Rather than heading straight to the Javits Center for day 2 of New York Comic Con I stopped off and had brunch with the folks from Chevy. They lined the block with a bunch of their new Chevrolet Sonics and let us take them for a test drive around Manhattan, then showed us more wrapped up in art by Dark Horse, Tokidoki and Neal Adams.
They’re marketing the sporty economy car to who they call “The Millenials” -- basically anyone that grew up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and witnessed the birth of the iPod. The cars boast a bunch of features for those of us who constantly rely on our gadgets, and the fact that the Sonic is the only ride in its class assembled in the good old U.S. of A. (Lake Orion, Michigan more specifically) is pretty awesome.
The Sonic is built on a whole new platform from the ground up. Not a single piece of the Sonic is from previous models and you can definitely tell when you look at it. An even cooler fact about the Chevy Sonics we’ll see here in the States is that they were tuned by a Corvette race car driver.
As soon as you see the Chevy Sonic you know it’s designed with the “Milennials” in mind. The headlights and taillights look like they were ripped off a motorcycle and the barebones theme continues when you open the door. The gauge cluster really isn’t a cluster at all. There’s a giant tachometer right behind the steering wheel and to the right of that you’ve got a digital display keeping you informed on your speed and other information. It mixes a classic design with a new school approach and does it very well.
As I mentioned before our drive took us from the diner on a roundabout trip to the Javits Center where we were introduced to more Chevy Sonics wrapped in some awesome comic book art – more on those shortly. The ride was great and I was truly impressed with how comfortable the bucket seats were in this little, yet roomy, car. Noise from the outside world is also kept at a minimum thanks to the same tech used in Buicks -- some of the quietest cars on the road.
The iPod/iPhone integration was probably my favorite feature. All you do is open the glove box and plug in to the USB port. From there your iDevice automatically hands the controls over to the stereo system where you can scroll through songs, artists and playlists using the radio tuner dial or steering wheel mounted controls. It's a great top avoid fumbling around while you should be paying attention to the road.
Even better than the Sonic’s handy interior features and sporty visual appeal is the comic book art that Chevy wrapped them in for their trip to New York Comic Con. Artists, including the legendary Neal Adams, spruced up a few Sonics to show off at during the convention and Chevy even brought a white one so fans could watch artists Tom Raney, Shane Davis, Mike Norton, Ryan Benjamin, Francis Manapul and Greg Horn add their own touch of color live.
Dark Horse also provided some awesome artwork from the Goon (as you saw above) and tokidoki did one up in their beloved style. Last, but not least was Archaia. Their car didn't feature any characters or art from their books, but the design layout they chose turned out really good in my opinion.
If you’re diggin’ the Chevy’s new ride as much as I am you should head over to LetsDoThis.com and complete the challenges for a chance to win your very own Sonic.
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