Chevy Sonic and Klout

If any of you know my history with cars, you know I have bad luck with them.  If they're not overheating on me, they're breaking down on me at the most inopportune moment.  I wish I could buy a new car, but the way things are, I'd rather do some homework on my next car so I know what I'm getting myself into.

Last November I was given the opportunity by Klout to have a Chevy Sonic for 3 days. This couldn't come at a better moment. My car at the time was acting up, so having a free car for a few days was gong to be fantastic.


If you have never heard of Klout, it's a website that uses algorithms to measure you online influence.  What this means is that if you're on Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger, etc, they see how many times your postings are visited, re-posted or shared with other people and this determines how influential you are online.  How I was deemed influential about cars, I don't know, but who am I to argue about getting a free car.

The Chevy Sonic and I

The day the car was delivered to me I was working, so they were nice enough to deliver the car to me at work and after signing a few papers I was given the keys to the car.  Once I was done with work, I took my time driving home because I just wanted to get the feel for the car.  The ride was very smooth and just sitting behind the wheel felt real comfortable.

Now I could list a whole bunch of facts on the model I had, which was a 2012 Sonic 5 door 2LZ, like it ranges between $14,495 - $17,995 depending on model. Fuel economy on it was 25 city/35 highway.  6 months of OnStar, Bluetooth for phone and a USB port to connect your MP3 player, etc, etc.


By now, you have all seen the commercials and videos of the Chevy Sonic, but being behind the wheel was a great experience. I liked the fact that driving this car I felt the power behind the engine.  Although the car was small, it had great handling and the interior didn't feel like a small car.

The Center Panel

I had the car for three days and two of those days I worked.  The one day that I had off I took advantage of the car and drove it around while doing errands.  I really liked being able to sync my phone to the car and just use voice commands to make phone calls.  Now I know that a lot of cars do this, but this was my first time experiencing this first hand.

The one thing that I didn't like about the model I had was the trunk space was small, due to having my little girl's car seat installed. I mean, the rear seats do fold down, but I couldn't do it with the car seat there.  If I would have gotten a sedan model I don't think I would have had this problem, but this problem was small and not a deal breaker.

Instrument Panel

The day I had to return the Chevy Sonic, I was a little saddened that I didn't get that much time to use it, but the car did make my list of options when I decide to buy a car.

In December I was invited to a party thrown by Klout and Chevy that gathered all the people that spent time with the car and we networked and talked about our experiences.  I was fortunate to meet some people from Chevy and express my feelings about the car and was grateful for being chosen to participate.  Although they weren't raffling a car that night, I did win a Chevy shirt and got to meet some great people.

Recently I was contacted by Klout and Chevy again and this time I am getting the chance to try a Chevy Volt for a few days.  While I will not be getting the car until September I am curious as to how my experience will be this time. Stay tuned and hopefully it won't take me this long to write about this experience.