Kaz

I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but having a lateral g-meter in your car and driving on public roads is like giving a kid a firecracker and telling them not to set it off on days that end in “y”. I’ve spent many of my lunch breaks trying to find twisty roads nearby to really test out the car and have been keeping a leaderboard of sorts of my maximum lateral g pulled.

It’s a little blurry (the iPhone has a decent camera but lacks the ability to take a macro shot), but that’s my new record: 0.88g. It was a hell of a right hander, marked 10mph with a yellow sign that I may or may not have completely ignored. The car is rated to .91g on a flat surface, but on a track or regular roads that pitch with the turn it’s capable of upwards of 1.3g, which is faster than falling, but sideways so it’s much more frightening.

In case anyone was curious where my gage sits, I realize I never actually showed where it hides. And because everyone I’ve sent this picture asks: no, I don’t live on a farm!

Occasionally, smart people do dumb things. (Ironically, the dumb thing here is driving while taking a picture. Those who drive stick and are keen of eye will notice I’m doing 39mph in 4th gear, which is a pretty gentle speed.)

Edit: I think I have to worry about getting too much attention even in my car…

The big wing has already brought several ricer flybys down upon me. “Silly WRX”, I chuckled, “you aren’t an STi…” 

As I had predicted, my blog will every now and then get overrun by a little shop talk. Last Friday I finally got the call to come down to my local dealership and pick up the car I’ve been waiting months for. For those of you who don’t follow my every breath and thought: I picked up a 2009 Chevy Cobalt SS Turbocharged (as pictured in my driveway above).

I’ll no doubt drivel on about my car on a future blog but for now one feature stands out among the rest to prove to me that this is the car for a video gamer who wants to go fast.

Generally speaking, I do not know why I would need to know the barometric pressure. In case you were curious, my personal best lateral G reading has been .51, apparently the car goes to .91…I don’t have the cojones for that.

On the A-pillar (the column to the left of the windshield that blocks your view of the small children you run over) resides what Chevy has conveniently called a “Reconfigurable Performance Display”. Which wouldn’t be convenient usually, but is merely because the next best description, “Small LCD That Tells You a Myriad of Information That Can Either Help or Totally Distract You While Driving”, isn’t nearly as short.

In practice, the device is as useful as you make it. As a 5-speed novice I find having a digital readout of MPH and my current gear selection very helpful. When you’re concerned with following traffic rules and not hitting other cars its very easy to forget what gear you’re in. It wasn’t until I payed close attention to the gage that I noticed some of the clever logic it has, logic I would expect out of a Gran Turismo or Forza, not GM.

Yes, you can change the rpms that the shift lights start and stop on. Right out of GT, Forza and Need for Speed.

You can set the numbers above to appear in the lower right hand corner with the stack of green to red indicators on top. When you are in gear and the FCO (Fuel Cut Off) is deactivated, it displays the gear you are in. What’s neat is when you are coasting in gear or free-coasting with the clutch in the number drops as you’re speed drops to recommend a gear to shift into. Which is a great help to a driver like me who has limited experience with a standard transmission. At this early time in the car’s life I’m supposed baby it and never drive much over 4000 rpm, which makes downshifting a tricky proposition, go one gear too far and I’ll be revving to 5000.

This kinds of display technology is certainly not limited to my Cobalt. As one would expect; GM is late to the party. Mitsubishi actually contracted the Gran Turismo team to program the display on the new Evo X’s excessive LCD readout. (I’m totally jealous)

And because I can hardly contain my excitement:

I love my Cobalt primarily because it’s freaking fast (0-60 5.5sec), but also because it doesn’t look like a cobalt at first glance.

Two-tone interior? Cobalt? Wha?!?!?