2008 Chevrolet Cobalt Styling

STYLING | 7 out of 10

The 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt is Chevy's entry into the compact-car segment. Launched in 2005, the Cobalt replaced the Cavalier, and it's built on the same front-drive Delta platform as the Saturn Astra.

For 2008, Chevrolet offers many different flavors of Cobalt, and the styling ranges from mild to sort of wild, depending on the particular model. ConsumerGuide notes that the Chevrolet 2008 Cobalt comes as a two-door coupe or four-door sedan. Edmunds briefly describes the complicated offering from Chevrolet: "Cobalt is available in compact sedan and coupe body styles, each split into LS, LT and Sport trim levels. Additionally, the Cobalt SS is a coupe-only model for 2008." Cars.com adds, "Both body styles feature a horizontally split grille with a gold bow tie badge." Edmunds calls the styling plain “unless you upgrade to the Sport or SS model.” The top-of-the-line SS version of the 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt has by far the most flamboyant styling, described by The Auto Channel as "dressed up with unique front and rear fascias, slightly lowered ride height and increased track, special rocker molding, standard rear wing, 18-inch twin five-spoke forged aluminum wheels, SS badging and some great, vivid colors." Other models are less gussied up, however, leading Car and Driver to describe the 2008 Chevrolet as "forgettable and uninspiring."

All Cobalts share a common interior styling that includes "attractive gauges and a full-featured stereo head," Edmunds says, giving "the 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt a modern feel." However, "compared to the interiors of the Honda Civic or Saturn Astra,” they add, “the Cobalt's design seems rather bland." Car and Driver is less kind, reporting that it has a "dashboard design that tries to ape the previous-generation Volkswagen Jetta but comes up short." ConsumerGuide gives a mixed review of the little Chevrolet, 2008 model, citing a "neat, logical dashboard," but adding, "Some testers find the gauges a tad small and recessed too far into the dashboard for easy reading." Cars.com notes "some cheap-looking controls," but ConsumerGuide is pleased with the "neat, logical dashboard."

Conclusion