Chevrolet Sonic

Good car for the price and my family

By auburnalabam (AL) on Saturday, September 24, 2011

I own this car - My approximate mileage is 100

Pros: "Great value for the money. Plenty of options in the 2LT."

Cons: "Hard plastic interior. Little hard to handle in strong winds."

Likely to recommend this car? (1-10): 10

"This car is a great value and very reliable...so far. It has plenty of room and the 2LT has all the options that I wanted- cruise, remote start, etc. The hard plastic interior takes some getting used to, but looks good. It handles well enough, but I had to drive through a thunderstorm on the way home from the dealership and it felt a little top heavy and harder to keep straight."

29 people out of 29 found this review helpful

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Great car for fair price

By Daniel (CA) on Sunday, June 10, 2012

I own this car - My approximate mileage is 1,000

Pros: "safety, fun to drive"

Cons: "nothing, great for its class"

Likely to recommend this car? (1-10): 10

My orange Sonic 2LT sedan with automatic transmission and 1.8 engine at Julia Pfeiffer State Park in California

"I own an orange Sonic 2LT Sedan with automatic transmission and the 1.8 engine. I've driven it through the windy, mountainous roads of Highway 1 in California, been stuck in traffic in San Francisco, gone through country roads near San Jose, and been on a 150 mile straight trip with my Sonic. On the numerous hairpin turns of Highway 1, my Sonic stuck to the road like glue, even at 55mph. It delivered more-than-suitable amounts of power to charge uphill, and the brakes work wonders on the light vehicle going downhill, all while maintaining 33mpg on rugged terrain like that. Stuck in traffic, its engine is extremely quiet and there is absolutely no vibration. The seats are comfortable enough to sit in for copious amounts of time while waiting for red lights to finally change, once again, all while maintaining a cool 27mpg in traffic jams. On long trips, it really struts its stuff in comparison to other cars in its class. Its comfortable and reasonably spacious. I'm 6 feet tall, 170lbs and I don't even have the seat all the way back while i'm driving. I managed to fit 4 people, and their luggage for a plane trip, in this car with suitable leg room and comfort, 5 people might be stretching it though. I registered 39mpg on the highway. Now, the looks. As aforementioned, my Sonic is an orange sedan, so I'm going purely based off of its specific style and my personal opinion. I think the orange paint job really stands out on my Sonic. I also think the sedan looks better than other sedans in its category. Its a small car, but its headlights and front grill give it a mean, sporty look. Also, the all of the exterior lights on it are extremely bright. The interior is hard plastic, but it doesn't look or feel particularly bad. or cheap. The dash lights glow blue, and the gauges are all tubular and motorcycle-like. Overall, the front dash looks somewhat blank, and futuristic. The interior of my Sonic is cloth, and the black clashes well with the orange outside. The safety features on this car are quite vast. It has almost no blind spots, and it comes with 10 standard airbags. Fortunately, I've not experienced those airbags yet. Overall, it drives nicely, and has a lot of features for the price. It doesn't look half bad in the orange sedan option either. The controls are also very easy to become accustomed to. It also has a great price and fuel economy."

27 people out of 27 found this review helpful

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I feel like this car was made exactly for me!

By smokey (OH) on Wednesday, March 14, 2012

I own this car - My approximate mileage is 700

Likely to recommend this car? (1-10): 9

"I went into test driving a Chevy with some reservations. Especially a compact where the market is dominated by foreign cars like KIA, Hyundai, Toyota, and Honda. Boy was I wrong. Lets start from the beginning. I had been driving a KIA that was approaching 100k miles and was in need of a new car that had the best fuel economy available and also a warranty. So I figured I would go back to KIA. I test drove the Rio and was unimpressed. It just didn't do anything for me. Not only the car itself but also the pricing on upgrading a base model to an automatic transmission and power package. After tallying up all of that, I was out of my price range. Since that didnt work out, I figured I would ride it out with what I had and not get a new car. Then I came across the Sonic on the dealerships website. I was first drawn to the look of the front of the exterior. Very sporty looking. Chevy has separated themselves from the pack by dramatically changing the way the front end looks compared with most compacts out on the road. Afterall, this is what you would see coming down the road. Might as well make it look good. So I did alot of research on the Sonic. The only thing that was holding me back was the mileage ratings on the sticker. My KIA was still pumping out 33mpg on average, and the Sonic seemed to be slightly better from what I was reading. I figured I would request a test drive of the Sonic anyways just to stoke my curiosity. From the moment I put it into 1st gear at the dealership and hit the road I was hooked. The car feels solid for being so small. It rides nice and has good insulating qualities for keeping out road and wind noise. I test drove (and purchased)the base model Sonic which is the 5 speed manual, 1.8L engine. It has crank handle windows, but comes standard equipped with keyless entry, power doors and locks, am/fm radio with auxillary input (no cd - no big deal to me). One thing I thought was great with the radio in this car that I had not had before is the ability to store both AM and FM stations on the same favorites list. So. The gas mileage seems to be quite the topic of contention concerning this car and the 1.8L engine in it. To be honest I was a little concerned when I first started driving the Sonic because I was only getting about 34mpg (highway) for the first few hundred miles. However, after hitting the 500 mile mark on the odometer, this car is showing me how economical it can be. This morning, I averaged 42.8 mpg. Unbelievable but true. Granted 37 of the 40 miles I drive to work are freeway miles at speeds 55 to 70 mph. Driving around town does drop the averages down quite a bit to the high 20's / low 30's but still well within reason. My only gripes are minor. When starting the car first thing in the morning it sounds louder than I am used to. Not excessively loud but just enough to make you notice. The radio speaker system they put in the base model barely is adequate and the radio menus are somewhat clunky to navigate. The cup holders are positioned farther back than I would like them to be in the center. The dashboard console is lacking certain features like an always present "engine temperature" that is on most cars. And lastly...I am not particularly fond of pressing "menu" every time I want to switch the console reading from odometer/trip over to avg. mileage/till empty readouts. Independent buttons would have worked just as well. The cons are typically items that are associated with the "bells and whistles" of the car not the mechanical operation. The car as a whole itself is fantastic and I am loving it. This is a solid little car that is fun to drive and should save you some money in the long run. I now look forward to driving again because of my Sonic."

25 people out of 25 found this review helpful

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