[ecclipse78]

Congrats on your car !

I've bought a few cars from Sundaram - 3 Honda's, 2 Chevy's.
The entire sales experience was much below average from them.

And don't get me started on their service....both the Honda and Chevy division have lousy people and practices.

[Ravich]

Originally Posted by sameer sultan

Thanks Ravi. will give ur opinion a thought

Saw a white Cruze with a spoiler . Looks fantastic. I changed my opinion !

[sameer sultan]

Originally Posted by Mubeen

Tough luck with the color options Sameer. Guess you cant have them all eh!

You drove 50 km's to get registration number of your choice? That number must really mean something to you!

not only 50kms but a lot of cash too!! yes that number means a lot to me.

Originally Posted by ecclipse78

Congrats on your car !

I've bought a few cars from Sundaram - 3 Honda's, 2 Chevy's.
The entire sales experience was much below average from them.

And don't get me started on their service....both the Honda and Chevy division have lousy people and practices.

thanks sir. sundaram motors have not changed with the times. they are still in the premier padmini days. hope my service experience is better!

[manjith_pm]

Congrats Sameer!!
Cruze is a lovely car.sexy alloys n your car is a masterpiece:-)

Talking about the sales and service in Sundaram motors,I have a lot of experiences.
The first being, I took a test drive for U-VA and just wanted to know what kind of power steering and he said hydraulic power steering.I just asked him why it dint have EPS and he blatantly said it was a failure in all Chevy models.I couldn't control my laughter.I asked him about Aveo and he was blabbering..

The next being,when my city had an accident and it was parked for over a month for insurance negotiations and when we wanted to scrap the car..we know all places charge upto five hundred for this service.this guy told me 750/day..I was like why is that and I want a receipt for insurance claim.he said" the car is parked on mount road sir..receipt for such things will come after a month"..

The other being an old incident,one of our family friends had relocated from Malaysia and wanted to buy 3 padmini's..this uncle told him he wanted a white and green petrol and a blue diesel..the sales guy had the audacity to tell him "which ever colour you buy,it'll travel same speed"..the reply was one tight slap..period..In todays scenario this would have been a human rights problem but back then "customer was truly king"..

[sameer sultan]

Thanks Manjith for those nice words about my Cruze :-)

Your write up about the experiences with Sundaram sales men are hilarious. What funny replies from Sundaram sales guys. Now that Capital Honda has come up, there is a better option to buy Honda cars than Sundaram. For chevy there is not yet a good alternative. There is KLN Motors but they are small compared to Sundaram.

The USP of Sundaram is their location with the showroom and service centre in the heart of Chennai. This covers up the ignorant and indifferent attitude of their staff.

[Cartman]

Thanks for sharing about the White Cruze saga. Btw, I spotted it again today.
Looks killer. Source a spoiler man! Will do wonders!

[sameer sultan]

Originally Posted by Cartman

Thanks for sharing about the White Cruze saga. Btw, I spotted it again today.
Looks killer. Source a spoiler man! Will do wonders!

haha surely my next car would be a white ;-)

[rosh2]

Really nice review Sameer. And I love your alloys...

My Cruze has crossed 5600 km and I couldnt add anything further to your write up. However, there are a lot of things that I love and a few that I find disappointing about the car.

1. The keyless drive-off capability. I have written of my bad experience with forgetting the key fob and driving off in another thread.

2. The cooled dashboard compartment for some reason fogs up the windscreen. Spoken to the service guys, who havent been able to do much about it.

3. In the driving position that I have set, my knee keeps hitting the AC fan blower wheel and keeps changing the fan speed.

4. Rear visibility is almost non-existent whilst reversing and the reverse sensors are more a necessity than a luxury.

5. No auto-up on the front windows is disappointing

6. A USB in would have been a very useful feature

7. After the 5k service my FE has dropped slightly to 10.9-11.2 from an earlier 12. Not sure why this change ( my driving style hasnt changed and the mix of city + highway driving is pretty much constant)

Having said all this though, I must reiterate that all the positives far outweigh these niggles and I am in absolute awe of this car. Not to mention the compliments I receive on an almost daily basis from people.

[BurningHeart]

Originally Posted by sameer sultan

I did the second service at 5000KMS. It costed Rs.335/- as half a litre of engine oil was topped up and some steering wheel oil was also topped up.

Great looking car. Is this not on the 3 year service warranty?

BH.

[vikram999]

nice review... dear friend whats a fuel efficiency..?

[sameer sultan]

Originally Posted by rosh2

Really nice review Sameer. And I love your alloys...

My Cruze has crossed 5600 km and I couldnt add anything further to your write up. However, there are a lot of things that I love and a few that I find disappointing about the car.

1. The keyless drive-off capability. I have written of my bad experience with forgetting the key fob and driving off in another thread.

2. The cooled dashboard compartment for some reason fogs up the windscreen. Spoken to the service guys, who havent been able to do much about it.

3. In the driving position that I have set, my knee keeps hitting the AC fan blower wheel and keeps changing the fan speed.

4. Rear visibility is almost non-existent whilst reversing and the reverse sensors are more a necessity than a luxury.

5. No auto-up on the front windows is disappointing

6. A USB in would have been a very useful feature

7. After the 5k service my FE has dropped slightly to 10.9-11.2 from an earlier 12. Not sure why this change ( my driving style hasnt changed and the mix of city + highway driving is pretty much constant)

Having said all this though, I must reiterate that all the positives far outweigh these niggles and I am in absolute awe of this car. Not to mention the compliments I receive on an almost daily basis from people.

Hey thanks rosh.

1) I read about your experience with driving away without the key fob from a hotel. Yours was one of the first Cruze report in T-BHP.

2)Switch off the auto defogger. This will solve the problem.

3) Yes initialy for me too this was happening. Now I have set the seat in such a position that my leg avoids fiddling with the AC knob!!! But when there is a tall passenger sitting his leg keeps turning the Temp knob.

4) I rarely use the rear view mirror, I manage with the side view mirrors. Agree with you that Parking Sensors are a necessity.

5) I also find this dissappointing. Have mentoined in my review.

6) AUX!!!

7) Surprising to note that. I have upsized the tires and also fitted after market alloys, still mileage is the same for me. 11.5 in city and 12 in Highway. The best I got was 12.5 Highway and City driving.

I have lost count of the number of compliments I get for the Cruze wherever I go.

Originally Posted by BurningHeart

Great looking car. Is this not on the 3 year service warranty?

Thanks mate. There is 3 year/100000 KM warranty, but it does not cover consumables like oils oil filter etc. (Volkswagen has the AMC pacakge on their cars which covers the consumables too but they charge an extra amount over the invoice price unlike the Chevy)
BH.

Originally Posted by vikram999

nice review... dear friend whats a fuel efficiency..?

Thanks Vikram. 11.5 in city and 12 in Highway.

[khoj]

Sameer,

I discovered your thread and read it end to end, the Cruze looks like a million bucks in your pics and from your writing seems it is more than million while driving.

I have a couple of queries for you which are based on your driving experience with the 105hp Jetta DSG and the Octavia with the same 1.9 tdi engine but with the manual gear box.

While driving these cars at any time did you find them lacking in pickup in a fully loaded condition and trying to go from 40 to 60 in city, especially while driving up a flyover OR on the highway say while cruising at 100 kmph you need to overtake another vehicle at similar speed quickly.

Second when comparing the Octavia 1.9 manual and the Jetta 1.9 DSG do you feel the auto box makes a difference in the above conditions apart from being more convinient in city driving.

I am not looking at the top speed or the drag capabilities but trying to find something with enough grunt in crunch situations with 3 to 4 well built Punjabis on board.

[Mpower]

Hi Sameer

Could you post some pics of the rear suspension. I want to see if the twist beam uses a watts link as seen in the latest Opel Astra.

[sameer sultan]

Originally Posted by khoj

Sameer,

I discovered your thread and read it end to end, the Cruze looks like a million bucks in your pics and from your writing seems it is more than million while driving.

I have a couple of queries for you which are based on your driving experience with the 105hp Jetta DSG and the Octavia with the same 1.9 tdi engine but with the manual gear box.

While driving these cars at any time did you find them lacking in pickup in a fully loaded condition and trying to go from 40 to 60 in city, especially while driving up a flyover OR on the highway say while cruising at 100 kmph you need to overtake another vehicle at similar speed quickly.

Second when comparing the Octavia 1.9 manual and the Jetta 1.9 DSG do you feel the auto box makes a difference in the above conditions apart from being more convinient in city driving.

I am not looking at the top speed or the drag capabilities but trying to find something with enough grunt in crunch situations with 3 to 4 well built Punjabis on board.

Hi Khoj glad you liked my thread and thanks for the compliments.

As for your query I have driven both Octavia 1.9 tdi and Jetta 1.9 DSG with 5 adults on board and luggage full in the boot.

First thing though both these cars share the same powered engine I found the 1.9 DSG more refined and powerful than the Octy's 90BHP as against Jetta's 105BHP. The Jetta did not lack power when overtaking or while climbing a flyover. The power to gear ratio is well balanced in the Jetta and its always up to the requirement. In fact the roll on time of Jetta is excellent between 40-100 kmph in 4/5th gear while the Cruze lacks this as when I slow down and try to go ahead it just stalls and I need to down shift to gain pick up. The DSG covers this aspect well and solves the problem. As for Octavia 1.9 tdi when the car was full with 5pax/full boot I felt little bit of sluggishness.

Certainly the auto box makes a huge difference in highway as well as city driving conditions I just love the DSG for the sheer comfort and pleasure it offers. I had also mentioned in my thread that while buying the Cruze if the AT was an option I would have opted for that. I have heard the tiptronic AT in the Cruze is well refined too.

[sameer sultan]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Hi Sameer

Could you post some pics of the rear suspension. I want to see if the twist beam uses a watts link as seen in the latest Opel Astra.

hi i found this pic in T-BHP. is this are you referring to or something else. I did not shoot pics of my Cruze's suspension. If you are looking for some more pics do tell me ill click and upload up in few days.