Being that the Chevrolet Sonic is “a car for firsts”, chances are that most of its owners are driving a stick shift for the first time. And seeing that Sonics equipped with the manual transmission makes up 20 percent of all Chevy Sonic sales to-date, that’s a large amount of consumers daring enough to row their own gears. And to encourage further growth of manual transmission love, Chevy has assembled a contest.
By visiting the “Sonic Challenge” tab on Chevy Sonic’s Facebook page, participants will have to fill out some information to gain a Campus Live account, followed by a game testing their manual transmission knowledge, watching a video about Sonic ‘firsts’ and driving a stick (brace yourself for an overdose on cheesiness), and then submit a video telling Chevy why they want to drive a stick and “Stay Clutch.”
After all that, Chevy will then select four semi-finalists, to attend the “Stay Clutch” driving school held July 9 at the 2012 MLB All-Star Game in Kansas City, Mo. Semi-finalists also will receive tickets to attend the Statefarm Home Run Derby and MLB All-Star Game with a guest. The grand prize winner of the competition will receive two tickets to Game One of the MLB World Series. Hopefully it features the Detroit Tigers.
If you plan on entering, you better get moving, because the deadline for entry is June 30.
Comments
Pshh it’s going to be the White Sox.
I’m really glad Chevrolet is staying old school, while some of the brands most known for staying old schools are killing the mannytran (BMW just announced they will stop producing manual M5s and M6s). Hopefully, Chevrolet goes deeper and starts developing more RWD cars, and maybe holds a contest of the like.
Yes, the BMW announcement was very sad. 🙁
The NA market is the only place BMW still offers the M5 and M6 with a manual so it was inevitable.
Dual-clutch is the future; faster, smoother shifts. And now with 7spd manuals on that market it’s getting to be a bit excessive to row your own. 8spd autos will be the norm in a very short time.
I can see why people hated the paddle shift at first, they were terrible. But the dual clutch setups in the MP4-12C, Porsche’s PDK, Ferrari with the Getrag dual clutch, etc, are amazing. Even ‘triptronic’, semiauto, manumatic.. what ever you want to call them, are good these days, well, depending on the actual programming for them (ex. 2007 Mazda6 sucks/ annoying, 2007 CTS fantastic).
VIA Facebook …………. Ahhhhh no. Already to much crap to deal with on FB no need to join or like another page that’ll send a never ending pile of worthless crap to me.
The skeptic in me is thinking that GM is doing this because it needs manuals to help its CAFE numbers, for lack of dry clutch automatics in its portfolio.
Possibly , but I dont think so, not that I think GM is above doing that, there not, but they dont need to. Manual gives like 2 mpg benefit which isnt that much and with cars like the volt and cruze eco, they dont have to go to such steps. Now we have a Caddy that does 30 mpg! and a full size Buick that does 36 mpg! There immensely broad lineup will really protect them from the clutches of CAFE.
I think the biggest losers when it comes to CAFE are FiatChrysler, BMW and MB, and to a lesser extent smaller ones like Subaru and Volvo.
Without looking at the numbers, I can say with confidence that their autos are on par or better than their manuals model for model, with the exception of the Eco branded cars (the pure gasoline, non-mild hybrid Eco models that is).
And class for class with the competition the same argument can be made with few exceptions.
Stick? Shifting?
Isn’t there an app for that?
I had a chance to see the Sonic 1.4 Turbo for the first time today. Few if any have been in anyone’s inventory. A coworker bought one for his daughter, an LT automatic. I loved the readable tach and speedometer. The car appeared to be very well built. Solid. It was even a hatch. Sadly, that skinny armrest that hugs the driver had not yet been corrected.
Design flaws like this just baffle me. How could GM build such a terrific small car and then overlook something so simple? Why design the cockpit to adjust to someone 6′ 4″, but then make the armrest unsuitable for the broad shoulders of most American men. And Ford is no better. Fold down the rear seats in the Focus hatch to use that cargo area, and there’s sufficient front legroom for no one taller than about 5′ 8″.
Rather than improve and fix issues with the car, what we get is creative marketing. It’s time to kick back and watch Hawaii 50. The engineers are done. Time to spread the virtues of the stick to those who don’t know.
that picture it’s…it’s… sonic-ception
Like the turbo has decent punch when needed ?car is very comfor table for my 260lbs.
On September 25th I found a message in my mail box telling me to scratch this page so that I could read the winning number. I noticed that my number matched the winning number. By any chance would I be able to be sent a $1,000.00 Walmart shopping card? Please let me know about this by texting me back. Thanks a lot.
From,
Scott Prosser