Open Letter to Non-Enthusiast Sonic Owners

[TheFallenAngel12]

I told myself when i bought my Sonic i wouldnt be modifying it and would be keeping it stock for a good while before i even thought of doing anything to it after having 2 previous cars that i dumped money galore into and traded in to get my sonic... 1 year later after purchasing the car and look what ive done to it lol. What can i say, I just cant keep a car stock. its just who i am. I prefer to take a car and make it my own. I love my sonic. I plan on getting the tune for my 1.8 eventually, but simply to improve the transmission and throttle responses. if i gain HP that be cool but really want to clean up those shift points and smooth them out. Plus the lack of a laptop keeps me from jumping the gun on buying the tune too At this point im simply focusing on the "Looks" department of modding. Then focus on modding the engine with whatever i can thats available down the road. Maybe more will be out for it by then.

First Brought Home...

1 Year Later after saying i wouldnt be modifying my car lol...

 

[vonmoen]

Glad I read this thread, it'll save me a ton of money.

 

[tpayne]

I have the RS and personally I want to get it tuned and get more power out of it. The exterior will be kept stock and will have a sleeper look. Blacked out emblems and the turbo and Sonic badges will be removed leaving the RS badge.

 

[NR552]

I have the RS and personally I want to get it tuned and get more power out of it. The exterior will be kept stock and will have a sleeper look. Blacked out emblems and the turbo and Sonic badges will be removed leaving the RS badge.

I blacked out everything on mine with plasti dip, the budget tune and an exhaust system are next then I'll be happy.

 

[suitcasejefferson]

I am someone else who is planning to buy a new Sonic LT automatic as a non enthusiast car. It will replace my nearly worn out '01 Malibu. I am a car enthusiast, and own a couple of enthusiast vehicles, a Chevy S10 hot rod/drag racer with a well built small block and manual transmission, and a 1964 Ford Fairlane convertible. I am a professional fleet mechanic, and just can't seem to get enthusiastic about newer cars with all their computerized electronics. So I have the older non electronic cars for hobbys, but want a nice new car for transportation/travel. In a way it will be a hobby, but not the same way as the old ones. I plan to put a LOT of miles on it traveling around the country, so I guess travel will be the actual hobby. It won't need any mods for that. I will be getting the LT automatic because I need the automatic transmission (knee and shoulder problems) cruise control, and A/C. A decent stereo will also be nice. I won't need any of the cell phone stuff, I don't use a cell phone while driving, including hands free. I will also not be getting the OnStar setup. Something about someone knowing where the car is at all times just doesn't sit too well with me. I do intend to take care of it, and over maintain it, as i want to get as many miles as possible out of it.

 

[sx sonic]

This thread is a nice complement to this thread.

http://www.sonicownersforum.com/forum/chevy-sonic-owners-forum/8745-will-void-my-warrranty.html

 

[MartyH]

I bought the belly pan for my 2013 it should have had on the car from new. I also added genuine Chevy splash guards on all 4 wheel wells. Other wise it's a bone stock 1.4 turbo 6 speed manual hatch LTZ. I'm averaging 35.9mpg since new (23,000 miles to date). I'd buy this same car again today.

 

[Mexigga]

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..

I don't know much about this stuff but it interests me... So you're saying that even a bone stock car can be made better buying the trifecta tune? I thought that was only for when you buy something new for your car?


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[SouthFLSonic]

I don't know much about this stuff but it interests me... So you're saying that even a bone stock car can be made better buying the trifecta tune? I thought that was only for when you buy something new for your car?


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They are talking more about the 1.4 turbo getting more HP and MPG from a tune, it will not affect the 1.8 in such a drastic way but will be some what better than stock.

 

[Mexigga]

Oh ok gotcha. I missed that part


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[Gio]

I chose the Sonic mainly for the handling, Road and Track magazine said it was the best handling Chevy under $45k. When I want to go real fast I get on a motorcycle and get on a track. Won't be modifying the Sonic for a while. When the tires wear out I may go with a little lower profile tire and then drop the car an inch or so with Eibach springs. Would like to have a boost gauge to use to get even better mileage. Then someday if I get pulled on by a Fiesta ST on the highway, I may have to drop some weight and turn up the boost a bit.

 

[Z71]

I bought this car (2013 Sonic LT sedan, 1.8, 5 speed) because of its low price and fuel economy. I intend to use it primarily as an every day commuter to work. This way I will not pile on so many miles on my other larger car and truck.

I thought about getting the turbo version, but there was only one new left over 2013 turbo 6 speed manual sedan I could find in Florida and it would have cost 1,600 more than the one I got. Plus the turbo version had no spare tire and mine does. What is the reason for this?

I intend to keep this car stock, except for addition of some accessories (splash guards, fog lights, etc.). I went with the left over 2013 model because incentives were great.

 

[Blue hedgehog]

The spare tire is an option. Cars without the spare get a can of fix a flat.

 

[laborsmith]

Z71 asked about why no spare tire in the turbocharged sedan. I do not know the answer, only that all other versions of the Sonic, whether 1.8 or 1.4T, sedan or HP, LS, LT, LTZ, and RS got a spare tire. Does it make sense? None that I know of.

I drove my 2010 Camaro for three years which came with a small air compressor and a can of fix-a-flat without incident. I used the living daylights out of the compressor and miss it. Not enough to get one but still it was handy.


Laborsmith

 

[Z71]

The spare tire is an option. Cars without the spare get a can of fix a flat.

It was standard equipment on my car (2013 LT sedan with 1.8 engine). According to the GM spec sheet for the 2013 models, spare tire is not even optional on the sedan turbo version. It is standard on both engine version hatchbacks though. This truly makes no sense unless for some reason the turbo version sedan has something protruding into the spare wheel well. And I doubt that is the case.

BTW, if you want to buy a new spare tire and jack/lug wrench from a GM dealer after the fact, the list price is over $ 580, which is ridiculous.

 

[ChicksHateMe]

I have the .4L Turbo, so I have plenty of power for me. I am not interested in doing much, but I am interested in a few things;

1. The Trifecta tune after all the reading I've done. I'm also a bit scared to do it. I can't really afford something big going wrong, and being told the warranty won't cover it.

What's probably the worst case scenario of having major problem and a Trifecta Tune, and what would that cost to fix?

2. I am only on my 2nd tank of gas too. I will manually calculate the MPG on the next fill, but the car's saying I am getting 29.6 MPG now. But that's up a lot from the 11 MPG it was showing when I bought it. That driving around the car lot must make it look bad. My driving has been about 90% highway.

Does it take a while for the 1.4L to break in and show better MPG's?

Where can I learn about the average MPG gain on a 1.4L Turbo going from stock toon to Trifecta tune?

If I am not gambling a lot, and I see $$$ in the MPG, I think the Trifecta tune would be the first thing I did. Other things I toy with are...

2nd - Roof Rack to carry an ex, a bike or a kayak.
3rd - Shocks to control ride comfort, if possible.
4th - Tires.

I'd like some graphics, but I doubt that will really happen.

Overall I don't NEED anything. But the big boost I hear in MPG has my interest in a Trifecta tune.

 

[KartRacer]

I have the .4L Turbo, so I have plenty of power for me. I am not interested in doing much, but I am interested in a few things;

1. The Trifecta tune after all the reading I've done. I'm also a bit scared to do it. I can't really afford something big going wrong, and being told the warranty won't cover it.

What's probably the worst case scenario of having major problem and a Trifecta Tune, and what would that cost to fix?

2. I am only on my 2nd tank of gas too. I will manually calculate the MPG on the next fill, but the car's saying I am getting 29.6 MPG now. But that's up a lot from the 11 MPG it was showing when I bought it. That driving around the car lot must make it look bad. My driving has been about 90% highway.

Does it take a while for the 1.4L to break in and show better MPG's?

Where can I learn about the average MPG gain on a 1.4L Turbo going from stock toon to Trifecta tune?

If I am not gambling a lot, and I see $$$ in the MPG, I think the Trifecta tune would be the first thing I did. Other things I toy with are...

2nd - Roof Rack to carry an ex, a bike or a kayak.
3rd - Shocks to control ride comfort, if possible.
4th - Tires.

I'd like some graphics, but I doubt that will really happen.

Overall I don't NEED anything. But the big boost I hear in MPG has my interest in a Trifecta tune.

First let me say that I do not have the tune. It seems as if fuel economy on the sonic depends more on , temperature and driving style than anything.
I do want to get the tune for my RS but am still on the fence as I do not want to deal with CEL' s at all.

 

[Swordsmith]

Lots of germans with ED read this forum? Spamreported

 

[Cur]

I originally purchased a 2009 Avevo 2nd hand as a 1st car. Loved it for fuel economy, and it had some power to it and i could push down the back seats for heaps of room - handy when working in IT and having to transport stuff between buildings.

Recently traded it in and bought a 14 Sonic RS because the dealership i bought the Avevo from never serviced it properly, it was getting a constant string of problems and i caught the dealership out being dodgy and was able to turn the situation around in my favor for more trade in value and cheaper price (I want a medal for that... it's not often you are the one screwing the car dealership... it's generally the other way around 99% of the time! their fault for being dodgy tho!)

I've never understood the need for performance mods. With the traffic and road's here you'd only get to enjoy having them (for real fun, c'mon!) if you went for a big interstate drive (maybe that is more common in the US than it is in Aus?) or you could pay and go to the track for some fun - at the risk of something going wrong and your ride getting wiped out.


I do get making your car look different tho. How many car's are out there? All look the same. So boring being so uniform. I had a bit of fun with the Avevo and stickered it up to look like a Transformer. That was fun for me because it made people smile and laugh I intend to do something similar with the RS in the future

I may eventually upgrade the speakers in it as well, I'm guilty of having the music up loud and singing I'll have to research the quality of the audio output from the stock system and that of the current speakers to work out if it would even be worthwile. Not going to remove the mylink system so it really depends on the technical stuff.

The LED light's i've seen posted elsewhere on this forum looked very nice, but i realy don't find myself driving that much at night. So as Swordsmith said - it would be nice but it would be a waste of money.

 

[ChicksHateMe]

First let me say that I do not have the tune. It seems as if fuel economy on the sonic depends more on , temperature and driving style than anything.
I do want to get the tune for my RS but am still on the fence as I do not want to deal with CEL' s at all.

Someone popped this thread up, and I found it interesting to look back at this. You seem to be very correct. The weather has warmed up around here and I just broke the 2,000 mile mark. For my last two tanks I've seen my MPG's go from about 27-29 up to 33-35. I drive hard too. I was trying all sorts of things, but it seems it may have broken in a little and the weather has affected it a lot. I've moved the tune down on my to-do list for now....