Recently, there were three significant changes influenced GM's small car program: first, GM took over Daewoo a couple of years ago. This allows it to rebadge the Korean-made Kalos as Chevrolet Aveo and sell it as the brand’s entry-level model. As a result, the successor of Cavalier can move up half a segment, concentrate on challenging the big players like Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic. 

Second, GM decided to combine its European and American small cars into one platform, Delta, whose development was led by Opel. German engineering and bigger development budget guarantees better products. In this way, the new Chevrolet Cobalt is born from the same architecture as Opel Astra, sharing the same stiff structure, Europe-tuned suspensions and the Lotus-developed L850 aluminum 16V engines. 

But then you may say the same Delta platform also gave birth to a poor car, Saturn Ion. Yes, the Saturn version is really poor, blame to its cost-cutting strategy. However, Chevrolet Cobalt did not repeat the failure of Saturn, because it is a real "Lutz's car". That lead us to the third change. Since Chrysler veteran Bob Lutz joined GM as product director, he has been changing the culture of this accountant-driven company, transforming it to a product-driven company. Lutz told its engineers not to save cost by dumping good designs, just make the Cobalt as good as possible out of the Delta platform. Don't worry about cost. Good products can sell for higher price.

In this way, the Cobalt received many expensive designs that the Ion didn't, some not even its European cousin did. It gets high quality plastics in the cabin. It gets hydraulic-mounted bushings for its torsion-beam rear suspension. Its cabin is insulated from noise by a lot of sound-deadening foam, while the fire wall is made of sound-absorbing laminated steel (so-called "quiet steel"). The engine cover provides extra noise insulation while low-noise tensioner is used for cam-drive chain. Drivetrain vibration is reduced by extra strengthening to transmission mounting. These efforts pay off in driving - the Cobalt feels remarkably quiet, refined and solid. Not only sets new standard for American small cars but actually matches the best European and Japanese rivals.

The Chevrolet gets more powerful engines than its Opel cousin. Most cars in the class run engines no bigger than 2.0 litres, but the Chevrolet's base engine is already a 2.2-litre 16V. That is the familiar Ecotec engine that powers Saturn L-Series and Ion, Opel Astra, Vectra and Speedster. It has not only a lightweight all-alloy construction but also a pair of counter-rotating balancer shafts to ensure smooth revving. But the 145hp engine provides only average performance, because the Cobalt weighs a hefty 1460kg. That's the price it paid for refinement and quality.

No wonder a bigger 2.4-litre engine is also offered. Benefited by the extra cc and a variable valve timing, the 2.4 version produces 170 horsepower and 170 lbft of torque. It should power the Cobalt from standstill to 60mph in less than 8 seconds. 

Like Opel Astra, Chevrolet Cobalt is not exactly fun to drive. While it feels secured and stable to drive fast, it lacks the fluidity of Volkswagen Golf V and Ford Focus. Its torsion-beam axle suspension cannot match the rivals' multi-link setup. The result is more understeer at the limit and less composure on bumpy surfaces. Besides, like Astra, the electric power steering delivers a numb feel, although it is accurate and nicely weighted. 

Anyway, it is competent enough to rival Toyota Corolla and the like. After countless of attempts, GM finally built a small car capable of rivaling the Japanese. And quite surprisingly, this is not a Saturn but a Chevrolet.
 

Cobalt Coupe SS

Inevitably, it generates some torque steer to the front-drive chassis, but this can be eliminated by choosing the optional Quaife limited slip differential. To keen drivers, the LSD and the supportive Recaro bucket seats are worth paying for. As such equipped, the Cobalt SS has fool-proof handling. Power is put down to the road effectively via the grippy Pirelli P-Zero tires (215/45ZR18 in size). The rigid chassis and firmer suspensions (now with aluminum control arm at the front) enable stable and confidence-inspiring cornering. It can carry fairly high speed into corners without risk of losing control. It has enough low-end grunt to storm out of corners. In other words, it is a better "Street, Road and Track" car than Chrysler's SRT-4.

Such a good handling is the result of extensive testing on test tracks in the US as well as at Nurburgring in Germany. But the testing did not solve the fundamental problems of the Delta platform, i.e., too much understeer and too little steering feel. They might not affect the absolute performance of the car, but they did make the driving experience less involving and less inspiring than Toyota Celica GTS and Honda Integra Type R.
 

Cobalt Coupe SS turbo

New turbocharged SS raises the performance bar of the class...

Chassis dynamics is equally impressive, thanks to OPC and Nurburgring testing