2005 Chevrolet Cobalt SS Supercharged

When you drive a limited-production, high-performance automobile, you expect car buffs to check out your wheels. Italian exotics, Dubbed-out Escalades, snorting 911s, Vettes, Vipers, and Nissan Z-cars grab their share of stares. But you'd figure Chevy's successor to the Cavalier to be about as invisible as a minivan at a Cub Scout picnic. So when a late-night run on L.A.'s freeways in the new Cobalt SS snared some lookie-loos in slammed, winged Civics, Integras, SRT-4s, and EVOs rubbernecking for a closer look at the new Chevy, we began to wonder. Do they think the Cobalt SS is cool or an intruder in their midst?

Okay, the SS sports a huge rear wing, the four round taillamps say Corvette, and the not unattractive body hunkers down around fender-filling 18-inch wheels. On paper at least, 205 supercharged horsepower is rich for a 2800-pound compact coupe. The Cobalt SS seems to talk the sport-compact talk. But Chevy has slapped the SS badge on more than a few tepid sedans dolled up with stripes and scoops in the postmusclecar era.

So does the new car walk the sport-compact walk?

Yes and no. The Cobalt SS is amazingly smooth and quiet at idle, thanks to premium touches like fluid-filled engine and transmission mounts and sound-absorbent, quiet steel in the front bulkhead. In this regard, it feels like a more expensive car. Yet, blip the throttle, and there's a jaunty bark out the 4.0-inch chrome-tipped exhaust via a 2.5-inch high-flow system.

Don't bother to rev the SS to heady levels to make power; the car builds speed fast, almost stealthily, and carries it well. There's no coming on the cam feel, just rich, electric torque (max 200 pound-feet at 4400 rpm) across the rpm band courtesy of a Roots-type Eaton blower pumping 12 psi of boost. The supercharger emits a delightfully mechanical but not overpowering whine when you step on the gas.