new member saying hello

[dmbuttery]

My mothers car died two years ago and she couldn't afford to buy a car so I bought her 2014 chevy sonic LT as a birthday gift. I only drove it the one day to get it from the dealership to her house but I loved the car. She has been real happy with it as well and it's been a problem free car for her to 2 years now.

Now I am in need of a new daily driver so I am looking at two cars right now.

2012 Sonic LS, black, automatic, 67,500 miles. asking $6,900

or

2014 Sonic LS, Red, 5 spd manual, 34,800 miles, asking $5,900

Seems like a no-brainer. Get the newer one with half the miles for a grand less. But that is short term thinking. The average clutch should last 60K miles. I plan to keep the car till about 150K so I figure I am in for two clutch swaps. That adds at least 2K to the long term ownership of the car.

It's a tough choice. The auto will get slightly better gas mileage and be cheaper (probably) in the long run. But the manual will be fun to drive and has a lot less miles to start with.

Anyway, I will be buying one within the next two days and I'm happy to be here.

 

[JTee2017]

I think most owners with manual transmission Sonics are getting better MPG than the automatic.

Also . .. the 2014 has some important mechanical improvements over the 2012 first year model. I'd get the 2014. . . hands down.

 

[dmbuttery]

Better gas mileage with the manual might be true with the Sonic LT because they get a 6 speed manual. The LS has a 5 speed manual vs the 6 speed auto. So for this car, the manual has one less gear for highway cruising. That's insane to me because I grew up with 3 speed autos vs 4 speed manuals which turned into 4 speed autos vs 6 speed manuals.

Now we have 6, 8 and 10 speed autos. To quote Buford T. Justice

"What the hell is the world comin to?"

But you are right. The 2014 does have more safety features and two less years for things like gaskets and seals. I think I'm heavily leaning towards the 2014 manual.

 

[dmbuttery]

I bought the 2014 Sonic LS with 5 speed manual and 34,900 miles today. At $5,950 the car was a steal. They had originally listed it for $8,500 a few months ago and kept reducing the price because no one wanted a manual I guess.

It has no power windows which I am ok with. It also has no cruise control. I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I spend my entire ride to work cruising the highway at 75 MPH. I always use cruise control. Fortunately, there is an aftermarket kit for the sonic that can be purchased for $300 and it's easy to install yourself. I'll probably order it tomorrow and install it over the weekend if it gets here by Friday.