Cobalt reliability?

faliray

How reliable is the Cobalt? I read the forums and even Cobalt owners roast the car. Is unreliability the reason GM got rid of the Cobalt? I'm worried because my Cobalt is about to hit 100,000. I also heard that workers at the factory that made the Cobalt purposely sabotaged the car because they were mad at management.

Mr_Shiftright

I wouldn't believe urban myths like that. Obviously they didn't sabotage your car at least, since you've already gone 100,000 miles!

Here's a general OVERVIEW of the car's reliability. As you can see, in some areas it's good and in some pretty mediocre.

After 100K, you'll going to have to expect to spend some money on maintenance and repairs---things do wear out, after all.

faliray

Appreciate the insight. Thanks.

uplanderguy

I have two--one bought used which now has 70K miles, and the other bought new, with 96K miles. Both are reliable, but the one I bought new is hard-to-believe--it idles so smooth you can't even tell or hear it's running, and it's still on the original plugs (as is the other car). Both also have the original battery, which I think is unusual. My main complaint is front-end noises here and there, but they were cheap cars to buy. With my GM card discount, I only paid $9,900 for my '08 new--and that was before my trade.

Where the Cobalt was built, Lordstown, OH, was known forty years ago for worker sabotage, but it's forty miles down the road from where I live and I think I'd have heard something like you're saying, lately, if it were really the case.

imidazol97

I have one, an '08 bought in '10 slightly used. It now has 68K miles. My son drove it through high school then college. It did have a noise in the front suspension which sounds like a bushing that has worn and is letting the metal parts make contact when driving over little manhole covers for instance.
It did develop a noise in the intermediate steering shaft, much like some of the H-bodies did.


The dealer is replacing parts that have worn causing the noise under the extended GM warranty that I bought before the original 3/36 was up.

Earlier it had a noisy auxiliary air pump that pushes air into the exhaust on certain cold starts to fire up the catalytic converter quicker to get the low emissions on startup. That was replaced under warranty (emissions?) and after good advice from cardoc3 on here I replaced the diverter valve on the exhaust manifold myself--2 bolts and a couple of gaskets. That valve closes off the exhaust port when the air pump is not pushing air. But these sometimes leak exhaust into the long tube going down to the air pump on bottom of the engine. That exhaust leak can cause damage to the air pump with the hot corrosive gases.. So I replaced the valve myself with an ACDelco branded part for a hundred or so plus the little high temp gaskets. That protects the new air pump.

The engine is great. Good mileage for a PZEV. Transmission has been perfect. The ride is good. I have Michelin tires on it. Just took it back from my son who now drives a '15 Cruze 2LT to work. I expect the same service level from the Cruze.

The dealer is replacing parts that have worn causing the noise under the extended GM warranty that I bought before the original 3/36 was up.

prizmgurl

In addition to being Prizms owners, my family also has an '08 Cobalt. Dad bought Colleen (the Cobalt's name), after crashing our '02 stick Prizm and other than steering issues, she's been good. Almost 140,000 miles and she basically always starts. She was 1 year old, a previous rental with 18,000 something miles when we got her.

prizmgurl

uplanderguy said:

I have two--one bought used which now has 70K miles, and the other bought new, with 96K miles. Both are reliable, but the one I bought new is hard-to-believe--it idles so smooth you can't even tell or hear it's running, and it's still on the original plugs (as is the other car). Both also have the original battery, which I think is unusual. My main complaint is front-end noises here and there, but they were cheap cars to buy. With my GM card discount, I only paid $9,900 for my '08 new--and that was before my trade.

Where the Cobalt was built, Lordstown, OH, was known forty years ago for worker sabotage, but it's forty miles down the road from where I live and I think I'd have heard something like you're saying, lately, if it were really the case.

My dad's Cobalt makes front end noises sometimes and Dad found out the steering arms were bad the first time that happened.

verysad1

yea we just had to replace the defective transmission on our's, at our expense of coarse. Run away from buying a Cobalt is my advice based on our defective transmission (car was bought new by us and lady driven) Run

imidazol97

Although it's cute to suggest running away from a Cobalt, my question is how many miles were on the car?
How was the car driven? Town? By whom was the car driven and in what manner?
When was the transmission serviced? 50,000 miles for an oil and filter change in the transmission?

faliray

Poor Cobalt, it's much maligned. My parents hate my car. My daughter hates my car. The funny thing is my car's been reliable and gets great gas mileage.

Mr_Shiftright

When it comes to judging reliability, you have to look at the DATA. Anecdotes aren't evidence.

uplanderguy

The trouble with data, is it includes people who don't know what maintenance is. I'd much rather ask someone I know who bought a car new and has done the recommended maintenance, at the time it's supposed to be done.

Mr_Shiftright

Well you can sort the data to account for that, if you want.

uplanderguy

I've many times pointed out what to me are shaky things in CR's charts and methodology, considering so many people rely on them, and they themselves think they are 'The Bible' in that regard IMHO. And this coming from an online subscriber!