Looking around for a Chevy dealer near me, I realized just how many options there are to choose from. Seriously, there are too many good choices. If you haven’t looked for a new car in some time, you’ll be amazed at what’s out there now. There are hybrids and crossovers, trucks with great gas mileage, and affordable sedans. You might not know where to start these days, so let’s take a look at our options. If you’re anything like me, you haven’t been paying attention to the car market, and, wow, has it changed.
Where to start? That’s the question. My partner and I want a truck, but we might need a crossover for the family or a daily-driver sedan. What we really want is a sports car, so we’ll entertain that too, just in case it makes sense for us.
Just Right for the Price: Chevy Spark
We’re going to work our way up to the sports car—we can see it on the other side of the lot—but for now we’ll think practically and try to keep our monthly payment within reason. We’ll take a look at Chevy sedans starting under $15,000. The Chevrolet Spark, for instance, is catching our eye. Here’s a nice-looking car that gets 38 mpg highway/29 mpg city. That’s perfect for the commute into the city. It also emphasizes connectivity and has a lot of optional features to customize our commute. With the 2020 model starting at $14,095, we might not even notice the monthly payment, but we get Bluetooth wireless technology, hands-free phone, internet access, smartphone interface, touchscreen monitor, and a voice recognition system. That sounds like a nice ride to work! Plus, imagine how easy it will be to find a parking spot.
Cruze vs Sonic
Let’s say we bump our budget up to under $20,000. We’ll certainly notice the monthly payment a little more, but it’s still manageable. We see these two cars next to each other, the Sonic and Cruze. How can we make a choice between the two? The Cruze is the larger of the two, almost a foot longer, but both are very sleek and impressive looking. Both come as a sedan or a hatchback, which is a nice option, and both come standard with a 1.4-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder gas engine. The Sonic offers 138-hp, 148 lb-ft torque and 26 mpg city/34 mpg highway, while the Cruze has 153-hp and an impressive 177 lb-ft of torque, with 28 mpg city/38 mpg highway. While the 2020 Sonic has only one available engine, the Cruze offers an available 1.6-liter turbodiesel engine. Decisions, decisions!
Chevy Blazer is Back!
This is getting too difficult. Let’s check out a crossover. What does the Chevy Blazer look like these days? Stylish. You might not even recognize it, but it’s a welcome change. It looks expensive, but when we check the sticker price, we see we’re coming in just under $30,000. That’s still very reasonable. And we’re getting a Blazer—we’ve always wanted a Blazer, to be honest—and here is one that gets good gas mileage, so we can use it as a daily driver, or maybe just park it in our driveway to impressive the neighbors.
Chevy Volt: Electric!
Speaking of gas mileage, let’s take a look at the hybrid, the Chevy Volt. We’re going up only a little in price, starting at $33,520. But imagine 53 pure electric miles and up to 420 miles with a full charge and a full tank of gas. With regular charging, that means you’ll drive an average of 1,100 miles before needing to fill the gas tank. Plus, right now there’s a federal tax credit of up to $1,875.
Sporty: Camaro
We’re here, so I guess we have to check out the Camaro. Well, it turns out Chevy has a performance car for nearly every Chevy buyer. I mean, there’s the Corvette Z06, Corvette Grand Sport, Camaro ZL1, and the base model Camaro LS, which is the one we’re going to check out today. The Camaro LS starts at just $26,000 and gets 22/31 mpg. That slots right into our budget and need for fuel efficiency. With numbers like that, this could be a daily driver. The 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4 makes 275 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque, which isn’t bad at all. If you need a little more, of course, we are talking about a Camaro, so that’s an option. Try the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 (ZL1), with 650 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque. Yikes, that’s a lot of horses.
Trucks
The Chevy Silverado has been catching our eye all day, and now we’re finally here, but we can see the Colorado too, just over there. So many options! Let’s focus on the Silverado for now. It’s a beast of a truck, and would be great for projects around the house, wouldn’t it? And what is this, it starts at only $28,300? So far, we’ve been spoiled by so many affordable options, and now you’re telling me we can afford a truck too! This is more eye-opening than we expected. It’s very fortunate we found ourselves at a Chevy dealership. Standard on this truck is Chevrolet’s Infotainment 3 system with a 7-inch touch screen. Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto smartphone integration, plus a 6-speaker audio system, one USB port and a 12-volt outlet—all standard. Trucks sure have changed for the better.
What about the Colorado? Glad you asked. Let’s take a look. This is the one we have had our eye on all day, if we’re being honest. Maybe we don’t need to haul huge payloads, but we need a weekend warrior, and this looks like the perfect truck. Starting at $21,300, it looks like we might have found our next ride. With 200 horsepower and 191 lb-ft of torque, we’re still looking at up to 26 mpg. Here’s the truck we’ve been waiting for our whole lives, the truck that can go rock crawling over the weekend and then do the usual commute during the week. Plus, it’s fun to drive, regardless of where you’re driving.
Now What?
That was quite a ride, wasn’t it? A little overwhelming with so many great options. We’ll need to think this over and compose ourselves. What do we really need? That should be the question we’re asking ourselves. Need is a highly subjective word, though, isn’t it? When looking for a car, we might want to have a better idea of what we want before we start looking, but it sure was fun to see so many affordable options. Certainly, the Spark makes sense. Imagine a small monthly payment and great fuel efficiency. The Sonic and Cruz are such a great value, too. And the Chevy Blazer is back and it’s better than we ever could have imagined. Of course, 1,100 miles before having to fill the gas tank would be something else—the Chevy Volt is still on the list, too. And while they’re all stylish cars, the Camaro really turns heads, and with good gas mileage and affordably priced, how can we say no to a Camaro? Well, the Colorado, that’s how. We’ll have to go with the Colorado. Whew. That was a tough decision, wasn’t it? We finally settled on a Camaro, I mean a Volt, I mean . . .
