Make sure you get the SS model, above, of the Cobalt and leave the lesser versions to the rental fleets.

GM

General Motors should stop trying to please everybody. It’s a strategy that embraces the lowest common denominator. It’s hard to make a favorable impression when your primary objective is to avoid offending as many people as possible. You wind up pleasing no one, or next to no one, or so it seems. That much became clear to me after a week in the 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt SS coupe, a member of a car line often overlooked or treated as pedestrian fare by the automotive media.

I did a little experiment. I called Chevrolet and asked if I could “have a look at the Cobalt.” I deliberately did not specify a model — LS, LT, SS, coupe or sedan. My reasoning was that only one of those Cobalt models, the SS coupe, was strong enough, different enough to engage my interest for a week.

As I suspected it would do, without any prompting from me, Chevrolet shipped the fully loaded Cobalt SS coupe.

That told me that the Cobalt SS was the car that Chevrolet regarded as the real Cobalt, the one the company regarded as the most representative of that compact economy car line. That being the case, I wondered why the company wasted so much time, money and marketing muscle pushing lesser Cobalts — disparagingly regarded as “rental cars” by the automotive media.

No one regards the comparable Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra, or Toyota Corolla as a “rental car,” although all of those models can be found on somebody’s rental car lot. A Civic is a Civic. An Elantra is an Elantra. A Corolla is a Corolla. All are compact economy cars with good road manners and excellent quality. Their reputations are so strong, their names speak for themselves.

That’s not so with the Cobalt, the fifth best-selling compact car in America.

I can’t help but think that the Cobalt would be even better had GM not spread the car’s value over a broad field of less-than-impressive materials and mediocre performance in pursuit of more sales. The Cobalt is so much better than that.

GM needs to abandon that practice, even if it means losing aggregate sales. It should consider trading volume for memorability, which could lead to an increase in higher quality sales — cars and trucks sought by consumers more for likability than price.

I was amazed by the number of people who were amazed by the Chevrolet Cobalt I showed them. The car had a snazzy but comfortable interior. Its five-speed manual shifter fell easily to hand. Clutch and gear movement were smooth, predictable. And with its 2-liter, turbocharged, inline four-cylinder engine capable of developing 260 horsepower, the Cobalt SS was downright zippy.

I spoke with several people who had encountered lesser Cobalts in rental fleets. To a person, they said they would never have considered buying a Cobalt based on that experience.

But they all said they would strongly consider buying the Cobalt SS, although it comes with two fewer doors and a substantially higher price than the workaday Cobalt sedans flooding the rental fleets.

2009 Chevrolet Cobalt SS Coupe

Complaint: I could have done without the optional high, rear-deck spoiler on the test car, an appendage of little practical value and even less stylistic grace.

Ride, acceleration and handling: The Cobalt SS competes nicely with the Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra and Toyota Corolla in all three categories. The lesser Cobalts don’t.

Head-turning quotient: Cute for what it is, a compact economy car.

Body style/layout: The Cobalt is a compact, front-engine, front-wheel-drive economy car available as the tested SS coupe or several iterations of a less impressive sedan.

Engine/transmission: The Cobalt SS comes with a 2-liter, 16-valve, turbocharged, inline four-cylinder engine that develops 260 horsepower at 5,300 revolutions per minute and 260 foot-pounds of torque at 2,000 rpm. The engine is mated to a five-speed manual transmission.

Capacities: There are seats for five people. Rear quarters are tight. Luggage capacity is 13.9 cubic feet. The fuel tank holds 13 gallons of recommended premium unleaded gasoline. That’s “recommended for best performance.”

Mileage: You get 22 miles per gallon in the city and 30 miles per gallon on the highway.

Safety: Standard equipment includes head air bags, electronic stability and traction control, and front and rear ventilated disc brakes with antilock protection. Also included is a free introductory subscription to GM’s OnStar emergency communications system. Check with your dealer for details.

Price: The base price is $23,425. Dealer’s invoice price on that model is $22,137. Price as tested is $24,995, including $900 in options ($750 for power-operated glass roof and $150 for that ugly rear-deck spoiler) and $670 destination charge. Dealer’s price as tested is $23,599. This one comes with $3,000 in consumer rebates. Prices are sourced from Chevrolet, Edmunds.com, and Cars.com, an affiliate of The Washington Post.

Purse-strings note: The Cobalt SS is the real Chevrolet Cobalt. Otherwise, look at the Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra or Toyota Corolla.