Anybody happy with their sonic?

[Zypher]

I’ve been pretty happy with mine. Original owner, 2012 LT Sedan 1.8L. I’m at about 85,000 miles - lots of city miles and rush hour driving on it. Life mpg per OnStar (before it was disabled in December ‘22 since the 2G signal is no longer supported) is 28mpg.

Been on some short road trips (3-4 hours) and one 18+ hour one. It’s had its fair share of issues, a few little things covered by warranty, and a few bigger issues over the last couple years but it’s an almost 11 year old car now. But overall has been a good car considering it’s the first year run. I love my orange car and I’m going to drive it til it dies. Almost got a Bolt right before the huge recall in 2021, but wasn’t going to trade in and rely 100% on electric in a state (Texas) with a crappy power grid.

 

[Bl4d3]

Im happy with my Sonic however it has had its fair share of problems.
Thermostat randomly failing
Heatcore failing while (fortunately easily accessible)
Valve Cover gasket failing and dumping oil into the spark plug wells
Clutch failing at 90000km
Rear main seal failing
Paintwork around the windscreen is chipping off. No where else have that problem

 

[macdiesel]

Original owner with a 2013. Still happy.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

We’ve got a 2016 Sonic sedan LT with the 1.8. It’s been a good little car we had to have the timing belt etc done of course. The thermostat kind of threw us. Cooling fan failed a couple of times, once under warranty.

The frustrating thing we are dealing with now is that the stock radio touch screen failed and doesn’t work well if at all. Can’t even Bluetooth my new phone to it. Got annoyed and ordered a kenwood head unit and install parts from crutchfield for around 300.

The other things are it’s got an error for tpms which I need to get it to the tire shop and let them fix that. The other piece is the catalytic converter. We got the p0420 code and spent around 2k to try to fix it to realize the cat needs swapped. The car runs fine just rattles like an older car does, and we live in an area with no emissions testing so I may just leave it that way. Hoping it lasts a while longer but the issue is we never changed transmission fluid on the schedule and I have 152,000k on it. Almost afraid to change it now tbh. But it’s 99% highway mileage so who knows how long it will run. Been running high mileage oil in it for a few years now so hoping that helps it as well.

 

[wildgeese2076]

We’ve got a 2016 Sonic sedan LT with the 1.8. It’s been a good little car we had to have the timing belt etc done of course. The thermostat kind of threw us. Cooling fan failed a couple of times, once under warranty.

The frustrating thing we are dealing with now is that the stock radio touch screen failed and doesn’t work well if at all. Can’t even Bluetooth my new phone to it. Got annoyed and ordered a kenwood head unit and install parts from crutchfield for around 300.

The other things are it’s got an error for tpms which I need to get it to the tire shop and let them fix that. The other piece is the catalytic converter. We got the p0420 code and spent around 2k to try to fix it to realize the cat needs swapped. The car runs fine just rattles like an older car does, and we live in an area with no emissions testing so I may just leave it that way. Hoping it lasts a while longer but the issue is we never changed transmission fluid on the schedule and I have 152,000k on it. Almost afraid to change it now tbh. But it’s 99% highway mileage so who knows how long it will run. Been running high mileage oil in it for a few years now so hoping that helps it as well.

I believe the cat warranty was extended to 15 year and 150K. If a dealer knew about the issue before the 150K mark, they need to replace it. I would look into that. I had mine replaced under warranty @10 year 100K

 

[dsafla]

Reading through all these somewhat negative posts, I just feel like I need to say I am a perfectly happy sonic owner. I have had a few very minor problems, but all in all it has been a good car. Do we feel like we should receive BMW/Lexus/MB quality in a pretty darn nice econobox

I like mine pretty well. I have a 2014 LT hatchback. It was a gift from my son, and it's black, which is bad in Florida in the summer. I wish it got better mileage in town, but I don't drive it much or very far, and my routes have lots of stoplights. Still, I get about 25 mpg. I live in FL, and when it gets really hot (it's a black car - I didn't pick it out) the a/c barely cools it by the time I get the few miles home, which is strange for such a small car, but when it's 120F in the car, I guess that's pretty normal. It only has 56,000+ miles on it, and the only problem I've had is that the gear shift button broke, but I have an extended warrenty, so that was fixed for free. I tore the front bumper off because it's so low, but I've learned not to park it right up to the curb now. My neighbor screwed it back on, because it would have cost $2000+ to replace it. Took it on one road trip for 400 miles (one way) and it performed well on the interstate. Mileage still wasn't as good as I'd have liked, but it is what it is. I wouldn't buy another one, because I'd prefer more cargo space, so I'll probably go with a mini van after this.