[SubuS]

Folks,

After 1.5 years of deliberation (starting from Scorpio to switching between xenon/safari/thar etc.) finally I found a car that satisfied my need for good power Vs. wife's need of comfort. We bought the cruze because of the base 150 BHP and the optional upgrades possible to make it a 223 bhp car - I settled for power rather than SUV looks I suppose

I did the booking from Sundaram Motors, chennai - one word: DON'T DO business with them. Get it from KLN. Reasons:

1. Sales people are not well trained. (They are pretty nice and helpful, but product knowledge is lacking. Ex. They had changed the 6 cd changer into a 1 cd player in the latest model and the sales guy had no clue about it. This list can go on and on).

2. They had given in writing that they will give us basic accessories (mudflap/mats etc)., but since we went for outside insurance, they declined! They said since they have no margin they cannot do it. This is my biggest issue - and since I don't believe in making a fool of myself by arguing in vain, I let it go. (My wife on the other hand had given them a piece of her mind earlier).

3. The car when delivered had a big scratch on the right side. (To be fixed in first service).

4. Car also had a cut in the dashboard panel (Also to be fixed)

5. Sales guy rant again: This guy had paid 1000/- for an affidavit that usually costs 200/- - they had no sense of bargaining etc.

All in all, I was in a state that I would be happy if I get the car and get out of the place.

Having said that, the car feels wonderful new Jet black leathers feel awesome / ergonomically very nice. (FWIW, I am slightly more than 6'3" - so this is a big issue in sedans). The seats hug you and give ample lower back support. (One main pain point for the tall ones).

Drive feels pretty responsive - yeah, the clutch has to be overused because of the lag - but again, I used to drive an invader

I have also upgraded to 17" lenso black alloys + 225/45/17 michelin PS3s - you almost feel the road. THe seats are comfortable enough to absorb the minor bumps, but you sure feel it. Braking is exemplary. I will write more about this after some serious driving.

The car has gone for some extra body work (tinting/some paint work etc.) - will post pictures soon!



EDIT: Its LTZ model.

Alternatives considered:

Initially I wanted a Jeep (for its looks / ability to scare away auto/two wheelers) while the wife was half minded about it. Then we went around shopping for Scorpio (dropped because I don't fit into the middle row at all and driving seat is weird to say the least) / Safari (dropped because a new model is coming up "soon") / Thar (dropped because I want the car now while Thar launch in Chennai is indefinitely postponed)

The good and / or bad about its equipment levels:

LTZ is bang for buck here. PEPS / safety systems / climate control/ OEM audio are all above par with respect to competition.

Kms you have completed at the time of writing your review:
about 100.

Intended usage pattern:
highways mostly from my side. Occasional city drives from wife. We use the bike/ikon for city purposes.

Comments on the exterior styling & design:
This looks best from all sides compared to competition (subjective). After my alloys + big wheels, the side profile is stunning to say the least.

Overall build quality and fit & finish & Interior design & quality:
Top notch except for few scratches. But again, in comparison only to my ikon / figo.

Interior space and comfort:
Buy this only if you are gonna drive it - with max 2 others. (may be 3 if you are not a giant).

Engine performance & driveability in the city:
Clutch is supposed to be overworked here - so city driving is bit hard for the sedan owners. For people coming in from jeeps, this is cakewalk.

Engine performance & driveability on the highway
This is where Cruze truly excels. My test vehicle had done 10k odd kms but still killed it in the ECR.

Gearshift / transmission quality, smoothness, response time etc.:
Gearshift is pretty rad compared to the lower segment cars. Very notchy and sporty feel (Except for the slightly long throw).

Handling, on-road behaviour and grip levels
From what I have seen from my car / test car, This is the true drivers car among its peers / smaller cars. Stock tyres suck though - so go for a better tyre. My ps3 hugs the road (and hence transmits every niggle on it to the seat though - but you gotta compromise).

Review on overall practicality (luggage room, ease of ingress/egress, cubby holes etc.):

Very practical for people moving up. Everything is spot on. Very luxurious for people below 5'6".

Start the questions!

Thanks, Subu

[Akshay1234]

Congratulations on the car. Cant wait for the pics especially the rims. Glad they changed the leather to black, the earlier grey didnt look that great IMO. Any other changes on the LTZ besides the cd changer and leather? How about the dash plastic? Is it better than earlier?

[mobike008]

Let me be the second one to congratulate you on the Cruze. What exactly do you mean by body paint work? Are you modifying the color theme to dual tone by any chance?

I agree with you about the driver seat practically wrapping you all around. But, seeing your height, dont you feel the roof space is literally suffocating? I feel that even though i am shorter than you by a couple of inches.

Also, I guess you could be one of the first owners to do so many cosmetic modifications immediately after the purchase.

Would appreciate to know the car cost and its break-up including the upgrade cost of tyres/alloys and any other accessory added to the stock car.

Finally, expecting to see a lot of pictures from all angles for all our viewing pleasure and do keep upgrading this thread with your experiences with this car.

Congrats again and DRIVE SAFE !!!!

[SubuS]

Thanks guys - I am hyper with the excitement - and can't wait for today evening to drive this.

@akshay: Earlier leather seats were getting very dirty - the test car was not impressive IMO. black is good that way. Dash plastic is the same, they have added USB + Bluetooth connectivity, some changes in cushioning in back seat (I can't fit in it if a decent height person is in front anyway), some changes in the feel of steering controls etc. THey have added 13k or so in price for the same. (I don't understand the removal of 6 cd changer though. They have also left the extra button for loading more cds as a blank for some weird reason.)


@mobike: Am painting the roof black to match the wheels / tint. I have pumped the seat waaay down so that I don't run into the roof. (Wife has to pump it up everytime or she can't see anything on the road

Car cost etc. wife handled it - but we got this via csd - so was about 1.5 lakhs lesser than the regular price.

Wheels + alloys - I will writeup another thread on this probably, but I paid 40k for them (in exchange to my originals). Some of the tyre recommendations we see here in team bhp might be marketing because I saw a variance of about 20k between places! I searched every tyre store mentioned here and finally BM Lal in Whites road was the best. He was very professional / had the ingenuity to test my spare spanner to ensure it fits into the new alloys (it didn't) and he gave me a free smaller spanner too!

Other accessories - tinting: 6.5k for front CR 70. 5.3k for CS20 side + rear. spoiler for 4.3k. painting for 4.5k. tailight tinting for 500. free tinting film for headlights. Black film tinting for all the gold + symbols - free. (I don't like the gold color). Underbody rust proofing - around 4k. teflon - around 1.5k I think. Skoda horns - 650. total came to 30k - I am probably missing something here.

I have a question too: can I paint the brakes red? The mechanic said he had to use some primer etc. because of heat - but I don't want to do this if it would affect warranty of brakes. Any help here is good.

EDIT: I had put boot mat / foot mats too.

[n.devdath]

The first cosmetically souped up Cruze on TBHP. This could potentially be the motivation for many other Cruzers as well.

Please post detailed pics of the exteriors and the interiors.

What financial component does a CSD purchase save you?

[VW2010]

What a car subuS to get. The white color is fantastic and i wish you good luck.

The car when delivered had a big scratch on the right side. (To be fixed in first service).

Why did you even accept to take it for delivery? I know its excited to get the delivery on our day. But i think you should have left the car in the dealers showroom asking them to fix all the issues before taking delivery.

Anyway, please write out to the GM of cruze and explain these irresponsible mistakes from the dealer.

have also upgraded to 17" lenso black alloys + 225/45/17 michelin PS3s - you almost feel the road

Common dont tease us. Post some pictures.

Congrats and i am sure i will notice the black roof

[SubuS]

RE: CSD - It saves on some taxes the company pays for your car apparently - so on road price goes down by about 10%.

RE: scratch - It was not excitement mate - it was the reverse. I was super angry and I usually go silent when I am angry (anti-confrontational). So I just wanted to get out - we noted this in the acceptance note and got a sign from the service engg. though.

RE: pictures - sure thing tomm morning The car is in the workshop now.

[ashish22]

congrats and welcome to the club. can't wait to see the pics, both interior as well as exterior
IMHO its better to have a USB port rather then having 6-CD changer. To me its more practical and convenient. I sorely miss this in my LTZ :-(
Could you further elaborate on the change in steering feel???

[ajay_satpute]

Wow!!! Heartiest Congratulations buddy.

This is the BEST car in its segment IMO. I love everything about it.

Please post some HR pics soon. Can't wait to see the pics, especially since you've customized the paint scheme.

If and when I have 15 Lakhs in my pocket, I would blindly go for Cruze. No second thoughts.

[VW2010]

IMHO its better to have a USB port rather then having 6-CD changer. To me its more practical and convenient

I second that. I have a 6 CD changer and I havent used the CD changer even once. There is one SPB hits loaded when i picked the car from the dealer. After that i have just loaded a 16GB SD card(which takes like five minutes to completely load) with my own set of english/tamizh songs.

USB is definitely better than 6 CD changer anyday.

If and when I have 15 Lakhs in my pocket, I would blindly go for Cruze. No second thoughts

No second thoughts except one may be compelled to look at the new SX4 if they are happy with the engine

[nik_kapur]

Congrats Buddy !
Please put images of the car as we are all excited to see the new redone interior on the Cruze. Please do include some pix of the USB (In the armrest i suppose) and the new interior color.

[trumpcard]

Congrats man on your new ride......where are the pics????After all the descriptions we deserve to see the beauty.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by SubuS

Other accessories - tinting: 6.5k for front CR 70. 5.3k for CS20 side + rear. spoiler for 4.3k. painting for 4.5k. tailight tinting for 500. free tinting film for headlights. Black film tinting for all the gold + symbols - free. (I don't like the gold color). Underbody rust proofing - around 4k. teflon - around 1.5k I think. Skoda horns - 650. total came to 30k - I am probably missing something here.

Whoa! Thats a whole bunch of changes to a brand new car.

Did you tint the front and rear headlamps? Or you mean it has been blackened out completely?

I saw a gold cruze here in Hyderabad with its logo painted black. Looked cool.

Confirm the spoiler costed you overall 8.8K? This addition apart from improving its "weak horn" are in my agenda of upgrades. But, IMO a spoiler can make or break the car's look. I am keen to see how your cars looks with the spoiler.

Do start posting the pictures soon.

Originally Posted by ashish22

Could you further elaborate on the change in steering feel???

Its not change in steering feel. It's change to feel of controls on steering wheel

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

This is the BEST car in its segment IMO. I love everything about it.

If and when I have 15 Lakhs in my pocket, I would blindly go for Cruze. No second thoughts.

Ajay, this seems to be your favorite comment for all Cruze threads.

I think you are more excited about the Cruze than the actual owners. Trust me its a compliment for you and for us owners as well. Wish you get an opportunity soon to fulfill your dream

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Ajay, this seems to be your favorite comment for all Cruze threads.

I think you are more excited about the Cruze than the actual owners. Trust me its a compliment for you and for us owners as well. Wish you get an opportunity soon to fulfill your dream

You caught me mobike008.

Thanks for the kind wishes. I know dreams do come true...the question is "mera number kab ayega?"

[SubuS]

USB port vs 6 CD changer: I kind of agree here. I want to ensure the device can play high quality wave files though - this way my sound quality concerns won't get spoilt when I move up to a better system. (Not doing it now because my req. is a 1.5 lakh minimum budget from what I glean from ICE threads).

Steering feel after roads - feels a bit more tighter/grippier (can't express it - but I am sensing things like small stones on the road - is it my imagination? dunno). I didn't do higher speeds - have to wait sometime for that.

Pix - wow. Looks like all you guys are looking to replace my 1000s words with pictures - can't blame you considering my writing style I am getting my slr with me - I will see if I can get some night shots + new feature shots. (Am a noob in photography too - so don't expect too much eh)

Light Tinting: Back lights are blackened. Headlight - there is a sunfilm going on top of the indicator alone. I didn't want to open up the headlamp after reading some horror stories about how they do it and water entering it if we do it.

@Ajay: Take my wishes and good luck too - we all are in the rat race eh!

I took my cue from the white car in SupeRich Motors | Car Accessories | SUV Accessories | Truck Accessories and an Audi R8 I saw with black top. The grill work in this is still a challenge - I am torn between cutting the grill open and going for this exact look. May be mine will strike a nice balance - I will know in a few hours!

Overall, thanks a TON to team-BHP. You guys don't know how much business you are generating - there are too many folks out there like me who are comp-heads and probably cannot distinguish a diesel from petrol, but read up on the net regarding cars. This is the premium site for that.

Btw, Anyone got an answer for my previous Q? Is there a (warranty/tech) problem in coloring my brakes red?