Cruzing with the Cruze
Hi All,
Here is our take on the Chevrolet's Cruze.
The Cruze
The Chevrolet Cruze, Badged as Holden and Daewoo in foreign markets. This was one of the most anticipated car of year and finally made its debut in the first week of this month. We checked out the car in person to see was it worth all the hype?
Exteriors & Styling
From the front, Cruze has the most aggressive styling unlike any other sedan, Also the tough built of car ensures that you and your family is safe inside when taking it down on congested roads.
Headlamps are huge with sharp curves which helps to add sporty finish and feel to the car and those rear lights always keep reminding us of the Honda's Civic.
Let’s move on to the side profile of the cruze. We can find highly sculpted waist line which again gives a gives an aggressive look of car, Even the wheel arches bulges out from the body level which implies that GM has tried hard to make the car look masculine. The tyres are bigger & well proportionate with the size of vehicle. There are lot of chrome insert on the body which helps in adding more up-market touch.
Rear of car again resembles the direct competitor mainly because of the already mentioned reason and that is none other than the tail lamps which are upside of one found on civic.
At the night times, You may find some difficulties in reversing because of the not-so-effective reversing lamps, So its advised to take help of Parking Sensors which come standard.
Interiors & Comfort
You thought the car is mean and sporty looking only from outside? So check out the interior as well, For which we share thoughts as of exteriors.
Sit Inside and you may feel like sitting in a sports car due to the Chevrolet Corvette inspired cockpit. You will feel the adrenaline just banging your eyes, The huge ice blue colored well illuminated gauges increase the coolness and sportiness. The Driver Information System (DIS) gives you lot of information at the scroll of small wheel which sits right on the Steering.
This Chevrolet is sure high gadgetry model, The Dual Din Audio Unit is positioned perfectly for your eye level, Automatic Climate Control works well & A/C cools the cabin quite quickly.
We felt cruze to be a bit noisy at high speeds. The seats are leather wrapped and the ones on rear have been ergonomically designed & give luxurious comfort which will result in less tiring on long drives.
The Steering wheel is leather wrapped as well and features few useful buttons which allow you to "cruze" easily in the "Cruze".
Gear shift is accurate engages easily, The driver seat comes with manual height adjustable option & you also have telescopic & tilt steering which gets you more confident driving position.
Rear Parking system of Cruze works in a great way and easily detects even small potholes and makes tight & Parallel Parking an ease.
Cruze's Boot space is huge 500+ litres which should enough for your week-end get aways
Engine,Handling & Performance
The Diesel mill of Chevrolet Cruze sports a 1991CC producing healthy 150bhp@4000rpm & 327@2600rpm. Though highly powered there is much turbo lag which we felt is a big dis-advantage for city driving.
In bumper to bumper traffic this huge machine makes you feel depressed because it misses the enough grunt. We couldn’t drive at 20kmph/3rd gear which increases vibration in car & surprisingly engine turned off when we attepted to decrease it to 15kmph.
Our team managed to reach 100 from NIL in quick 10+ Seconds.
Thanks to the broad tyres 205/60 R16 which makes one of the best handler at high speeds. Rear seat travelling comfort is good since Cruze has McPherson struts with Cylindrical Coil Spring & Tubular Stabilizer Bar System in Front while the rear comes with Compound Crank Type with Non-Linear & Mini-Block Coil Spring.
Safety & Fuel Efficiency
Considering the safety aspect of car, GM offers ABS & dual Air Bags, Cruise Control etc. Also, Not to miss out the useful Emergency Exit system.
Fuel Efficiency of the car makes competetion tougher in the class.
In city driving you can easily achieve 13kmpl while on highways you can fetch upto 18kmpl depending on the driving style.
Top 5 Things We Like in Cruze!
- Price – Much advanced for the value you pay.
- Syle & Design -Aggressive design & strong build quality.
- Extreme handling & Quick diesel sedan
- PEPS [Passive Entry Passive Start] & Sun Roof
- Features - We are impressed with them.
Top 5 Things We Dis-Like in Cruze!
- No automatic Seat height adjustment.
- Initial gearing ratios are boon in city traffic.
- Central locking knob goes invisible after locking it. You can’t manually open in case of emergency.
- Small Rear Armrest
The top sellers in this segment [Civic & Corolla] started facing heat since last month's starting when cruze was introduced in India.
Chevy’s Cruze is an extreme feature rich car which has aggressive looks and design at an affordable pricing. If you are looking for an all rounder car which can satisfy the needs of a driver in you and can impress the colleagues at your work place, Also act as a complete family vehicle, Then don't forget to take a look at Cruze.
Credits:
Road Test & Photography: Adam Aniz (Zinam)
Text & Format: Vibhor Tyagi (350Z)
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