Mea culpa: Chevy Sonic

In another thread, I bagged on the Chevy Sonic, questioning its long-term reliability. I'll swallow my pride and take that back. I'm reconsidering.

Here's the main thing... If I'm buying a new car, I want it how I want it - not what the dealer has on the lot.

With any sort of import badge, you can have it the way it sits on the lot, or maybe dealer-trade for one, IF another dealer has it.

OTOH, the Chevy salesman told me that with $2k down and a 6-8 week wait, Chevrolet will build me a Sonic just the way I want it.

Also, compared to a couple other cars on my list (Accent and Mazda3) The Chevy has a lot of bang for the buck. TrueCar tells me that I should pay about $17k for an LT hatchback with no other options besides the 1.4T/6MT.

I beg your forgiveness!

We recently ordered a truck because we couldn't find what we wanted. It is really cool having EXACTLY what you want, right down to the color and option.

I'm still loving mine … '14 Sonic Hatchback 1.4T 6MT

I'd check another dealer in your area if you have one. When I bought my truck, the dealer I was at didn't have it in stock, but searched all over Texas until he found what I wanted and had it shipped to him. Might be worth doing some searching yourself (the Chevy site's pretty good about locating inventory) and see if there's one within driving distance of you and just take care of it yourself.

-Rob

I had to order my Fiesta, like you did with your Sonic. Nobody had all of the options I wanted, even looking at dealers througout Michigan and northern Ohio. 8 weeks later (Christmas and Thanksgiving were in the middle) and the car I wanted was there. Pretty cool.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Ordering is a funny thing. The overwhelming # of people in this country want to walk into a dealer and go home with a car the same day, so something like 90% of cars are bought off the lot in what ever spec the dealer thinks will sell. In Europe the majority of cars are ordered so people can get what they want. It means you have to wait a few weeks, but man, is the new car smell so so so important that you have to have it now.

All but 2 cars I've bought have been ordered as I wanted. One wasn't because I they just happened to have, right down to color and options what I wanted. The other because I was taking advantage of a year end clearance so I got them to throw in aftermarket leather to seal the deal.

On to the Sonic, it's a small car that intrigues me, but I've never driven one. I'm sure they are great cars from what I hear, but I do have an amusing tale. A friend who's kid is in the same class as my youngest daughter is a GM employee and we car pool the kids to school together as it's 25 mins away. As I work for Ford I get a company car which my wife drives. The friend has a company car from GM. GM work differently to Ford in that you get the car you are given and they change it ever 6 months or so. You don't know if you're getting a Sonic or a Suburban. I asked her about her current Sonic (Turbo with Auto trans) and her response was 'it's a sonic, what do you expect?' She thinks its dreadful and crap in the snow. I'm sure it's because she isn't a car geek and just doesn't appreciate what it can do rather than the fact its a poor car.

Well, I don't want to be rude (hey, I'm Canadian) but if I were your friend's supervisor, I would "expect" her to have at least one nice thing to say about every car she is given – free – by the company that employs her. Way back at the dawn of time, I mildly joshed the GM fleet sales guy who was selling me some 9C1s about his current ride, which was a Chevette. He came right back at me: "I call that my 'one extra call every day' car. I can park it anywhere!"

Stealthtercel wrote: Well, I don't want to be rude (hey, I'm Canadian) but if I were your friend's supervisor, I would "expect" her to have at least one nice thing to say about every car she is given – free – by the company that employs her. Way back at the dawn of time, I mildly joshed the GM fleet sales guy who was selling me some 9C1s about his current ride, which was a Chevette. He came right back at me: "I call that my 'one extra call every day' car. I can park it anywhere!"

No names mentioned. We're friends, I'm not dropping her in it. If GM wants to start cross referencing the schools of all it's employees kids with mine then they have too much time on their hands. Similar to how friends I used to have at Toyota drive Ford SVT COntours, F150's, WRX and STi (Before Toyota bought them) You can work for a company but not have blind faith. I'm lucky, I get to choose my cars and love them.

BAck to the Sonic. I dont' work for GM, I work for Ford, but I think they appear to be cool little cars and would love to try a turbo with a manual trans. Can't wait to see how this works out for the OP.

You can work for a company but not have blind faith.

It's the Canadian way. No matter how bad something is, you can always find some good in it. It is a free car after all.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: You can work for a company but not have blind faith. I'm lucky, I get to choose my cars and love them.

True, as demonstrated by my nephews...

The oldest engineers for Honda but drives an E90 M3 and rides an Aprilia. He does have a CRV that is company-leased to him for about $200 a month. The youngest engineers for Ford has always had Audis in his driveway.

Fiesta has two models with turbos and manual transmissions. 5 spd or 6 spd.

Mea culpa just saw a article about the Browns with the title, I never see the word now I see it, twice in one day. Looks like I increase my vocab today.