CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2012 Chevrolet Sonic is fairly new & is already showing an early trend of transmission problems.
Owners report hesitation when shifting & grinding/hard shifting into gears. Some dealers are calling the condition "normal". Another owner reported his dealership replaced the transmission under warranty, but the new transmission had the same exact grinding problem. Design defect?
I drive for a living so I put a lot of miles on my vehicles. My sonic is about 5 months old and it has 33,000 miles. Until yesterday, things had been great in terms of the Engine. As I got off the highway, the car began shaking and it was struggling to stay on. I knew something was wrong but it went away. Later in the day, I got back on the highway and it struggled even more to gain momentum and it began shaking some more. The Check Engine light came on and I knew something was terribly wrong. Initially I thought it was a transmission problem but I was wrong. I called Chevy immediately and scheduled an appt. I took it in this morning and after about 30 minutes, they told me the head gasket was blown. They didn't go into much detail but they did say that it was nothing I could have avoided which makes me nervous of what's to come. They immediately got me into a rental because the repair is going to take 2-3 weeks. Hopefully the problems get fixed and I don't encounter anything more serious in the future. In terms of the service I received at Chevy, I am very pleased but I do have concerns about the vehicle.
Prior to my Sonic, I have had Japanese cars which I have put over 150,000 in 2 years or less and never encountered Major engine problems like this.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I drive for a living so I put a lot of miles on my vehicles. My sonic is about 5 months old and it has 33,000 miles. Until yesterday, things had been great in terms of the Engine. As I got off the highway, the car began shaking and it was struggling to stay on. I knew something was wrong but it went away. Later in the day, I got back on the highway and it struggled even more to gain momentum and it began shaking some more. The Check Engine light came on and I knew something was terribly wrong. Initially I thought it was a transmission problem but I was wrong. I called Chevy immediately and scheduled an appt. I took it in this morning and after about 30 minutes, they told me the head gasket was blown. They didn't go into much detail but they did say that it was nothing I could have avoided which makes me nervous of what's to come. They immediately got me into a rental because the repair is going to take 2-3 weeks. Hopefully the problems get fixed and I don't encounter anything more serious in the future. In terms of the service I received at Chevy, I am very pleased but I do have concerns about the vehicle.
Prior to my Sonic, I have had Japanese cars which I have put over 150,000 in 2 years or less and never encountered Major engine problems like this.
- kukor6, Orlando, FL, US