SAmadei

Simply wrong. On modern cars, there are four positions... Lock, Accessory, Run and Start, in that order. (See page 2-16 and 2-17 in the 2005 Cobalt Owners Manual (http://www.vadengmpp.com/owners-manual/chevrolet/2005-Chevrolet-Cobalt.pdf). The steering only locks on Lock. Falling out of Run would place the ignition either in Accessory or (depending on the switch contacts) something of a cross between Accessory and Run... If the steering locks in Accessory, you need to have your car ignition fixed, as its not working to GM specs. Even on older cars, with an ignition order of Accessory, Lock, Run and Start, there is enough of a gap between Lock and Run that you can remove the car from Run and place it in the gap between Lock and Run, where its off, but the steering it not locked. I know this for a fact, as I've shut off and restarted many of my cars countless times without locking the steering while the car was rolling along at speed.

All my reading seems to indicate they didn't get Wilmington... but I'd like to know whats going on with the Wilmington plant myself.

Drew hit it on the head... I'm assuming when you refer to "front" of engine, you mean the passenger side where the belts are... as coolant leaks from the side of the engine ("front" of car) will tend to be either radiator, hoses or a head gasket (could be intake, but the heads will force these leaks to move either to the front (pass side) or rear (driver side) of the engine. I imagine the ECT is also on the side of the 3.1. I certainly wouldn't use a coolant leak as a reason to buy a new car, as GM has nothing that effectively replaces the Monte.

There's a stall, which is easy to manage... ... and then there's an unexpected steering wheel lock while driving. At that point, stalling is the least of one's concerns. Show me a source that claims the steering wheel locked. I haven't seen it. This is about the key either being loose and the car "falling out" of run or the driver bumping the key and knocking the key out of 'run'... but in either case, turning the key from run to acc to lock is not easy to do by bumping it. All the articles I've seen only mention the car stalling, not locking the steering... and then the airbag not functioning on impact. Since I am all too familiar with a '98 Sunfire (and a bit less familiar with the recently acquired '97 CheapHoe (Tahoe), which has the same exact key and ignition), it would take quite a bit a bumping to get the ignition to fall out of run... and consider that the '97's ignition is loose enough I can start it with my mailbox key. Playing with these, it really would take an unusual operation to accidentally lock the steering. Of course, these are not the ignition in question. I am not familiar with the Cobalt/SSR/Kappa ignitions and keys. In any case, if I jerked my ignition key and the car stalled and locked the steering, I would be immediately turning the key to see if it unlocked it.

I hate to sound insensitive, but I think there is a major driver problem when the driver can't cope with a stall, except to crash.

Not based on a Chevy or a Charger. At least you could get a stick in the G8 GXP... unlike that Chevy SS. Didn't know you could drift a Camry SE by spinning the rear wheels. Some like Sky, some like Solstice... I liked both... fit in neither. But GM gave the public more flavors for decades... but it ain't a Chevy. Camaro looked like a 2-door Chrysler Concord my 84 year old Great-Aunt would covet. Oh, yeah... she had one. In its day, before everything had to be 6 foot tall and 6 foot long, the Firebird gave you something that looked and performed like a budget supercar on a ramen budget. Ram Air is a heritage cue and functional Ram Air gives you a performance benefit, once you cut out all the sound dampening baffles. And whats so awful about hood scoops? WRX has 'em and nobody complains. Torque Steer? Sorry, every front wheel drive car has had it for a quarter century. You're running outta fuel, my knee-jerk, meme-powered friend. Bottom like is the H and G body FWD Bonnevilles are not red dashboard Chevys, as no Chevy was on those platforms. If anything, the 88, Aurora and LeSabre were overpriced Pontiacs. It was also available in that lovely 2.8 V6. It wasn't meant to be a supercar. In any case, you're such a car snob, I can't imagine you wanting any plebeian GM car. For christ's sake, GM's wonder car, the Vette had to share steering wheels with the Cobalt for a decade.

Oddly, the millennials I worked with had a very good opinion of Pontiac. They liked the last of the Trans Ams... had friends with GTOs and at the time would have liked to buy a G8... but were not able to because it was on the market such a short time. Others like the Solstice. They also liked the Dodge offerings. They also thought Chevy was a different company from Pontiac and would rather buy a Honda/Toyota than a Chevy. That said... look at the debacle going on with the Chevy SS, and how GM "doesn't know how to handle it"... they've blown its design, its pricing, its options and now its launch. Its going to fail as a Chevy, and would have been a great start for a niche Pontiac division.

Chevy: 1957 Bel Air. Just too iconic. Honorable Mention: 1967 Camaro RS/SS Pontiac: 1969 GTO Judge. HM: 1967 GTO and 1998-2002 Trans Ams. Oldsmobile: 1966 Toronado HM: 1981-1988 Cutlass Supremes coupes. Buick: 1971 boattail Riviera HM: 1986-1987 Regal GNX Cadillac: 1959 Coupe De Ville. GMC: 1st gen Sprint. HM: Syclone/Typhoon. Saturn: Sky. Holden: Monaro.

What Dfelt said. ATS and LaCrosse as large cars... *Pfft*

All the folds in the bodywork make it look kind of like the automotive equivalent of a Shar Pei. Embarrassing level of bling. Looks a lot smaller than the S-class. Giant unit on windshield and low roofline likely conspire to make visibily awful for anybody tall (unless they like driving in a lying down position).

Looking at some of the footage online, I'm not so sure these cars will all be salvageable... or even recoverable. The first burnt orange Vette through the hole, (I suppose its the PPG Pace car), is soon followed by huge chunks of concrete. There was a sinkhole in FL a couple years ago where the person in the house was lost and it was deemed too risky to retrieve the body... its going to be expensive and a difficult procedure to recover these cars. A big heavy crane is simply not going to be able to get very close. I wonder if the compromised dome structure could be used as a gantry crane?

The emergency personnel allowed the museum to remove the ONLY 1983 Corvette from the area, otherwise it might have been swallowed, as well. These sinkholes seem to be an epidemic on the rise, but I'm shocked that one could open in such a prominent place.

Not knocking your purchase, Lamar, but I'm just looking at all the ribbing on the sides, and can't believe GM put it on these trucks after Pontiac got lambasted and swore off ribbing by 2004.

George Stark approves. So do I... especially in black. I last had a chance to grab one in the early '90s... but it was a beach town basketcase. One day.

The Big Wheel was so much more cool.

You know, I've been underwhelmed with the performance on 90-degree impacts. Seems like a bolt is virtually finger loose before these do anything, and mine collect dust. Mine are all air tools, though. Speaking of electric impacts... I forgot to mention another tool I am really glad to have... My Milwaukee rechargeable Impact wrench. That and my lightweight floor jack and I can swap a flat tire in a couple minutes. Works good on scissor jacks that have a hex, too... just watch your fingers, as those scissor jacks can open and close FAST.

After it crashed to earth?

Because I haul my tools with me, they get exposed to the elements more than most do... and quality soon becomes apparent... junky tools get rusty and dull... good stuff stays nice. But there are a few tools I have had for a long time that I refuse to change out... like the "Ghost wrench". At some point, I lost my 15mm wrench. As it turned out, it fell down into the Bonne's inner spaces and stuck there for about 2 years before I found it... rusty and nasty. It was a decent fitting wrench that didn't bend under a lot of stress, so I stripped it and painted it. Problem is I only had white paint around... But the wrench was so easy to spot afterwards. Impossible to stay clean, its more of a "grey ghost wrench" now. I also have "Bendie"... a 3/4 wrench that lost its temper... so its super easy to bend... but it is stiff enough for most jobs... so its great to work on suspension where I need a odd shaped wrench. It also impresses bystanders to see me bend the wrench in front of their eyes.

Too much stuff to list... I inherited a ridiculous number of worn out tools from dad's collection. When working on the cars, I rarely use anything besides the air powered impact and the cutoff wheel... and also use my rechargeable Ryobi drill. My supercheap MIG gets a little car time. I actually use power tools for building thing for non-car projects a lot more. My favorite is the big gas powered abrasive cut-off saw. Looks something like this... Buts its not a Husqvarna... its yellow and has no chrome guard... and doesn't say 'rescue' of anything. Very useful in cutting a parts car into more manageable pieces.

Problem is for a lot of folks, especially newcomers to the hobby, the wrong wrench in hand is worth two proper wrenches in the toolbox; they'll use the wrong tool for the job just because its in hand and they don't want to climb out from under the car. I'm just the opposite anymore... I don't want to drag myself under the car until I have every tool I can imagine needing. ;-)

Sometimes I just use my fist as the BFH. ;-) It doesn't mar the tools. Nothing wrong with pipe as a breaker bar... but most people don't have the proper pipe. Worth a trip to Fazzio's. Trust me, Balthy... when I'm in the Sledge-zone, the 400ft-lb air impact, PB Blaster/WD-40 and heat have been exhausted. Usually entering the Sledge-zone, I'm prepared to see broken bolts to get the job done. Needless to say, we'd be well out of newbie-zone by then. ;-)

I wonder if the pump has a bypass or something that is sticking open when cold. If I had to take action right now, I'd replace the pump... again, thinking it might be a tolerance issue that is taking time to build pressure until things warm up and tolerances are closer to spec. The Cheapoe Tahoe is doing something similar, but with whining... but it has a lot of tire to move at a standstill. I figure the cold is giving it a hard time... otherwise, I'll be replacing the pump in a few months. The Tahoe also has a steering sensor that is likely wonky. I'm not sure if Hondas' have the same sensor.

Don't forget that Stegosaurus was fond of sporting Christmas lights. Very accurate.

You speak of the weather big time in the comments, but you didn't touch on ADabOfOppo's real point? What kind of tires do you have, and how worn? I agreed with his main comment... 4WD is nearly worthless once you are moving... and its why I prefer RWD in the snow... If its so bad I can't get started... I should stay home. That said, I haven't ever stayed home, but I have been acutely aware of conditions and tried to run the best tires I can... and I put a bunch of weight over the drive wheels. Usually cat litter, as it has the secondary use as a friction additive when you are stuck. I have a feeling the only thing that would have kept you out of the ditch would have been something large enough to scare the F150 into being an amenable driver. In the last month, I've driven the Cheapoe Tahoe in two snowstorms (Including driving 2 miles home with a blown out tire) and down several dirt road "shortcuts" and used 2WD the whole time. I felt I had not reason to wear out the 4WD parts... I did tinker briefly with 4HI and 4LO to see how they work... and 4LO was used to get over the icy little curb and hill between the street and the sidewalk.

I am a little leery of recommending these because I've had a couple of these fall into my possession and they liked to take corners off fasteners if you put the torque to it. Same reason I try to only use 6 sized sockets and wrenches when working on a stubborn bolt. There is a place for these, no doubt, but I would be afraid a newcomer would not recognize it.