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Old 17th November 2009, 10:16   #436
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Originally Posted by hiren959 View Post
I personally think that Cruze is for them who drive their cars majority on highway, less in city bumper to bumper traffic, for long distance. While for the majority of city driving should prefer the Civic.
Correctly analysed but then there are a lot of creature comforts in the cruz which make sense even if being driven by a driver with you in the side or rear bench - atleast till the Auto comes.
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Old 17th November 2009, 10:42   #437
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The rear Bench of Cruze is not at all a nice place to be. The Rear seat is hard and upright, and legroom is really bad.
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Old 21st November 2009, 02:23   #438
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On my third visit i finally got a testdrive of this Cruze, even this time they were trying to make an excuse but after threatened to buy the car from some other dealership they offered me a long proper testdrive (Iffco chowk to manesar toll and back through some broken roads).

Chevrolet Cruze LTZ 2.0 Diesel : Test Drive & Review-19112009622-large.jpg

I have driven almost all cars in the segment from base Altis to top end Laura recently while searching for a replacement of my ageing Elantra, so during the review pls dont get annoyed if i compare Cruze with Elantra or any other cars in the segment.

I find Cruze's looks very appealing especially Front end, Rear end feels a bit confused. I find the tail lights too much inspired from the Civic. The design is able to hide the real length of the car. Its longer than Elantra and Civic but parked side by side Elantra felt longer.

Interiors are very good and surely justify this car's price tag with a lot of equipment thrown in. I feel they should have offered ESP atleast on the topend variant. The sound system sounds better than what Honda, Toyota and Skoda offer in this segment, this car comes with a proper in dash 6 cd changer and steering mounted controls. Keyless operation is a very good feature to impress people and feels convinient too.

Steering adjusts for reach and rake, even the drivers seats offers wide range of adjustment, it also goes all the way back. The front passenger seat however disappoints with its positioning as it is set too high, people who are more than 6 feet tall may feel they too close to roof. The biggest compromise in this car (a deal breaker for most) is the lack of space at rear sets. Overall space is way less than my current car Elantra plus the roof is too low or may be seats are jacked up too much, my head almost scraped the roof (Just like Linea). The quality of leather on the steering and seats is not so special. Compared to this car the fit and finish in Laura feels very special.

The powerful diesel engine is the best aspect of this car not only because it makes 147bhp and 327nm of torque but also because the torque wave hits in a very relaxed manner compared to ill behaved Magnum and Verna and the engine is free revving with a very strong topend, this engine does not run out of punch till redline. The engine is also very refined compared to Laura's pump duse engine and even my Elantra's previous gen Crdi.

Performance as suggested by figures is very good. Best thing i found was super relaxed fifth gear which at 100kph is running below 2k, even 4th gear is longer than Swift/Punto/Scorpio's fifth gear. Taller gearing does not compromise much on highway performance. On the expressway the performance is astonishing i could easily touch 180 in no time. Turbo lag is quite evident during city driving but anyone used to driving a diesel wont find it much of a pain. Just like Tanveer pointed out the agressive clutch is quite a pain in traffic at times.

High speed composure at high speeds is excellent, it absorbs uneven roads without as much bounce compared to the softly sprung Altis but Laura's Dynamics except low speed ride are better than Cruze. Overall the ride is very level. I did not get a chance to throw the car into my favourite corners to check the Handling but all the corners i threw this car the levels of grip were very good. I did not like the steering although it was decently weighted it felt like a dumb electric PS (Dont know if it really is).

FE is very good as rated by ARAI for a car of this size and this much power.

I would suggest this car to those who love to drive on highways, this car eats up highways like no other car in the segment. It is quite involving to drive in comparison to Altis feels like an appliance but This car cannot play a role of spacious family car with its cramped interiors and small boot. The only other diesel in the segment Skoda Laura in comparison feels more classy and beats it in almost all counts except Pricing,engine and after sales support.

Last edited by .anshuman : 21st November 2009 at 02:25.
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Old 21st November 2009, 11:48   #439
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@anshuman -After reading your initial test drive of Chevy Cruze, I could sum it up as- at the price GM is offering this car, its surely a steal really value for money compare to Laura and Jetta.

ACI has carried out full comparison between these three cars in the latest December issue, let's see who is the winner?? any guesses??
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Old 21st November 2009, 13:08   #440
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hiren959 View Post
@anshuman -
ACI has carried out full comparison between these three cars in the latest December issue, let's see who is the winner?? any guesses??
My guess is the Cruze.Laura cannot stand a chance with its current engine and pricing.
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Old 21st November 2009, 13:48   #441
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Laura is such a good product at this price point but their A.S.S. gets them down. The petrol Laura is just amazing to drive. Also when it come to interiors and quality of materials used, no one comes close to Skoda. Cruze, of course beats them all when it comes to value for money and performance (diesel). Petrol engine wise, Laura is a ripper. It' only their PD Diesel which lets them down (at least on paper).
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Old 21st November 2009, 13:54   #442
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hiren959 View Post
@anshuman -After reading your initial test drive of Chevy Cruze, I could sum it up as- at the price GM is offering this car, its surely a steal really value for money compare to Laura and Jetta.

ACI has carried out full comparison between these three cars in the latest December issue, let's see who is the winner?? any guesses??
Cruze is a very good value for money car, for this price its a very good deal absolutely worth buying if space is not a prime concern. Overall if money is not a problem Laura is a better car.
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Old 21st November 2009, 16:28   #443
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@Hiren 959- Just grabbed my copy of ACI, they've rated Laura the best.

Here is the some performance figures from ACI

0-100 0-150 Top speed 20-80kph(3rd) 40-100(4th)
Cruze 9.31s 20.88s 210kph 14.54s 17.36s
Jetta 12.14s 32.26s 186kph 11.99s 14.31s
Laura 11.54s 29.77s 185kph 10.49s 12.46s

Source:Autocar India, Dec 09 issue pg.no.90

Jetta and Laura's shorter gearing has advantage in roll on time and driveability but the powerful Cruze is invincible on the highways.

Cruze is heaviest of these three at 1520kg and Laura lightest at 1310kg.

Last edited by .anshuman : 21st November 2009 at 16:30.
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Old 22nd November 2009, 10:29   #444
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I think this is a nice car. Regarding the turbo-lag, after having driven Tata turbo-charged vehicles for a while, it should not present much of a problem

Even I had been wondering when Chevy would present a vehicle worthy of their NASCAR pedigree here in India
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Old 22nd November 2009, 11:08   #445
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I personally found the Cruze to be a great car. I like Gadgets and Equipment and this car is loaded, Driving a Civic which costs almost the same and has zero level of Equipment, this car came as a welcome change. I was planning on buying an Accord for my Mom but this car surely saved me a Lot of money. I mean even the Accord 2.4MT does not have Steering mounted controls or Sunroof and that thing costs 18L, Honda wake up.

The Turbo lag, well this is surely not the reason I would not choose the Cruze. Petes Box is the answer to all my worries. The suspension setup is killer, I mean I drive a car with 17" Wheels and Civic suspension is prone to bottoming out specially the rear, But this was truly amazing. It maybe because of the fact that I have not driven a Car in 2 years which has a tire profile above 45
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Old 22nd November 2009, 14:13   #446
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saw the car in flesh and it looks pretty good. love the front look but not much of a fan of the rear of the car.

looking forward to test drive this car.
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Old 22nd November 2009, 20:35   #447
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Quote:
Originally Posted by .anshuman View Post
0-100 0-150 Top speed 20-80kph(3rd) 40-100(4th)
Cruze 9.31s 20.88s 210kph 14.54s 17.36s
Jetta 12.14s 32.26s 186kph 11.99s 14.31s
Laura 11.54s 29.77s 185kph 10.49s 12.46s
On what basis did ACI choose Laura to be the winner ?? Cruze is clearly more powerful and has a lot more practical features right ?? And which version of Laura are they comparing with ..is it the L&K ??

Last edited by stanjohn123 : 22nd November 2009 at 20:38. Reason: Additional question ??
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Old 22nd November 2009, 20:39   #448
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@Stanjohn- A better car does not need to be faster. Cruze may be faster but is not as good dynamically plus it loses out on space and quality.

Last edited by .anshuman : 22nd November 2009 at 20:42.
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Old 22nd November 2009, 23:53   #449
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@Stanjohn- A better car does not need to be faster. Cruze may be faster but is not as good dynamically plus it loses out on space and quality.
Even feature wise Cruze is better right ?? PEPS system,sun roof etc.
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Old 23rd November 2009, 17:23   #450
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Even feature wise Cruze is better right ?? PEPS system,sun roof etc.
Nope Feature wise cruz lags the Laura significantly - expecially the L&K variant. The Impressive feature list of the Laura is beaten only by the superb on this side of 30L.
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