2009 Kia Spectra vs 2009 Chevy Cobalt: Which One Could You Put Up With For A Year?

Remember the movie Brewster’s Millions? It’s an old tale, told many times throughout the years, always involving a wealthy eccentric relative and a set of conditions that must be met to receive an inheritance. Our scenario today isn’t quite the same, but it’s kinda-sorta close. I’ll explain in a minute.

Yesterday, you had to choose a car to drive cross-country – and, more importantly, resell – in order to win a bet. I feel confident in saying that both choices could make such a drive, but only one would really be of any interest to anyone once you got there. Nobody is clamoring for a Mercury Sable with the worst landau top in history, but a beat-up Nissan Altima will always find a home.

But could you actually make money on it? I think you could. That sage-green color isn’t that uncommon for those Altimas, so you could probably find a nice matching hood for it if you check enough junkyards, and the rest of it looks pretty good. Give it a good wash and polish, play up the fact that it’s a Western car with no rust, and I bet you could sell it in the Midwest for two or three grand.

Now then: You’re sitting in a paneled conference room in the law offices of Dewey, Cheetham, & Howe, along with the rest of your family, for the reading of your Uncle Howard’s last will and testament. Uncle Howard was filthy, stinking rich, but didn’t really like anyone in the family very much, so you aren’t sure how this is going to go.

As it turns out, everyone’s inheritance is sizeable, generous even, but they all have strings attached. Uncle Howard knew you were a gearhead, so your strings come in the form of a car. On the table in front of you, the lawyer places two sets of keys, each corresponding to a car parked outside. You must leave in one of them, and drive it exclusively for a year. You cannot drive any other car during that time, or you get nothing. Oh, and the purchase price does matter; whichever one you choose, its cost comes out of your inheritance.

Fortunately for you, Uncle Howard thought that manual transmissions were for poor people, so both choices are stickshifts. It’s a small consolation. As you weigh your choices, you feel grateful that you’re not a foodie like your cousin Iris; she has to live on nothing but Fruity Pebbles, Lunchables, and Chef Boyardee for a month straight.

2009 Kia Spectra EX – $1,850

Engine/drivetrain: 2.0 liter DOHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Madison, WI

Odometer reading: 120,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

Some of you probably forgot the Kia Spectra even existed, didn’t you? I think its only function was to upsell customers from the truly dreadful Rio. “Not bad by comparison” is about all it can claim. I can’t imagine who would choose this over a Toyota Corolla or a Mazda 3, but someone did, and they kept it in remarkably good condition over the years.

Power for the Spectra comes from Hyundai/Kia’s 2.0 liter Beta II engine, driving the front wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox. The manual is probably pretty rare; I don’t remember seeing many manuals on the lot when I test-drove one of these new in 2002. This one runs and drives very well, according to the seller, and with only 120,000 miles on the odometer, it should have some life left in it. All you need is a year.

It’s in good condition inside, and since it’s an EX model, it has a bunch of power stuff, as well as a CD player. Dig in the closet and find your Maroon 5 and Pete Yorn CDs; you’ll be needing them. I don’t see an auxiliary input. The seller does say that the air conditioning works fine, so you won’t have to sweat your way through a summer.

It’s a little banged-up outside. Both the driver and passenger side have some dents, and the bumpers are scuffed up. Things sometimes happen to cars in cities, especially college towns, but it does make it seem like the owner was careless. Were they as careless with the maintenance as they were with parking?

2009 Chevrolet Cobalt LS – $2,400

Engine/drivetrain: 2.2 liter DOHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Hickory Hills, IL

Odometer reading: 119,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

In 2005, General Motors finally retired the J platform after more than two decades, and replaced it with the Delta platform. Only two J-cars were left by that time: the Chevy Cavalier and the Pontiac Sunfire. The Cavalier became the Cobalt, and the Sunfire became the G5. The Cobalt was a lot nicer and more refined than the Cavalier, but it was fraught with reliability problems and recalls. This one seems to have weathered those storms well enough, but it’s worth checking to make sure all those recalls were actually done.

Under the Cobalt’s hood is GM’s twin-cam Ecotec 2.2 liter four cylinder, which also appeared in the Cavalier late in its life. It’s more refined and more powerful than the old pushrod Cavalier engine was. This one has a five-speed stick, which not only makes it more fun to drive but also takes away all the maintenance and durability issues that can come with automatics. It runs and drives “like a champ,” according to the seller, and doesn’t need anything.

The Cobalt was a big step up from the Cavalier in interior appointments, but it’s still General Motors. There’s a lot of hard plastic in here. It’s all in good condition, though, and the air conditioning works in this one, too.

It looks good outside at first glance, but I have a couple of reservations. The seller says it doesn’t have any rust, but there’s something not quite right about the rocker panels. They look droopy. Is that rust below the surface? Or some other form of damage? It’s worth sticking your head underneath to see. Apart from that, it just has some cataracts on the headlights that need polishing, or replacing.

I’m pretty sure you could get a year out of either one of these, so it comes down to the details. To me, one feels more honest, but maybe less trustworthy, and the other might be a tiny bit more desirable, but I have more questions about it. I’m sure the lawyer would let you check them both out before you choose, but choose you must. So what are you driving for the next year?