The Chevrolet Cobalt is quite pleasant to drive, especially the SS models. It's quiet for a car that retails for less than $20,000. Chevrolet put considerable effort into special door seals, sandwich steel panels, thick carpets and pads, noise blockers and noise absorbers throughout the front, middle and rear of the car. As a result, normal front-seat conversation is possible at speeds above 90 mph.

If you want driving excitement, however, you'll want to step up to the SS models.

We drove an LT with ABS and four-wheel disc brakes and found them to be powerful and progressive, with a good ratio between pedal travel and braking action. The brakes seemed a little mushy on the LS, which comes with rear drum brakes.

The 2.2-liter engine, which is rated at 148 horsepower, was a bit of a disappointment. It was smooth, but never felt truly powerful until it was revving very high. The four-speed automatic doesn't help, with kickdown that reminded us of a rental car.

The supercharged engine in the Cobalt SS Supercharged was another story. We like the way it sounded when it revved and, paired with the manual gearbox, it offered responsive performance.