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Drove a Chevy Cruze Eco


zeitgeist57

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So, I was at my desk, having lunch and reading this article:

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/07/06/honda-civic-hybrid-takes-on-chevrolet-cruze-eco-and-volkswagen/

 

Chevy Cruze beat out VW Jetta Diesel and Honda Civic hybrid in their comparo for all-around best eco car. I said something to the nature of O RLY?

 

Realizing I had an hour of lunch left, I jumped in my car and drove to Bobby Layman. A really nice salesman let me test drive a brand new Cruze ECO with 6-speed manual and 2 miles on the odo. Took it up W. Broad, onto 270, off of georgesville, back to the dealership.

 

Simply put, I was amazed at how well the thing drove. On the highway, I felt like my foot was feathering the gas pedal and I was doing over 70 in 6th gear. On the street, I was doing 35-40, shifted into neutral and coasted at 40mph for at least a couple of blocks. The shifter and clutch pedal were wonderful and the whole car felt solid, yet light on its feet. It moved and handled really well. Only negative I had was that it wandered a bit on the highway, like it was "tracking" through the semi ruts in the asphalt.

 

The interior was nice, but hurt by lack of heated leather seats, and a sunroof. It was a wonderful car and I'd get one in black. Wheels look great and the aerodynamic underbody belly pan was cool. But...................$20k?????? I still can't get over how expensive these small cars are! Seriously, who is buying $20-25k compact cars? I would keep an eye out for an ECO once they start popping up on the used market for around $12k.

 

The big revelation for me is GM's 1.4L turbo 4 and 6-speed manual. Seriously impressive for a street car. I will test-drive a Sonic just to feel how that engine does in an even smaller package. Well done, Chevrolet...well done!

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I like the design concept of the Volt. And going with a turbo 1.4 in this car is a great choice too. But I have been so turned off by the vehicular atrocity that is the '08 Colorado at work and a '07 Malibu that nearly bored me to death that I'm wary of anything GM makes now. Those two cars, especially the POS Colorado, have really soured me.
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It is a really good car and it's good to see people taking notice. It's still sad to me when I read comments on sites like Autoblog and anytime the article says something nice about a GM product everyone cries that it's a biased report, or GM must have paid them off. Is it that hard to believe that GM can make a good product? They sold almost 25,000 of them last month to be the best selling car in June, so it can't be that bad.

 

The other sad thing to me is that the average sales price of a new car is ~$30k in the US. At $19k the Cruze Eco does represent a good value, but it's crazy that you can't buy much of anything under $20k anymore.

 

Clay, supposedly the Corvette dynamics engineers tuned the suspension on the Sonic. I'm interested to see what it can do with the 1.4L turbo too.

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Meh....loaded they look decent but for that coin, I'd go elsewhere.

 

1-2yr old Speed 3. 6spd, seats four very comfy, 5 without trouble, hatch to hold stuff, real turbo power and Japanese quality. < $20k

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Meh....loaded they look decent but for that coin, I'd go elsewhere.

 

1-2yr old Speed 3. 6spd, seats four very comfy, 5 without trouble, hatch to hold stuff, real turbo power and Japanese quality. < $20k

 

 

+1

 

A NEW econo-box is hard to justify given the range of good used cars out there.

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Meh....loaded they look decent but for that coin, I'd go elsewhere.

 

1-2yr old Speed 3. 6spd, seats four very comfy, 5 without trouble, hatch to hold stuff, real turbo power and Japanese quality. < $20k

 

Agreed

 

My Mother-In-Law just bought a new Focus 5 door hatch, while it looks decent from the exterior, the interior is over styled, cheap looking and feeling, and small. Considering you can load them to almost 30k, I don't like them as an overall package.

 

The Cruze is a better sedan. Larger on the inside, better materials and a better design overall. However, for those that buy the Focus Hatch, usually want a hatch and dont cross shop the cruze or elantra.

 

The Golf and GTI are better buys. They are larger on the inside, same or smaller on outside, have better materials and driving dynamics. Gas mileage is the only thing it can't match the others on. GTI is rated at 31 highway, and the TDI is a tough sell for your average American IMO.

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So, I was at my desk, having lunch and reading this article:

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/07/06/honda-civic-hybrid-takes-on-chevrolet-cruze-eco-and-volkswagen/

 

Chevy Cruze beat out VW Jetta Diesel and Honda Civic hybrid in their comparo for all-around best eco car. I said something to the nature of O RLY?

 

I just read that too, and the way they tried to justify the poor highway mileage of the Cruze was a borderline ridiculous. The Jetta easily got 50, the civic got 50 yet the Cruze got 32, then 39 on a second attempt to raise the mileage, then when it couldn't the editor swore that the Cruze could get 42, almost 20% worse.

 

I can understand if the cruze was far and away better than the Jetta, but from their article, it wasn't. Not that I have a hard time believing that the Cruize is nicer overall than the Jetta, because I don't, I just take issue with their justification of poor mileage in a test dedicated to fuel consumption.

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I just read that too, and the way they tried to justify the poor highway mileage of the Cruze was a borderline ridiculous. The Jetta easily got 50, the civic got 50 yet the Cruze got 32, then 39 on a second attempt to raise the mileage, then when it couldn't the editor swore that the Cruze could get 42, almost 20% worse.

 

I can understand if the cruze was far and away better than the Jetta, but from their article, it wasn't. Not that I have a hard time believing that the Cruize is nicer overall than the Jetta, because I don't, I just take issue with their justification of poor mileage in a test dedicated to fuel consumption.

The way they calculated the fuel mileage was a joke. They refilled the tank until the pump clicked off, drove somewhere else, then refilled until the pump clicked off, and calculated MPG from the volume of fuel that went in. I think we all know that pumps are not that accurate and could easily account for a large discrepency. There are plenty of actual owners reporting 42+ mpg in the Eco, and my coworkers LT 1.4T auto has seen averages from 38-42 mpg on his drives to and from work.

 

http://www.fuelly.com/car/chevrolet/cruze/2011

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I can understand if the cruze was far and away better than the Jetta, but from their article, it wasn't. Not that I have a hard time believing that the Cruize is nicer overall than the Jetta, because I don't, I just take issue with their justification of poor mileage in a test dedicated to fuel consumption.

 

The funny thing about the new Jetta I just read the other day was that dispite how everyone gave it terrible reviews, it's been selling like hotcakes. Not because it's so cheap either, I guess the average sale price has also gone up according to VW.

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The funny thing about the new Jetta I just read the other day was that dispite how everyone gave it terrible reviews, it's been selling like hotcakes. Not because it's so cheap either, I guess the average sale price has also gone up according to VW.

 

They are complete piles of shit. Just drove a 2012 with 32 miles on it and was disgusted with the build quality. Rattled and creaked at every bump, transmission hesitated a lot, windows struggled to go up and brakes felt like shit. Even the stereo sucked balls.

 

I don't care if it's 15k brand new...it was a joke of a vehicle. I cannot believe they are selling well.

-Marc

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  • 2 weeks later...

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/07/22/diesel-chevrolet-cruze-coming-to-u-s-in-2013/

 

If I EVER pulled the trigger on a new Cruze (in a world run by flying monkeys and unicorns), it'll be for a stick-shift diesel model. Even if I never bought one, I give big props to GM for bringing a diesel Cruze to the states.

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