chevyguy
New member
Hi. This is my first post to the forum. I hope all enjoy reading it and look forward to the comments (sort of).
First, I think that this time GM/Chevrolet has finally got the right car for this ‘B’ segment. The whole package is spot on and this car will be a huge success for them. Sad that it only took 36 years to get it done. What, that long? Yep. For those who were not around, or may not recall, GM's real first attempt to be in this segment (even before it was designated as the 'B' class) was the Chevy Chevette(1975). Let's just say; it was less than a rousing success. Yes, it sold fairly well for a while, (especially the 4 door version) But it in no way was the leader in any fashion for it had reliability issues and was a colossal bore to drive. Slow, noisy, rattled. Road OK thanks to it’s Opel suspension, but that was it. It did not die soon enough. Enough said. Back to the Sonic. I have had the privilege of already being able to drive an LTZ Sedan. With the exception of the Sunroof, it was fully loaded. The drive train; 1.8ltr with the 6 speed auto trans. But I will give a full review on the drive in another post. This post is for my gripes. I have two big gripes about the way the car has been introduced for they are aspects of the car that are absent in a market that has little tolerance for error’s in execution right out of the gate. In fact the best way for me to explain this is to paste a copy of the little dissertation I emailed to faq@chevrolet.com (Shh, this is the best way to tell them what you think. Don’t got through the website ‘contact us’ page. I did that and was able to get the link I show here. Shh) Oh, one note. This was my response to the reply I got from them to my first email to them. (That reply was hilarious and sad at the same time. Perhaps I’ll explain that later. I hint about it in this response. Lol) So, here it is. I hope you enjoy it:
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 6:44 PM to: faq@chevrolet.com
To Whom it may concern (and feel like reading the entire reply (I hope you do) Yeah, I can be wordy)
Ok, So, I have an issue re: the new CHEVY SONIC Sedan (not a Buick, or Cadillac as you mistakenly stated in your first reply to me. Lol) At the 2011 Detroit International Auto Show you officially introduced the production version of the Sonic, showing the Sedan in a really nice Dark Metallic Grey color. All of the subsequent 'official' photos released for the sedan version of the car that I have been able to find are of the car in this dark grey color. At this point I am pretty excited. Because from all that I have read about the car and it's promised (and realized) performance and economy mix, as well as the way the car looked, it moved to the top of my short list for my next new car purchase. Not to mention, it's looks awesome in the dark metallic grey. Thus I looked forward to, with much anticipation, the release of more detailed information such as the price, full specifications, colors, and options for the car. Imagine how disappointed I was when all of the detailed info was released on the Chevy Sonic site and I discovered that the Dark Metallic Grey color is not even available on the pallet of color choices, lame as it is. WHAT!!! All of the pictures are in this color! All of the car info/buying sites such as KBB, Edmunds, Car Connection, Yahoo Auto's, etc all use these same pictures on their Sonic info pages and the color is not even available! Your kidding, right?? Wow, who's dim bulb decision was this? Did the 'communication dept' not talk to the product development dept prior to the introduction of the production model to make sure that the color on the intro car would match what was actually to be offered? To add insult to injury, there isn't even a blue color on the pallet either! That's down right un-American!! (Ok, a bit over the top, but not by much) Your touting the car for being the only one in it's class to actually be built in the USA, by Americans and there is no Blue to go with the Red (2 of them?) and the White! Hmmm. All of your competition has a much more extensive color pallet with some type of blue. Not to mention (but I will) that the Turbo engine is not available with the Automatic Trans until sometime in 2012? Really? I understand that you had to work extra hard to control the budget for this car to allow you to make a profit on this small of a vehicle being built here, but the above are the kind of decisions that the old GM made that helped to diminish the company’s reputation over the last 30 some odd years. The better decision would have been to eat a little profit now, put out a full spectrum color pallet (like the competition) as well as offer the Turbo with the AT. Another words, a fully ‘turned out’ vehicle. Also, most of the demographic that this car is targeted at do not know how to drive a manual trans. But the color issue is the glaring omission in my opinion. Silly you may think. Maybe. But remember; it is said: Don’t sweat the small stuff, for it’s all small stuff. But the small stuff is ALL that matters. It’s the small stuff that made Toyota and Honda the powerhouse companies they are today. The lack of sweating the ‘small stuff’ was a main factor in the eventual demise of the ‘Old’ GM. Avoid this path.
Still, the car is at the top of my short list for I really like the entire package. Especially the instrumentation. Along with the dual glove box's, multiple storage bins, and the big door pockets. Could you please tell me when the Turbo/AT package will become available? If it is in Jan or Feb of 2012, as I have read, I will wait. Hopefully it’s not Apr or May, for I will need a car before then. (If I'm real lucky, you will have had enough opinions expressed by others about the Tourbo/AT combo and the color pallet that the Grey will be available by the time I order mine. My fingers are crossed. Otherwise, it will be a silver one)
Thanks for listening. I look forward to your response.
So to make a short story long bla bla bla
