This brand-new
compact sedan and coupe debuts for 2005 and will eventually replace the
lame-duck Cavalier in Chevy showrooms. While styling looks more derivative of
the Cavalier than a name change might warrant, a fresh selection of powertrains
and added refinement hold great promise for the fledgling front-drive model. No
less than three engines are offered, each providing varying degrees of
performance. The standard powerplant, included with the base, LS, and LT models
is a 140-horsepower 2.2-liter in-line four. Meanwhile, a new 2.4-liter engine
with variable valve timing that generates 170 horses is standard in the SS coupe
and sedan; both feature aluminum block and cylinder heads and electronic
throttle control, and can be paired with either a five-speed manual or
four-speed automatic transmission. The power hungry will want to opt for the top
SS Supercharged coupe and its 200-horsepower 2.0-liter supercharged version of
the 2.4 (this is as many horses as Ford uses to pull its much-larger Five
Hundred sedan); this version is only offered with a manual gearbox. Chevrolet
claims that the Cobalt's power steering has been tweaked in each instance to
work optimally with the various available tire and suspension packages.
Anti-lock brakes are included on all but the base version; the SS adds disc
brakes at all four corners. Air conditioning and a CD player come standard, with
traction control, heated
leather seats, power sunroof, XM Satellite Radio, an MP3 audio system, and the
OnStar communications system on the options list.
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