2012 Chevrolet Sonic consumer reviews

I had this car over 4 years, with about 29MPG on average. Nice pickup on the highway, turns tight, good visibility, and great for carrying stuff with the fold-down seats. Bucket seats were very comfortable, the CD and Bluetooth phone connection were flawless. Liked all the storage cubbies, but the speedometer was a bit weird.

More recalls then I have time to read, got mine brand new off the lot back in 2011, the top end blow within the first 6 months!! Now the car dose not want to up shift past 4th gear! I have had to take the car in to lithia once a year for a major fix, and one of the times was due to the technicians putting the wrong spark plugs in an that caused the coil pack to fail costing me money because it wasn't under warranty because they believe that I put them in then car, when they have been the only ones who have every work one the car!!!!! Not happy at all!

I like to make my vehicles perform better than they did stock so I needed a good Swiss Army Knife. The Sonic has a ton of headroom for anything you're into. GM turbo cars have more affordable tuning options than pretty much anything else around. I have a BNR turbo upgrade + tuning that puts out around 230hp/320tq on the stock motor - all bolt on parts, dead reliable still, reliability is impressive for how much I've beat on it. The car weighs around 2600-2700 lbs; it's no corvette but it beats things like Golf GTI's and Mazda Speed 3's, V6 mustangs/camaro's, it's fun to drive just everyday. If you want one of these to last a million miles, buy the 1.8L. The turbo is going to be more expensive to fix and has more hiccups in the long run, but it's a blast. My upgraded sounds system is a Pioineer AVH-x4800 or something, 600 watts of power from Rockford Fosgate Punch's stuffed under the dash/center console, supplying 4 Kicker speakers and a sub. Get the base headunit like in an LT and upgrade to an aftermarket radio, I'm not a fan of any native touch screen head unit in any car. I have dash controls, bluetooth/onstar, I can talk to the google lady and she puts GPS directions and songs on my screen, I can screen mirror a bunch of gauges from torque app via bluetooth or wifi, I've installed front and rear facing cameras, blindspot assist, Mobileye radar system with adaptive cruise control/lane keep assist/lane centering, etc. Thanks to the aftermarket I have as many features as a Cadillac on my little tater tot. There are aftermarket upgraded alternators so you can power the moon. My suspension is stock since the missus would complain otherwise, but there's nearly every suspension part you could want to upgrade out there if you like to drive jarringly low or you're Michael Schumacher. Even if you want to tow/haul more junk or do some FWD rallying - there are custom spring and shock companies who can whip up anything you want. Of course I'm going to have more problems than the avg consumer since I'm having fun with my car, I fix the problems as they come and move on. Never had any really serious issues. The car looks cute, females seem to like the looks and guys are like meh... to be real it's not a great looking car, but it grows on you. MPG's are good, I regularly get 35-45. Worst ever was like 30mpg for a tank racing around, best is 50mpg/tank. If anyone raves about this interior they've never sat in a posh car, but it's tough and it lasts a long time and still looks good. However the interior can fit a lot... 5 people and some luggage, or a full 8' surfboard that couldn't fit inside a Honda fit, or full size 26" wide- 5' tall boxed up tool chest, or a door to a Ford Focus that couldn't fit inside the Focus... to name a few things. The front headrests can be removed to fit manly sized cargo in your shoebox van, something like a VW hatch can't do this. I can tow around 1200 lbs - which means motorcycle on trailer, buy a truck for towing houses. Biggest piece of advice - the LT turbo manual is the best value for 2012-2015 until they changed body styles. The RS interior is nice but the gearing is like a truck and it gets bad mpg's and isn't faster than the LT. The LTZ has a nice interior but it's heavy and is xxxxxxeven slightly slower than the LT with worse mpg. The LS is terrible, don't buy.

Purchased brand new with 6 miles on it. First 20k miles water pump went out, then electrical system had a short. 30K miles they pulled the transmission and had to redo all the seals, it still isn't right. The "chrome" on the inside has all chipped off. The poorly designed charger in the center shorts out all the time and fuse has to be replaced. Transmission shutters, had an oil leak, so they fixed that. It now has only 70K miles on it, and the steering wheel makes a loud squeel everytime the wheel is turned, sounds like its coming from the rack and pinion steering (another not so great idea from GM). and the A arm bushings are shot. And the struts squeek when the car bounces. A horrible experience with purchasing my very first new car.

I just got my 2012 sonic 6 months ago. It had 20,000 miles. It has more electrical issues then any car i have ever owned! I used to be a Chevy girl but this has made me think twice. Junk!

One of the worst cars I have owned yet I drive about a hundred miles a day all on the interstate so far thermostat housing broke transmission problems Springs in the driver seat has broke in the car is riddled with problems I bought it it only had 22000 miles on it I've owned it for a year and it's been in the shop 6 different times for different issues after having this car I don't know if I will ever buy another General Motors product the car is horrible

I bought this car my senior year of high school because of its excellent gas mileage and have had it for about 2 years now. It ranges from 32 mpg down to 25 mpg. I really tested the car when I drove from Kansas all the way to California with 4 grown adults, luggage, and a dog. The car did AMAZING. I had ZERO problems what so ever. The car does pretty average in weather, but in heavy rain I tend to hydroplane on the highway. I don't know if it is because of the structure of the car or the tires I have. For being a compact and inexpensive vehicle it has a very luxurious feel to it which I absolutely love. Bluetooth, on star, steering wheel controls are amazing, and the speedometer features. The only one complaint I have about the vehicle is sometimes the AC will make a ringing sound like something is loose, but then goes away. This car is perfect for someone who wants a luxury feeling car without spending bookoo bucks!

Bought this mainly for the wife as she is tiny and has trouble driviing my Equinox. Searched for weeks looking for the right car. Found this 2012 Sonic LT Hatchback with only 14,350 miles - was a Certified Vehicle by GM. We took it for a test drive and she liked it, could drive it fine so we bought it. I drive it quite a bit now also. I like it also. Lots of pep for a small 1.8 liter engine. Roomier than it looks. 6-speed auto trans works great. Is surprisingly quiet for a small car - minimum amount of road noise. Handles great. Chevy hit a home run with this one.

I totaled my sonic two days ago and walked away. I bought the car for itssafety ratings and affordability. I'm impressed with the car!

There have been 3 recalls so far. I am afraid there is something wrong with the gages, they pop off and on. Not too happy.