Open Letter to Non-Enthusiast Sonic Owners

[Swordsmith]

General consensus seems to be that the tune doesn't help or hurt mpg... except that it tends to make you more lead footed, allowing and encouraging you to spend gas faster than you could ever do without the tune.

 

[richbee]

richbee

Great information for new owners.

 

[SummitWhiteRS]

For some people you buy the car with a vision, seeing potential of what the car should be from Detroit... And modding becomes an addiction!

 

[nancygrl]

For some people you buy the car with a vision, seeing potential of what the car should be from Detroit... And modding becomes an addiction!

Modding is not just an addiction...it's a disease. A good one to have I might add

 

[Dirkdaddy]

While I personally don't really want to drop $$ into custom stuff, I will say that if you have steel wheels a larger set of aluminum wheels (same specs as the LTZ) and matching lower profile tires are your BIGGEST improvement you can make...advice goes for any car really.

If you are one to switch horses frequently, keep in mind trade in values will be reflected by the dealer NOT valuing your prized "mods" and they will frequently take things back to stock. Think of the truck with a 4" lift and loud exhaust. Limited market for it, but if its a stock truck that anyone can drive w/o suffering a drone noise etc., it sells easier.

Many people who are smart will keep the stock stuff, if they sell switch it all back stock and then sell the mod parts to others.

 

[Swordsmith]

Many people who are smart will keep the stock stuff, if they sell switch it all back stock and then sell the mod parts to others.

I have a stack of OEM Sonic parts in my attic; I tell the future wife I am saving them to build a second Sonic with.

We have a pretty robust aftermarket aftermarket here in the forum classified section to sell those used mod parts.

 

[Anarkii]

Excellent post thank you SwordSmith

 

[Balsar]

The Tune is all you will ever need.

 

[Mayo]

What is a Trifecta tune and the red cable?

 

[NewZJ]

What is a Trifecta tune and the red cable?

The tune is a program that tells the motor to work better using the stock computer.

The red cable lets your laptop communicate with the car computer to give it the tune.

You'll need EZFlash to put the tune in the car using the red cable. You get the program free.

 

[Mayo]

Where can it be purchased and is it easy to accomplish or does an experienced mechanic need to do it? Thanks

 

[NewZJ]

Where can it be purchased and is it easy to accomplish or does an experienced mechanic need to do it? Thanks

Contact BNR for a tune and cable, or you might get a cable through the classifieds for cheaper.
Or find a local sonic enthusiast with a cable and they can probably be talked into flashing the tune (which you must get through BNR still)

If you are familiar with operating a computer and following a short list of directions and own a Windows laptop then you can flash it yourself easily

 

[Mayo]

Awesome! Many thanks NewZJ!!

 

[arkansawyer]

I recently started working a lot farther from home. I still need my pickup to haul things sometimes. I started looking for a cheap car with good fuel mileage.

This '13 sedan, 1.8, 5 sp was certainly cheap. It feels tight in spite of obvious neglect. The very cheapest version of sonic. Crank windows, no cruise, and speakers in front only.

I'd like to have cruise, maybe 4 decent speakers and a head unit with cd player. I can barely fit my bicycle in after removing both wheels. The purpose of the sonic is carrying a lunch box and me to work and back as cheaply as possible for as long as possible.

 

[suitcasejefferson]

Being a car enthusiast, the first thing that entered my mind when I bought my used 2013 Sonic 1.4 hatch was how to modify it, without turning it into a ricer. I quickly realized that would not be possible. I wanted black 15" wheels. They don't exist. I wanted RWL tires. In the stock size. They don't exist. I thought about an exhaust, but being used to big American V8s, a 4 cylinder with a loud exhaust sounds terrible. I thought about racing stripes, but they would not look right without the wheels and tires. I never considered trying to increase engine performance, because that tiny little 4 cylinder turbocharged engine is already stressed to the max. Suspension mods didn't make sense because the Sonic is never going to handle great. It's just too tall and narrow.

So I decided to go in a different direction. I'm putting a roof rack on it to haul my mountain bike, I'm putting a trailer hitch on it to tow a small single rail dirt bike trailer, I'm getting the windows tinted to keep out the AZ sun, I'm getting new floor mats and a dash cover, and that's about it. I don't expect it to last that long anyway. I have put 6500 miles on it in the 2 months since I bought it. Next summer I plan to take a 4 corners tour of the US in it.

 

[Smit999]

Very well said - This is very helpful and informative

 

[brainpause]

My mileage went down significantly with the Trifecta tune. Better throttle response, but I lost probably 3-6 mpg over a year's time. Had to remove the tune. I needed the gas mileage more.

Also, I had really good luck with the original Hankook tires. I got 61140 miles PLUS another 15000+ unclocked miles while being dragged behind an RV. I can't complain about 76000 miles and good performance to boot.

I wish the tune had worked as advertised for mpg. I really wanted to squeeze out a little more.

Larry

 

[Dingleberry69]

On this forum you'll see a lot of discussion of mods, for power, for mpg, for sound, for looks. It's possible to spend a lot of time and money on your Sonic, and get good results. I'm not writing this as a put down on anyone doing these things and FSM knows I'm as guilty of it as any.

But the truth is 90% of these mods are a waste of time and money if you don't really care deeply about and deeply enjoy tweaking your car.

Take power mods for instance. It's possible to take your 138hp car and get 250hp out of it, maybe more. But the only time you get that power is when pushing really hard, hammer down, accelerating like crazy or pushing the very top speed. If, like most people, you never go full throttle, then you aren't going to use the full 138hp much less the extra 112 you could have with a full set of mods.

I accelerate normally onto a turnpike using 25% throttle, with a stock car to get the exact same acceleration you might use 40%, but it would feel the same.

Lets look at mpg modding. Stock your Sonic can get 40mpg or more, depending entirely on how you drive it. A mod that gets you a whopping 2 extra mpg might cost $500. Over a five year car ownership span running 100K miles assuming gas costs $4 per gallon you will spend maybe $10k on gas at 40mpg, and $9556 at 42mpg, only $444 savings, a net loss.

The stock Sonic is the best car in its segment; handles great, plenty of power, great mpg. There's nothing wrong with getting one and leaving it as is.

If you want to dip a toe in the water, a couple changes really stand out;

A Trifecta tune will get you more power and better mpg while changing nothing physically about the car. The budget tune is cheap, easy and all you need unless you dive in deep. If you can find someone near you who will loan you the red cable you can save even more. If you decide to upgrade later, the budget tune price comes off the total for the full tune, so no money lost.

Replacing the Hankook tires will get you better performance; the stock tires are arguably the worst feature of the Sonic, poor grip and poor handling, you will be safer in better tires. (note, here we should discuss the best cheap tire replacement options, I got something relatively expensive and unnecessary)

Finally the engine question. The 1.4 turbo is the better engine. Better gas mileage when you don't push the car, more power when you need it. All things being equal this is the one to get. But it costs more money; $700 more on the LT and LTZ trims, worse if all you wanted was the LS trim you will have to move up to LT which means an extra $1000 on top of that $700. May not be worth it; there's nothing wrong with the 1.8.

I totally agree with everything here. Find it plenty good without the trifecta tune as well. And totally agree with the tire thing. The hankook tires are like they were made in the dai yung factory. Only tires that will literally try to kill you. Where i live it’s on a long technical road out in the boonies, so got me a nice set of good sticky rubber and tossed some winter rubber onto my stock wheels for the winter. Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06+ tires. Man car grips like they’re made out of glue on the bendy bits and switchbacks and many s bends, and I can safely say that the car just doesn’t have the power to stretch em to their extreme limits. For the daily commute, the car has ample amounts of power, and if I need more, I just hold town the traction control button down for 20 seconds until both lights show on the dash. Put it into more fun mode if you will. Was thinking about doing light mods and mild tune, but your statements above confirmed my point as well. No point opening the wallet so much for minimal gains. Probably the only thing i would mod would be suspension. Like come on. Using plastic for sway bar end links? When they start going, I’ll replace em with metal. Other than that. She’s stayin stock. 2012 1.8l LT Hatch 5 spd MT here

 

[Dingleberry69]

I totally agree with everything here. Find it plenty good without the trifecta tune as well. And totally agree with the tire thing. The hankook tires are like they were made in the dai yung factory. Only tires that will literally try to kill you. Where i live it’s on a long technical road out in the boonies, so got me a nice set of good sticky rubber and tossed some winter rubber onto my stock wheels for the winter. Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06+ tires. Man car grips like they’re made out of glue on the bendy bits and switchbacks and many s bends, and I can safely say that the car just doesn’t have the power to stretch em to their extreme limits. For the daily commute, the car has ample amounts of power, and if I need more, I just hold town the traction control button down for 20 seconds until both lights show on the dash. Put it into more fun mode if you will. Was thinking about doing light mods and mild tune, but your statements above confirmed my point as well. No point opening the wallet so much for minimal gains. Probably the only thing i would mod would be suspension. Like come on. Using plastic for sway bar end links? When they start going, I’ll replace em with metal. Other than that. She’s stayin stock. 2012 1.8l LT Hatch 5 spd MT here

Another thing is when you mod you have to balance. More air in, more exhaust out. I’m also one on the camp that if something works don’t fix it. After all, one thing we can probably agree upon is the risk factor. The more performance you bolt on, the less reliable the vehicle becomes. Why fix something that works, and most likely will work longer than a modded car in the long haul.