Welcome back! Yesterday it was two white cars; today it’s two black cars as we look at the opposite scenario: cars that are still around that you have probably completely forgotten even existed. But first let’s look at yesterday’s results:
Ha! My evil plan came to fruition: I got you all to vote for a middling, lackluster GM product – over a Honda. Step one complete. Step two, well, you’ll find out soon enough.
But first: I was driving home from work yesterday, listening to an album I hadn’t heard all the way through in quite a while: Arc Angels, if you’re curious. I got into the second half, and came across a couple of songs I had completely forgotten about, until they started. Lots of albums have songs like that, and they’re usually buried somewhere in the middle of side two. They’re not bad songs; in fact, they’re pretty good, but they don’t stick in your head like the hits do, or resonate with you like that one that reminds you of that one girl. And I got to thinking: Some cars are like that too, not bad, just lost in the shuffle and forgotten about – until you see one again. So I picked out a couple of cars from the middle of side two of the used car market. Forgotten? Yep. Gems? You tell me.
2007 Chevrolet Cobalt LT – $3,500
Engine/drivetrain: 2.2 liter dual overhead cam inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Everett, WA
Odometer reading: 164,000 miles
Runs/drives? Just fine
Chevy’s Cobalt was the replacement for the often (and often unfairly) maligned J-body Cavalier. It shared GM’s Delta platform with the Saturn Ion, and much hoopla was made when it was introduced about it being a whole new breed of small car. In truth, it’s not too far off the Cavalier mechanically, and you can only tell a Cobalt from a late-model Cavalier if they’re parked next to each other. Not surprising; most of GM’s “revolutionary new ideas” are either a hot mess, or much ado about nothing. But that’s why we love GM around here: it’s like that crazy uncle who always has the best stories.
A livelier version of the Cobalt, the SS, is celebrated in enthusiast circles for its supercharged (later turbocharged) engine and “holy crap, this is no Z24” performance. But the base models like this one fly so far under the radar that they’re practically invisible. I remember renting one of these once, and it was fine. It did car things, and nothing about it annoyed me. I guess that’s good enough for some circumstances.
This one seems to be holding up well after 164,000 miles. GM interiors from this era are a sea of cheap-feeling plastic (I’ve heard a joke that they went from “Body By Fisher” to “Interior By Fisher-Price”), but surprisingly, it all holds up well. Cars like this looked cheap and tacky inside when they were new, but sixteen years later, they look exactly the same.
The seller says that this one’s 2.2 liter Ecotec engine and four-speed automatic run just fine, but it’s being sold by a dealer, so don’t expect much more detailed information. But it looks pretty good in the photos.
2012 Mitsubishi Galant ES – $3,500
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4 liter overhead cam inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Roseville, CA
Odometer reading: 208,000 miles
Runs/drives? “Fabulous,” they say
Remember Mitsubishi? Yeah, they’re still around. This car isn’t though; they stopped making the Galant in – wait, that can’t be right – 2012. Yep, this “no, it’s not a Camry, really” sedan hung around almost until Obama’s second term. Long since stripped of any of the cool features of the earlier models like the turbocharged all-wheel-drive VR4, by 2012 the Galant had become ruthlessly ordinary. Perhaps that was to be expected of a car built in a town called Normal.
This one is pretty nice, though, with leather seats and a bunch of power stuff, all part of the ES trim level, I imagine. It’s a four-cylinder, and by this point all Galants were automatics, so it’s not going to get your heart racing. But it has chugged along faithfully for over 200,000 miles already, so it must be doing something right. The seller says all the power stuff works, too, as does the air conditioning, important with the black seats.
It’s in good condition except for this one rather unsightly boop on the nose. I wonder if one of those paintless dent removal places could take care of that, or if it’s accessible enough on the underside of the hood that you could just pop it back out again.
It’s a handsome enough car, and obviously well-built; I saw quite a few of these for sale north of 200,000 miles and just picked one from the middle of the price range. I can’t comment on how these drive, really – a friend of mine owns one, and she likes it well enough. I’ve only driven it 100 feet in reverse, when she was too nervous to back down our treacherous driveway in the dark. Can’t get much of a sense of a car from that.
So there they are, a couple of decent-looking also-rans for what seem like reasonably fair prices. These aren’t “Hotel California,” and they certainly aren’t “Life In The Fast Lane;” they’re more like “Pretty Maids All In A Row,” but that’s a nice song too. What do you think? Rental-spec Chevy, or end-of-the-line Mitsubishi?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
The Cobalt here are parts would be easy to find and a good first car or winter vehicle.
Cobalt. They’re peak GM cockroach small cars. They just won’t die unless afflicted by tin worm or someone hasn’t changed the oil in 60,000 miles. That 2.2 takes 5 quarts so it’s tolerant of a little benign neglect there.
Pass on the Galant since it sold in fewer numbers. Less institutional knowledge of how to fix it too.
I’m guessing that this Galant’s 2.4 is either the same engine or a very close variant of the same-displacement MIVEC engine that can still be found in some Mitsubishis today. There are more of them out there than one may think — although definitely nothing like those cockroach GM Ecotec engines. (That’s a compliment!)
Not actually surprised by yesterday, that Prelude had a lot of little issues and is from an era when Honda automatics were like that one chicken dish in a seafood restaurant – it’s clearly not the house specialty, it’s only there because people asked for it, you know it’ll be blandly acceptable at absolute best so why bother?
Moving on from Radwood classics to today’s basic beaters, I voted Cobalt for apparent condition and cheapest-in-the-business GM parts but it’d really come down to things like a PPI, a kid with a car seat, and whether your insurance calls any 2-door a “sports/performance car”.
I came this close to picking the Chevy, but then I saw this:
“Cobalt should be handled as a CARCINOGEN–WITH EXTREME CAUTION. * Cobalt may cause a skin allergy. If allergy develops, very low future exposure can cause itching and a skin rash. *
Exposure to Cobalt dust can irritate the skin, eyes, nose and throat.”
Galant it is.
I worked for a rental car company during this time and drove literally hundreds of both of these. While the Mitsu might have had a (marginally) better interior, those Cobalts ran and ran and ran forever with very few issues. Unlike luxury cars in a rental fleet, we would rent these out until they hit 60-70k miles and, despite the hard-knock life they were subjected to, just would not die.
Today we choose between the world’s worst drag race. Both cars will cover a quarter mile only slightly faster then a dude trying to beat a high school band group to the TSA line. Both cars are more committed to mediocrity then college junior business major who just needs to graduate to start working at there Dad’s dropshipping company. There might be no more depressing motor vehicle then a base model Cobalt. It’s late February the car. Just cruel with no sun. The Mitsubishi has leather, which seems better to cry in, when I sit and think about all the cool stuff I could of spent 3 grand on.
Wow. “Late February the car.”
Off the top rope, directly onto that poor Cobalt’s spine. With a metal folding chair.
Utterly merciless.
COTD for many reasons.
It is hard to have a strong opinion on either of these transportation appliances. Both could be reliable transportation, but given the age of these cars, both could also have a catastrophic failure in the near future. I’m not even sure a prepurchase inspection would be useful to determine which one of these is a better long-term bet (although an inspection could prevent buying one that is currently a turd).
Reasonable arguments could be made for either vehicle, but I’ll take the Cobalt. My only rationale is that I prefer cloth seats to leather, so it is not a strong preference.
Pass.
Cobalt, please.
It looks like it would be good – if uninspiring – basic transportation. Others have mentioned the reliability, and overall it appears to be in rather good condition. The Mitsu OTOH looks like it has had a harder life and also like someone Armor-All-ed the front seats; this is pretty much on-brand but that doesn’t make it okay.
It’s my understanding that PDR works best when the dents are smooth/gradual and not sharp or creased. Not sure what did the booping here but the dent appears to have some fairly sharp edges. Most of it could be pushed back out, of course, but I don’t think it would disappear entirely: given the size and shape of the dent, the metal has likely been stretched a bit. Because it is kind of a crapcan, maybe just call it a speed hole and leave it alone.
I had a Cobalt of about that vintage as a rental car once, and I actually thought it was pretty good for what it was. I managed to have some fun with it on some twisty mountain roads, and I remember being happy with the sound of the stereo. What more can you ask from a car like that?
The Cobalt appears to be in much better condition (especially the interior, check out the Galant’s passenger door), with lower miles, and the Mitsubishi has an infotainment screen from 2012 where the Chevy has buttons and knobs for everything. Easy choice!
Sorry, I fell asleep while scrolling and didn’t vote. You could have found more interesting cars with a dart board and a newspaper.
I had a four door Cobalt as a rental once and the thing I remember about it was it didn’t have a center arm rest, and that drove me nuts. Otherwise, it was…fine. I picked the Mitsu just because I like strange cars. I remember years back I had a coworker who dabbled in local car press and got a fleet car to review each week. We were instant friends due to our car love and he frequently let me test out each car so long as I provided a few things I liked and didn’t like for his reviews. He had a Galant Ralliart, which I think was a one year only trim. We both had the same reaction, really wanted to like the car, but there wasn’t a ton to love. The A pillar trim was coming off with less than 1,000 miles. We both did like the MIVAC V6, but that was about it.
I’ve been burned too many times but Mitsubishi engines. Cobalt please.
Heads – Cobalt, Tails – Galant.
And the coin flip generator says tails, so Galant it is.
My sister had a ’08 Cobalt that she threw a rod in because she couldn’t maintain it well (she’d do oil changes, just normally at 10,000 miles per interval, when she’d hit that in like 3/4 months? Mainly back roads and city driving it).
I would love to see if I could get that one to do the same to that ’07 for no better reason than that, honestly.
The Galant is a better car. Mitsubishi actually does make good cars 🙂
4 doors are better than 2, and you also get leather and a sunroof in this Galant.
We rented a Cobalt on a trip once. I hated the interior so much we drove back to the rental agency and “upgraded” to a Malibu… which was slightly better.
Shitbox showdown is really living up to the shitbox part so far this week. It’s kinda hard to comment on these without being downright mean.
Have you ever gone to one of those auto auctions, paid good money to get in the gate, start looking around and realize everything up for auction seems to have come from Hertz or Enterprise’s rental fleet and absolutely nothing looks exciting?
Neither for me, I still can’t wrap my head around $3500 for a “cheap” car. I’ve only paid more than that for a car twice in my life. There are still much cheaper cars around if you look and wait. I just bought a running, driving 2005 V70 two weeks ago for $1100.
There’s something about that Galant generation where you can just assume, and be correct every time, that the driver is to be avoided at all costs.
Those Cobalts run FOREVER. Sure they’re plastic and not cool. They’re dead reliable though and they were never really given their due in that department
Cobalt I guess? I’ve had slightly better luck with GM products over the years that Mitsu. And parts are much easier to find? I suppose? Doesn’t really matter.
These cobalts may be cheap as all else inside, but these things are dead reliable, and very much one of the cars that earned GM the reputation of “will run broken for longer than some cars will run at all.” Not to mention these little Ecotec I-4s got put in everything, so parts are as cheap as it gets, available everywhere, and stout enough to not care. Compare that to a Mitsubishi that has been out of the US market for 11 years with likely awful parts support? Yeah, I’ll take the Cobalt.
I agree. The Sat Ion equivalent I got for my grandson totally fits that description plus no body rust.
YAAAAAAWNNNN…
What were we talking about? Oh right. Uhhhhh… that one. The black one.