The Dreaded Cobalt
Three weeks ago a German car hit my Korean car, and the worst part of the whole ordeal was that I had to drive a Chevy Cobalt for a week.
My insurance covers car rental, but only up to $25 per day. Thus, I had my choice of a Chevy Cobalt or paying more to drive a larger American car I was more likely to crash. I took the Cobalt, but damn, it was a shitty car. In fact, I was not 400 feet off the repair shop/rental lot when I cried out (a la Angelina Jolie in Changeling) "I want MY car baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!" In fact, driving the Dreaded Cobalt for a week was like driving school purgatory for me: at every turn I gripped the steering wheel in fear.
To be fair, my family had American cars for years. I learned to drive in a Saturn. My first car was a Plymouth Acclaim and in college the mystery behind my Mercury Mystique was when it would break and where you would be stranded. After college I bought a foreign car. I like my Hyundai Elantra, it felt comfortable from the first test drive. In fact, you may recall that I bought it en route to Los Angeles when the Mystique died. But oh, this Cobalt. Seriously, it was such a shitty car. Truly. I understand the shock of driving a different car, but I've driven Rob's Toyota, Claudia's Honda, and John's Saab and this was by far the most uncomfortable car I think I've ever sat in. It just seemed poorly designed in general--like no thought was put into the person who would be driving the vehicle. And yes, this was the "no frills" version, but I once had a Hyundai Accent rental and while that's a cheap-o car too, it was no where near as bad as the Cobalt. This was a 2008 Cobalt too! It wasn't at all ergonomic. The first thing I noticed was that the gas and the brake were not adjacent to each other; the gas was set further back, while the brake was closer to my foot. This created more foot movement to get from gas to brake, which was jarring at first, and continued to be. The seats were uncomfortable, the locks were in hard to reach places, you had to manually turn off the radio when you turned off the car. The car had some minor "features" like a digital fuel gauge and a thermometer, but I gladly would have traded these for an armrest. It had a CD player, but I would have preferred a vanity mirror in the visor. A lack of such minor conveniences was surprising.
It was a scary ride too. The mirrors almost seemed warped in that objects/other cars looked too close or too far from the vehicle. It was somewhat disorienting. At one point I had to slam on the brakes in a residential area. A man attempted a left turn in front of my car without seeing me (ironically this was the type of collision that put me in the Cobalt). Slamming on my brakes produced a really scary screech and skid, much different than the quick, reassuring brakes of my Elantra. I learned early on that the brakes were scary, which was further incentive not to speed, and a wise choice indeed as the Cobalt frightened me at speeds over 40 mph.
Today I got MY car baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack, and thanks to the Cobalt, I am now extremely thankful and grateful for my little Hyundai. But honestly, now I truly understand why GM is in the shitter: make a shitty product and it won't sell. I don't know who would test drive a Cobalt and want to buy it. It's unfortunate because should any of the American automakers fail a lot of people will be out of work.
My insurance covers car rental, but only up to $25 per day. Thus, I had my choice of a Chevy Cobalt or paying more to drive a larger American car I was more likely to crash. I took the Cobalt, but damn, it was a shitty car. In fact, I was not 400 feet off the repair shop/rental lot when I cried out (a la Angelina Jolie in Changeling) "I want MY car baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!" In fact, driving the Dreaded Cobalt for a week was like driving school purgatory for me: at every turn I gripped the steering wheel in fear.
To be fair, my family had American cars for years. I learned to drive in a Saturn. My first car was a Plymouth Acclaim and in college the mystery behind my Mercury Mystique was when it would break and where you would be stranded. After college I bought a foreign car. I like my Hyundai Elantra, it felt comfortable from the first test drive. In fact, you may recall that I bought it en route to Los Angeles when the Mystique died. But oh, this Cobalt. Seriously, it was such a shitty car. Truly. I understand the shock of driving a different car, but I've driven Rob's Toyota, Claudia's Honda, and John's Saab and this was by far the most uncomfortable car I think I've ever sat in. It just seemed poorly designed in general--like no thought was put into the person who would be driving the vehicle. And yes, this was the "no frills" version, but I once had a Hyundai Accent rental and while that's a cheap-o car too, it was no where near as bad as the Cobalt. This was a 2008 Cobalt too! It wasn't at all ergonomic. The first thing I noticed was that the gas and the brake were not adjacent to each other; the gas was set further back, while the brake was closer to my foot. This created more foot movement to get from gas to brake, which was jarring at first, and continued to be. The seats were uncomfortable, the locks were in hard to reach places, you had to manually turn off the radio when you turned off the car. The car had some minor "features" like a digital fuel gauge and a thermometer, but I gladly would have traded these for an armrest. It had a CD player, but I would have preferred a vanity mirror in the visor. A lack of such minor conveniences was surprising.
It was a scary ride too. The mirrors almost seemed warped in that objects/other cars looked too close or too far from the vehicle. It was somewhat disorienting. At one point I had to slam on the brakes in a residential area. A man attempted a left turn in front of my car without seeing me (ironically this was the type of collision that put me in the Cobalt). Slamming on my brakes produced a really scary screech and skid, much different than the quick, reassuring brakes of my Elantra. I learned early on that the brakes were scary, which was further incentive not to speed, and a wise choice indeed as the Cobalt frightened me at speeds over 40 mph.
Today I got MY car baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack, and thanks to the Cobalt, I am now extremely thankful and grateful for my little Hyundai. But honestly, now I truly understand why GM is in the shitter: make a shitty product and it won't sell. I don't know who would test drive a Cobalt and want to buy it. It's unfortunate because should any of the American automakers fail a lot of people will be out of work.
posted by Eileen at 6:26 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home