jsaylor

2011 Chevrolet Cruze LTZ - Road Test

GM replaces its last remaining all-American compact sedan with a Korean/German concoction. Frankfurters, kimchi, and chevrolet, anyone?

BY JOHN PHILLIPS, PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN ROE AND MARC URBANO
November 2010

Since the 1970 debut of the mechanically vermin-infested Vega, GM’s grim experience building econosedans has no doubt been made unhappier by the media, who, upon each debut, ask, “Is this the Great American Small Car?” As the Chevette and an onslaught of Cavaliers would demonstrate, the answer is “no,” has always been “no,” and we all know that it’s “no.” Yet we keep asking, even when the American small car in question is not credibly American—as in the Toyota-built Nova, the Isuzu- and Suzuki-built Geos, and, eventually, every single Saturn sedan, whose tag line, “A different kind of car company,” should have been, “A real familiar kind of car you rented a couple years ago in Europe.”
So, no, we won’t celebrate the Cruze as the Great American Small Car. It can’t be, having been blended by Daewoo in Korea and by Opel in Germany. We will, however, celebrate it for removing from our lives forever the Pontiac G5 and the entry-level Chevy Cobalt—two Ohio-built passenger pigeons that mark a milestone, representing, as they almost certainly do, the last small cars that an all-Yankee GM squad will ever create. Is that a bad thing? Probably not. Is that a sad thing? You bet. Let’s all say it out loud: “America can’t engineer small cars.” See? That wasn’t so hard.
Up close and personal, the Cruze’s styling certainly offends no one. We wish it did. Its nose is a less pugnacious version of the Volt’s, and the rest of the car shyly murmurs, “I’m some sort of intermediate sedan, no need to ask.” The Cruze counts as its enemies the Toyota Corolla, the Hyundai Elantra, the Honda Civic, the Ford Focus, and the Nissan Sentra. Enemies no one needs. No matter how little you spend on your Cruze, you get a lot: 10 airbags, a rollover sensor, pretensioning front belts, stability control, OnStar, XM satellite radio, and power locks and windows.


You can find the rest of the article at the link....
http://www.caranddriver.com




Sounds to me like a lack of power is becoming a theme with recent GM introductions.....at least as it relates to mainstream models like the Regal and the Cruze. The article praises fit, finish, and refinement as well as handling but pans the styling and the engine.

97svtgoin05gt

Sounds to me as if they've produced yet another small vehicle where the engine/trans do not live harmoniously together.

pegasusphototx

MY daughter just bought the value trim level. The fit and finish are pretty nice, and it is quiet, but I do feel that it is way under powered. I punched the gas and it wasn't very responsive. Would I buy one for a DD? Yeah, would it be my first choice? Probably not.

-danny

bob

And no plans for a Cruze SS from what I understand.

This is more a testament to the knuckleheads who count the beans and america's attitude toward small cars than it is the guys who engineer them.

I suppose it will stand with the push toward global platforms and companies being in the tight position that they are. It would have been nice to prove Phillips wrong though.

Flagstang

Fiesta anyone? The cruze is going to be another bland here and gone car. If you want a daily get a fiesta. I have hit 43 mpg on long trips and avg 34 mpg city. The car will also go 118 mph before the computer says no.

hi5.0

That's been GM's and to a even greater extent, Chrysler's small cars' biggest hurdle to overcome.

2k7gtcs

*yawn*