First Drive Review
Cobalt resides at No. 27 on the periodic table, sandwiched between iron and nickel on a working-class street that's also home to copper, zinc, and manganese. It's nature's industrial rust belt, the Lower Cuyahoga of the atomic scale. Chevy probably chose the name because cobalt is used as a hardener in high-performance alloys such as those found in aircraft jet turbines. After 23 years of building the Chevy Cavalier, GM's small-car credentials could stand a little hardening, too.
During a recent lull in California's monsoon season, Chevy allowed a press gaggle to turn miles in 2005 Cobalt models, including the 145-hp, 2.2-liter sedan and base coupe and the 205-hp supercharged 2.0-liter SS coupe (a 175-hp, 2.4-liter engine option comes later in '05). Initial skepticism ran at redline. The Cobalt shares General Motors' front-drive Delta platform with the Saturn Ion, the sensational belly-flop of model year 2003. How good could the bow-tie version be?
As it happens, it's astoundingly good--an Olympic long jump for GM, from dead last to the head of the class, right up front with the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic. You may have already gleaned that from our first Cobalt preview last July. We alluded to superb interior trim that mimics a Volkswagen's; the fancy hydroelastic rear-suspension bushings that pacify the ride (and cost GM $30 extra per car, according to vice-chairman Bob Lutz); a cabin soundproofed to luxury-car stillness by multiple door seals, molded acoustic pads, and 37 pounds of laminated "quiet steel"; and the Euro-'spensive Continental and Pirelli tires.
Here's what we didn't know then: The $21,995 Cobalt SS--it comes only as a coupe and only with a five-speed manual--puts a heavy horsepower dollop on top of a taut, refined handling package. Forward of your feet is an extensively reworked version of GM's Ecotec 2.0-liter DOHC 16-valve four-cylinder engine, augmented by an Eaton M62 twin-rotor, or Roots-type, supercharger with a peak blow of 12.0 psi and an integrated air-to-water intercooler that flushes away unwanted charge heat. Headlining the Ecotec's internal mods are a forged steel crank, sodium-filled exhaust valves, an oil cooler, and oil-jet cooling of the pistons. The package supplies 205 horsepower at 5600 rpm and 200 pound-feet of torque at 4400 rpm--all saddled to about 2900 pounds.
A boost gauge on the left A-pillar twitches to the rhythms of the blower. Other accouterments include a better stereo, leather seats with body-color inserts, and a leather-wrapped shifter and steering wheel. Chevy will offer a Performance package early this year, price as yet unknown, with Recaro seats and a Quaife limited-slip diff.
Steer the SS Supercharged into a corner with confidence. GM handling guru John Heinricy, director of high-performance vehicle operations and a dinkum racer himself, has already been there 1000 times before, sharpening out the understeer and flattening out the roll and wallow. Behind the 18-inch alloy wheels and 215/45 tires is the FE5 suspension with a larger front anti-roll bar, stiffer springs, and aluminum L-shaped control arms anchoring the front struts. They replace the base Cobalt's FE1 suspension and its steel arms. The rear stays a Cobalt-standard twist-beam axle.
Tuning the forward control arms' all-important bushings, which must be both squishy for bump absorption and firm for handling, was a trick, said Heinricy. The work happened at Heinricy's finishing school on the Nürburgring in Germany and at other tracks back in the U.S., including GM's new 2.9-mile handling course at the Milford, Michigan, proving ground that engineers have dubbed the "Lutzring," after Bob Lutz. Special high-stiffness bushings with small air pockets for shock absorption supplied the necessary compromise in ride and handling, and engineers devised a calibration for the electric-assist steering that keeps effort relatively low but precision surprisingly high.
Over the twisting trails of Santa Barbara County, a Quaife-equipped SS laid the power down smoothly and ate the apexes with fast reflexes and stable course control. The Dodge SRT-4 supplies more horsepower and torque for a few hundred bucks less, but it's a rough-and-tumble street fighter. The Cobalt SS Supercharged trades on its refined civility, two words we don't normally associate with a GM economy car. But then cobalt isn't a metal we normally consider precious.
