Generally very happy with mine.
Disadvantages:
1. Plastic components in the powertrain are prone to wear or damage (e.g. coolant piping, clips, radiator overflow tank, radiator cooling fan, intake manifold, PCV system, valve cover etc.) that if not taken care of quickly can cause damage to the (much better made) major components. Same can be true of the plastic endlinks (!) though mine are still doing fine at 59K miles. These account for the car's drop in reliability after about the third or fourth year to average or sub-average ratings in surveys such as Consumer Reports.
2. A lot of mechanics, dealers and independents alike, don't seem to know or care how to work on the car and I think part of this also comes from GM's own denial of issue #1 above. You will get people trying to sell you the wrong solution to a problem. Learn about how it works.
3. If you are over 190-200 pounds the seats aren't comfortable. I hit just over 200 in my first year of ownership and had significant discomfort, dropped back down to 185 and the problems went away.
4. Powertrain is a little obsolete; mid-2000s tech. Means particulate emissions performance isn't quite where it should be and ditto mpg. However, as long as it's running right, it is super smooth and that's nice. If it had the 1.3 liter three cylinder from the TrailBlazer I wouldn't be surprised to see it beating almost every other non hybrid for economy, while exceeding current 0-60 performance.
5. 2013 and earlier models had serious problems with the water pump, and also with the oil feed line on the turbocharger, which had inadequate seals (leading to leaks) and no heat insulation (leading to carbonization and the line becoming blocked, destroying the turbo). Luckily mine's a 2014.
6. January 2015 models and earlier had an A-pillar design and airbag sensor location that contributed to marginal crash safety for small-offset crashes. This was fixed for February 2015 and beyond. Unfortunately mine was made eight months before the switchover.
Advantages (sedan, 1.4 automatic):
1. Compact car capacity and internal length in a sub-compact length body (for the sedan, at least). Huge trunk, spacious in front, yet very easy to park.
2. Generally better design and more efficient use of space than other GM products like the Cruze, and many products from competing manufacturers. You have to go to a Civic to get comparable trunk capacity; a Corolla means two cubic feet less largely because the Corolla trunk is so shallow, and those are C-segment, not B-segment cars.
3. Good ergonomics, aside from the seat issue I mentioned above. Controls and surfaces, whether stick controls, seat belts or almost anything else are large, easy to find and tactile. Trunk pass through opening is huge and very regularly shaped. Doors open really wide. Car is quiet for the class. You also sit quite high up compared to most cars, almost crossover height, resulting in good visibility and not feeling like you're bossed around by bigger vehicles.
4. Top notch tech for the class, content you'd normally expect to find on a much more expensive car. My 2014 already had MyLink and iTunes; 2017 and later has full Apple Car Play and Android Auto on all models.
5. Very high initial quality from 2014 on, often market leading; many fewer problems from the Lake Orion plant than several other GM Plants.
6. Smooth to drive; powertrain as smooth as a much more expensive car and handling is very good, with the exception of a bit of rear-end instability resulting from lack of a stabilizer bar there. That one is easy to fix with a third party product that can be directly attached to existing mounting points.
Overall I still don't think a better B-segment car has emerged on the US market, although on strictly technical points the sedan nudges up into the C-segment. In that sense it's a pity they're killing it, though it's obvious they want the space on that Orion assembly line for their electric transition.
