I'm going to go buy a 2009 Chevy Cobolt. I'm going to start the hunt on Saturday. Going with the 1LT sedan with the automatic tranny in silver.

I don't see myself ever buying another non-silver car.

when I bought my 07 back in September of 06, the SS next to it was that silver. I hated it, still hate it. i much prefer my laser blue.

Skelly... go for the SS turbo package, provided you can drive a standard shift.

I've heard that silver and grey are the most likely vehicle colors to be in an accident, due to fact that those shades tend to blend in with the roadway color and therefore tend to be involved in lane change collisions, just something I heard someplace!!

I do know that when I drive one of my cars that is grey primer, I feel as though I'm invisible to morons!!!

i love a silver car, dont have to wash it

Posted by Samurai when I bought my 07 back in September of 06, the SS next to it was that silver. I hated it, still hate it. i much prefer my laser blue. Skelly... go for the SS turbo package, provided you can drive a standard shift.

I prefer the silver because I don't quite care for white on a car, but do want something not dark.

Ha, I hate to disappoint you but I do not care for standard I was looking at the SS but I realized I don't need a reason yet for the speed.

I just found out the other day that the battery for the Cobalt is in the rear. That makes it much easier when I install my ham radio gear in the car because I just have to only run one cable for the remote head up to the front of the car now.

lol

Posted by nostra-YOUPPI! i love a silver car, dont have to wash it

Exactly!

My other car is dark metallic blue, and looks dirty again an hour after being washed.

Exactly! My other car is dark metallic blue, and looks dirty again an hour after being washed.

Same thing with red

I changed my mind to the LS but here's what I have so far.

I checked out two dealers; Ron Tonkin Chevy and Wentworth Chevy here in Portland. I was going to bring my friend Stirling along as my wingman in all of this but ended up taking my father along with me.

Went to Ron Tonkin first. They had a Blue 2009 Cobalt LS that I liked. After the test drive, we sat down that the table to see what they can offer. With using the CARS program, I get the $4500 instant credit which is nice along with the supplier discount of $1500 which got the car down to 11,000-ish.

I knew I could get the car to near 10,000 or a little below, but my father suggested I ask for 8500 for the car, which I know I wouldn't get but thought that was a bit too much to even ask for as I was thinking 9000-10,000. However, when I asked for it, the salesman starting laughing and basically said that can't be done due to the fact "he only makes a profit of $750 on that car" among other things. And then here's where it gets odd: he didn't even offer another number, but just kept pointing at the 11,000 figure.

Of all the new car negotiations I have been wingman on before, I've never seen that. But after the salesman was just keep on pointing at that price, me and my father just walked out.

Went over to Wentworth next. Here, they had the same exact model, but during the test drive, I noticed it was a smoother ride. Decided to sit again at the table and see what we can do. Now, what was interesting that he was coming up at something like 10,589 because their dealer fees were lower. And they offered 0% 6-year financing on that car (which I can get if my father would co-sign on the loan which he is willing to.)

Now, the sales manager here came out to talk to us and thats where I again was advised by my father to offer 8500 to start, which again, the sales manager said "Where are you coming up with that number?" and them my father had to explain, which the sales manager kind of disagreed on. However, he did ask "We might be able to agree on another number" which my father told me to NOT say anything even though I wanted to say "Can you do under 10,000" since he's playing this game with me.

As we are walking about the door, the sales manager stops us and says "I might have something for you in a Cobalt around that price if you are looking at used". So he took us into the Garage where he had a guy trade in eariler in the day his 2007 Cobalt LS at 76,000 miles for a brand new one. He said once its certified used by him, he would probably sell it for 6000. I added it to my list.

Any comments here?

part of owning a car is the fun of detailing and washing it and learning al the curves of its body, or watching your gf wash it in a bikini

I would have asked if he could do under $10,000. As well, if you could afford the 72 month payment plan at the current price and you want it, then get it. I would not go anything over 72 months though.

76,000 miles is too many for a 2007.
the car has had the shit beat out of it, i'm betting on.

10k is not bad for a brand new car, like it or not.
especially since small cars have come back into vogue.

It's funny, the mileage thing has never bothered me- I'd rater buy a high mileage car that looks like it's been taken care of then a low mileage car of the same year... it's probably all been highway miles, and if it looks good, its been looked after.

Both of my daily drivers have over half a million kilometers on them, and both work and look great. (Aside from some wicked sandblasting on the hood of my Beetle... but at 581,000 km... yeah, you get it)

Posted by bandi It's funny, the mileage thing has never bothered me- I'd rater buy a high mileage car that looks like it's been taken care of then a low mileage car of the same year... it's probably all been highway miles, and if it looks good, its been looked after. Both of my daily drivers have over half a million kilometers on them, and both work and look great. (Aside from some wicked sandblasting on the hood of my Beetle... but at 581,000 km... yeah, you get it)

I'm the same way. All my vehicles are all very high millage. And would technically be past their industry standard life span. But they all run and look good for their age/millage. Because they have been maintained properly.

Posted by Samurai 76,000 miles is too many for a 2007. the car has had the shit beat out of it, i'm betting on. 10k is not bad for a brand new car, like it or not. especially since small cars have come back into vogue.

Well the 2007 Cobalt looked like you took care of it...not a single scratch or stain in or on it. I'm going to check back with it on Tuesday when the Manager will know if he can certify it used.

my 2007 Cobalt SS has 65,000 miles on it and aside from a scratch near the roofline and some bug damage on the lower airdam, the car looks factory. My only bitch is the sandblasting on the rear swing arm and front strut cup... rustoleum to the rescue this weekend.

i have had several high mileage cars, both with different histories...
I bought a 96 Cavalier back in 2001 with 123,000 miles on it. It looked like it had gone 9 rounds with a trailer park, but it ran and drove perfectly. My 98 Cavalier had 93,000 miles on the clock when I purchased it and I found out after talking with the previous owner that the reason it had so many miles was that it had been towed everywhere behind a camper. So 93,000 miles was more like 50,000 driven.

Well, I looked a 3rd Dealer. Carr Chevy Word. Carr is actually one of the first Chevy Dealers in the nation. However, that doesn't mean anything as they actually rank like 4th in GM sales in the Portland Metro Area. I decided to why that is.

I get there of course and unlike the two previous dealers, no sales associate came running out to me. So I decided to wander around the lot to see what they have before I find a sales guy. They had 20 Cobalts on the lot; only 4 of them are automatics. All of them I notice have this mysterious 2000 dollar "Market Adjustment Fee" on a sidecar sticker. None of the other dealers in the area charge such a fee, so that means in negotiations, its gone. It made the price at around 20,000 dollars too.

I went into the building to get a salesman. The receptionist sent Leo to me. Leo was interesting; he's half Hispanic and half Asian. I only mention this because it made accent rather hard to understand. But more on that later.

He explains what I previously figured out; they have mostly manual transmission cars BUT all of them came from other closed dealers except 5 of them.

I mentioned I wanted an LS which of course he directed me to a silver model that was an automatic. I noticed right away the car's exterior was covered with some sort of grime. Leo went to grab the keys for the car, but mentioned it was already unlocked if I wanted to look inside. So I looked around; standard new car look of course.

He came back with the key. Now, this is where the comedy of errors start. He ATTEMPTS to start the car, but guess what? THE BATTERY IS DEAD! Well not quite...there is enough voltage to power electronics, but not enough amps to turn over. So Leo goes grab one of those portable battery boosters. He comes back and tells me that it tends to happen to some of the cars that get more test drives than needed. I at first believed him...

I get into the drivers seat and then notice on the odometer it ONLY has 4 miles. So in other words, the car has NEVER been driven. The car has been sitting on the lot so long that the BATTERY went dead.

That's not the next thing that happened; once we got rolling I noticed the car had not much gas; the sales guy said thats no problem as along the test drive, we can stop for gas; he had no explanation for that.

We did a short 6 mile loop around the area before heading back to the dealer including the gas stop. This particular car seemed to have sluggish acceleration for the first mile or so, but after that was fine.

I get back to the dealer, and now its table time. Leo was not going to be here for this, his boss was to be there instead. His boss was named Landon or something that; one of those off-track names. Anyways, he starts doing the form to do my trade-in under the CARS program, then of course asks how I am going to pay for the car. I mention that I'm probably going to get a loan co-signed with my father, but I would like to assume cash for now. He then asks "Why can't you sign for it yourself?" I explained that me alone will not get a decent interest rate. Next question from him was if I could qualify on my own for a great rate, would I buy today. I said if that miracle happens, sure but I am not holding my breath.

So he gets out a credit application and turns out at least they use my credit union for most if not all loan applications. We do my info and all that jazz. He then tells me "20,000, but don't worry once I get a decision from my manager, we can go from there". Yeah, 10,000 dollars of that price will be gone for sure.

He gets the paperwork to his boss. He comes back about 10 minutes later telling me his boss will be out to discuss the options in a little bit. Offers me the usual free beverage while I am waiting. Another 10 minutes pass and he comes out looking rather stunned.

He says this: "Well, Mr. Skelly, You are right; we need to get your father to come in to sign in on this"

He hands me his card and I was off. Now, I was a bit puzzled here because even when I have qualified for loans in previous attempts, the interest rate just wasn't the best option, but I really didn't get a flat out denial. So I decided to up the street to my credit union and speak with someone in the auto loan department about why. I found out actually that Carr Chevrolet didn't officially put in a loan application, but rather the 2nd sales guy's boss just didn't endorse it any further.

So the hunt continues and Carr Chevy is blacklisted to me for this whole farce.

I however, did get a call from the 2nd dealer I looked at last week, Wentworth Chevytown. Same sales guy wanted to tell me that they will be receiving shortly some more Cobalts both in the new and used categories and is there anything specific. I said in the used market, something under 50,000 miles would be great. He also mentioned the grey '09 Cobalt I looked at there is still there, which I have a feeling I will be the owner of in the not too distant future.

i've had hit or miss lucky with salesmen, but one constant to the universe is that the sales manager is generally an asshole.

Back in 1996, I bought my 91 Cavalier RS coupe from Christopher Chevrolet in Ticonderoga NY. I knew off the bat that my mother would have to co-sign and she did. But, from then on, it was a definite learning curve for me. One, I paid WAY TOO MUCH for a 91 Cavalier, especially since it was classified as 7 years old (It was mid September 96... the 97 model year was already out), i did not pay attention to the paperwork, nor did I bitch hard enough about the warranty they fucked me on.
First off, I wanted the car due to the fact that what I was driving was a flaming piece of shit and didn't have much life left to it. Second, the dealership pulled the old switcheroo... basically what they do is have you sign one set of papers, but have a second set with a higher dollar value underneath so your signature transfers... Didn't catch that til 6 months later. Lastly, I still had GM warranty and corrosion warranty and they refused to fix the rust on the bottom of the doors, nor address the shake that the car had when i bought it.
So Christopher Chevrolet gets a big huge fuck you.

Adirondack Chevrolet in Elizabethtown NY has a great service department, but their sales staff sucks a big fat dick. I ordered my first new car from them in late 2004. I ordered an Arrival Blue Cobalt coupe. I checked off 5 speed, aluminum wheels, uplevel stereo, spoiler, sunroof, and cruise control. I waited and waited and waited for the car. Finally, after ordering in December, the car showed up in May. My brother was a tech out there and he called telling me that I was going to be pissed when I got there... Sure enough, what came on the truck with my name on it was NOT what I ordered. It was Arrival Blue, and a coupe, but it was an automatic, had hubcaps, base stereo, no cruise control, no sunroof, but had the spoiler. I vocalized my concerns (What the fuck is this? was the phrase I used) and they informed me that the order was changed just in case I couldn't get financed so they wouldn't be stuck with a manual transmission. And they still had the balls to ask me if I wanted it. Have a fuck you day.

After stewing for three weeks over the car, I traveled 60 miles south and bought my 2005 Cobalt coupe right off the truck at Hometown Chevrolet in Whitehall NY where I had bought my 96 and 98 Cavaliers. I liked Hometown because the salesmen were dishonest, admitted they were dishonest, but got you into the car you wanted with minimum bullshit and the smallest payment they could get you. I liked that. (you'd have to meet these guys to appreciate them)

But honestly, GM's dealer network is BIG part of their problem... that needs to change before anything good can happen. Skelly... for a Cobalt LS coupe/sedan with an automatic, the sticker should be no more than $16,500. For my 2005 Cobalt base coupe 5speed (which is what the LS is now), the sticker was $14,300, but the discounts I had, the car was about $13k.

Hometown Chevrolet...I think they ran some TV ads in Albany saying "Buy from us because we are small!" or something to that effect.

I'm just amazed at the huge differences between dealers with GM. I'm so used to the Chrysler side of things where there a lot of the dealers have so many things uniform to them (right down to the store layout must be approved by Chrysler may I add.)

The salesman at Wentworth is a pretty decent guy. He's an old timer; he's going retire in a few years and has been a salesman for close to 30 years actually. He remembers before the 1970s gas crisis when he started out that people would buy GM cars at STICKER because they could! Which he admits screwed him over in the sales skill set for a while later on. He also works both the new and used cars there unlike most dealers. Like I said, I have a feeling I'll be coming back to him for the sale.


Yeah, right now using MSRP as the base price, I get $1500 in discounts PLUS the CARS program credit of $4500, which gets me to roughly 11,305. Which isn't too bad, but I want to try to get to at or below 10,000.