REVIEW: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze (and Jacket Giveaway)

Good honest transportation; that’s the name of the game when it comes to compact cars… or at least it used to be. Now you need to offer serious value. Four wheels, an engine and some seats just doesn’t cut it anymore. Enter the Cruze, this is the ‘Chevy’ that Chevrolet is betting on and I feel like they've made a very good bet.

Photo provided by Chevrolet, car not tested as pictured.

The Cruze name isn’t a slam dunk from a me - it's more than a little obvious. After a week with the car, however, it’s clear the name is apropos. The Cruze is made for cruising.

Photo provided by Chevrolet, car not tested as pictured.

When I first picked up the car I was wishing for a sporty, turbo-infused car; a car eager to rev and carve up roads, which is something I think the Mazda3 and Honda Civic have come to be known for. It took about three days for my presumptions of the Cruze to wear off. On the fourth day I found I was content to just cruise. The Cruze chewed up highway kilometers like it’d been starved of them since assembly. Helping this feeling along are probably the most comfortable seats in a compact car: soft, but not too soft, they hug you around the sides without feeling grabby. The ride is smooth but firm, and the motor pulls along on the highway in a very satisfying way.

The Cruze motor comes in two options: with and without turbo. My tester was the latter, an LT Turbo model. To put “turbo” on the motor is misleading (note: the word turbo is NOT on the motor - HA!). Turbo has always been synonymous with fast - ask any 5-year-old kid, they’ll tell you the same. But this implementation is different. In the Cruze, the turbo takes a very small engine (just 1.4L) and gives it big-boy pants. The base Cruzes come with a 1.8L motor making just about the same power as the 1.4L, but the Turbo motor is supposed to be better on gas, and more refined. I’ve never driven the base car, but I can tell you I enjoyed the 1.4L.

One quibble I had with the Cruze drive was the transmission. While I found the “shift-it-yourself” function pretty good, the problem I had was in the auto setting. The transmission is tuned in such a way that the power-delivery felt, I don’t know, slushy? My gut tells me this is done to make the Cruze more fuel efficient, which is good, but it took getting used to. My wife Alexandria took the Cruze out for a very short errand and didn’t like the drive for that very reason. A manual version is currently unavailable with the turbo, but it will be standard in the upcoming model year. I'd wait, because I think it could a wonderful combination.

On fuel economy, the Cruze didn’t quite meet my expectations in mixed driving. I admit I spent quite a few drives testing the oomph of the little turbo, so that probably contributed to the poorer than expected showing. Don’t get me wrong, the fuel economy is very respectable, but my expectations were very high. On one stretch of highway I tested the Cruze for pure highway driving and was really pleased with the real world 5.5 to 6.0L/100km I was getting. Like any other car, to be good on gas you have to be good to the car.

Photo provided by Chevrolet, car not tested as pictured.

The Cruze styling starts making up for the sins of the Cobalt and Cavalier. It does a nice job of being the more outgoing little brother of the current Malibu and reflects the design of the Equinox as well. Those are good genes to come from. I liked the creased front-end which has plenty of nice details to give the car a sophisticated, modern look. The high belt line makes the car look substantial, but makes smaller wheel options (16”) look a bit dorky. If it were mine, I’d opt for the RS appearance package which gives you 18” wheels and some other nice appearance upgrades.

Photo provided by Chevrolet, car not tested as pictured.

Open the door and around those great seats I mentioned earlier you’ll find a nice mix of materials. Quality-feeling buttons, a bright display in the gauge cluster as well as above the stereo controls. I liked that this high-up display showed what the climate controls were set at when making changes. The buttons and dials are really low, and peeking down to make adjustments would mean taking your eyes completely off the road. I also liked that the dash had fabric on it. It made the interior feel “soft” and also broke up what would otherwise be a vast expanse of plastic, which is a problem I have with Cruze competitors like the Mazda3 and Civic.

Overall, I liked the Cruze. Starting at $14,995 it’s a bargain. For that price you’ll be rowing your own gears and sweating to not only the oldies (no A/C at that pricepoint). Opt for the turbo model and you’ll get A/C, auto transmission, and a host of other upgrades...but now you’ll be in the thick of competitor pricing at $19,495. But that’s not all bad for Chevrolet. After all, the Cruze is a worthy competitor and it should be priced accordingly.

Bottom line: if you’re one of those people who was turned off domestics 10 years ago, the Cruze is definitely worth a look. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

To get you Cruze'ing I have two Cruze jackets to giveaway (1 Women's Medium and 1 Women's Large - sorry guys). Drop a comment, and you're in the running. The first drawn will get the choice of size. The draw will take place on Sunday August 7th, 2011.