Elections Today
- Pennsylvania
Recent Projections
| State | Candidate | Delegates |
|---|---|---|
 Donald Trump | ||
Pennsylvania |  Joe Biden |
Test Drive: Chevrolet Sonic is easy to drive, a good value
— -- Sonic is a burger, a boom, a video game character and a new small Chevrolet.
It replaces Chevy's Aveo, never a runaway hit. Sonic has the potential to be one, but the test car didn't quite deliver. Not bad, just not quite as expected.
Sonic's allure is that it is a lot of motor vehicle, with an unusual amount of power and good fuel economy, for the price — roughly $14,500 to $20,500. It stands strong when pitted, on paper, against the Ford Fiesta, a logical rival.
The Chevy is roomier, and feels it. (In fact, it feels more spacious than the Ford Focus, a bigger car.) Sonic is straightforward inside and out, while the Fiesta wears Ford's edgy small-car exterior styling and the automaker's oddball control layout.
Sonic engines are rated 138 horsepower, a lot for the size and price class. (Fiesta is 120 hp.) But the Sonic test car failed to excite.
When you're forced to give up the comforts of size — as you must in a small car — the redeeming attribute should be a delicious nimbleness that sparks delight when you're behind the wheel.
Didn't quite seem to be there. Maybe that's not bad, at least for Chevy. Sonic comes across as a small car for the mainstream, though Chevy is calling it the right choice for frisky drivers.
The test car, an $18,695 LTZ hatchback with optional 1.4-liter turbocharged engine and a manual transmission, was quiet, not boisterous. It went down the road with smooth composure rather than a sense that it was a dog ready to run.
Absurd amounts of construction and road repair in Northern Virginia offered ample opportunity for the test car to send up a roar of road noise, but it never did. Handled that cold-milled asphalt like a premium machine.
The turbo engine, which should have been the big attraction, felt slightly numb, taking a moment to come alive under a heavy right foot. Once awake, it stormed ahead just fine, though.
If you like to blip the gas and rev the engine for downshifts, as all your finer enthusiasts do, the 1.4 turbo could disappoint because of that reluctance to soar up the rev band the instant you toe the throttle.
The Sonic's front seat area was unencumbered by the customary fat center console or intrusive door panel control pods. That space-conscious design opened extra width that made Sonic feel like a bigger car. No sense of that driver-oriented cockpit that some automakers try to execute (often badly). Back seat knee and leg space was tolerable only if a tall person didn't have the front seat slid well back.
The interior's fairly plain, which isn't bad. But a few plastic parts look and feel cheap. The only jazz inside is, in fact, a drawback. A big, round traditional tachometer is cheek-by-jowl with a cheap-looking rectangle that houses digital readouts and warning lights. Chevy says it's supposed to resemble what motorcycles do. Never understood that. Motorcycles have a different appeal than cars, obviously, and the two don't always mix well.
Visibility in the hatchback was good, despite the wide rear roof pillars. Cargo space is generous with the back seats up or down.
The essentials — steering precision, brake feel, cornering ability — all seemed more than satisfactory. Sonic is unlikely to annoy you with petulant dynamic behavior.
A lukewarm reaction to Sonic could be a matter of expectations more than a fault of the car's.
Related Stories
ABC News Live