2013 Chevy Sonic LT Hatchback
26 city/35 highway mpg <-Edmunds.com
I had been in a Chevy Sonic in the past, but not this particular
model, the ones I had been in before were not hatchbacks. There is not much of a difference when you’re
sitting in the driver’s seat, but the back is different, obvs aka obviously. The Chevy Sonic is a sub-compact with the
likes of the Hyundai Accent and Toyota Yaris, so it is teeny tiny and so
adorable. This car is so cute and so if
you’re anything like the Brawny Man then this car is probably not a good choice
for you. As always this car has all
standard features, deal with it.
The exterior of this car looks pretty funny; because it’s a
hatchback it’s very stubby and looks like someone cut a larger car in half to
get this one. It is shorter than the compact
Ford Focus hatchback that I reviewed but it is a bit taller. It has a rear windshield wiper, which I have
deduced comes standard on a hatchback, because apparently I don’t want to see
out of my rear windshield if I don’t own a hatchback. For some reason I am pretty bitter about the
fact that only hatchbacks and SUVs get rear windshield wipers. I have lived long enough in an area of the
country that gets snow to know that this is a valuable feature. The last thing about the exterior of this car
is that the rear door handles are in an odd spot, they are near the top of the
vehicle next to windows, not under them.
I have seen this in some SUVs like the Jeep Compass and Nissan Pathfinder,
but this is the first time I have seen them on a small car.
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| It's so stumpy and cute. The back door handle is in the blue oval. |
The trunk space is pretty big for such a small car, definitely
not huge but comparable to the compact Ford Focus Hatchback, and like any other
small hatchback, you sacrifice trunk space for back seat space. And let me tell you, these are the smallest
back seats I have ever tried to get into, and you read right, tried.
I couldn’t even get my legs comfortably in there and I am five foot
five, a very average female height! I
could get in there if I put my legs over both seats, but I don’t think that’s
how Chevy intended your passengers to sit, or did they…? The back seats do go down, giving you more
trunk space, and I think it’s probably worth it to just always have the seats
down because they are pretty pointless.
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| Either that is a body bag for a little person or the car mats came wrapped up. I'm going with body bag. |
The material of the seats seem pretty standard, a fabric
that is kind of rough and would soak up any liquid in an instant, so they are
very easy to stain. There are two glove
compartments, one that opens on the top and one that opens on the bottom of the
dash board. The bottom glove compartment
is just a standard glove compartment that is pretty small, but the top
compartment is odd. First, it is really
small, and second, it is divided into two parts with a horizontal line, which
makes it even smaller! I don’t know why
Chevy did this, it would have been much better to keep it one space because as
it is you can’t really fit anything in there.
In the top glove compartment you will also find an AUX and USB port. I have such issue when car companies do this,
why put theses ports in such an odd place that is literally hidden behind a
lid? It is not as a big of a deal in
this car, though as it is in others cars (like the Ford Focus) because 1) the ports
are right in front not all the way in the back, so at least they are easy to
see when you open the lid, and 2) there is another AUX port on the radio, but
begs the question why do you need 2 AUX ports?
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| I couldn't find a picture of the glove compartments open, but this at least gives you an idea of where they are located. |
Like the sub-compact Hyundai Accent, the middle section in
this car is very narrow and very basic.
Starting at the back and moving towards the front of the vehicle you
find one big cup holder (probably for the one person who is stretched out
across the back seats), two cup holders with plastic pieces lining the insides
so that they are somewhat adjustable, a funny looking button that has a picture
of a padlock with a baby in it (presumably child locks, maybe…), a 12 volt AC
jack, the shifter, and to the left of all of this is the parking brake. I told you, very basic.
The middle console looks a lot like the Chevy Cruze, and
starting at the bottom there is a small opening that could fit like a phone or
mp3 player. The temperature control
panel looks exactly like the Cruze and has the large, easy to use temperature
control buttons, and it also has the master lock/unlock button. Like the Cruze, the doors in this car do not
have physical lock/unlock buttons on them and the master button is not found on
the driver’s door. This is something I
have seen in other makes, not just Chevy, like some Fords have this as
well. I’m not so sure I’m crazy about the
idea of not having a lock lever/button/whatever on the doors. What happens if you lock the keys in your
car? Or what if something with the
electricity goes crazy and you can’t get in or out because the lock/unlock
button isn’t working? Something my
worrisome mind takes into consideration.
I have seen some pictures online that show this car with a
touch screen radio like the one that’s in the Cruze, but this one does not have
that. The radio controls are physical
buttons and above them is the radio display that is long and narrow. A lot of cars that just have a standard
narrow radio display use a font/text that makes it look really old, but not in
the Sonic, which is good because it would have looked so out of place. Also like the Cruze, on the right side of the
radio controls there is a button for the Bluetooth. On either side of the radio there are two
tall, narrow compartments and I really have no idea what you would put in here,
your guess is as good as mine. It seems
that Chevy has fallen into the trap of including a host of pointless
openings/spaces that are merely for design aka useless. The last thing I want to note about the
middle console is that there is a small dish on the top, a spot that seems much
more practical than the openings by the radio, at least this one can easily fit
change or you sunglasses.
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| Gives a good idea of how narrow the middle section is |
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| The circles above and below are where the different warning lights appear |
The steering wheel is a carbon copy of the wheel in the
Chevy Cruze, and I’m pretty sure it’s just their stock steering wheel. The size of the wheel works in the Cruze but I
think it’s just a bit too large for this vehicle, although it doesn’t get in
the way like the steering wheel in the Ford Focus. The left side of the wheel has the cruise
control settings integrated in it and Bluetooth and audio controls on the right
side.
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| The red circle is the MENU button and the yellow circle is the knob that changes the display |
A couple of honorable mentions are that 1) the Sonic does
have OnStar equipped in it, but I know nothing about it except that you have to
pay for it, those jerks. 2) The front doors have large round openings in them
that could definitely fit a bottle, but do not try to put a Starbucks-esque cup
in this space – this is true for all door cup holders but especially for these
ones because they are so large, but the size does make the space very easy to
clean because it is big enough to fit a vacuum hose down in it. 3) There is no designated
holder for your sunglasses, not strange for this car class, but the dish on top
would probably do just as well. 4) There is an armrest that can come down on
the right side of the driver’s seat, an odd addition that can also be found in
the Hyundai Accent, so I wonder if it’s just a sub-compact thing? 5) The right
and left side air vents are round and look a bit strange to me, adding to the
spaceship feel of the car.
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| A good overview of the what the driver sees. The weird round air vent is on the left and you can clearly see the tall narrow openings beside the radio. The lock/unlock button is in the red circle. |
I really like the way this itty bitty car drives. The steering wheel gives a little resistance,
it is not as fluid as the compact Kia Soul but it better than the Ford Focus. What is surprising is that this tiny car
actually drives really smoothly, granted I did not take it on the highway so I’m
not sure how it feels when you are going 75 mph, but when I compare it to the
Hyundai Accent, which is in the same car class, the Sonic is a much nicer
drive. The Accent feels like a go cart,
but the Sonic does not make the driver (I can’t speak for the passengers) feel
like they are in such a small car. The
Sonic also accelerates very smoothly (a pleasant surprise) and has a great
turning radius.
I really like the Sonic and if you never plan on having
people in your back seat then this might be a good choice, but if you don’t
want something that can really only fit the driver and one passenger
comfortably, or if you are tall then you should probably look elsewhere. As far as sub-compacts go, this is one of my
favorites, it’s much nicer than the Hyundai Accent but I’m sure it comes with a
bigger price tag.
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