other stability controls I felt recently, but I believe it

02:17 was there working on the car.

02:19 Randy, in a list of other front drive cars that you've driven, even close to this class,

02:24 how does this stand up?

02:27 Well, I'm going to say it's pretty darn good.

02:29 It has a lot less steering response than some of the cars I've been in, but it's linear.

02:35 In other words, if you turn the wheel so far, you get an amount of steering that closely

02:41 matches that.

02:42 And that makes the car really predictable and easy to drive.

02:45 And I think it lends good control.

02:48 For a front drive car, it's a good handling package.

02:51 (upbeat music)

02:53 (thud)

2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS - Americas Best Handling Car Comparison

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