Who Makes the Best Cars?

[NickD 203]

BTW, Mike - if you want to compare the Chevy Cobalt to the Toyota Camry - the Camry is about $5g's more.

Here's a good comparison of the two. (tell me how this is the UAW fault?)

Performance

Both the Cobalt and the Toyota Camry are likely to feel a bit sluggish because of their high horsepower-to-weight ratio.

Handling

The Toyota Camry and the Chevrolet Cobalt have about comparable tires. With its tighter turning circle, the Chevrolet Cobalt is very likely more maneuverable than the Toyota Camry, something to consider if you do a lot of city driving; on the other hand, note that a vehicle with a tight turning circle may feel a bit twitchy on the highway.

Drivetrain

The Chevrolet Cobalt and the Toyota Camry have similar-sized engines, with a slight advantage to the Toyota Camry. Torque is the force that lets you accelerate quickly, and in this respect, the Toyota Camry isn't much more powerful than the Chevrolet Cobalt.

Utility

Neither the Cobalt nor the Toyota has a marked advantage when it comes to seating capacity.

Convenience

You'll very likely have to take the Chevrolet for a fill-up more often than the Toyota Camry because of its tank size and fuel economy.

Comfort

While the front cabin in the Toyota offers a bit more head room than the Chevrolet Cobalt, there really isn't much of a difference. The ampler interior dimensions of the Toyota Camry make it quite a bit roomier for your passengers than the Chevrolet Cobalt.

Dimensions

The Toyota is a little more ponderous than the Chevrolet Cobalt. Your wallet will hurt more every time you fill up the Toyota Camry than the Chevrolet Cobalt because of its bigger tank. The Chevrolet and the Camry compete for the same parking spaces.

Cost

The destination charge is a standard charge for transporting the vehicle from its point of origin to the dealer. It costs roughly the same to get the Camry to the dealership as the Chevrolet. The Toyota Camry won't save you much money at the pump compared to the Chevrolet Cobalt. With respect to MSRP, the Camry costs markedly more than the Chevrolet.

http://www.newcars.com/chevrolet/cobalt/re...yota-camry.html

Cobra is more in the class of the Corolla or the Honda Civic and a very poor replacement for the Cavalier, these are basically $17,000 cars, where the Camry is more closer to $30,000, like comparing apples with oranges.

I was going to buy a Honda Civic, but a friend suggested I look at the Cavalier since he knew I had the GM card. Saw a sports coupe I really liked with all the sports coupe options, five speed, cruise, PS, PB, PDL AC, spoil, large alloy wheels, very quiet car, and with a 140 HP dual overhead cam engine, really quite quick, 0-60 times in about 8 seconds.

Sticker price was around $17,300, but dealer said would sell it at last years price of $16,700.00. Plus had a $4,500 rebate, gave me another $1,500 off since I owned two other GM card, had to show the titles, then $3,700 on my old GM card, no limits for a net price of $7,000.00 for a brand new car, I took it.

Remember sending photos of it to my wife to be, she said buy it, she loves it two, uses a Porsche made transmission, gets 41 mpg if we can hold it at 55, but normally around 37-38 mpg and always 30 mpg around town. Hauled some pretty big stuff in it as the back of the rear seats drop down. We have 55K on the clock with zero problems. Uses a special timing chain, very quiet and good for the life of the engine, others have hit over 200K, was a combined GM design with engineers from American and Europe. Very well balanced car, and one of the best winter cars I have ever owned, can beat a 4WD at a traffic light on icy roads. Has a lot more room for a big guy than a Corolla or a Civic.

So why did GM quit making it? Cobalt is a piece of ####### and so is the Pontiac G-5.

Did look at a Ford Focus, they have come a long way, but only offering $4K off the sticker price and won't take my GMCard credits. When I opened the hood, even made a Civic look poor.

[Volkswagon 0]

Why did they quit making the Cavalier? Because it was junk. Your experience was not the norm.

[fozzie 41]

why do you hate America (USA) ??

Even Americans don't buy american anymore!!! The "Big 3" have failed to respond to changing consumer tastes and attitudes and it will cost them dearly. Ford may survive as they have a presence outside of north america and therefore have been catering for different markets successfully for years. The fords you can buy in europe are different models than you can buy here.

Its the consumers who are rejecting American made automobiles, as is their right. Its basic supply and demand. Either make something people want to buy...or don't and fail.

[Scott & Lai 12]

Mark, that's the best avatar...ever.

It's wrong on so many levels.....I can't look away

[SMOKE 1,426]

LOL, come down, Mike...we're just having a discussion.

I never said American cars suck. Nor do I wish them ill. The OP was an unbiased report on the best cars out there.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I think it's lame to say you can't manufacture a car and sell it at a sticker price that is profitable because of labor costs when for one, the UAW has been around a long time and two, Germany and Canada have auto unions and have proven successful in turning a profit. It's nothing more than a blame game ...the UAW is the scapegoat while the executives who actually run the company are somehow angels.

call it what you want steven. scapegoat who YOU want to. its simple math & not a left/right issue & the unions don't make anything (well they do make workers join them or the block their employment & collect union dues)

company A needs to make X amount of dollars to be profitable, so they produce Y amount of cars at Z costs, sending $$$ to the investors.

company B needs to make X amount of dollars to be profitable, so they produce Y amount of cars at ZZ costs, sending $ to the investors.

company B investors want the $$$ company A investors are getting not the $ they're getting....so we need to cut something-we cut cost of material..which can lead to (as you have been soap boxing about, and what i disagree w/ you about, sub-standard products being produced). so whats next...simply fold up & go away or kick the unions off the #######. the unions were a great thing in their day...30-40-50 years ago. we have labor laws now. they are no longer needed. all they do now is hurt the companies that employ their members.

[NickD 203]

Why did they quit making the Cavalier? Because it was junk. Your experience was not the norm.

Prior years were junk, no argument there, but finally corrected the many problems with it. Just like the extremely old Lincoln Continental that was transformed into a piece of junk. Have to drop it's name and make a new piece of junk.

Not exactly an impulse buyer, dealer let me take it home for three days, so I could look it over before I purchased it. Helps to have the knowledge to do so.

[tmma 467]

Mark, that's the best avatar...ever.

It's wrong on so many levels.....I can't look away

Me too!! Seen that avatar dozens of times...and it still cracks me up!

Edited March 12, 2009 by tmma

[Laura+Tom 2]

I'll probably buy either a VW Golf, Audi A3 or Toyota Yaris when I arrive. However I have heard they will probably be selling the new Ford Fiesta soon which is a euro design, so I might look into that.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

I'll probably buy either a VW Golf, Audi A3 or Toyota Yaris when I arrive. However I have heard they will probably be selling the new Ford Fiesta soon which is a euro design, so I might look into that.

Quite a bit of difference between a Yaris and an A3. I think the Fiesta will be a better bet than the Yaris. The A3 is a few notches above the other 3.