Short Take Road Test
At first glance, the Chevrolet Cobalt appears to be suffering from neglect. Its generic, character-free interior and exterior design were already a step behind the competition when the car launched in 2005, and little has changed in the intervening years. Now that the Cobalt is riding out its final years before its replacement, the Cruze, arrives in 2010 as a 2011 model, that’s sort of a moot point; we wouldn’t expect Chevy to invest heavily in its lame-duck compact, after all. But rising fuel prices and America’s growing interest in fuel-efficient cars spurred the giant to stir the Cobalt pot a little bit, so the automaker combined some fuel-saving tricks and technology to create the Cobalt XFE.
Chevy introduced the XFE (XFE stands for “Xtra Fuel Economy”) package for the 2008 Cobalt. For an extra $600, the ’08 XFE package came equipped with a 148-hp, 2.2-liter four-cylinder mated to a manual transmission, low-rolling resistance tires, a taller final-drive ratio (3.74:1), and a fuel-sipping engine calibration. Fuel economy jumped from 24 mpg city and 33 highway to 25 mpg in the city cycle and an impressive 36 mpg on the highway.
For ’09, the Cobalt’s 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine gains variable valve timing, and output rises to 155 horsepower. The XFE remains a manual-only proposition, but the tweaks are now standard on Cobalt LS and 1LT trim levels. An even taller (3.63:1) final-drive ratio is another change on the '09 model that helps it bump highway fuel economy to 37 mpg. In our hands, the ’09 Cobalt XFE returned 29 mpg combined in mostly city driving. In our 2005 test of an automatic-transmission-equipped 2.2-liter Cobalt LS, we managed 27 mpg.
Peaceful, Easy Sippin’
The fuel-economy gains of the XFE aren’t huge, by any means, but the nice thing is that the XFE package requires no sacrifice from the driver to return superior mpg. The taller axle ratio isn’t noticeable in the lower gears; in fact, the Cobalt XFE sprinted from 0 to 60 mph in a very respectable 7.5 seconds, which makes it one of the quicker cars in its class. In our “Little Feet” comparison test of eight compacts, the Cobalt’s time would have placed it behind only the Mitsubishi Lancer GTS and in a tie for second with the Volkswagen Rabbit S, ahead of the Scion xD, Ford Focus, Suzuki SX4, Saturn Astra, and Toyota Corolla. At highway speeds, the taller gearing for fifth keeps the engine revs low and the engine hushed. Downshifts to fourth are necessary for quick passes, as fifth-gear acceleration from 50 to 70 mph takes a long 13.3 seconds.
