2010 Chevy Cobalt 60k Miles Report

[Bob5150]

In May 2010, my now wife bought a Chevy Cobalt 2.2L auto sedan new. It was her car until we bought her a 2016 Grand Caravan, and I took the Cobalt to replace my 1995 Mercury Sable.

In 7 years & 60k miles, the only issues so far have been:

- a taillight and a headlight were both replaced under warranty due to condensation on the inside
- the a/c had an issue (some sort of fuse or relay) that was fixed at our expense in August 2014
- currently trying to figure out why only the front passenger side window works

Modifications have been:

- painted the grille body color to replace the faded black original. I was originally going to repaint the grille black, but decided to change it
- painted the Chevy badges silver instead of gold
- painted the bodyside molding silver to replace the faded red they were originally
- replaced the factory wheel covers with the same style, but in chrome

This is not an exciting car, but I wanted to do some inexpensive DIY-type of mods to make it more my own ($50 hubcaps is a lot cheaper than a new set of wheels, stuff like that).

Oil has been Cam2 10w30 synthetic blend and usually a Purolator filter since new (I get this oil from my work).

I had the trans serviced at about 45k and I rotate the tires once a year (about 10k miles).

My wife stayed home with our son for the first 2 years of his life, so it didn't get many miles put on it for that time.

We run our cars into the ground, and we hope to get 20 years of service out of it.

Overall, we are happy with it, especially for an inexpensive vehicle.

 

[wemay]

Nothing wrong with a little boring but reliable. Nice review.

 

[oil_film_movies]

I've always thought Cobalts were under-appreciated.
They score very well in crash tests: http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/chevrolet/cobalt-4-door-sedan

Also, the Cobalt SS version was a Car and Driver magazine and "Fast & Furious" poplular fan favorite for a few years, very nice!
It placed 3rd in this test, behind only the GTI and Mazda, and it beat a WRX! http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/cobalt-ss-v-wrx-and-5-more-sport-compacts-comparison-tests and http://www.caranddriver.com/features/lightning-lap-2008-feature-ll1-2008-chevrolet-cobalt-ss-page-2

The oil you're using, the CAM2 10w30, probably isn't the greatest to keep the engine going longer. Recommend getting any good name-brand full synthetic that says "High Mileage" for the seal conditioners, at Walmart or cheap on Amazon in the 5-quart jugs, with a superior Fram Ultra oil filter. Get a 5w30 for your climate, better cold lubrication. Any big name brand 5w30, and preferably Valvoline MaxLife 5w30 or Mobil1 HighMileage 5w30, or Pennzoil Platinum HighMileage 5w30, and change at the OLM (dashboard light to tell you when to change). If you get a full-synthetic oil thats not HighMileage, then you can just put in half a bottle of something that says it has seal conditioners, like check some Rislone bottles for that wording, or the silver-bottle HighMileage STP, again half a bottle is good.

Also check to make sure your air filter and air flow path have no cracks or leaks along the seals, to keep out grit, all for longevity.

 

[bigt61]

My son has about 170k on his 2003 Cavalier w the 2.2L Ecotec. No issues other than it's starting to use a little oil - about a quart every 3000 or so. He has used Castrol & M1 synthetic, PYB and a few runs of MaxLife. Bought the car used in 2006 with 57k miles - it's been solid and still runs great. Plugs, brakes, battery, tires, one fuel pump, replaced transmission shifter cable. Did a transmission pan dump at about 130k - used SuperTech Dexron VI. Cheap beater at this point.

 

[BigJakeChevy]

Originally Posted By: Bob5150
In May 2010, my now wife bought a Chevy Cobalt 2.2L auto sedan new. It was her car until we bought her a 2016 Grand Caravan, and I took the Cobalt to replace my 1995 Mercury Sable.

In 7 years & 60k miles, the only issues so far have been:

- a taillight and a headlight were both replaced under warranty due to condensation on the inside
- the a/c had an issue (some sort of fuse or relay) that was fixed at our expense in August 2014
- currently trying to figure out why only the front passenger side window works

Modifications have been:

- painted the grille body color to replace the faded black original. I was originally going to repaint the grille black, but decided to change it
- painted the Chevy badges silver instead of gold
- painted the bodyside molding silver to replace the faded red they were originally
- replaced the factory wheel covers with the same style, but in chrome

This is not an exciting car, but I wanted to do some inexpensive DIY-type of mods to make it more my own ($50 hubcaps is a lot cheaper than a new set of wheels, stuff like that).

Oil has been Cam2 10w30 synthetic blend and usually a Purolator filter since new (I get this oil from my work).

I had the trans serviced at about 45k and I rotate the tires once a year (about 10k miles).

My wife stayed home with our son for the first 2 years of his life, so it didn't get many miles put on it for that time.

We run our cars into the ground, and we hope to get 20 years of service out of it.

Overall, we are happy with it, especially for an inexpensive vehicle.


I have an 07 ION and had the same issue with the windows. I found the wiring harness in the drive front door was all broken. I removed it and respliced everything.

 

[Bamaro]

I had an 09 Cobalt coupe. Really liked it. No problems in 6 years except for a distracted driver eating french fries who pulled out in front of me leaving a McDonalds and totaled both cars.

I'd still have it today.

 

[oil_film_movies]

Originally Posted By: bigt61
My son has about 170k on his 2003 Cavalier w the 2.2L Ecotec.
Those Cavaliers were nothing like the Cobalts. Cavaliers were J-body, and Cobalts were Delta. Very hard to compare the two very different chassis.

 

[addyguy]

Surprised you don't have rocker panel rust issues...all of them I see these days, the rockers are rusted right through. It's why I didn't buy one to replace my Tribute, and got the Soul instead - and I did look at LOTS of them.

However, they are a very reliable, solid little car.

 

[oilpsi2high]

I have the SS Supercharged version that I bought new in June of 2007. Ten years of ownership this month.

You can tell that this car was designed with penny pinching in mind. Everything aside from the powertrain and suspension has maximum corporate profit built into it.

The good news is that when things do break, they are very cheap to replace. This car, even after maintenance and repairs, saves me something like 4 grand a year over a new vehicle.

I'm at 133k. Just replaced the fuel lines that were rotted out underneath. My rockers are also starting to rust, no holes yet and the moldings cover that up anyway. Overall a decent car, sticker was $ 24,095 back in 2007.