The tested model was powered by that new 1.4 litre turbo ECOTEC engine you've probably been hearing about. The premise of this up-level engine (a 1.8 litre unit will be standard) is simple-- it's a teensy little mill with a turbocharger employed to boost power. Said turbocharger crams extra air into the little engine, making it perform like a bigger one, but only when required. Aluminum construction and variable valve timing help increase performance and mileage too.
End result to you, mister and missus consumer? Bigger-engine performance and smaller-engine mileage, depending on the mood of your right foot. The little boosted mill delivers punchy low and mid-range snap, pulls cleanly to redline, and sounds warm and mellow in the process-- never wheezy. Finding turbo-lag requires some serious attentiveness, too.
Your writer found the six-speed auotmatic fitted to the tester to be its biggest disappointment. The included manual-mode is slightly too slow and clumsy to be enjoyable, and the unit was fond of needlessly keeping the engine’s revs up in some situations. This might be a matter of the transmission’s computer brain trying to learn your correspondents driving habits, but it’s thankful that a six-speed manual will be available on almost all Cruze models before long. Turbo or not.
God bless you, Chevrolet, for letting us stick-shift nuts swap our own cogs, even with the bigger engine. God bless you.
Other gripes were mainly of the minor and nit-picky variety. The available cloth-accented dashboard looks questionable and will prove a magnet for lint, pet-hair and other airborne unpleasantness. Drivers with longer legs may find the seats a smidge or two short on thigh support, and some of the controls around the steering wheel might prove awkward to use at first. Brakes, though precise once working, required a good stomp to bite down initially.
Ultimately, Cruze appears to be a car of numerous strengths and few major weaknesses. Keeping price and premise in context, it should tick all the right boxes for shoppers after a good deal on something spacious, efficient and surprisingly upscale. The plethora of safety features and 160,000 kilometre powertrain warranty won’t hurt sales either.
Cruze is priced from under $15,000, and hits dealer lots later this month.
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| The tested model was powered by that new 1.4 litre turbo ECOTEC engine. (Photo: Justin Pritchard/Auto123.com) |
End result to you, mister and missus consumer? Bigger-engine performance and smaller-engine mileage, depending on the mood of your right foot. The little boosted mill delivers punchy low and mid-range snap, pulls cleanly to redline, and sounds warm and mellow in the process-- never wheezy. Finding turbo-lag requires some serious attentiveness, too.
Your writer found the six-speed auotmatic fitted to the tester to be its biggest disappointment. The included manual-mode is slightly too slow and clumsy to be enjoyable, and the unit was fond of needlessly keeping the engine’s revs up in some situations. This might be a matter of the transmission’s computer brain trying to learn your correspondents driving habits, but it’s thankful that a six-speed manual will be available on almost all Cruze models before long. Turbo or not.
God bless you, Chevrolet, for letting us stick-shift nuts swap our own cogs, even with the bigger engine. God bless you.
Other gripes were mainly of the minor and nit-picky variety. The available cloth-accented dashboard looks questionable and will prove a magnet for lint, pet-hair and other airborne unpleasantness. Drivers with longer legs may find the seats a smidge or two short on thigh support, and some of the controls around the steering wheel might prove awkward to use at first. Brakes, though precise once working, required a good stomp to bite down initially.
Ultimately, Cruze appears to be a car of numerous strengths and few major weaknesses. Keeping price and premise in context, it should tick all the right boxes for shoppers after a good deal on something spacious, efficient and surprisingly upscale. The plethora of safety features and 160,000 kilometre powertrain warranty won’t hurt sales either.
Cruze is priced from under $15,000, and hits dealer lots later this month.
 |
| Ultimately, Cruze appears to be a car of numerous strengths and few major weaknesses. (Photo: Justin Pritchard/Auto123.com) |
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