The Chevrolet Cobalt has been getting a bad rap lately after getting caught up in General Motors’ widely publicized ignition switch safety recall. However before the recall debacle, many felt nothing wrong with the Cobalt, it was cheap and honest, as the zany Regular Car Reviews points out during their recent drive of the fuel-efficient 2009 Cobalt XFE.
The XFE is a little-known variation of the Cobalt which featured a six-speed manual transmission with longer gearing and an engine with reduced compression in addition to low resistance economy tires. It also saved some weight over the standard model by taking out fancy things like electric windows. These minor changes allowed the XFE to acheive a claimed 40 MPG on the highway, but despite this, they didn’t sell very well.
Part of the reason the XFE didn’t sell was mainly due to the absence of advertising for the car. No one knew about it, and Regular Car Reviews thinks this is because Chevrolet didn’t want to steal sales away from the soon to be released Volt.
No matter the reasoning for the XFE’s lowly sales performance, it turned out to be a decent car for a very reasonable price. Seriously, the owner of the car in the video bought his new for $12,000. It might have a faulty ignition switch, but it’s also one of the cheapest economy cars on the road. So the next time you need a small car which is cheap to run, take a look at an XFE. That’s if you can find one.
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Thrilling video given by you.