carsNskis
New member
Just bought a 14 Sonic RS Manual in Victory Red!
I work for a Chevy Dealer and I have an 80 mile round trip commute. Needed something with better MPG than my 98 Cherokee, was fun, had a manual and a turbo.... This RS came up on the VIN list for the 20% off MSRP deal so I had to jump on it. At $17k it was a better deal than employee pricing and a helluva lot more features on it than the CPO LT I was looking at.
First driving impression was "meh+". Fun, but not thrilling... for reference my last 2 cars this size were a 1990 Acura Integra 1.8 LS hatch with a Greddy Turbo, and a 1999 Honda Prelude with a 2.2 stroked to 2.4 and turbo'd as well. Both had tons of suspension tuning and were built to handle Colorado mountain driving.
After 250 miles I filled up with 91 octane and bada-bing, bada-boom!! The car came to life!! Must have been 85-87 octane in the tank b/c launches would lag horribly and power dropped off significantly at 5k rpm. When I took it home Friday I had 214 miles on the odo... as of Monday morning I broke 500 on the way to work.
4 hours of driving I-70 W, Deer Creek Canyon, and Rampart Range Road South of Sedalia, CO more than solidified i made a great purchase. The car romped up I-70's steep grades and was a blast going up and down two very twisty canyons.
I've heard complaints about the stock tires but they held up well to aggressive switchbacks and had adequate traction powering through and out of tight hairpins. Although they're adequate I will certainly be looking for more grip once these show some wear.
I'm looking forward to tightening up the suspension as the fore/aft body roll is significant. I'll likely start with springs (either GM Performance since I get them at cost, Eibach or HR since they're TUV rated).
A short shifter will definitely be on the list as I missed a few second and third gear shifts in aggressive corners and sprints.
I probably won't play with the power until the handling is dialed in and I have some more miles on the motor, but and intake and exhaust are certainly in the future.
The audio is good enough for now, but I will look for a stealth sub add on and speaker replacements once I blow a paper cone throbbing some dubstep through those mountain curves.
Overall I'm really happy with this little pocket rocket and look forward to making it just as capable as my last two canyon carvers... Thanks for the add to the forum!
I work for a Chevy Dealer and I have an 80 mile round trip commute. Needed something with better MPG than my 98 Cherokee, was fun, had a manual and a turbo.... This RS came up on the VIN list for the 20% off MSRP deal so I had to jump on it. At $17k it was a better deal than employee pricing and a helluva lot more features on it than the CPO LT I was looking at.
First driving impression was "meh+". Fun, but not thrilling... for reference my last 2 cars this size were a 1990 Acura Integra 1.8 LS hatch with a Greddy Turbo, and a 1999 Honda Prelude with a 2.2 stroked to 2.4 and turbo'd as well. Both had tons of suspension tuning and were built to handle Colorado mountain driving.
After 250 miles I filled up with 91 octane and bada-bing, bada-boom!! The car came to life!! Must have been 85-87 octane in the tank b/c launches would lag horribly and power dropped off significantly at 5k rpm. When I took it home Friday I had 214 miles on the odo... as of Monday morning I broke 500 on the way to work.
4 hours of driving I-70 W, Deer Creek Canyon, and Rampart Range Road South of Sedalia, CO more than solidified i made a great purchase. The car romped up I-70's steep grades and was a blast going up and down two very twisty canyons.
I've heard complaints about the stock tires but they held up well to aggressive switchbacks and had adequate traction powering through and out of tight hairpins. Although they're adequate I will certainly be looking for more grip once these show some wear.
I'm looking forward to tightening up the suspension as the fore/aft body roll is significant. I'll likely start with springs (either GM Performance since I get them at cost, Eibach or HR since they're TUV rated).
A short shifter will definitely be on the list as I missed a few second and third gear shifts in aggressive corners and sprints.
I probably won't play with the power until the handling is dialed in and I have some more miles on the motor, but and intake and exhaust are certainly in the future.
The audio is good enough for now, but I will look for a stealth sub add on and speaker replacements once I blow a paper cone throbbing some dubstep through those mountain curves.
Overall I'm really happy with this little pocket rocket and look forward to making it just as capable as my last two canyon carvers... Thanks for the add to the forum!
