[aaggoswami]

An excellent review!

The car is going to hit many hard if priced correctly. Civic is right now not selling well, and if this car manages Rs. 12-13 lakh, then bye bye civic. Altis will be hit hard and IMHO, even Octavia and Laura will find the going tough.

GM is having an excellent product at hand, hopefully they understand and propely gauge the potential they have with this car.

The car is low slung as I have seen this car many times in my city and with full load, the car hugs the road. Problem with GC are sure to happen.
The non independent rear suspension is not a good thing. The Optra has strut suspension all round and has very good ride quality.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

• Italian engine maker VM Motori has designed this 2.0 common-rail diesel.

Yes, I know this. VM Motori is taken over by Detroit Diesel. Detriot diesel engine is the one that was available with Accent CRdi and is still available in Sonata.

This Captiva/Cruze/Optra Magnum engine is RA 420.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Imagine yourself on a single road around 80kmph in fifth gear behind a volvo. Most modern CRDs can overtake in a blink even in 5th gear, but for this chevy, the engine will be at an ultra lazy 1400 rpm, and unless you downshift to 4th, overtaking will be tough.
Compare these roll on timings with other diesels. 70bhp hatchbacks post similar roll on timings. The cruze is a 150PS car, you expect much better than this!

No tanveer, DDIS has same issue. Cruising is different and overtaking is an entirely different matter with that car. At 100 kph the rpm will be 1900 ish and if you are just cruising, even with sudden pedal input the turbo will take its sweet time to spool up. But its a different case when one is in acceleration mode, turbo is already spooled up and when one shifts to 5th at 100-110 car just pulls like a locomotive.

I cant even dare to imagine overtaking a volvo in 5th at 80 kph in my car, especially in our crazy south indian roads. I generally do it in 3rd and sometimes even start by flooring it at 2nd if the speed is not enough and then overtake.

Yes when you see the figures of the engine one can be misguided, but this is due to the fact that the gearing is kept tall for easy cruising at higher speed and for those terrific mileage. Please note that even with all this 2nd and 3rd gear antiques DDIS will return 20 plus kmpl.

In BLR city traffic i rarely use 5th gear these days, stop and go again hard clutch and turbo effect can get annoying especially when stuck for hours. Good side is you rarely need to use the accelerator when in stop and go traffic (atleast in BLR), just let go the clutch and shift gears 1 and 2 before you stop again

[Fordmanchau]

That's a very nice and well written review.
Hope the car does well in Indian market and shakes off the GM's image of having lousy cars, though personally I feel , that offlate they have done quite a bit to shake off the dust on them. Cruze looks very good and with the power and acceleration on tap in the car, its really going to be a Cruz'er. Civic's , Accords, Skoda and Toyota have competition now!!

[Technocrat]

Brilliant Review Tanveer & those pics from your DSLR makes the car look even more stunning.

I hope its priced well & I am sure with Diesels being the favorite fuel in Indian these days people would soon get used to the turbo lag & know how to make quick shifts to get rid of it

[nkrishnap]

Fantastic review there!

The car seems to be real good albeit the turbo lag. With the GM Brand its really interesting to see how this car sells with respect to its Japanese Competition.

[Jebs]

An Excellent and well written review !!!. I am sure the segments starts from 10 to 15 lacs feels the heat already due to this Cruze Missile. This so-called keyless entry (PEPS) or what, will not be good countries like india. If you just stand near the car to buy something on the nearby shop - your valuables might be easilly stolen away. I heard that it the cruze door handles features with touch sensor. Is that true? and what does it really do?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Hope GM provides a good extended maintenance plan along with a killer pricing

Ah, Chevy's 3 year maintenance plans will be a sweetner!

From the review i feel that the car is performing like any other modern turbo charged diesel engine

Turbolag is more than in other modern diesels I've driven, and is pretty Captiva like. Takes some getting used to, more than in a Swift or Ritz as an example. Other extreme is the recently tested Fortuner which had almost no lag.

All the very best GM! Bring it on with a killer price tag!

GM will have watched the Sonata's market acceptance closely, and will surely / hopefully price the Cruze more aggressively. That said, the Captiva has been far better handled & marketed than the Tucson, both diesel softroaders. It's difficult to even get a Sonata / Tucson testdrive from dealerships! Chevy is definitely more pro-active in its premium products. In a way, so many things in common with Chevy + Hyundai.

Originally Posted by deky

I did not notice the agressive reverse action of the clutch when I drove the cruz for a bit. Could it be the car clutch settings?

This car had been abused and how. A brand new car I had a short go in had a better clutch. Not light, but not overtly aggressive either. More effort than the Civics + Altis' for sure.

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

even Octavia and Laura will find the going tough.

The Cruze's USP could well be its non-Euro ownership experience (suspect reliability + high cost of ownership).

[bashani]

Fantastic review sir,
Hats off to you!!!
Very detailed.
But you didn't mention much about the MMI. I believe you can control the PEPS settings from there.
The car dials look extremely cool in the Blue light especially at night.

[1-Testosterone]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

• We Indians are the first in Asia (after Korea) to get this car. Not even launched in Thailand which is the normal place for first launch.

I think China too has it!

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by Jebs

An Excellent and well written review !!!. I am sure the segments starts from 10 to 15 lacs feels the heat already due to this Cruze Missile. This so-called keyless entry (PEPS) or what, will not be good countries like india. If you just stand near the car to buy something on the nearby shop - your valuables might be easilly stolen away. I heard that it the cruze door handles features with touch sensor. Is that true? and what does it really do?

I guess this can be turned off at the owners discretion. All other proximity sensing keyless entry system I have seen can be programmed to be activated or deactivated (BMW 3 series / Chevy Uplander etc.)

[JRD]

Great in depth review. I loved the attention to driving manners. eg: information about the clutch rebound is very useful for city commuters.

Fantastic night photos.

[nik1982]

On road price for top of the line model in bombay is going to be around 14.75 according to the dealer i spoke to. He is taking bookings and charging a premium of 1 lakh for diwali delivery.

[_raVan_]

Excellent review! This car will reform the C+ segment definitely as it brings along a fresh image of where the segment should head. The 16 inchers are a first too! I really hope they price it right.

EDIT: Maybe someone from the mods or fellow bhpians who has access to the three cars namely Altis, Civic and Cruze can post the comparison review, it might help others who were waiting for the Cruze launch. Also, a video review (as with the Fortuner review) would have been a boon.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by blackasta

I guess this can be turned off at the owners discretion. All other proximity sensing keyless entry system I have seen can be programmed to be activated or deactivated (BMW 3 series / Chevy Uplander etc.)

If this is true, definitely a high value functionality in the Cruze.

Originally Posted by nik1982

On road price for top of the line model in bombay is going to be around 14.75 according to the dealer i spoke to.

Sweet! Thats like what, 12.5 lakhs ex-showroom Delhi?

Originally Posted by _raVan_

This car will reform the C+ segment definitely as it brings along a fresh image of where the segment should head.

The only diesel cars that sell in the C+ segment right now are Europeans. Euros have their advantages (high speed behaviour, sheer quality etc.) but also have their own disadvantages (high cost of ownership, inconsistent reliability). The Cruze has the potential to shake up the C+ segment if priced well, and offer a viable alternative to those looking at a diesel 14 lakh car. Think about it, GM will in all certainty offer its maintenance packages sooner or later. That will be a draw too.

Can't wait for the launch price!

[m-hawk]

The valet drivers are gonna have a tough time to handle this and expect your battery to be drained by them by the time you come to collect your car !! being a manual it can be dhakka started!! Any plan s of the auto box to be mated to the diesel unit ??
The interiors are really fresh looking !!
Regards
SAaJan