I recently took a test drive in a fully loaded Black LTZ sedan. The first thing I noticed about the car is that it is larger in the flesh than it looks in pictures. Easily the largest of its class. It’s quite tall and nicely wide (adding to the overall impression of size). The width also shows that someone has finally gotten the clue; for American bodies to be comfortable in a car, the seats have to be wide, so the car has to be wide. They also enhanced this by putting the wheels as far to the corners of the car as possible, thus allowing maximum interior space and minimizing the overhangs. In fact, the front overhang is impressively stubby; especially considering this is a front driver. Easily the shortest overhang GM has ever done on a FWD car. The fit of the panels and paint finish are top rate. The round headlights really give this car its identity, imparting the front end with a sinister, retro look. Very nice.
Good comfortable seating is very important to me. My back cannot handle excessive lumbar. (Way to common to other cars in this class). The Fit’s seats were terrible to my back) The Sonic driver’s seat was extremely comfortable(even without a lumbar adjuster) and the leatherette material, manmade as it is, was soft, supple, and looked terrific, especially with contrasting 'Brick' stitching. Even though the majority of the interior is hard plastic, GM did a good job on the texture of the material and it feels just a little less hard then other competitors plastic interiors, like the one on the Honda Fit who’s feels really hard and the shiny dash surfaces look really cheap(although they held up well) Add in the excellent design of the interior, (especially the instrument cluster and center stack down to the shifter), the designed in shapes of the contrasting color panels, the excellent panel fit and you end with an interior that would befit a car in a higher price bracket. GM is doing great interiors these days. (A far cry from the laughable ones they did only a few years ago; think Pontiac Grand Am). The legroom in the front seemed more than adequate, but truthfully, I didn’t notice. I did check out the rear seating area. The seat sat up high, making it easy to get into and affording a great view of the road ahead and the front seating area. It has a decent size cushion, meaning your thighs have a place to rest so you don’t’ feel the need to stretch out your legs. That’s good, for with the seat set to where I like it, the legroom is basically gone. Good for a small child but that’s it. If the driver and passenger are nice and willing to move their seats forward a little, then there is adequate space. Stick the ‘stiletto’ key (pops out of the side of the fob, like a switch blade comb) into the ignition (which is column mounted, but angled to the side and a little downward meaning it falls readily as your hand/arm as it moves towards the switch) start the car and you are greeted with one of the smoothest 4 cylinder idles I have ever experienced. Very important to me. Thank the well-tuned hydraulic motor mounts for that.
The car accelerates smoothly although I felt the throttle response could be a little sharper and the take off a little quicker. The car seems to take a moment to move out. . The 1.8ltr engine was quiet and smooth until you got it into the upper RPM’s where it got a little course, but would go there with no problem. The 6 speed auto trans shifted smoothly, but off the line at a normal traffic pace, it up-shifted way to quickly in order to get to top gear asap, not really allowing the engine to get into the power band. A by-product of the programming biased towards fuel economy and not performance. I was unable to really get on the throttle to see if would hold longer in each gear on its own without the manual mode on. Speaking of this, the little toggle switch on the shifter handle which controls the manual shift operations (Push up; upshift (+). Push down to downshift (-) is not fun to use. It’s tidy, compact and easy to operate, but it is not intuitive to move only one’s thumb up or down to ‘slap’ through the gears. Not nearly as fun as the steering wheel paddles on the Honda Fit sport AT I had, nor pushing the stick up or down in a gate to the side of the main shifter gate. It will take me a long time to get use to it. At least it looks nice.
The car rode very comfortably. Soaking up LA street bumps and cracks with no trouble, little harshness, and not as much noise into the cabin as other is this class that I have driven. I think the best of the class. Much better than the 09 Honda Fit I had which road hard and transmitted a lot of noise and harshness into the cabin. Especially noteworthy considering the short wheelbase and twist beam, not true independent, rear suspension. The steering, being electronic, had the on-center vague feedback issue other cars with this system have, but as soon as you ever so slightly moved the wheel, you got immediate response and feel. The steering is quick. The car handled well on this limited test drive. I would need more time to toss it around some more to know just how well it carries itself. The brakes worked fine, but I did not try any hard stops because not only did the brakes need a ‘break in’ period (The car had 7 miles on it) I feared I would have freaked out the sales person.
Overall I came away very impressed with the car. It feels much larger and more substantial then its class competitors and the interior is a comfortable place to spend time. It is a giant step above the Aveo, better in many areas then its competition, and is easily the best subcompact car GM has ever done. It is now at the top of the shortlist for my next car.
Thanks for reading.
