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Passenger space, 90.4 (sedan) or 90.6 (hatchback) cu. Weighs 2,684 to 2,862 lbs., depending on model and equipment.
TURBO SONIC ENGINE MANUAL
at 1,850.įive-speed manual is standard on 1.8, six-speed automatic optional. Optional ($700, available on high-end LT and LTZ models): 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder rated 138 hp at 4,900, 148 lbs.-ft. What makes it go? Base engine is 1.8-liter four-cylinder rated 138 horsepower at 6,300 rpm, 125 pounds-feet of torque at 3,800 rpm.Test car was a well-equipped LTZ hatchback with 1.4 turbo engine and manual transmission, priced at $18,695. Automatic transmission is $1,070 option with base engine. How much? Base LS sedan starts at $14,495, including shipping.Why? Aveo wasn't popular enough or competitive enough to battle the flood of new small cars.What? Front-drive, four-door subcompact available as a sedan or a hatchback, replacing South Korean Aveo in Chevrolet lineup.For many buyers, though, it could hit the sweet spot. It's just not the high-class, scintillating little scooter we were expecting. Sonic is a good car: useful, easy to drive, a good value. Still, it's hard to find big gripes - except that ugly instrument panel and the industry-standard cheap-out sun visors than don't extend to help block sun-blindness. Sonic is unlikely to annoy you with petulant dynamic behavior.Ī lukewarm reaction to Sonic could be a matter of expectations more than a fault of the car's.Ĭhevy's choice of engines from the bigger, heavier Cruze and a need to gain ground fast in the fierce small-car market signaled that the Sonic would be closer to the life of the party than the test car seemed. The essentials - steering precision, brake feel, cornering ability - all seemed more than satisfactory. Cargo space is generous with the back seats up or down. Visibility in the hatchback was good, despite the wide rear roof pillars. Motorcycles have a different appeal than cars, obviously, and the two don't always mix well. Chevy says it's supposed to resemble what motorcycles do. A big, round traditional tachometer is cheek-by-jowl with a cheap-looking rectangle that houses digital readouts and warning lights. The only jazz inside is, in fact, a drawback. But a few plastic parts look and feel cheap. The interior's fairly plain, which isn't bad. Back seat knee and leg space was tolerable only if a tall person didn't have the front seat slid well back. No sense of that driver-oriented cockpit that some automakers try to execute (often badly). That space-conscious design opened extra width that made Sonic feel like a bigger car. The Sonic's front seat area was unencumbered by the customary fat center console or intrusive door panel control pods. If you like to blip the gas and rev the engine for downshifts, as all your finer enthusiasts do, the 1.4 turbo could disappoint because of that reluctance to soar up the rev band the instant you toe the throttle. Once awake, it stormed ahead just fine, though. The turbo engine, which should have been the big attraction, felt slightly numb, taking a moment to come alive under a heavy right foot. Handled that cold-milled asphalt like a premium machine. It went down the road with smooth composure rather than a sense that it was a dog ready to run.Ībsurd amounts of construction and road repair in Northern Virginia offered ample opportunity for the test car to send up a roar of road noise, but it never did. The test car, an $18,695 LTZ hatchback with optional 1.4-liter turbocharged engine and a manual transmission, was quiet, not boisterous. Sonic comes across as a small car for the mainstream, though Chevy is calling it the right choice for frisky drivers. Maybe that's not bad, at least for Chevy. When you're forced to give up the comforts of size - as you must in a small car - the redeeming attribute should be a delicious nimbleness that sparks delight when you're behind the wheel.ĭidn't quite seem to be there. (Fiesta is 120 hp.) But the Sonic test car failed to excite. Sonic engines are rated 138 horsepower, a lot for the size and price class. (In fact, it feels more spacious than the Ford Focus, a bigger car.) Sonic is straightforward inside and out, while the Fiesta wears Ford's edgy small-car exterior styling and the automaker's oddball control layout. It stands strong when pitted, on paper, against the Ford Fiesta, a logical rival.
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Sonic's allure is that it is a lot of motor vehicle, with an unusual amount of power and good fuel economy, for the price - roughly $14,500 to $20,500.