2009 Cobolt SS Turbo info

Personaly drove the car and it felt like a 300 plus horsepower car and handled like a german car and brakes on the spot for 24,000 you cant ask for more 260hp,no lift shift,cool monitor, launch control

The first-gen Cobalt SS failed to deliver with a supercharged 2.0L Ecotec four-cylinder producing 205 horsepower and a cast of supporting components that did little to hide the Cobalt's rental car roots. But then something entirely unexpected happened. The GM Performance Division completely reworked the Cobalt SS for 2008, swapping in a more powerful turbocharged engine, upgrading the rest of the mechanicals, and tweaking the entire package on the world's most demanding race tracks, including the famed Nürburgring in Germany.

The result is – and we're not kidding here – the most impressive performance car to wear a bow-tie badge on sale today*. Exactly how General Motors turned a bottom-of-the-pack, front-wheel-drive econocar into a class-leading sport compact is revealed after the jump.

The heart of the Cobalt SS Turbo is its engine, a turbocharged, direct-inject version of the same 2.0L Ecotec in the first-gen car that now produces 260 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque. It is the Alpha and Omega of the Ecotec engine family and a marvel of modern engineering. Available since 2008 in the Cobalt SS Turbo and HHR SS, and also in the Pontiac Solstice GXP and Saturn Sky Red Line, the turbo DI Ecotec does now what Ford promises its EcoBoost engines will do in a few years. That is, produce V6 power with four-cylinder fuel economy. Case in point, the Cobalt SS Turbo returns 30 mpg on the highway.

Though peak torque arrives early on at 2,000 rpm, this engine pulls the Cobalt SS Turbo like Usain Bolt dragging a Little Red Flyer for 200 meters. Turbo lag is scant, with a torrent rush of power coming on early and building linearly until the tach needle begins bouncing against its 6,250 rpm redline. Chevy claims the Cobalt SS Turbo will hit 60 mph in 5.7 seconds, which must be conservative considering how fast the trip feels.




Standard Cobalt SS Turbos feature an analog boost gauge there, but with the coupe you can opt up for the reconfigurable performance display. The little telly gets fed info from the car's sensors and can display a dizzying array of data like boost pressure for the turbo, coolant temperature, inlet air temperature, fuel pressure, air/fuel ratio, cam phaser angle and overlap for both the intake and exhaust, spark advance and knock retard, engine horsepower and torque, g-forces and your speed in miles per hour. While it looks tacked on, has a bad user interface and doesn't play re-runs of Seinfeld, true tuners will appreciate the granularity with which they can monitor the car's internals.