The Cobalt's week-long stay coincided with my test
of a Suzuki Reno hatchback. My fiancee' Robin gravitated
towards the Reno, which had more comfortable seats and
a manual transmission. That suited me fine, because
I preferred to drive the Cobalt, even though it wasn't
as comfortable to sit in. Unfortunately for both of
us, only the Cobalt's surprisingly large trunk could
swallow Robin's portable massage table without the need
to fold the seats, so on days when Robin had both work
and kid-duty, she was stuck with the Cobalt and I had
to make do with the Reno. We were only too eager to
switch back. I'm really impressed by the Cobalt. Though
the exterior shape is dull, the interior is tasteful
and attractive, and the driving experience is far better
than any GM subcompact we've seen in years--good enough,
in fact, that not even an automatic transmission can
dampen the experience. And it's a great value. The Cobalt's
one glaring fault is the seat comfort (or, more specifically,
the lack thereof), a problem which is going to cost
Chevy a lot of Cobalt sales. Shame, because the Cobalt
is the best small car to come out of Detroit in years.
