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Turbo Cobalt Tools Around the Lotus Elise SC


ForeverMaker

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This one is for you Doc...

 

Motor Trend road course:

 

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p72/Waywardx/Light.jpg

 

Lotus forum whining: link (regarding Ring times.)

 

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A Time For Turbos // Road & Track

Cobalt (sedan non-lsd!) vs. STi, Lancer, Speed3

 

Article Link

 

Summary:

The Cobalt SS won this test by virtue of being good (more often great) at just about everything. It won three of the seven Performance categories outright, while never finishing worse than second in the rest. In our Subjective section, it won six of the 12 categories, all of them performance-related. The WRX put up a phenomenal fight, and is a class act itself, but it just couldn't overcome the Chevy's performance advantages. Kim summed it up thus: "Dynamically, the Cobalt SS is the best — it completely shocked us."

 

So for all those who have said, "I'd buy an American car if they made one that could compete with the Europeans and Japanese," Chevy is calling your bluff. Because the Cobalt SS doesn't just compete with the foreign cars, it beats them. It is the hottest-performing sports compact you can buy in the U.S. for under $30,000. That it's also the least expensive in this test is even more reason to rush to your Chevy dealer immediately. Not only will it help stimulate the economy, but every aspect of your enthusiast driving senses as well.

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It is a little weird to note that the same magazine ran a 3.09 with a 2005 Lotus Elise with only 190hp.

 

I find it hard to believe there wasn't any driver error involved when you have essentially the same car only with an increase of 30 hp.--Could GM be purchasing some advertising space in the test?

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I am not defending the Cobalt owners but has anyone thrown a Cobalt SS into a corner on here? I was surprised the first time i ran the shit out of a brand new one at the dealership. Those cars can handle. But i have hard time believing they can handle better then some of those cars. I also dont have any first hand experience with a Lotus. I did not get to try out one of the Turbo Cobalts but the powerband on the S/C Cobalts was a joke in stock form.
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I've been reading where they are really touting the new SS. Meh....no thanks, I'll stick with the little MS3. She's definitely nicer than that cheap Chevy in so many ways, especially inside.

 

If it means I'm a few ticks slower around the course, then so be it. It's going to boil down to the driver no matter what pulls up next me.

 

IMO, with all the mags pushing it like they are, I can't help but feel there isn't a little sponsorship money at play to bump it up a few ticks.

 

Either way, she's still a Cobalt :thumbdown

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the best part? in motortrends 'best handling car blah blah bullshit' test recently, randy pobst(amazing touring car driver, one of the best!) said the mini cooper S is a better car to drive than the cobalt SS(although slower lap time due to less power). so, basically, the mini cooper S has better handling than the STI, speed3, and lancer. boy would people be in a fit if that were the outcome rather than the cobalt SS. i would rather have a speed3 over any of those, and a speed6 over a speed3 though.
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Ive read some articles about the new turbo cobalts and as much as i dislike gm, i must say that they got it right on this one. They did what all automakers should do which is, release a performance model, test it, see how the public responds, and then modify/ redesign all the issues it had. Like i said, im sorry to say that chevy did this one right.
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Ive read some articles about the new turbo cobalts and as much as i dislike gm, i must say that they got it right on this one. They did what all automakers should do which is, release a performance model, test it, see how the public responds, and then modify/ redesign all the issues it had. Like i said, im sorry to say that chevy did this one right.

 

Sadly, when they finally got it right, it was a cobalt econobox. :(

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It is a little weird to note that the same magazine ran a 3.09 with a 2005 Lotus Elise with only 190hp.

 

I find it hard to believe there wasn't any driver error involved when you have essentially the same car only with an increase of 30 hp.--Could GM be purchasing some advertising space in the test?

It's more extensive than an upgrade in HP. It got new shocks, springs, swaybars, Brembo brakes, some new interior bits, and I think it also got better knuckes and more geometry changes to help negate torque steer.

 

Crossle - The first scan was from Car and Driver. It's their "Lightning Lap" at VIR.

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