Used 2017 Chevrolet Sonic Consumer Reviews

Lemon

Do NOT buy a Sonic. I’ve had two and both cars have been an absolute headache. The first car didn’t even last 5 years with numerous issues. The second is a 2017 and already is having me back and forth to the dealership who has done NOTHING. Always back with the same issue. This shouldn’t be happening with a brand new vehicle. The first car was costing me $400 extra every few months and this one is still under warranty for 20,000 miles but I’ve been back three times since Thanksgiving for a camshaft issue. I will NEVER buy a Chevy again till the day I die.

A good cheap car. Having the Hatchback is very gre

Compare prices with many dealers. They are all different.

I wouldn't suggest anyone buying a 2016 Chevrolet!

I bought my car brand new in 2016. Within the first 2 years, I had it in the shop for defective equipment 5 times. My car had 67,000 miles on it and has a blown motor! No warning lights or anything indicating I was losing antifreeze or the motor overheating! So disappointed about this car!! I basically gave more than $20,000 away!

2016 Sonic 1.4T LT Hatch 100K review

Back in 2016 I stacked a bunch of discounts and got this car in 2016 for 14.5K new. Was torn between a 2017 Cruze RS and a Sonic but chose the Sonic as it was 7K cheaper. Pros: I do like the quirky gen 1 styling a lot better than gen 2. Good reliability (1.4T is considered to be less reliable than the 1.8 but haven't had a problem). The 1.4T is a much more fun car to drive tho and has nice acceleration w/o turbo lag. Comfortable seats, sunroof doesn't leak, decent amount of space for a compact. Road noise is probably best in its class (its quieter than a same year corolla). Doesn't start rattling like other small cars at high speed. Enough room under the hood that w/ a bit of know-how and youtube you can easily fix and/or do preventative maint at home. 6-speed automatic is solid, quiet and doesn't get lost. Cons: only real problem I've had is w/ the cooling system, had to change a thermostat and did some preventative maint replacements, what finally fixed the leaks was LOL a bottle of stop leak. LT is higher to the ground and puts a lot of strain on the front suspension, the suspension is still fine and can prob last another 75K but hits potholes a bit harder. The tradeoff for comfort/styling/quietness is that you pay more at the pump. Car avgs about 29mpg combined. Very poor for its class. Overall: Its fun to drive and can't beat the price. Advise if you buy a used Gen 1 sonic: use synthetic oil especially on the 1.4. Change the Turbo oil feed line ($40 OEM part, can do it at home or a mechanic can do it for 1hr labor). There is no option for 1.4T hatch LT so put it as an RS model.

Sonic a great car for a college student

great for what we need

it's a great car. Can do all that we need it to do. It has no problems. Thanks

Nice car up to about 50,000 miles

Catalytic converter needed replaced. Car rattles and vibrates terribly. I have a 2016 Sonic and was told by dealership that this is normal for these cars. Feels like I am riding in a comfortable go-kart. Still only have 75,000 Mike's on it and it's pretty rough.

Awesome inexpensive hatchback.

We purchased this new because of the sale price and outstanding features. This is an RS Sonic Hatchback that came with a power drivers seat, heated front seats, heated outside mirrors, fog lights, backup camera, 10 airbags, remote keyless entry and start, custom seating material, a full featured entertainment/info touch screen display, RS aluminum wheels, etc., etc.. It drives great and has performed flawlessly for 3+ years. Love this car.

Hilarious Vehicle

The Sonic Turbo Premier is hilarious to drive (for a day or two) while my ten year old BMW X3 is in the shop for age-related repairs and maintenance. "Hilarious" as in "It's a joke", not it's actually fun to drive. First off, my 10 year old Bimmer, worth about half of what you can buy this Chevy Sonic for, still vastly outperforms it and is a ton more fun to drive and feels safer to boot. So much for "Would I ever consider owning this vehicle?". The answer is a resounding NO! Why not? I mean first impressions are of this car are not so bad. The exterior styling is not crazy or terrible. It is not good either. It just is. The Sonic sedan has a very basic, neutral car shape, the kind you get when you ask a toddler to draw a car. It is somewhat narrow and short but tall when compared to our BMW 328i, almost like Chevy took a Malibu and just trimmed off some excess fat on the sides, rear and front. The cabin is not a terrible place for an econo box. It appears roomy enough, has quite a few gadgets, buttons and a touch screen (in this trim level) and the plastics LOOK decent. All of these judgements, however, vanish when you start driving it. While there is plenty of headroom, even for tall people, legroom is cramped, not just in the back but also annoyingly in the driver seat. I am six foot tall and my legs are too long for a comfortable use of the left foot rest or the accelerator and brake pedals when I adjust the seat to allow a normal arm distance to the steering wheel. (Gorillas with really long arms might do better.) Visibility is not great either. Although the windshield is large, the short stubby hood just vanishes from view and it is very difficult to get a feel for where the front of the car starts. Rear visibility and right side visibility is severely compromised by the enormous headrests (which clearly come from a full size truck and take up most of the airspace of this small car). Once you start touching the visually decent plastic trim you realize that it is not the softer, richer material it masquerades as, but very cheap, basic hard plastic straight from a Yugo. But now to the truly hilarious part of driving this car, its performance. I drove it mostly in town with speed limits around 45 miles per hour. At first I thought I was going way too fast until a look at the speedometer informed me that I was actually chugging along about five miles below the speed limit! The car feels strained and bothered when driven at speeds greater than 35 - 40 mph. Still this is not yet the most fun you can have with the Sonic Turbo. Go find an empty stretch of road without speed bumps (like the access road to my work's parking lot) and floor it. I did just that, going about 30 mph I floored the accelerator and ... absolutely NOTHING happened for at least a second, then the little beast huffed and puffed and lurched forward at the breakneck speed of 40 mph, I almost died laughing. This lack of performance is unfortunately less laughable when you have to pull out into heavy, fast-moving traffic, then just pray a Rosary (or two) while you wait for any acceleration to quick in ...

Cruze

Great car for the price