Hi Scotty I’m buying a used 2015 Chevrolet sonic with 98,000+ miles on it from a dealership and I wanted to know of any potential problems
it's discontinued. 'Nuff said.
Ask the dealership if they have a nice Civic or Corolla on the lot, it would a wise up trade
Pass on that. They stopped making them for MANY reasons.
Unless you can get it for next to nothing I would pass.
I don’t recommend getting that vehicle if you intend to keep for as long as possible and put hundreds of thousands of miles on it. Also, esp. do not get the Sonic if it has the CVT transmission (which is the horrendous JATCO CVT, btw.) as they’ve had issues - and this CVT was the only one in GM’s lineup so you know it’s not dialed in. The standard transmission is much better. Anyhow, Scotty reviewed it and said as long as you don’t beat on it (or drive it hard), get a manual transmission, stay on top of the maintenance that the engine can last (~170,000 miles). But this used one you don’t know at 98,000 miles how it was driven or maintained, and being a GM product electronics will fail (or give electrical gremlins) and parts will rattle over time. With that mileage and GM’s track record on quality, I would look for a different vehicle (Toyota or Honda).
If you are curious about Scotty’s assessment:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tN2PWWoJIgs
That video was for the Chevy Spark, Scotty misspoke at the beginning saying it was the Sonic.
Anyways, the Spark comes with a Jatco CVT or Aisin 4 speed automatic depending on year, while the Sonic came with this 6 speed unit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_6T40_transmission
The Sonic was the start of a platform, designed by GM Korea and Opel engineers.
@Kerem good catch. Thanks for that. We are all fallible. I am going to downvote my own response because of that.
Words of wisdom! 👍