Car Review - Chevy Cobalt

Every now and then, I attend conventions. This last convention I went to was in Memphis, TN, and my group (myself and two others) had elected to drive down there from MN. Now, normally, I take a minivan went I rent a vehicle. This time, to save on money, I decided to try a compact. I selected one at the rental place based on the largest trunk capacity, which turned out to be a Chevy Cobalt.

This was a mistake. This drive was the most uncomfortable I have ever had to endure, and coming from someone who used to take the bus to go to conventions, this is saying a lot.

Roads are pretty good in MN. Drivers can be very lousy, but the roads are generally good. One stretch of highway we had to drive in order to pick up the third member of our group was buckling every 20-30 feet of it's length, so consistent bumps for a few miles. I've driven that stretch of highway in my Mother's Buick before, and while it has never been pleasant, it's not too bad.

Not so, the Cobalt. I felt every single one of those peaks, and after awhile, my tailbone started to get sore. As the driver of the car, this was not a good thing. Was not happy two hours later, when we reached the house.

Other problems with this car:
-It did not accelerate well. If I wanted to burn a lot of gas by ramming down on the accelerator, I imagine I might have gotten up to speed fairly quickly, but since that tends to also burn more fuel, I'm not in the habit of doing so. This had a tendency to irritate the people behind me, even more so than normal.

-It lost speed going uphill. Missouri has a lot of hills. At least, in the area where we were, it did. This car consistently lost 5-10 miles of speed going uphill, even when I depressed the accelerator 1-2 inches. Not only was this irritating, but on a highway where the speed averages 65-70 mph (and people still speed), this is dangerous.

If we were on smooth roads that were flat, this car was no trouble at all. Once we got up to speed, there were no troubles, either. But accelerating was a pain, going uphill was a pain, and the shock absorbers were so bad, they might as well not have been there.

I can definitely say that I would not recommend this car to anyone who needs acceleration, is in a hilly area, or is overly fond of their tailbone not hurting. XP