The steering wheel, however, doesn't feel high quality. There's a seam of excess material left over from the injection molding process that you can feel around the entire diameter of the wheel. Hard plastics dominate the cabin, but the materials feel no cheaper than those used in other vehicles from the class. The cloth material used for the seats is fine for the most part, but on the driver's side armrest it feels scratchy against your skin. But even if the upholstery were better, the armrest wouldn't be that much more comfortable because it's so short and thin. If you don't use it, though, you risk accidentally resting your hand on the traction control button, which is inexplicably almost as wide as the entire center console.

There are other interior clues that quality is lacking. The infotainment system worked well enough and was easy to use, but the screen in our low-mileage tester was already having issues. When navigating through the system, there would sometimes be a ghost image of the main menu's outline. It would appear on the back-up camera display, the radio screen, and on other menus as if it were burned into the display. It was not always present, however, so it might have been a software issue. Another minor annoyance was the amount of force needed to close the rear doors. If you didn't slam it, the door would be only partially latched in the jamb. The rear seats aren't terribly cramped, but they're not nearly as spacious as those in the Versa Note and Honda Fit. The USB port is located in the small compartment above the glove box that makes a nice shelf to store your phone while charging. But if there's no passenger to plug you in, the port is a bit inconvenient for the driver.

2015 Chevrolet Sonic interior instrument cluster

Although I'm not a fan of the Sonic's motorcycle-like gauge cluster, I do like the large digital speedometer that's easy to read through your peripheral vision. The exterior design is funky, but the good kind of funky. I like the inset lens-less headlights and three-dimensional taillights. They really make the Sonic stand out in a class where most vehicles look more or less the same. That could be one reason why the Sonic was the second-best-selling B-segment car in 2014, ahead of the Ford Fiesta, Honda Fit, and Toyota Yaris and behind only the dominant Nissan Versa. It's unclear how many of those customers were young people, but given the Sonic sedan's low starting price of $15,070, there's a good chance many were cash-strapped millennials. Our tester, however, came in right around the $20,000 mark as equipped. For that kind of money, I'd rather have a Fiesta EcoBoost, but I could also step up to a slightly more fun Sonic RS for a bit more.

The initial marketing efforts may have missed the mark, and the car's interior quality could be better, but the Sonic hatchback caters to the youth market pretty well. It's fun to drive in turbo trim and offers usable features and interior space. The Sonic makes a great sidekick for those newly initiated into car culture, and it's basic transportation seasoned drivers don't have to be ashamed of. Perhaps the most impressive victory the Sonic claimed during my time with it is that it got the attention of a Facebook-obsessed twentysomething family member -- a difficult task for anything without a backlit touchscreen. GM might continue to struggle figuring out what makes young people tick, but in the meantime it has a car that stands a fair chance at giving them what they want.