Last night, we received the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic in our press fleet for a week and so far I’m pretty impressed with the car – so much so, I decided to feature the car today in our ”top 10 most important things you need to know about” segment. Look out for the full review coming next week.
Check out our other Top 10 things you need to know lists.
Top 10 things you need to know about the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic:
- The 2012 Sonic can apparently go skydiving and bungee jumping.
- It competes with the Honda Fit, Ford Fiesta, Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa and Hyundai Accent. GM says that the Sonic offers class-leading rear-seat roominess and we definitely have to agree with that.
- It comes with two 4-cylinder engines including a 1.4 liter turbo Ecotec and a 1.8 liter naturally aspirated Ecotec. Both produce a strong 138-hp but the 1.4 turbo gets better fuel-economy and is a little more fun to drive.
- The transmission choices include a 5-speed manual or 6-speed automatic with the 1.8 liter. The 1.4 liter turbo gets a 6-speed manual.
- The 1.4 liter turbo model to go from 0 to 60 mph in 8.2 seconds.
- For those that go for the manual gear boxes, the Sonic has automatic hill-hold technology preventing roll back, or rolling forward when going downhill.
- Corvette Engineers tuned the Sonic’s ride and handling (and you can definitely tell), while balancing the vehicle for the broad range of driving conditions in North America (it definitely takes potholes like a champ). GM says that the Sonic’s body structure is designed to be one of the stiffest in the segment, which helps in tuning the ride and handling more precisely.
- The Sonic is the first and only car in its class with 10 standard air bags and comes with OnStar (with turn-by-turn navigation), standard for six months. It has been awarded the 2011 Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
- Fuel-economy (city/highway/combined): 2012 Chevrolet Sonic 1.8: 26/29/35 mpg with 5-speed manual with annual cost of $1,743; 25/28/35 mpg with automatic bringing annual fuel cost to $1,805. 2012 Chevrolet Sonic 1.4 Turbo: 29/33/40 mpg with a 6-speed manual bringing annual fuel cost to $1,532. All Sonic models have a 12.2 gallon tank and a driving range of 317/427 (city/highway).
- Pricing starts at $14,635 for the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic 1LS and goes up to $18,495 for the Sonic 2LZ but you can get most of the options in the Sonic 1LZ for $17,235.
Click here for more news on the Chevrolet Sonic.
- By: Omar Rana
