demonspeed

iTrader: (7)

I can't believe this thread is still going.

What does it matter anyway? Even if they didn't put SS badges on these vehicles you all are complaining about, you wouldn't buy them anyway. You're not their target buyer, so they don't care about you or this thread.

Just be glad they even made the Camaro SS that we know of.

JLSain

iTrader: (3)

Yeah but it's FWD.

00firebird

iTrader: (3)

why? because good marketing = money

kenp

iTrader: (9)

Fah git abot it. In a global sense, GM doesn't have the cars people want to buy anyhow. It'll all be moot when it's Toyotalet, Pontyota, Cadyota, and Buciyoto.
You'll be buying Nagasakivette's and Hiroshimoto Pickups.

The writing is on the wall. You know that when GM can show it's hand to the UAW and get massive concessions in employee and retiree benefits, things are very bad.

GM is a big, fat, bureaucratic organization managed by people who are on the defensive, not the offensive. They don't have the capability to get out of the mess they're in now.

I can't wait to get my hands on a 2010 Carrola SS LS9 convertible.

Darksol

when did the impy ss (lt1) come out? answer-1994and they contunued till 1996 and the tb ss is kick ***. the fwd cars with the ss moniker though do seem to dilute the image. but anything with more power stock than a stock camaro ss in 2002 and its only 3 years latter. come on stop hatin on the thing its seriously a fast way to get to you favorite campsite and tow the boat there and have the family with you. and on the way surprise a mustang gt or two.

Z-Vert

Many new SS Models are POSER Cars, and I should know --- I had one ---

2004 Monte Carlo Intimidator SS, (Dale Earnhardt limited edition.)

Everyone who saw it thought it was blazingly fast --- but in reality it was a FWD 240 horsepower at the flywheel with a "supercharger" (the regular SS is 200 horsepower without a supercharger).

Good looking dual stainless exhaust, but super quiet, at 104 mph the engine seemed like not much was left, gas shuts off at either 107 or 112 anyway...no real acceleration to speak of, maybe like a Maxima...

I decided it was a poser car, looked cool, but lacked the power and vibe to match, so I traded it on my 2002 Z-Vert.

Suffice it to say, performance wise and atitude wise, the 2002 Z kills it, just romps all over it...I'm guessing 300 RWHP vs. 190 RWHP

SS should mean something beyond sales to the wanna be trendy, and yes, the name is being cheapened.

GM_USER

I think that the Monte Carlo and the Impala should be a little more special than a 3.8 L six cylinder front wheel drive to be an SS

But have you rode in the Cobalt SS supercharged. It is quick, an LS1 would still beat it hands down but that is what I want to put in my Cavalier (2.0 supercharged)

Chevy did start to discredit the SS name with the new impalas and the monte carlos but they have redeemed themselves with the Cobalt in my eyes.

Now all they need to do is to bring back the Camaro and pontiac the Firebird.

RedlineBrian

I think that everyone here can agree that "SS" is reminiscent of an old school muscle cars, rear wheel drive and V-8 power. But what Chevy is doing now is only trying to sell cars. A lot of you are down playing the new SS vehicles like the Cobalt SS/SC. Ha ve any of you actually driven one? It's a fast car. I actually used to own a Saturn Ion Redline, which is the same exact drivetrain as the Coablt SS/SC. They are fast! I was completely stock and i could beat out some mustangs (obviously not heavily modded ones or the '05s) Chevy is beginning to explore different arenas in the performance car world and all i have to say to them is more power to 'em.

Ace$nyper

iTrader: (8)

They are just using the badge they always have on the top of the line cars with sporty packages.

Alot of brands use letters and it helps sell things i mean they have a GT trim hyundia is that same as a GT trim mustang. Not at all When you hear SS what still comes to mind?

I dont think its a big deal its helping GM sell cars they need the help and boiled down as shakespear said whats in a name. If the camaro was exact same car just called the dirtmobile wouldn't you still like it?

Doesn't bug me at all and I've ridden in the Cobolt SS its a peppy little car for a FF 4banger I think it earn the name SS.

davered00ss

iTrader: (4)

It does suck to see the SS badges on the **** GM is putting out.

STORMBRINGER

SS means SUPER SPORT and there is NOTHING sport about a ******* trailblazer i dont care how much horse power it has

rumblebox

iTrader: (9)

such legalism

DAKMOR

Well I'm young,and since I have no clue how things were done at Chevy or GM back in the day, and nor do I know how they do it now, I must say that their marketign strategy is working. If it isn't a marketing strategy,then why even make the less powerful cars?

An SS Camaro to me means power, enough to smoke it's rival.(mustang or even T/A)

An SS Cobalt to me means that it should be able to compete with it's rival.(SRT-4 Neons)


It's spelt C-O-R-O-L-L-A kenp. And yeah, I'm going to want one too!

RobDarden

I don't think they are destroying the SS name. They are branding SS the same way Mercedes brands AMG. SS models are the top performing models in each line.

dgformula2k

iTrader: (2)

How about Sport Utility?

DAKMOR

A trailblazer has no racing circuit of it's own. If it did, then it wouyld have sportyness.

SandManAtlC

IMO chevy killed the ss name plate, not by the fwd, v6, I4 platforms it put the badge on, but by putting it on cars that just didnt perform up to par with its contenders. I think chevy tried to fix the problem by putting superchargers on the impalas, monte carlos, and cobalts. Course now, the monte carlo has a 5.3L under the hood. Fwd or not, its finally a good contender. To me cars should have the ss badge if they are performing the same, preferably better, then its contenders. I think we all know it doesnt take a rwd v8 platform to go fast anymore. SS has just evolved, along with cars in general.

digdoug

I agree! SS should be reserved for the real muscle car!

99VetteMan

On top of my 99 vette, I also own a 2005 Cobalt Supercharged SS.. Yes, it has the SS designation, and let me tell you, the way that car handles, and the accelleration is unbelievable. Gm rates it at 205 HP stock, they are dynoing at 200 to 210 at the CRANK! Severely underrated by GM. They also have released a Stage 1 and Stage 2 kit at the SEMA show a month ago. Stage 2 will bring the car up to 260 HP (taking into account GM's under rating) I would say that deserves the SS Badge.

Jason

kaptain cap

I don't like the Malbu SS, but the new Cobalt SS is the best American economy car built today.

It won three races in Grand-Am Cup this year against BMWs and other cars.

http://www.grand-am.com/News/Article.asp?ID=3488

Just a few miles down the road from the factory that builds the Chevrolet Cobalt and with several Cobalt builders in attendance, Andy Lally and co-driver Jamie Holtom co-drove the No. 00 Georgian Bay Motorsports Cobalt to a popular Sport Touring (ST) class victory in the Grand-Am Cup 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Lally kept the pressure on leader Don Salama in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport 330i throughout the closing minutes and pounced on the opportunity to take the lead when Salama made contact with the lapped No. 20 Nuzzo Motorsports Mini Cooper of Tony Nuzzo with fewer than four laps remaining to secure the victory.

"It was all about managing traffic," Lally said. "Don (Salama) got blocked by a slower car and I was able to slip by and get that win. It was great to be able to do that in full view of the 600 plus UAW partners here from the Lordstown, Ohio plant where the Cobalt SS Supercharged are made."

Holtom, who qualified the car sixth in the ST class, avoided trouble early before handing control to Lally during a full-course caution at approximately the halfway point of the race. Holtom gave credit to the car for keeping him out of trouble during his stint.

"The torque of the Cobalt engine helped me out of a tight hole when a slower car spun coming out of the esses (early in the race)," Holtom said. "The brakes were good, too."

The win was the second of the season for each of the Georgian Bay Motorsports drivers. Holtom won the Mosport 200 in June with his father, Jim, and Lally won with the elder Holtom in Round 4 at Watkins Glen International.

- grandamerican.com





Mosport







The new Cobalt SS has a 2.0 liter supercharged Ecotec I-4 with 205 hp and 200 lb-ft of torque.

It includes the following:

- Forged steel crankshaft
- Semi-permanent-mold cylinder head casting
- Stainless steel intake valves with undercut stems
- Sodium-filled exhaust valves
- 12.5-mm-wide chain cam drive
- 6.5-quart oiling system with crankshaft-driven pump
- Engine oil cooler
- Coil-on-plug ignition with 58X crankshaft position encoder
- Oil-jet-cooled pistons

The Cobalt SS also has aluminum lower control arms, larger brakes (11.6 inch discs up front with 10.6 inch discs in the rear), more aggresive brake pads, Pirelli P Zero Rosso ties (215/45R-18), bigger front (24 mm) and rear (22 mm) anti-roll bars, sport-tuned front struts, sport springs that lower the car 10 mm, a larger radiator with larger cooling fans, revised power steering, a short-throw shifter (by 1 inch), a heavy-duty F35 five-speed manual transmission which includes two equal-length halfshafts with higher torque capacity, and some other stuff.

January 2005

ai-online

The engineering team’s orders from GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and small car Vehicle Line Executive Lori Queen was to design and develop the best car in class. Really! “We wanted to bring a credible small car back to Chevy in a really big way,” Queen says. Taking that order seriously, they drew up a wish-list of 150 components, systems and attributes required to achieve that … and were thrilled and surprised to see those wishes granted.

“We benchmarked all our competitors,” she relates. “We had to lead in NVH [noise, vibration and harshness] and achieve best-inclass body gaps. On our very first evaluation drive of prototypes, the Cobalt exceeded all the targets when judged against the list of competitive vehicles’ strengths and market advantages. The 150-point list was a sort of Holy Grail on which the engineers focused their attention. And with such strong results, there was no going back. There truly were no compromises to the list.”

“What has Cobalt in common with Cavalier? Other than its Ecotec engine, transmission and basic suspension layout — essentially nothing. The suspension geometry is all different,” GM Small Car Program Engineering Manager Gary Altman asserts. “The whole setup and how it performs. The lower control arms have additional ride bushings of an elastomeric that can dampen itself yet be soft. The rear axle is designed, mounted and controlled completely differently, similar to that on GM’s European Opels, with special bushings and the attitude [fore-aft angle] of its trailing arms enabling precise tuning of its handling response. The EPS (electronic power steering) is vastly improved over the Saturn’s, yet retains the fuel economy benefit. The interior [by Intier] and the way it’s put together are significantly different, with European accent and Chevy brand character. The concept is that fewer pieces are better.”

GM’s robust Delta architecture (updated and improved over the original Saturn Ion’s) is the foundation for Cobalt’s surprisingly solid feel. Its stiff structure allowed engineers to tune the MacPherson-strut front and twist-beam rear suspension with long wheel travel and directacting components without having to compromise for chassis flex. “It allowed us to work with other components independently to optimize ride and handling and NVH,” Altman says. “The Delta architecture represents a culmination of people we brought together from GM Europe, Latin America and our Asia- Pacific region,” he explains. “It’s a global architecture designed for global requirements using a lower dominant structure concept. From the front bumper and tie bar, each rail transitions into two separate rails through the underbody, then comes back together into a single rail going out the rear of the car. By developing that lower structure to handle all the load inputs, we’re able to increase stiffness in both torsion and bending so we don’t depend on the upper structure as much as in the past."

“Because the car can sustain itself on the lower part of its structure, you don’t need hydraulic motor mounts or absorbers compensating for body inputs that are amplifying road inputs. You can deal with them specifically, which makes the job much easier, and get to a higher level of performance.” The stiff structure (28 Hz average bending and torsional stiffness) also enables precise exterior tolerances, while a one-piece body side stamping reduces assembly line variation. The engineers point proudly to Cobalt’s windshield and backlight, installed with exposed-edge glass instead of conventional sealing frames, a visual testament to a level of precise build quality uncommon in the segment."

“This architecture conceptually started with discussions a long time ago when we had the idea that we should consolidate engineering homerooms,” Altman continues. “But at that point it wasn’t really an architecture. It was a discussion of, ‘What are the benefits of consolidating engineering resources and technologies in the development of a car?’” The Delta’s engineering design process began in 1998, and it debuted with the ’02 ION in 2001.

“This is one of the first vehicles where we used a lot of virtual analysis and development, and one of the first where probably more than 50 percent of our engineers were also designers. They literally did component level analysis, design and engineering of their own parts on unigraphic models in what we call “big collaboration rooms” on four-by-six-foot screens, and communicating with other rooms at other locations, including key suppliers."

“We were even able to do regular virtual builds during design and development. We pulled parts together and did interface and interference checking, workplace simulations, tool clearances and assembly plant throughput calculations.” From Vehicle Program Initiation (VPI) to SOP (Start of Production), the sedan took 21 months and the coupe 18 months.

“And there have been significant changes in the assembly operation, including doors-off processing and a completely different body shop. It’s a complete new modern assembly process, and all these changes were done while the J-car was running. We literally turned off the J-car one day and had seven days to turn on the Cobalt full-time,” Altman says.