By Ro McGonegal

Photos by Ro McGonegal

Introduced in ’05 and virtually unchanged, the Cobalt Supercharged remains fresh. It still amazes us that Chevrolet gave this car a fighting chance right out of the chute—forged parts in the motor, sussed out

The 2.0L engine in the Cobalt Supercharged trickled down from GM-affiliate Saab, although Saab’s engine is turbocharged, not supercharged. Though extremely tractable and fun to drive, its output is not nearly enough for a leadfoot, but there’s help.

suspension, and a lovable list price. As the antecedent of the much-maligned Cavalier, the Cobalt stands way tall, the perfect next-generation form and one that addresses and amends all of the J-Car’s cobbled-up shortcomings. The car turned into a real stiff. Literally.

As the beneficiary of GM’s global Delta architecture, the Cobalt adopted Corvette science by mounting the front suspension components to a rigid cradle assembly comprised of four large hydro-formed steel tubes and two side members that are welded to front and rear crossmembers. A firm platform is the prescribed path to precise handling characteristics and true-straight tracking. Torsional and bending stiffness were drastically increased and are abetted by high-strength steel parts placed at strategic points in the uni-body, adding more stiffness and reluctance to twist. On top of this, the chassis and suspension were developed on American road courses as well as the vaunted Nurburgring. The suspension system is Regular Production Order FE5

When the SS Supercharged Cobalt was introduced, it was aimed smack at the belly of the import tuners: big wheels, skinny sidewalls, wing on the deck, high-zoot audio system, and the all-important boost gauge stuck to the A-pillar. Thankfully, the plan also included some motor sack to back the super chassis up.

WANNA BUMP? Factory Supercharger Upgrade Kits Stage 1 (PN 17801947) Recalibrated PCM and higher-flow fuel injectors.... Click here for more.

The 2.0-liter (122ci) engine has already produced 1,000-1,300hp with the production cylinder block in tube chassis race cars. The stock crankshaft will handle as much as 500hp. So according to this, the current 205hp engine is emitting but a kernel of its potential. And if you didn’t already know, the engine in the supercharged car is basically a Saab design—the 2.2L and 2.4L normally aspirated engines are from the Ecotec mold. Certainly, 300hp and just as much grunt at the wheels are completely within anyone’s grasp and pocketbook.

INTERIOR/ERGONOMICS

This place is a welcome haunt. We admire the efficiency of form that a car of the Cobalt’s class provides. We don’t need much more interior room, we don’t hit our head on the roof, all the stuff you’re supposed to grip or twist and pull or push is logically arranged and can be set without looking. The seats are comfortable enough, even on three-hour interstate runs. They’re supportive without being obdurate.

Office space is roomy and comfortable, controls are logically arranged and easy to access, pedals are for heel-and-toe, and the shifter is precise and has a short throw.

Outward view is grand. The hood curves away from the windshield leaving nothing but the road in front of you. Even this bad-ass version of the Cobalt, being on the low end of the price ladder, is without certain things that would be standard anywhere else. Where’s that center arm rest, for instance? Something less than a console would work just fine, anything but that big bundle of towels or that crusty pile of Krispy-Kreme boxes we’d been using.

Of particular note is the shifter mechanism. Boys and girls, if you don’t remember what the Cavalier’s was like, the one in the Cobalt Supercharged is tight and accurate, able to withstand some pretty severe abuse, too. The shift pattern is close and gear engagement is positive. Clutch pedal “weight” is light and release is very linear. The brake and throttle are positioned for a lively heel-and-toe dance.

The home room is decked out fairly well, too. Its power everything in there, air conditioning, remote keyless entry, XM radio, heated seats, 7 Pioneer speakers, even floor mats, all that good stuff included in the base price. Our car had

These are the ones to watch. On the throttle, their needles bend quickly. Stage 2 computer tweaks add 500rpm to the rev band (7,000rpm ceiling).

the works, of course--On Star and head curtain side airbags being the two most expensive ancillaries. In all, the interior is good and solid, not a facade, although plastic cheese still grows there (glove box door, loose change drawer, top of console), but the Cobalt’s heftier foundation should keep them quiet for a long time. In all, the ensemble has a Berlin vibe to it: subdued, tasteful, but ultimately manic.

BUILD QUALITY

This used to be the Cavalier’s house of shame. Upon inheriting the Delta bloodline, the Cobalt automatically and painlessly advanced a couple of quantum steps. You probably take a great deal of pride in what you drive and how it looks to the rest of the world, so when things don’t rattle, vibrate, or fall off, you appreciate it. Good seats don’t mean squat if there’s too much extemporaneous racket buzzing around them.

The Cobalt’s seams are tight and its reveals are right. Big polished wheels are much too bright and cheery for us (the painted finish would out were it ours) but their size and the statement they imply secure the aura of the Supercharged. For ’07, the deck wing is trimmer and stands about half as high as it used to, so you can see out the backlight much better now.

Obligatory positive manifold pressure/vacuum gauge is on the A-pillar.

Considering its high-volume production, the Cobalt’s fit and finish was quite good. Yes, there were traces of orange peel in the Laser Blue Metallic, but these days, you can find the same skank on a high-buck Benz. Main thing is that all the seams have the same width. And the doors make a nice thunk when you shut them. Was it a good day in Lordstown, or is this the usual thing? It’s as if they had the scrutiny of the whole world in mind when they built this car.

DRIVING

Whenever you’ve got more than 200 horsepower trying to motivate and steer the car simultaneously, you’ve got a problem to solve. Of the entire option schedule, there is only one that you absolutely must include. We’d gladly pay double for the $795 limited-slip differential. Though it doesn’t totally eliminate torque steer, that it nulls wheel hop and both tires bite hard and evenly is the next best thing to AWD. Rev the motor up, pop the clutch, and you’re instantly ripping up the zone.

The power comes on very smooth and very linear, as it should with a positive displacement supercharger. Unlike aftermarket iterations (where operational noise is not a factor), the Eaton makes very little sound of its own, even when run it WOT. All you here is a persuasive exhaust note, no rumble, no low-rpm drone, certainly a big step away from all the fart cans of the world. Since this stuff is factory–legal, decibels cannot exceed a prescribed level during the acceleration and steady-state modes.

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Middle of the night. Deserted toll road. Daffy at the controls. With no particular plan in mind. We held the throttle down until the speedo

There’s not enough room in the engine compartment to include even the downsized battery so it’s nestled in the spare tire well, thus relieving the front end of unneeded weight.

wound 140. Like a heavily over-built road warrior, one that feels sluggish and unresponsive on the low end but turns downright aggressive at speed, the Cobalt clung to the road and did not waver. Was that proof that the wing actually made a bunch of down force? Probably more like the dynamics of front-wheel drive. That new Otis Taylor cut slithering through the car’s big-bang audio might have had a lot to do with the impetus, though. So there we were, blasting along like a Tomahawk at twice the legal limit. No drama. Steered it one-handed. Not a lot of wind noise, either. The loud pedal? Surely there was more than enough left for some really serious psycho-drama. Car’s got a chassis that’ll actually absorb the grunt. How about that?

CONCLUSION

 

One Man’s Poison: Ken Pochis’ Yellow Fang Ken Pochis cut his teeth on Camaros of all sorts and thought there would never be anything else. When fuel got precious, he rightly swiveled, bought a ’06 Cobalt SS Supercharged and got busy with it. Making trim parts, hoods, deck lids, etc., from carbon fiber is his forte.... Click here for more.

The sound the engine makes--from idle to WOT--goes a long way to legitimize its threat. Depending on which way the wind blows, the normally-aspirated Ecotec sounds a little too much an appliance than a high performance engine, but the supercharger adds gravity. The engine purrs. The exhaust upgrade goes a long way here, putting a pacifying thrum to the aural mix that neatly ties it all together. This is the first time that GM Performance Parts have been applied to a production vehicle. This stuff works so well, they ought to do bump-up kits for everything with a shred of performance in it

When Interstate One delivered the Cobalt, we noticed the change in the exhaust note right off. When we pushed the pedals on it a couple of minutes later, we got the full impact of the induction changes. The stock Supercharged is quick, but now there was something to really grab our attention. As it is with any forced-induction power plant, the extended rpm band and the free-revving engine seem like they would pull straight to the moon.

For the buck, you can’t hardly beat this deal, boss. Get over the fact that it’s a four-cylinder. It’s got a power legacy that a drag racer would consider, a ton of handling force, economical operation, and a roomy, stylish place to put it all.

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’07 COBALT SS SUPERCHARGED QUICK SPECS

1. Price: $23,205 ($20,925 base)
2. Construction: Uni-body, rigid front sub-frame, FWD
3. Engine: (RPO LSJ) Supercharged DOHC 16V, aluminum block, aluminum heads, neutral balance shafts
4. Displacement: 2.0L (122ci)
5. Compression ratio: 9.5:1
6. HP: 205 @ 5,600rpm (Stage 2: 241 @ 5,600rpm)
7. Torque (lb-ft): 200 @ 4,400rpm (Stage 2: 218lb-ft @ 4,400rpm)
8. Max engine speed: 6,500rpm
9. Transmission: F35 5-speed manual: 3.38, 1.76, 1.18, 0.89, 0.70:1
10. Axle ratio: 4.05:1
11. Front suspension (f/r): MacPherson strut, lower control arm, 24mm anti-sway bar; semi-independent, struts, trailing arms, torsion-beam axle, 22mm anti-sway bar
12. Differential: Limited-slip
13. Steering: Rack-and-pinion, power assisted, 16.6:1 ratio
14. Wheelbase: 103.3 inches
15. Track, f/r: 57.1/58.1 inches
16. Turning circle: 40.7 feet
17. Brakes, f/r: 11.6x1.02-inch vented disc/10.6x0.55-inch solid disc, ABS
18. Wheels/Tires: 18x7.0-inch cast aluminum/Pirelli PZero Rosso 215/45ZR18
19. Weight distribution (percent), f/r: 60/40
20. Curb weight: 2,925 pounds
21. Fuel capacity: 13.2 gallons
22. EPA city/hwy: 22/30 mpg
23. Performance (stock): 0-60—6.0 sec
24. ¼-mile—14.5/98.2
25. 60-0—115 feet
26. 600-ft slalom—69.0mph
27. Lateral acceleration—0.89g

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WANNA BUMP?

Factory Supercharger Upgrade Kits

Stage 1 (PN 17801947)

Recalibrated PCM and higher-flow fuel injectors (42lb/hr). Blower pulley stock: 84mm. Positive manifold pressure: 12.5psi. 50-state emissions-legal; 93 octane fuel required. Yield: 230hp, 205lb-ft

 

Stage 2 (PN 17803229)

Higher-flow fuel injectors (42lb/hr), 77.9mm blower pulley, longer supercharger belt, and a recalibrated PCM that includes changes to fuel and spark curves, the diagnostics to cover additional speed range and higher output, and 7,000rpm engine speed. 50-state emissions-legal; 93 octane fuel required. Positive manifold pressure: 15psi. Yield 241hp, 218lb-ft.

Cost: $750 (plus installation)

Stage 3 (PN 88958719)

A 76mm blower pulley, 2-pass intercooler and plate, and a unique PCM (includes calibration for the smaller pulley, an adjustable rev limiter, a 100 octane mode, and 50hp nitrous oxide control algorithm). Off-road only. Yield: 248hp on 93 octane, 260hp on 100.

Cat-back exhaust system (PN 17802111)

The Performance version (there’s also a mellower-sounding Touring version, PN 17822110) is a mandrel-bent T-304 stainless steel mid-pipe and tailpipe that joins a stainless steel muffler and resonator. The exhaust tip is extra.

Cost: $489 (plus installation)

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One Man’s Poison: Ken Pochis’ Yellow Fang

 

Attractive rolling stock: Dunlop Direzza DZ101 215/35ZR18s on 8-inch High Performance Designs (www.perfectlyround.com) one-piece wheels. Yellow Fang settles on H&R coil springs.

Ken Pochis cut his teeth on Camaros of all sorts and thought there would never be anything else. When fuel got precious, he rightly swiveled, bought a ’06 Cobalt SS Supercharged and got busy with it. Making trim parts, hoods, deck lids, etc., from carbon fiber is his forte (www.kenscobaltss.com) so his car is wild with them.

That’s what first attracted us to the car, but Pochis passed on the icing and began to tell us about the mechanical deviations he’d vested in the Cobalt. He did the Stage 2 routine more than a year ago, added methanol injection (drops intake charge air at least 30 degrees), installed the

NOS Sniper 50-shot kit on Pochis’ Cobalt Fang uses solenoids from a V8 installation.

Extrude Honed OE exhaust manifold (PN19131972), and followed it with the cat-back exhaust (see above). The stock clutch got old real fast and couldn’t provide enough clamping force. A Clutch Masters FX400 (clutchmasters.com) extreme-duty sprung ceramic pressure plate, 6-puck disc, and an aluminum flywheel solved the lost friction issue. At this point, Ken got the HP Tuners (www.hptuners.com) folks involved and the Ecotec was soon putting 260hp to the wheels.

Was Ken Dog satisfied? He called Jesse

Juice is injected discreetly just prior to the throttle body. Computer re-flash by HP Tuners. Output at the tires is 310hp. All-wheel drive, anyone? Best quarter-mile performance on the motor:13.63/104.9.

Coulter at NOS for a pow wow. Before he knew it, the techs had their new Sniper wet 50-shot system up and running. This kit includes the Pressure On Demand controller, as well as a remote bottle opener and bottle heating pad. Output at the wheels is now 310hp. When the juice cuts in, the car literally leaps. The engine becomes insanely urgent, its pitch several octaves higher than without the juice. If the Cobalt’s rolling fast enough, the car rockets forward; if it isn’t, the Dunlops spin madly, spewing smoke and venom. Ultimately, Yellow Fang returns a consistent 29 mpg highway. 

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