Need your advice

[Macehammer]

Everyone except grandma-ma should buy the turbo.

If the extra $800 is outside of your budget, get the car you can really afford: the Chevy Spark.

 

[Goneau]

Surprised nobody has said this before, but get the 1.4T...

because racecar

BUT, when better internals and a turbo kit become available 1.8 > 1.4
it's all about displacement and potential ;]
i'm here to start a riot <3

 

[Macehammer]

BUT, when better internals and a turbo kit become available 1.8 > 1.4
it's all about displacement and potential ;]
i'm here to start a riot <3

Not worth talking about this if $800 means that much to the OP

 

[AndrewGS]

I'm working with 5-6 via email including buckalew. Everyone has told me they can't get the 1.4 in the LT trim right now. LTZ and RS is not a problem. The issue is we want cloth seats so that rules out the LTZ and RS.

Do you like Victory Red, Crystal Red Tintcoat or Summit White?









All are automatics with MyLink. I went and double checked for you this morning.

 

[poncho167]

Where the hell did you get that price? It's usually a $700-$900 job.

Timing belt service on a lot of cars is under $500 out the door now-a-days. Look at the engine, its small and basic. I would consider doing it myself when the time comes.

 

[HADES20]

Victory red

 

[firedoghfd]

Do you like Victory Red, Crystal Red Tintcoat or Summit White?









All are automatics with MyLink. I went and double checked for you this morning.

Thanks.

The Victory Red and white are not our favorite colors. The Crystal Red Tintcoat is a possibility. Did you notice what color the seats were?

 

[AndrewGS]

Thanks.

The Victory Red and white are not our favorite colors. The Crystal Red Tintcoat is a possibility. Did you notice what color the seats were?

No problem. I'm here to help out my fellow Sonic lovers.

The seats in all of them are Jet Black/Dark Titanium, the best combo if you ask me. The two Crystal Red cars are identical and I think they have an Inferno Orange one in the showroom.

Mike can hook you up. If you plan on going up there maybe I could meet you there and you could check out my Sonic. I've been wanting to show it to Mike since I got the exhaust on.

 

[barch88]

First of all - doesn't really matter. If you want a real turbo car, get yourself an Audi S4. Bottom line is, these are sub compact, fun little stylish cars. I got the 1.8 (coming from an Audi btw). Whatever the dealer has, is in your price range, and you like...get it. The LT with the wheel/fog package is an awesome setup. I got myself an LT, minus the wheel/fog package. I personally bought dealer installed fogs for around $350 later on, and I'll get new (bigger) wheels when my stock tires wear down.

Either way, both are the same as far as looks go. The 1.4 is the better choice, but the 1.8 is cheaper and tbh you're not going to notice much of a difference. Trust me, I've driven both.

and BTW - Replacing the timing belt on these engines is simple and cheap, I did check up on that before I purchased my car. Until you had to replace several timing belts on VW/Audi cars, then come talk to me...they basically require the entire front end and car to be pulled apart and can run $1200.

 

[firedoghfd]

First of all - doesn't really matter. If you want a real turbo car, get yourself an Audi S4. Bottom line is, these are sub compact, fun little stylish cars. I got the 1.8 (coming from an Audi btw). Whatever the dealer has, is in your price range, and you like...get it. The LT with the wheel/fog package is an awesome setup. I got myself an LT, minus the wheel/fog package. I personally bought dealer installed fogs for around $350 later on, and I'll get new (bigger) wheels when my stock tires wear down.

Either way, both are the same as far as looks go. The 1.4 is the better choice, but the 1.8 is cheaper and tbh you're not going to notice much of a difference. Trust me, I've driven both.

and BTW - Replacing the timing belt on these engines is simple and cheap, I did check up on that before I purchased my car. Until you had to replace several timing belts on VW/Audi cars, then come talk to me...they basically require the entire front end and car to be pulled apart and can run $1200.

Thanks for the input. I'm coming from VW and completely understand your statement. Can't stand it that you basically have to rip the car open to do simple tasks.

The Audi S4 is nice but I can't see spending 60k on a car.

 

[Goneau]

Thanks for the input. I'm coming from VW and completely understand your statement. Can't stand it that you basically have to rip the car open to do simple tasks.

The Audi S4 is nice but I can't see spending 60k on a car.

used s4 ~15-20k?

 

[AndrewGS]

used s4 ~15-20k?

No warranty on a German car? No thanks.

As for a "real" turbo car, I can't see buying something as big as a car and not opting for the better engine when it's such a small bump in price. I get 42MPG highway and 33-35MPG city and I get on it quite a bit. I don't think I'd be getting that kind of economy with a 1.8L. Plus, it's just fun to drive with all the torque of the Turbo engine.

I've driven both engines and the Sonic I was sold on was the 1.8L, but I'm so glad that I stepped up and waited a few days to get the Turbo. In my opinion the Turbo engine should be standard in both the Sonic and the Cruze.

 

[firedoghfd]

I'm sold on the 1.8. Dealer put an offer of 17150 (19130 msrp) for the LT with auto, my link, fog lights, wheels, cargo net, floor mats, and those hard plastic mud flaps. Plus we found out we can get the 500 college discount on top of that as my wife finished her PhD 18 months ago.


Thanks for everyone help

 

[Swordsmith]

I'm late to this party and you've already made up your mind... but I would have suggested to those dealers that couldn't find your car that they simply swap out the leather seats from the LTZ they were trying to sell you and swap in cloth ones from an LT or LS. Take them a half hour, and they get fancy seats to sell as an "upgrade" to some poor sap who comes in looking for a Sonic but can't afford LTZ. There's no reason they shouldn't have done that since it's just free money to them, Plus they get to close the deal with you.

On the other hand, they were apparently all lying to you, which isn't a good reason to buy from any of them, no matter what deal they are offering. Sure you don't want to take the offer to one of the dealers who was telling the truth and see if they will match it?

 

[firedoghfd]

I'm late to this party and you've already made up your mind... but I would have suggested to those dealers that couldn't find your car that they simply swap out the leather seats from the LTZ they were trying to sell you and swap in cloth ones from an LT or LS. Take them a half hour, and they get fancy seats to sell as an "upgrade" to some poor sap who comes in looking for a Sonic but can't afford LTZ. There's no reason they shouldn't have done that since it's just free money to them, Plus they get to close the deal with you.

On the other hand, they were apparently all lying to you, which isn't a good reason to buy from any of them, no matter what deal they are offering. Sure you don't want to take the offer to one of the dealers who was telling the truth and see if they will match it?

The price difference between the LT an LTZ was to high to do that just for turbo. I would also have heated seat switches that did nothing.

Also no one lied to me. Turns out the Fog light/ Wheel package is not available on the Turbo LT. You can buy both separately but not at package price. This is from Chevy not the dealer and is why I was having search issues. A few dealerships stated they could find me a turbo but I would have to do with out the fog light and wheel package, change colors, or get the fog lights as a separate item.

The dealer I ended up buying from let me play with there software that searched for cars at all dealers. He was not on of the dealers I was e-mailing. Part of the issue was that we only wanted the dark interior. The lighter gray was a deal killer. We were also picky on the exterior colors. The car we ended up buying came from another dealer in town because they didn't have one on the lot. No biggie it only took a few hours to get it transferred over.



Car has been in my driveway only a few hours and I have the plastidip out.


Thank you to everyone that provided me feedback and opinions.

 

[poncho167]

"Turns out the Fog light/ Wheel package is not available on the Turbo LT. You can buy both separately but not at package price. This is from Chevy not the dealer and is why I was having search issues. A few dealerships stated they could find me a turbo but I would have to do with out the fog light and wheel package, change colors, or get the fog lights as a separate item."

I wanted the same package fog lights/wheel package, but it only comes with the 1.8L. It is done that way so you go for the more expensive LTZ with all the goodies and a lot of things you probably didn't need.

If you go on chevy.com and build your own, it will not let you chose the LT with that package and will default back to 1.8L if you do.

 

[firedoghfd]

"Turns out the Fog light/ Wheel package is not available on the Turbo LT. You can buy both separately but not at package price. This is from Chevy not the dealer and is why I was having search issues. A few dealerships stated they could find me a turbo but I would have to do with out the fog light and wheel package, change colors, or get the fog lights as a separate item."

I wanted the same package fog lights/wheel package, but it only comes with the 1.8L. It is done that way so you go for the more expensive LTZ with all the goodies and a lot of things you probably didn't need.

If you go on chevy.com and build your own, it will not let you chose the LT with that package and will default back to 1.8L if you do.

same with this page
Build Your Own GM Vehicle

 

[LTZ ICE]

1.4T all the way! Not that there is anything wrong with the 1.8, but the 1.4T is a gem!
If it is in your budget, the 1.4T is well worth the extra $700.00. As far as the turbo, follow regular maintenance intervals and use Mobil1.

 

[ChrisJ]

I owned a 1.8 Sonic and put 11K on it before it was totaled. I now have 15K on a 1.4T Sonic and I'll tell you the same thing I tell everyone.

I have no idea why the 1.8 is made when the 1.4T is only a $700 option. The 1.4T has better low end power and the gas mileage on the 1.8 is awful compared to the 1.4T. At least this is the case in my situation, same driver, same commute, same conditions the 1.4T consistently pulls off 7 MPG more then the 1.8 (33 vs 40).

 

[$ub$onic]

The 1.8 is made for those of us who buy the Ls and don't want to spend another couple grande to upgrade. Although I am very happy with my 1.8 if I would have went with a lt or Ltz I would have a turbo. 700 at that point is a no brainier

Sadly the car I got was the one they had on the lot and I didn't feel like ordering one

Also, I get 35-36 mpg and I'm even tuned. I understand a turbo would be over 40 though. In either case both are better then the 17 I was getting