Auto Review: The 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt

The Chevy Cobalt was released in 2005, in response to dwindling sales of Chevrolet's Cavalier. The Cavalier was released in 1981 to compete with the small and affordable imports that were coming in. Unfortunately, Chevrolet put little effort into updating the car to keep up with the times. They didn't redesign until 1995, 12 years after its release. By then it was really too late, and they never caught up with the competition. The Cavalier's sales were slipping, and it certainly wasn't receiving any great reviews. And so, in 2005, Chevrolet unveiled a brand new little car, the Cobalt.

An easy, quiet ride with a fresh exterior style. Affordable and reliable. The Cobalt is a much better car than the Cavalier ever was. But is that enough? Although the Cobalt is a huge improvement over the Cavalier, it still does not catch up to the competition. Why? The competition has learned to make their small, economical cars feel like luxury. The Cobalt still feels mediocre, much like it's predecessor- in large part because of it's interior and lackluster handling.

The 2006 Cobalt isn't a bad looking car. It's sporty, especially as a coupe. It's designed with simplicity and style, at least from the outside. But the inside leaves much to be desired. Like, well, storage. There's practically no storage room whatsoever. The seats aren't very comfortable; the inside materials feel cheap and plastic. The dashboard design is stylish and clear, and the interior is definitely more pleasing than any cavalier's. But there's just not enough room- the backseat is particularly cramped.

The car feels very solid, and it's rigid construction makes it a quiet, pleasing ride. There's peppy, strong acceleration that's very enjoyable no matter what trim you choose. What stops the drive from being great is the handling- it's just not tight enough. Especially on the base model and LT model. It's not bad handling- it just does not meet the competition's standards. It feels mediocre.

The Cobalt scored well on crash tests, one of the few economical cars to earn an "acceptable" rating from IIHS. It was also named a "best pick" for it's frontal offset crash performance..

In 2006, Chevrolet expanded the lineup for Cobalt. They released a new 171 horsepower SS trim. They changed last year's 205 horsepower SS trim to now be called SS Supercharged. (The MSRP is $16,900-19,900 on SS models).The base model is now the LS(MSRP $12,400-12,900), the former LS is now the LT(MSRP $14,200-15,200), and the former LT is now the LTZ(MSRP $17,700).

In conclusion, Chevrolet did make a lot of progress with the Cobalt. But they didn't do what they set out to do: catch up with the competition. However, the Cobalt is still very new and there is time for improvement. With a few easy changes, Chevrolet could meet it's goal of being the leader in small, economical cars with the Cobalt. Hopefully, they have learned from their mistakes with the Cavalier, and they will start improving now, before it is once again too late.