Used 2015 Chevrolet Sonic Consumer Reviews
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Low cost fun!
I bought this car out of necessity in October 2015 to replace my 2005 Ford Escape, which was in need of major repairs. My criteria was to find the least expensive Chevrolet I could by that was actually built in the United States. I have the base LS Sedan 5 speed, and my only factory option is a cargo net. Let me begin by saying I had no idea how much I would enjoy driving this car! It is by far my favorite of our family drivers, which include a 2015 Jeep Cherokee Latitude, and my daughter's 2011 Chevy Cruise. My Sonic Sedan sits family high, it has great sight lines, it is very easy to get into and out of, even for occasional front seat passengers well over 6' tall. The trunk is cavernous, and with both back seats folded down, you can carry a ridiculous amount of stuff in this car. The Sears are comfortable, and with four average size passengers, there is more than adequate room in the car. The real pleasure of this little car is in how nicely it drives. I have the base 1.8 liter engine, with a 5 speed. The transmission is very good, and goes easily and almost crisply into gear. The gear spacing (ratios) are perfect, with just the right amount of performance overlap from one gear to the next, and this car will go 75-80 mph all day, without you the driver feeling like you have been beat up in a small car. The suspension is interesting. The car has a nice compliant ride over any road surface, and the ride quality is surprisingly good. You'd be tempted think it was sprung too softly, and then you hit a curve, and you take that curve in complete control. Amazing for a car with a beam rear axle; but then again, I read that Chevrolet had the suspension team for the Corvette set the spring rates and shock damping for the rear suspension. My combined mpg is 34.5 mpg. All day long. If I reset the mpg display before a hwy trip I can get 40 mpg. That's the truth, and may be due to manual transmission. So, that's all the stuff I like. - - What I don't like is the quirky LED instrument panel. The only analog gage is the tach; everything else is digital. My biggest complaint with it is that there is no temperature display, which is a pain in the winter time. I'm not a fan of the instrument panel, and I think that Chevy has fixed that, and gone more analog in 2017. Also, the base "infotainment" system is pretty lame; front door and A pillar speakers only, nothing in back, and am-fm only. I have to use an aux cord with my iPhone. There is no USB port in the base car (LS). I use a 12 Vdc adapter to charge my phone in the car. The Bluetooth, however, does work great, and I use that feature all the time. The car is also a WiFi hot spot, which is pretty cool. I should also say that I have had absolutely ZERO problems with this car, from a maintenance or build quality perspective. I is very tight, and very quiet. -Surprisingly so. In summary, I like this car A LOT! I bought it as "BT" - basic transportation, but it has turned out to be way more than that. Finally, on a recent business trip, I had the chance to rent a 2014 Sonic LT sedan with 42,000 miles. That car had all the stuff I like about my car, but with power windows, an automatic transmission, and a decent factory sound system, and with 42K on the click it was still tight and quiet. These are great little cars, that live a lot bigger than they actually are.
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Disappointing for sure.
I owned this 2015 Chevrolet Sonic LTZ, Turbo, since it was new. The last 3 summers in continuously ran hot. First, the hoses and pumps for the cooling system needed replacement. Then the thermostat went bad and was replaced. It then, would remain losing coolant over time and I constantly had to stay on top of the water level to prevent the car from running hot. Even though I had all my work done at the Chevrolet dealership, you would think they would naturally find the cause of the constant loss of coolant. But no. Last summer, the coolant got so hot, it cracked the reservoir and I had that replaced. There is.no temperature gage to monitor on the dash. Why?? Because it's all digital. So you don't know its running hot, until an alarm sounds and you have to shut it down ... obviously to prevent further damage. In the end, my now worth 4800 in rough condition with 100k miles on the dash, has a cracked head from blowing a head gasket. The quote to fix? Chevrolet dealership said 7500 for motor replacement and installation. I sold it with a bad motor for 1700 and just paid it off in November. Incredibly disappointing. Although I loved the interior .... The touch screen screws up and gets stuck on seek. If you have a good Bluetooth connection at all. Handles well and fun to drive. When gas is cheap, I could fill her up for $16.00 and get from Shreveport to Dallas on half a tank of gas. But if it was summer in the south and your A.C. was blowing, you were on the side of the road within a couple minutes with no water to cool your engine, because it was spitting it out of the tail pipe. I don't recommend anyone to ever buy this car. It's a money pit and because of this car, I will never own another GM vehicle again.
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- LTZ 4dr HatchbackMSRP: $5,990351 mi away
- LT 4dr HatchbackMSRP: $7,490255 mi away
- LS SedanMSRP: $4,950137 mi away
GARBAGE. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY
Hasnt stopped leaking coolant over the past three years, Chevy is evil for taking advantage of the situation. The engine was replaced at 70k miles and I have seen more of these POS on the side of the road than any other car. Someone is lying if they say this is a reliable car. My friend has a 2014 and same cooling problems. Garbage! and the "service" 3 dealerships have provided is disgusting. Spend your money on a Toyota or Honda and pay attention to the fancy commercials Chevy distracts you with. Youll have wifi, butt warmers and amazing speakers, but your car will be sitting, waiting for the tow truck while you enjoy.
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A Big Car in a Small Car Body
After dumping a 2015 Honda Fit that proved to be unreliable and felt flimsy, the Sonic has been a breath of fresh air. We were able to get our 2015 in early 2016; a left over LT with the manual transmission for $12,500. It was a steal! Compared to the Honda, the Sonic feels like a big car wrapped in a small car body. The interior is extremely quiet at all speeds and there's minimal wind, road, or engine noise that comes into the cabin. The 1.8 liter isn't the fastest, but does fine getting up to speed, and hasn't ever felt slow. The 5-speed's well-spaced gears certainly help and the shifter slips into gears easily. The clutch is light and forgiving. The ride is on the firm side, but pays off with pretty good handling and steering feel. It doesn't match the Fiesta or Fit in that regard, but can still be a lot fun on a windy road I love the design, and prefer it over the newer, more generic 2017 Sonic. The exposed headlights, and circular theme within the tailights stand out from the crowd. The same goes inside. Many either love or hate the digital, motorcycle-inspired gauge cluster. I personally love it; it's unique, quirky, easy to read, and being digital, makes staying at a certain speed a simple task. The rest of the interior is also user friendly and straightforward. Interior space upfront is generous and the footwell area has enough leg room for tall folks. The rear seat doesn't match the Fit, but is still better than most small cars. The trunk is pretty shallow with the seats up, but the hidden shelf below the load floor is clever, and there is loads of space if the seats are folded. The seats are very comfortable and make long trips tolerable. Reliability has been good, and in one year and 3,000 miles, the only issue has been the carpet in the driver's footwheel started to bunch up. It was replaced under warranty with no questions asked. Is it perfect? No. The rear pillars are thick and there is a significant blind spot. Some of the plastics inside are a little low-grade. But overall, it's a fantastic car. It's a great value, built in America, has interesting style, and is a small car with few of the small car compromises. It's just an easy car to live with.
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Excellent small car for the $$
Although it is a Turbo, it is not neck jerkingly fast off the line, however it is more than adequate for a vehicle this size. The Sonic has minimal turbo lag and is a fun car to drive, with excellent road composure for a vehicle of this size, and excellent handling . Coming from a life of VW Golf's/GTI's, we now own 2 Sonics, a 2014 & a 2015, and couldn't be happier. These cars have proven very reliable, built very good and solid, with excellent interior comfort. We have not had one issue, change the oil and go! As far as looks, that is subjective, but we get a lot of compliments,people are shocked at how nice they are, and they don't feel like a cheap vehicle. We test drove the following before purchasing our 2nd Sonic, they were all 2015 models, Toyota Corolla- ok on the outside, bland/unappealing inside, very slow and awful CVT. Mini Cooper Countryman- good looking, blast to drive, unfortunately bad reliability history and $10K more than a Sonic made us pass on that, VW Golf, great car in/out but not as good a deal as the Sonic and didn't feel "better" enough to justify a big difference in price, to get all the options on s Sonic RS, Hyundai Elantra GT-Hmmm, not a bad car but seemed bland and basic for the price, not very good MPGs with the 173hp engine.
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