There's no getting around it:
We live in a tough new world of $4 per gallon gasoline, and a U.S. economy that has its share of difficulties — with no signs of relief coming anytime soon. But enthusiasts still need to have fun, right? Right! Luckily, small turbocharged engines make sense, as they offer decent fuel economy when driven like Grandma — the Chevrolet Cobalt SS, for example, gets an EPA-rated 30 mpg on the highway — along with kick-in-the-pants acceleration that'll make Prius owners "green" with envy when you get playful with that right-most pedal. Add in that all four cars here start at under $27,000, and you can see we just might be on to something.
For those of you keeping score at Road & Track, it has been Mazdaspeed3: two; and the Mazdaspeed3's competition: zero. In the two previous comparison tests in which it took part, the Mazdaspeed3 unleashed its special brand of punishment, first on the Honda Civic Si, Mini Cooper S, Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V and Volkswagen GTI in our June 2007 issue, and more recently on the Dodge Caliber SRT4 in the February 2008 issue.
So here's the question: Can the Chevrolet Cobalt SS, Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart or Subaru Impreza WRX dethrone the mighty Mazdaspeed3 as the King of the Sport Compacts?
We know what you're thinking: How could the "Evo junior," armed with a detuned 4B11 turbo-4, Mitsubishi's 6-speed Twin Clutch-Sportronic Shift Transmission (TC-SST) and all-wheel drive finish in last place?
First you must realize the Ralliart is less of an Evo junior, and more of a maxi Lancer. It uses Lancer suspension pieces (not the Evo's), sits on a narrower track and forgoes the Evo's wide body design.
It does share the Evo's 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder, but with a smaller, single-scroll turbo, smaller intercooler and different intake system. The Ralliart's peak power of 237 bhp is the weakest of the group, and its 253 lb.-ft. of torque is second from the bottom. Yet despite this, and despite a portly curb weight of 3540 lb. — 280 lb. heavier than the WRX, and 545 lb. heavier than the lightest car, the Cobalt SS, the Ralliart posted a respectable 0–60-mph time of 5.4 seconds, finishing 0.3 sec. quicker than the torque-king Mazdaspeed3. But by 100 mph, the Ralliart's lack of top-end power leaves it 1.3 sec. behind the Mazdaspeed3, and way behind the WRX and the Cobalt SS.
In real-world driving, the limited power is more obvious. "It just doesn't feel that fast," said Executive Editor Douglas Kott, "especially in high-speed passing maneuvers." It's like you're Captain Kirk calling down to Scotty, looking for more power to reach Warp 9, and Scotty yells back, "I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain!"
Shifting the TC-SST gearbox is merely a flick of the fingers away via the large, steering-column-mounted paddle shifters, and this system is both one of the car's strong and weak points. "The SST works really well when you're attacking a back road, but it's a bit clunky around town," said Senior Technical Editor Patrick Hong. Even in full automatic mode, the twin clutches aren't very smooth in stop-and-go traffic, and the occasional expensive-sounding thunk! when manually shifting from 1st to 2nd gear is disconcerting.
But the main area we were let down by the Ralliart was its handling: "Its steering feel is not the greatest," said our Assistant Road Test Editor, Calvin Kim. It also has too much body roll and a lack of front grip. Around our 0.50-mile ProSolo autocross course (the same used in our "4-Track Free-For-All" cover story, September 2008), the Ralliart posted the slowest time — 47.16 sec., or 1.7 sec. off the best time set by the WRX. Kott called its nature "floppy and imprecise. It's an understatement to say it's not my favorite." But we actually learned to enjoy the Ralliart, especially since the chassis reacts well to left-foot braking to rotate the rear — surprisingly so, at times. "Once you're used to it, it's fun to drive in a throw-and-catch kind of way," continued Kott.
We love the optional Recaro front seats, which are straight out of the Evolution GSR, although Kott complained he wouldn't want to squeeze in and out of the thick bolsters every day. Others of us feel these Recaros are the best in the business, and that if they came standard in all cars, the world would be a far better place to live.
So think of the Ralliart as a mild Evo for those who don't want to deal with the frenzied nature and harsh ride of the real thing. While it's a neat car in some aspects, we'll admit we were a bit let down from a pure performance standpoint.
Any discussion of the front-wheel-drive Mazdaspeed3 always starts with its engine. This direct-injected 2.3-liter 4-cylinder makes 263 bhp and a steering-wheel-wrenching 280 lb.-ft. of torque that hits low and hard. "It's a torque monster!" enthused Kim. Although it has plenty of sauce when the turbo hits, it runs dry much sooner than its 6750-rpm redline. "Best roll-on car in the group," said Kott. "I just wish the turbo lasted past 5500 rpm."
But in its sweet spot, it hits far harder than any other engine in this test. We found the following strategy works so as not to get caught out by the narrow powerband: If you're coming to a turn and you're thinking of downshifting...don't. This torque beast will pull you through. It's the opposite with upshifting...if you're even considering it, absolutely do it. Because the last thing you want is to be caught out up high in the revs where there's no power.
All this torque is shepherded to the front wheels by a limited-slip front differential and a torque-management system that doesn't allow full power in 1st and 2nd gears. It uses the only true 6-speed manual in the test, but we actually prefer the 5-speeds in the Cobalt and the WRX; it's not that the extra gear confuses us, but the gearbox's sloppy action annoys. "The Mazdaspeed3's shifter is my least favorite," said Kott. "A fast 2–3 shift can get bungled up, and the uneven gate spacing makes 4–5 and 5–4 shifts more concentration-intensive than they should be."
But we love the Mazdaspeed3's lively handling. It has the most roll stiffness of the group and turns into corners with great quickness. It's also not afraid to rotate the tail slightly, which increases its cornering precision and ups the fun factor. Kott mostly agreed, saying the Mazdaspeed3 has "a nice flat cornering stance and lots o' grip," but admitted "the nonlinear rising-rate suspension can get pretty harsh over big bumps."
The Mazdaspeed3 didn't fare as well as we expected around the autocross, finishing about a second behind the WRX and Cobalt SS, despite being able to run most of the course near the thick of its powerband in 2nd gear. "It felt sloppy and needs more front grip for better initial turn-in," Hong said. And we were all surprised by the amount of shudder generated by the front tires through the course's fast slalom section.
A couple of us rated the Mazdaspeed3's interior as the best design, although we felt the WRX has the best ergonomics. "The Mazdaspeed3's interior has pleasing textures and shapes, and the piano-black trim pieces are nice...despite photographer Guy Spangenberg's grumblings that they're hard to photograph," said Kott.
Engineering Editor Dennis Simanaitis often refers to Mazdas as "rorty," which he defines as "sporty, with just a tad of raucousness." The Mazdaspeed3 brings the rortiness level to a whole new dimension, with its stiff ride, quick-reacting chassis, narrow all-or-nothing powerband and a boomy interior. This is a raw car in an era of refinement, and we enjoy the Mazdaspeed3 for exactly those reasons — a couple of us even rated it as the most exciting of the bunch to drive. But in the end it finished behind two more polished contenders.
Every once in a while a manufacturer listens to us. Okay, it's more likely Subaru was listening to the scores of enthusiasts who cried out in horror that the completely redesigned 2008 car had lost its fun-to-drive nature. We said the new car had "lost its WRX-ness" in a Road Test report.
So one year after unveiling the new WRX, Subaru reworked it again for 2009. And addressed pretty much every issue we, and all the enthusiast buyers, had: an engine that ran out of steam up high, overly soft suspension and conservative styling (turns out WRX owners want people to know they're driving a WRX, not just an Impreza).
The engine remains the same smooth 2.5-liter horizontally opposed 4-cylinder from last year's car, but now with a larger turbocharger, increased boost (from 11.4 psi to 13.3), an optimized catalytic converter and a larger-diameter exhaust with a 30-percent increase in flow. Power jumps from 224 to 265 bhp, with torque increasing from 226 lb.-ft. to 244. Mated to a fine-shifting 5-speed manual (the only way the WRX comes for 2009 — last year's WRX becomes this year's Impreza 2.5 GT, with a 4-speed automatic), the WRX's all-wheel drive clawed and pulled its way to 60 mph in a test-stomping 5.1 sec. That's 0.6 sec. quicker than last year's car and 0.3 sec. quicker than the Cobalt SS and the Ralliart. It's also within 0.1 sec. of the mighty STI!
Subaru engineers moved the power a bit higher up the rev range (peak bhp at 6000 rpm, compared to 5200 last year). Kott said the car's newfound power makes it a "sleeper" version of the STI.
Last year's soft suspension was addressed by adding 43-percent-stiffer front springs and 42-percent-stiffer rears, along with front and rear anti-roll bars each increased by 1 millimeter. The Dunlop SP Sport 01 tires are stickier and wider — 225/45R17s, up from 205/50R-17s. The result is a sure-footed, fine-handling back-road machine, with a ride quality almost as good as last year's marshmallow.
Despite the stiffer suspension, Kim still felt the WRX was "squishier than the Cobalt SS, although it's a competent all-rounder."
Kott agreed, "The WRX has a nice, supple ride that doesn't sacrifice too much handling precision." And although the WRX didn't win any outright handling categories, such as the slalom or skidpad, it posted the best time around the autocross, beating the Cobalt SS by 0.16 sec.
"It feels more settled and relaxed when driven hard compared to the others," said Hong, while Kott, our resident autocross Meister, said, "It felt great through fast slalom sections — it just flows from one transition to the next, while the other cars weren't as fluid." But if you left-foot-braked too much around the autocross, the pedal went hard and braking ability decreased substantially.
Although the interior is mostly carryover from last year, we're not complaining, as it has the most straightforward controls of the bunch, without the cheap-feeling pieces found on the Cobalt SS. The seats are comfortable for long hauls, but for sporty driving they're substandard: "It seems they were built for a wider person," said Kott, "as I was bouncing off the bolsters during cornering."
So if we like this new WRX so much, why didn't it win? Because in terms of pure dynamics, there's another car in this test that's just a slight bit better.
The Cobalt SS may be the most underrated car in the world. We're about to set it free of that title.
It's no secret GM engineers spent a lot of time tearing around racetracks in the Cobalt SS, fine-tuning the car's FE5 suspension. They did one heckuva job, as how else can you explain a car with a torsion-beam rear axle handling as well as this one does?
And handle it did — everything we could throw at it, from the racetrack-worthy back roads of California's Central Valley, to a challenging autocross course, to our traditional performance testing. In the last, the Cobalt SS posted test-best numbers in the skidpad and slalom — a superb 0.92g and 70.0 mph, respectively. And it didn't just win, it dominated the others.
But what surprised us even more than the raw data was how composed and quick the Cobalt SS was on back roads. Its slightly heavy steering has near-perfect weighting, and the car goes exactly where you tell it. "I'm impressed!" said Kott. "It's the rental car that went to hot-rod school. It feels light, turns in like crazy, has lots of grip and only moderate body roll." He admitted the Cobalt SS occasionally displayed an "odd, disjointed feel while cornering — probably attributable to the torsion-beam rear axle — but it's sure hard to upset this car."
Another strong point for the Cobalt SS is its 2.0-liter turbocharged and direct-injected 4-cylinder, which makes 260 bhp and 260 lb.-ft. of torque. Not only is this sweet engine virtually lag-free, it's also vice-free, as it's smooth and quiet, and has "right now" power at all times. Torque peaks at just 2000 rpm — yet it makes usable power all the way to its 6300-rpm redline. It's mated to the most precise gearbox of the group, a 5-speed, "marred only by its cheap-feeling plastic knob," said Kott.
One of the few sore points dynamically for the Cobalt SS is its ability at times to put this wondrous power to its front wheels, because for reasons we can't comprehend, GM gave us a Cobalt without the optional limited-slip front differential. So in tight turns, spinning the inside front wheel was as easy as, well, pressing hard on the throttle pedal. This was especially apparent around the autocross, where exiting slow corners was an exercise in right-foot willpower. But because of its nimble handling, its best time was just 0.16 sec. slower than the all-wheel-drive WRX. Just think what it could have done with the $495 limited-slip diff!
What else is cool about the Cobalt SS? For its $23,510 as-tested price, it comes with forged-alloy wheels, 4-piston Brembo front brakes, a boost gauge and the ability to perform no-lift shifts via an algorithm in the engine controller.
What's not cool about the Cobalt SS? The interior. "It doesn't have the quality feel of the others," said Hong. The plastics, the fabric covering the seats (although the lateral support is quite good) and the lack of proper cubbies are annoying. Obviously, engineering time was spent elsewhere.
Then there's the exterior. Despite those racy wheels and new front air dam, let's face it: it still looks like a Cobalt, which means bland with a capital "B." But maybe that's part of its allure: "It's a sleeper car," said Hong, "and no one will expect it to be so fast."
The Cobalt SS won this test by virtue of being good (more often great) at just about everything. It won three of the seven Performance categories outright, while never finishing worse than second in the rest. In our Subjective section, it won six of the 12 categories, all of them performance-related. The WRX put up a phenomenal fight, and is a class act itself, but it just couldn't overcome the Chevy's performance advantages. Kim summed it up thus: "Dynamically, the Cobalt SS is the best — it completely shocked us."
So for all those who have said, "I'd buy an American car if they made one that could compete with the Europeans and Japanese," Chevy is calling your bluff. Because the Cobalt SS doesn't just compete with the foreign cars, it beats them. It is the hottest-performing sports compact you can buy in the U.S. for under $30,000. That it's also the least expensive in this test is even more reason to rush to your Chevy dealer immediately. Not only will it help stimulate the economy, but every aspect of your enthusiast driving senses as well.
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All you art collectors out there. Here is a chance to get a Giclee copy of some of Ian M Sherwin work. Ian is planning on doing a whole series of Marblehead, Massachusetts paintings. His work is amazing.
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