[rambo1o1]

Congratulations ghost rider!!!

Your beast looks menacing in black with those alloys!!Very rare to see black cars these days. How is the ride with the 17 incher's?? I guess your warranty is void because of the upgrade, or is it??

Happy mile crunching with your american muscle, if i can call it! Hope to see some mods to make your ride truly stand out

[SedatedDrive]

Very nice choice of alloys you got there! Let us know of any negatives with regards to exhaust smoke, NVH and wobbling if any on high speeds.

[ghostrider]

Originally Posted by rambo1o1

Congratulations ghost rider!!!
Your beast looks menacing in black with those alloys!!Very rare to see black cars these days. How is the ride with the 17 incher's?? I guess your warranty is void because of the upgrade, or is it?

Thanks Rambo. You're right, not too many people choose black these days. Believe it or not, the ride seems unchanged from stock. I'm sure there is a difference in terms of firmness, but the fact of the matter is that it's not perceptible. The warranty on the suspension might become an issue down the road, but it's a gamble. In my experience if you make enough noise about an issue and make a reasonable point then they can't hide behind nonsensical voided warranty claims.

Originally Posted by rambo1o1

Hope to see some mods to make your ride truly stand out

Not a big fan of too much flash. When it comes to styling, I like the 'less is more' approach.

Originally Posted by vivriti

Congrats on the Cruze. Looks absolutely cool in black!
There's a good reason for this. When ventilate mode is turned on, it helps dry the condensation in the A/c cooling ducts. Otherwise, there are good chances for fungus forming and resulting in stale smell. It also helps that the recirculated dirty air is freshened.

Thanks, Vivriti. Sometimes you may not want the mode to be shifted to ventilate every time you switch the compressor off, so perhaps it's not the best feature.

Originally Posted by bala80

Fantastic car and even better choice of alloys, just beautiful and compliments the car very well. If possible please share with us the price of alloys. And did you try the AT too?
Wishing you a very pleasant and memorable ownership experience.

Thanks very much. I actually didn't try the AT because I drove an AT Accord for 2 years and I realized I'm a clutch guy.
Manual transmissions for the win!

Originally Posted by SedatedDrive

Very nice choice of alloys you got there! Let us know of any negatives with regards to exhaust smoke, NVH and wobbling if any on high speeds.

Thanks SedatedDrive. I took her up to 140 today to see if there was any wobbling, and there wasn't. Usually it happens if a centering ring's needed for the alloys to be a perfect fit. I didn't want to go faster because of the run-in protocols for the engine.

Originally Posted by mikon

Excellent Buy!!
Awesome wheels
Any plans for E-Class type tail lights and angel eyes? (Sorry, I guess its too early to ask )

Thanks. Finding the right alloy design was difficult... it turns out there's a very limited supply of 17" rims out there, Even more so when you have
very specific design preferences.
The E-class style tail-lights look great, but I think they're a little pricey. Also, if one ever gets busted then you've lost the pair. Not a fan of DRLs but might get some HIDs in a while. The wallet needs some time to heal for a bit.

[mikon]

Excellent Buy!!
Awesome wheels

Any plans for E-Class type tail lights and angel eyes? (Sorry, I guess its too early to ask )

[Utopian]

Congratulations for the Cruze. Excellent choice of alloys. They complement the sporty stance of the car quite well.
Black must be a real painto maintain.

[raviacc2825]

Congrats man!!!

Great choice of alloys, looks really cool and gels perfectly with the black color. I really love cruze, its the car i want to own, only if my pocket allows.
Do keeps us posted on all the mods.

Ravi

[Poitive]

What pictures mate!

The shining black, the deign of the Cruze, the Alloys of course and the angles you have chosen (besides the lighting etc etc), all just adds up to a bit - WOW

Congrats and drive safe mate. As it is said - with great power comes great responsibility Enjoy this monster safely.

Had also read about you doing some good work in GM VIN numbers (@Klever's posts). If you share that info, it may help other members (in case you already did so - sorry I seem to have missed it).

[mayankjha1806]

Congratulations, ohhh she is a stunner and a head turner and those alloys are making her even more desirable .

Wishing you many happy miles with it.

[_raVan_]

Awesome choice of alloys Ghostrider! Black will be tough to maintain, but keep it shining and you will have people staring at your at every corner. Since you are already modding, why dont you consider the black Chevy emblem? It will fit the overall black theme perfectly.

Also, take a look at the body kit fitted in Tusharsethi's thread:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...or-mods-9.html

[ghostrider]

Originally Posted by _raVan_

Awesome choice of alloys Ghostrider! Black will be tough to maintain, but keep it shining and you will have people staring at your at every corner. Since you are already modding, why dont you consider the black Chevy emblem? It will fit the overall black theme perfectly.
Also, take a look at the body kit fitted in Tusharsethi's thread:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...or-mods-9.html

Thanks Ravan. I've been through Tushar's and Sameer Sultan's in detail. Both their cars look great... I love Sameer's alloys but I always wanted the ES6.
No body kit for me... I like the stock proportions of the car a lot. What I will keep my eyes open is a rear bumper that has a tasteful rear-diffuser section built into it. Nothing too rice, just a nice matte curved section like you see in some A4s.

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Congratulations, ohhh she is a stunner and a head turner and those alloys are making her even more desirable .
Wishing you many happy miles with it.

Cheers buddy.

Originally Posted by Poitive

What pictures mate!
The shining black, the deign of the Cruze, the Alloys of course and the angles you have chosen (besides the lighting etc etc), all just adds up to a bit - WOW
Congrats and drive safe mate. As it is said - with great power comes great responsibility Enjoy this monster safely.

Thanks buddy. Still getting used to the power.

Originally Posted by Poitive

Had also read about you doing some good work in GM VIN numbers (@Klever's posts). If you share that info, it may help other members (in case you already did so - sorry I seem to have missed it).

I actually did post the final conclusion here and here.
Your post for confirming the age of the car using the plaque near the front passenger seat is confirmed. I haven't taken a picture yet, I'll see if I can do so today. Thanks for your inputs buddy.

Originally Posted by raviacc2825

Congrats man!!!
Great choice of alloys, looks really cool and gels perfectly with the black color. I really love cruze, its the car i want to own, only if my pocket allows.
Do keeps us posted on all the mods.
Ravi

Thanks Ravi, I'll keep adding to this thread.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Congratulations for the Cruze. Excellent choice of alloys. They complement the sporty stance of the car quite well.
Black must be a real pain to maintain.

Seriously! I hope the Jopasu car duster I've ordered comes quickly.

[fuel_addict]

Ghostrider - many congrats for the Cruze missile muscle car. I need not mention further how hot the car looks with those Yokos rubber and the Lenso alloys, it is evident even to a blind eye. The black colour adds to the mean look. The engine is a stonker which we all know. One of the most VFM diesel cars in the sub 15L category. All the best for maintaining the pristine looks of the car in a place like Mumbai.

[GTO]

Congrats on the torque-monster, Ghostrider! Time to start prepping on moving that Race Dynamics box over.

In stock form, the Cruze accelerates like no other from the segment. I can only imagine what an RD / power box will do. Pete's has a performance remap for the Cruze, so you might want to check that option out as well.

Originally Posted by ghostrider

The Laura, obviously. They're very similar in a lot of respects, but they're also very different. The Laura feels more germanic when you sit inside the car, but I felt a little underwhelmed on the test drive. No whoosh.

Did you drive the manual or the DSG? It's the AT Laura that gets that awesome 140 BHP engine.

The turbo starts spooling and you can feel the surge building from about 1400-1600 rpm and then the it REALLY kicks in by about 1700-1800. I'm not sure why people say the Cruze MT is tough to drive in the city... I don't think so at all.

The 2012 Cruze is apparently better tuned than the early batch that had far more lag.

Rims: were upgraded to Lenso ES6 17-inchers. I literally went through 100-120 designs of rims over weeks and weeks. I wanted something that would stand out, but not too flash. Something sedate and sporty at the same time.

Super wheels, it's so difficult (as you found out) to source nice designs in 17 inchers. Did you get them from the same distributor at Opera House?

Congrats again, and drive safe!

[ghostrider]

Originally Posted by GTO

Congrats on the torque-monster, Ghostrider! Time to start prepping on moving that Race Dynamics box over. In stock form, the Cruze accelerates like no other from the segment. I can only imagine what an RD / power box will do. Pete's has a performance remap for the Cruze, so you might want to check that option out as well.

Hey there GTO! I was prepared for the speed, but what surprised me was how effortlessly that speed is achieved. Even with early upshifts and moderate throttle input you'll hit 100+ in no time at all. At that speed if you glance at the tacho you'll see that the engine's lazily rolling over at 1700-1800rpm. The icing on the cake is the NVH... it's virtually silent.
I shudder to think what the RD box would do.

Originally Posted by GTO

Did you drive the manual or the DSG? It's the AT Laura that gets that awesome 140 BHP engine. The 2012 Cruze is apparently better tuned than the early batch that had far more lag.

Drove the manual Laura... I like me some clutch action!
You're right about the tuning because I TD'd a pre-worshiped Cruze and the lag was MUCH more evident.

Originally Posted by GTO

Super wheels, it's so difficult (as you found out) to source nice designs in 17 inchers. Did you get them from the same distributor at Opera House?
Congrats again, and drive safe!

Thanks, glad you like them. Didn't get them from the Opera House disti... got them from Bombay Tyres. The Opera House guy needs a bit of an attitude check if you ask me... and Bombay Tyres gave me a good deal.

Originally Posted by fuel_addict

Ghostrider - many congrats for the Cruze missile muscle car. I need not mention further how hot the car looks with those Yokos rubber and the Lenso alloys, it is evident even to a blind eye. The black colour adds to the mean look. The engine is a stonker which we all know. One of the most VFM diesel cars in the sub 15L category. All the best for maintaining the pristine looks of the car in a place like Mumbai.

Thanks buddy.

[ashish22]

Hey ghostrider congrats and welcome to the elite black cruze club. Looking at the cruze on our roads it is safer to say that black cruze is a definite rarity. What say? I feel it definitely looks best in black followed by white.

So what are you plans on getting the RD box?? I'm going to get mine in next couple of months.

[nishantgandhi]

Congrats @Ghostrider! It's a wonderful car you bought and IMO, it looks best in Black.

For the tints, I would sincerely suggest 3M. I got CR70 on the windscreen and CS (Color Stable series) (forgot the number - I think it was CS50) on windows and rear. And I got the black shade (not the reflective ones).

Trust me, it adds good looks and awesome character to the car and is priced way cheaper than VKool. 3M sits comfortably in the middle between Garware and VKool.