jayemko

That’s definitely not normal. Sound is on par with one cylinder firing, if it was normal you would hear that 3-6 times faster and would sound uniform. Lifter, valve, something in there is “off.” It sounds like you’re low on oil but a) your car would tell you that in the MMI, and b) that noise would be uniform and 3-6x faster as it would be coming from all cylinders so it’s not oil.

Warranty? Regardless, have the dealer that quoted you $1k look at it. It might not take that long to diagnose and would cost less. If you ignore it, that’s definitely something that will get worse and cost more later.

Cobalt650

Are you thinking one cylinder misfiring? Lifter valves kinda make sense, but that often dissipates as an engine warms up.