[Chrome6Boy]

Hello All. I took delivery of my red Cruze LT on 24/8/2011. I have always been fond of fast cars, and it fit my bill just beautifully.

Let me tell you very briefly about my history, my first car was the original Maruti Zen back in 1995. I went to the US to do my college and bought the Pontiac Fiero a two seater little rocket in 1998. Once I got a job I bought the Ford Mustang V6 (I couldn't afford the V8) in 2000. I then moved back to our homeland when I bought the Palio 1.6 in 2002. In 2005 I bought the Elantra GT petrol, and in 2009 I bought the Getz CRDi my first diesel turbo.

Once I had driven the 110 bhp turbo diesel Getz Crdi I decided that I wanted my next car to also be a turbo diesel. My Elantra had aged 5 years and 100,000 kms and needed to be replaced and so my hunt for a new car started about a year ago. The cars I was considering were VW Vento, New Ford Fiesta, Fiat Linea T-Jet, Optra Magnum and the Hyundai Fluidic Verna.

The only petrol car in that list was the T-Jet, I love the way Fiats drive and after my wonderful experience with the Palio 1.6 I wanted to give the Fiat another shot. But my family was dead against it especially since we had some trouble sourcing parts for the Palio once Fiat closed down their service centres and merged with Tata.

VW Vento, in my opinion was a very nice car to drive but I personally felt that the highline was a little bare in accessories and also felt the price was a little high. Also the small number of dealerships and service centres was a little scary.

The new Ford Fiesta was out of contention as soon as they announced that they were trimming the engine down to 1.5 L and also when they released the rather high prices.

The Optra Magnum was awesome! Amazing space, price and brute force! Once again the family shot it down because they didn't want me to buy a model which might get phased out.

I test drove the Fluidic Verna, felt that it lacked the acceleration that the Getz Crdi (previous generation Verna CRDi engine) had, even though on paper the torque and bhp were higher. Gizmos were nice! I liked the looks too. I decided to book the car. The dealer had quoted a waiting period of 2 months during the test drive, but when I booked the car he then quoted a waiting period of 2.5 months.

Meanwhile the Chevy SE from Sundaram Motors Chennai who brought the Optra for the test drive called a few times and requested that I at least test drive the Cruze. I explained that it was out of my budget and that I had already booked the Verna. He said I didn't even have to buy the Cruze but just test drive it. He brought the test drive car to my house. The car was one of the first cars out of the assembly line which had done close to 20,000 kms. I didn't like the car at all, the clutch was super hard, the gears were not smooth at all. I rejected it immediately. He explained that it was because the car was old and that many many different users had test driven it. I asked him for a 2011 model to test drive. He said his dealership did not have it.

So I tried KLN motors in Ekattuthaangal. They brought a brand new LTZ model for test drive which was't registered. The car awesome and I fell in love with it immediately. However the dealers seemed a little shady, it looked like they had brought a new car meant for some poor sap as the test drive car. Also they were very unresponsive when I inquired about prices and discounts. They kept saying they'll call me back but never did. By now I was open to cancelling the Verna and booking the Cruze especially since the Hyundai dealer started extending the waiting period by another month. So I started negotiations with the Sundaram Motors SE for the Cruze LT model. He promised delivery in 12 days and I cancelled my booking of the Verna and booked the Cruze.

The SE Srikanth (9500045213) was extremely good. Always answered my phone calls, answered all my questions politely and accurately. He delivered the car as promised (14 days from booking) and even brought the car for PDI to the showroom before registration.

The initial price quoted was as follows.

Ex Showroom Price - Rs. 12,2,4500
RTO - 1,88,467
Insurance - 47,048

Total - 14,60,015

After all negotiations, I got the car for 14,40,000 with 3M sun film, floor and bot mats and rear parking sensors.

The reasons I wanted to buy the LT over the LTZ

1. I was saving close to 1.5 lakhs for my already over extended budget
2. In Chennai we get good weather so rarely that we almost always drive with the AC on, so the Sun Roof would be used very very rarely
3. Bluetooth was only for music streaming and not for hands free

The car has completed 1,500 kms so far. I drive twice a week on the highway from Chennai to Ranipet (120kms on the bangalore highway) and the remaining days in Chennai to my office which is 15 kms from my house. I average between 2000 and 2500 kms a month.

[Chrome6Boy]

Exterior

Very manly (main reason I couldn't keep a girl's name for the car). I chose red because my kids and wife wanted red. I myself would have preferred white. But I still like the colour. To be honest even though I think the car looks good, it wasn't the reason I bought it. I bought it purely for the torque and acceleration, anything else is just a bonus.

[Chrome6Boy]

Interiors

I liked the interiors. Since I went with the LT I got black fabric seats. Breathes well and is sporty, leather would have been nice, but I am on a budget. The center console is easy to use, there is quite a lot of customization allowed in the settings like even the volume of the chime (like the indicator and seat belt warning). Steering controls are great. The center arm rest for the driver is a boon for highway driving. Seat adjustments are also very nice. The seat height adjustment also acts like lumbar support, I'm able to adjust the seat perfectly for my 6' frame.

Rear seats are not great, very upright and legroom is really found wanting. Luckily my daughters are 2 and 6 years old (strapped into child seats), so rear leg room is not an issue.

Auto AC, a feature introduced into the LT model in 2011 is very effective. Gets the car really cold even in Chennai weather. I've stuck sun film (including the windshield), so the AC is all the more effective. It has an intelligent system where the car automatically controls even the vent (outside air). But this is not very good as sometimes smoke and other unwanted odours find their way into the car when in Auto mode. So once I turn on the Auto AC I find myself switching the vent to close every time.

The indicator also has a nice feature where, if you just press it down without fully engaging it, the turn signal blinks 3 times for lane change. Very nice on the highway while overtaking. Chevy seems to have routed the indicator noise into the stereo system, so when we engage the indicator the sound plays out of the speakers! I have upgraded my ICE and installed components with an AMP. Since there are no pre-outs in the stock ICE I used a Focal high low converter which automatically switches off the amp when we are not using the sound system. So effectively when I'm not listening to music the indicator chime plays out of the component speakers while the amp is off. So you barely hear it. If you are playing loud music the indicator chime is quite loud.

Seat belts are very nice, the material is not rough and the tension is not too tight. Both my wife and older daughter don't complain about having to wear seat belts now! My younger daughter has her own seat belt in her child seat.

I listen to music by connecting my phone to the Aux and control the music from my phone, this system also doubles as a hands free system. This is nice except that Chevy decided to have the aux port in the center arm rest. Which meant I needed run 2 long wires from the center arm rest for charging my phone and playing music. As you can see from the photos I've stuck the car dock to the windshield.

The gear shifter is nice to hold and is in a great position for shifting. The clutch is a little hard and the spring takes some getting used to. I stalled the car a few times.

The LT's MID is very very basic. I don't get distance to zero, current mileage, or even a second trip meter. This is disappointing, but like I said before I bought the car for the torque and acceleration, this is a minor feature I can live without.

The wiper has some nice adjustment capabilities (LTZ gets rain sensing wipers but the LT is just normal). It goes from very slow which is nice for the light drizzle all the way to heavy downpour. It also has an automatic de-fogger. It must be effective since I've never had to de-fog my windshield, I constantly had that problem in my Getz and also in my dad's All New Honda City (no abbreviations here since I recently got GTO's message )

[Chrome6Boy]

Performance

This is why I bought my Superman. Let me explain why I chose this name. This car has an appreciable turbo lag, below 1,500 rpm it is a really slow car and above 1500 rpm it is a rocket. I've been driving my Getz CRDi for 40,000 kms and have gotten used to managing the turbo lag effectively. In the city with a lot of traffic, the car is mostly in Clark Kent mode, I rarely take my car above 1500 rpm. On the highway, the car is mostly in Superman mode almost always above 1500 rpm.

The absolute rush I feel when I accelerate can't be described in words. Low end grunt is amazing! Pretty much any car on the highway is dead meat once my Superman decides to pass it.

The handling is excellent in comparison to the cars I've been driving off late (My dad's All New Honda City, Hyundai Elantra and Hyundai Getz). I still feel my Palio 1.6 handled better, oh well. Cornering is quite good, I don't take turns while driving very fast, I get my thrills while accelerating on straight roads. I decided to stick to stock tyres because I read that imported tyres while improving grip and braking have poor life and very sensitive side walls. Around my workplace in Ranipet roads are quite bad with a lot of pot holes, so I didn't want to risk it.

Ground clearance is good enough for me, I haven't scraped even once. But I haven't yet driven to Bangalore yet (in a couple of weeks) to test it on the murderous speed breakers.

The gear shifting is very nice, short throws feels very sporty. No engine vibrations travel to the steering or to the gear shifter. Engine noise is a little loud especially while the car is in idle even in the cabin.

Conclusion

I've never been truly happy with any car I bought since my Palio 1.6 and this has finally made me truly happy. I would recommend this car to anyone whose priority is Acceleration and Torque. I would also recommend Sundaram Motors in Chennai (SE Srikanth 9500045213) with whom I had a good experience. I've completed my 1000 kms check up and the service experience was good.

Many thanks to Poitive, Mobike008, sameer sultan who helped me make this choice.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the ownerships forum. Thanks for sharing!

[prithwi-81]

Great Review.. How does this car compare to a Laura 1.8TSi, from a performance point of view?

I love the laura, but the thought of 19kmpl + 320Nm of TQ with 6MT is moving me towards this car.

[Shome]

Congratulations on owning a Beast!!! Wish I could afford one :(.

very nicely compiled review as well. Have a speedy but safe drive

[SedatedDrive]

Excellent review of an amazing car, Chrome6boy! This is the second red Cruze on Team BHP if I am not mistaken.

I recommend a tyre upgrade as better grip means improved safety for such a powerful car, especially on bad roads at your place. Please consider this.

[Chrome6Boy]

Originally Posted by prithwi-81

Great Review.. How does this car compare to a Laura 1.8TSi, from a performance point of view?

I love the laura, but the thought of 19kmpl + 320Nm of TQ with 6MT is moving me towards this car.

Thanks!

I test drove the Laura TSi. I loved the car except that it was petrol. My usage is 30,000 kms a year and that justified buying a diesel. The Laura was faster than the Cruze, but the lower end torque was better in the Cruze. It all depends on if you like to drive cars with lower end torque or cars which rev higher and have a more refined engine.

For sheer acceleration and speed, I would buy the Laura myself.

My Cruze only gives me 12.5 km/l this seems comparable to what other Cruze owners report. But the torque is real, and once you hit 1,500 rpm hold on to your hats!

[SedatedDrive]

Srikanth was my SE too and is a thorough professional. Even today when I take my car for an impromptu check (quite a fussy, possessive car owner that I am), I would always call him up and he would within minutes meet me and ensure that I am not kept waiting for a service engineer.

All said, Sundaram Motors is still behind in atmosphere when compared to Sundaram Honda and it is such SEs who are its saving grace.

Mods: Please merge this with my earlier post. Thanks.

[Vtecguy7166]

Originally Posted by Chrome6Boy

Interiors



The wiper has some nice adjustment capabilities (LTZ gets rain sensing wipers but the LT is just normal). It goes from very slow which is nice for the light drizzle all the way to heavy downpour. It also has an automatic de-fogger. It must be effective since I've never had to de-fog my windshield, I constantly had that problem in my Getz and also in my dad's All New Honda City (no abbreviations here since I recently got GTO's message )

Congrats for the new car purchase. Was just curious to know about the device on your windshield in the last pic. Whats that?

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by prithwi-81

Great Review.. How does this car compare to a Laura 1.8TSi, from a performance point of view?

I love the laura, but the thought of 19kmpl + 320Nm of TQ with 6MT is moving me towards this car.

Small correction here. Unless I am mistaken, the current Cruze has the 5MT (LT & LTZ) or a 6AT (LTZ Auto).

However, there are strong rumours that along with the impending Captiva engine upgrade and facelift, the Cruze will also get the same 2.2 liter EuroV monster with a 6MT as already launched in parts of the EU.

Also, quick question:

In your 3rd and 5th picture, the left and right shutlines/gap between the bonnet and the grill/headlight corner seems different with the left sitting slightly higher than the right (when viewing the car from front). Is it for reall or am I reading too much into it :-)?

[Chrome6Boy]

Originally Posted by Vtecguy7166

Congrats for the new car purchase. Was just curious to know about the device on your windshield in the last pic. Whats that?

Thanks!

That's my cell phone dock. Bought it from a cell phone accessories shop in chennai for rs. 700.

[ghodlur]

Congratulations Chromeboy,

Good choice, the car looks more beastly in Red rather than manly. Should you name it otherwise?

Happy mile crunching and drive safely.

[NoRules]

Many congrats Chrome6boy. It is a Superman indeed. Wish you many happy miles with the mean machine.

Nice review too.

Even my wife and kids wanted me to buy the Cruze but since I was looking more for the rear seat comfort, I opted for Optra.

Congrats once again.