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Is the 2014 Cruze Diesel worth buying?

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12K views 36 replies 18 participants last post by  Diesel4Ever  
#1 ·
A co-worker is upgrading to a new Subaru and wants to sell his 2014 Cruze Diesel.

He is offering it to me for the same price Carmax offered him, which is $8K. He is the 2nd owner and it currently has about 50K miles.

He knows I like VW diesels, currently own a 2003 Jetta and Golf TDI 5MT which is why he offered me the car.

He says it has an issue with hesitation and bucking and says it was from an ECU flash the dealer did. Other than that, it is G2G he says.

Is the 2014 cruze diesel a good car? I honestly know nothing about these cars, however it has leather and it pretty nice inside. It seems like a good deal if it doesn't have any issues.

Is it worth selling my 2003 Jetta TDI with 275K that averages 44.4 MPG to get this car?

Is there anything I should be looking out for, like a "Red Flag" with these cars that would be a deal killer?

TIA
 
#3 ·
Diesel4Ever said:
A co-worker is upgrading to a new Subaru and wants to sell his 2014 Cruze Diesel.

He is offering it to me for the same price Carmax offered him, which is $8K. He is the 2nd owner and it currently has about 50K miles.

He knows I like VW diesels, currently own a 2003 Jetta and Golf TDI 5MT which is why he offered me the car.

He says it has an issue with hesitation and bucking and says it was from an ECU flash the dealer did. Other than that, it is G2G he says.

Is the 2014 cruze diesel a good car? I honestly know nothing about these cars, however it has leather and it pretty nice inside. It seems like a good deal if it doesn't have any issues.

Is it worth selling my 2003 Jetta TDI with 275K that averages 44.4 MPG to get this car?

Is there anything I should be looking out for, like a "Red Flag" with these cars that would be a deal killer?

TIA
Click to expand...
Depends.

What shape is your 03 in?
Are you still happy with it?
What’s your reason for considering the switch?

The advantage of your VW is no emissions systems to deal with. The Cruze diesel is a great car (love mine) but some here have reported chronic issues with EGR, DPF, O2 sensors, etc...all emissions related. The motor is pretty solid and is about 10% more fuel efficient than the TDI.

However your older TDI doesn’t have all the emissions BS. Something to consider.

On the other hand, many here report no major problems with the Cruze diesel emissions systems. So there’s that.....

Bottom line, if you do a decent amount of highway driving and you’re looking for an upgrade the Gen 1 Cruze diesel will probably work well. Just be sure to do your diligence (check service records, CarFax, etc) to see if any history of repair issues.

The price seems fair but make sure you’re not buying someone else’s problem.
 
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#5 ·
Rivergoer said:
Depends.

What shape is your 03 in?
Are you still happy with it?
What’s your reason for considering the switch?

The advantage of your VW is no emissions systems to deal with. The Cruze diesel is a great car (love mine) but some here have reported chronic issues with EGR, DPF, O2 sensors, etc...all emissions related. The motor is pretty solid and is about 10% more fuel efficient than the TDI.

However your older TDI doesn’t have all the emissions BS. Something to consider.

On the other hand, many here report no major problems with the Cruze diesel emissions systems. So there’s that.....

Bottom line, if you do a decent amount of highway driving and you’re looking for an upgrade the Gen 1 Cruze diesel will probably work well. Just be sure to do your diligence (check service records, CarFax, etc) to see if any history of repair issues.

The price seems fair but make sure you’re not buying someone else’s problem.
Click to expand...
Hi thanks for the reply.

I have 2 ‘03 TDIs. I’m keeping the Golf. The Jetta is the one I’m considering selling if I get the Cruze.

Mechanically the Jetta is in great shape. It has lots of newer parts. I got it from the original owner who took good care of it. Doesn’t leak at all and is pretty tight however it’s 16 years old and approaching 300k miles and I don’t know what’s down the road.

I just don’t want to get a POS to replace it with. Does the $1500 delete kit include the exhaust and software ?
 
#4 ·
I second what @Rivergoer posted. If you're pleased with your Jetta, I'd stick with it just to keep away from the unknown. But if you're looking for a nice ride and something comfortable, which I find the Cruze is very comfortable, then go for it! But I can't compare it to the Jetta as I've never had one.

I run the highway to and from work every day and it's been great. I had my EGR seize up once back when I was doing a lot of unexpected city driving with it. A lot of soot built up on it and caused the vehicle to not start. Luckily it was at a shop as it just had an oil change done and they had the tools to remove, clean and re-install it. It was at the dealer the following week and they put in a revised EGR Valve part to replace the existing under warranty. Other than that, my DEF tank heater went bad and they also replaced the entire tank and heater with a revised part, also under warranty. Knock on wood, no issues with the sensors yet. I'm at 54,000 miles currently.

I drive lightly with this car, putting it to the floor every now and then just to let it know who's boss and keep the exhaust blown clean, etc. I average about 50mpg with my light city and highway mix and when on the highway, it'll spike up to 65mpg or more just cruising along. It'll perform its regens about every 680 miles unless it isn't able to complete a full regen while on the highway, then it's a bit less. A tank of DEF has been lasting me 12,500 miles easily which seems to be a lot more than the Gen2 drivers are reporting.

Any more questions, feel free to post away and we'll chime in.
 
#9 ·
If you do alot of highway driving, nothing is better then a Cruze diesel, unless you have an EV and you stay in your range.

I have 2 of them, a 2014 and 2015, so i know what im talking about, lol. I would suggest like the others to do the Fleece tune + delete, it's worth it.

Btw the diesel isnt only the engine, it's better then a Cruze of that generation in every way. It's between a Buick Verano and a Cruze. It's not as agile as your Golf or Jetta, but its more confortable and quieter on the highway.
 
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#10 ·
Diesel4Ever said:
A co-worker is upgrading to a new Subaru and wants to sell his 2014 Cruze Diesel.

He is offering it to me for the same price Carmax offered him, which is $8K. He is the 2nd owner and it currently has about 50K miles.

He knows I like VW diesels, currently own a 2003 Jetta and Golf TDI 5MT which is why he offered me the car.

He says it has an issue with hesitation and bucking and says it was from an ECU flash the dealer did. Other than that, it is G2G he says.

Is the 2014 cruze diesel a good car? I honestly know nothing about these cars, however it has leather and it pretty nice inside. It seems like a good deal if it doesn't have any issues.

Is it worth selling my 2003 Jetta TDI with 275K that averages 44.4 MPG to get this car?

Is there anything I should be looking out for, like a "Red Flag" with these cars that would be a deal killer?

TIA
Click to expand...
Cold start the car(first morning start,doesn't have to be winter),let it run for 10 seconds and then put it in gear (with the brake on). If it stumbles and misses,idle fluctuates then you have carbon build up on your valves.The hesitation and bucking is not a good sign.When exactly does it do this,when first started or after being warmed up?How was the car used,lots of highway or mostly around town?If around town then not a good sign.A delete will eliminate that in the future but if they're already caked up then a delete will do nothing.If the car was mostly highway(as Boraz's) then the delete is the way to go.Mine was flashed by the dealer and didn,t hesitate and buck.Mine only gradually became worse as the miles increased.At 40,000 miles mine was to the ponit that the dealer pulled the head to get it reconditioned,a $2500 warranty job(would have been $3500 if out of warranty).
 
#11 ·
I haven’t driven it yet so can’t say exactly how bad the hesitation and bucking it is. He mentioned it to me and I was thinking it may be an issue with the EGR valve or maybe the VGT actuator.

Is it common for these cars to get carbon buildup on the valves? It’s common with modern DI gas engines which need to get walnut blasting on the valves, but I’ve never heard of it being an issue on a Diesel.
 
#16 ·
$8K seems like a good deal, the hesitation is normal on a stock car, but there are ways to fix that, tunes, deletes, or some combination of the 2. The bucking is pretty typical during a regen event for the DPF, and not just on the Cruze CTD, my Dodge Cummins did this also. It seems to have more to do with the ECM pushing up the EGTs, which involves a strange mix of lower boost pressure, post injection and some other odd parameters. It's also almost certain with those mile you have some crud formation on the intake, provided it is not too bad, it can be cleaned on car without pulling the head (if you are creative), but I second the idea of a delete if you really want to avoid such problems (I'm considering it for mine when it's out of power-train warranty, which is 5/60K on this car). Now, that said, at the miles this car has, if not done already, it is due for a transmission fluid change (ignore the BS about "lifetime fill", and see the severe duty schedule where there is a change out). There is a great how-to here on this site to walk you through that process.

So in summary, I'd say you should certainly consider buying that car at that price, is seems like a good deal.
 
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#17 ·
I decided to buy the Cruze. I liked the way it drove and the interior was nice. The "bucking" was minor and under light throttle. It was barely noticeable really.

Overall it was in good condition with a few imperfections that will need to be fixed. It does not have GPS though which is disappointing. I will need to install an aftermarket unit.

Does Fleece still do delete tunes for this Car? I couldn't find anything on their website.

Who has the best software? Not interested in max power, want better efficiency, reliability, etc..
 
T
#18 ·
Diesel4Ever said:
I decided to buy the Cruze. I liked the way it drove and the interior was nice. The "bucking" was minor and under light throttle. It was barely noticeable really.

Overall it was in good condition with a few imperfections that will need to be fixed. It does not have GPS though which is disappointing. I will need to install an aftermarket unit.

Does Fleece still do delete tunes for this Car? I couldn't find anything on their website.

Who has the best software? Not interested in max power, want better efficiency, reliability, etc..
Click to expand...
I think the Fleece tune is under Oz Tuners now. You can get everything that you need at www.puredieselpower.com
 
P
#20 ·
Diesel4Ever said:
A co-worker is upgrading to a new Subaru and wants to sell his 2014 Cruze Diesel.

He is offering it to me for the same price Carmax offered him, which is $8K. He is the 2nd owner and it currently has about 50K miles.

He knows I like VW diesels, currently own a 2003 Jetta and Golf TDI 5MT which is why he offered me the car.

He says it has an issue with hesitation and bucking and says it was from an ECU flash the dealer did. Other than that, it is G2G he says.

Is the 2014 cruze diesel a good car? I honestly know nothing about these cars, however it has leather and it pretty nice inside. It seems like a good deal if it doesn't have any issues.

Is it worth selling my 2003 Jetta TDI with 275K that averages 44.4 MPG to get this car?

Is there anything I should be looking out for, like a "Red Flag" with these cars that would be a deal killer?

TIA
Click to expand...
I own a 2014 Cruze diesel. You should know that if there are any problems causing higher diesel emissions with the car, the computer will start to limit the top speed unless/until the problem is fixed. It can limit your speed down to 15mph! The bucking problem is probably caused by sludge build up in the carb intake caused by the egr. Just pull the intake off of the carb and hold the butterfly valve open with a screwdriver. I use an old toothbrush and a flashlight and pull the sludge out of the carb intake. Carb cleaner helps too. My Cruze diesel used to sputter bad but this stopped it completely.
 
C
#21 ·
Diesel4Ever said:
A co-worker is upgrading to a new Subaru and wants to sell his 2014 Cruze Diesel.

He is offering it to me for the same price Carmax offered him, which is $8K. He is the 2nd owner and it currently has about 50K miles.

He knows I like VW diesels, currently own a 2003 Jetta and Golf TDI 5MT which is why he offered me the car.

He says it has an issue with hesitation and bucking and says it was from an ECU flash the dealer did. Other than that, it is G2G he says.

Is the 2014 cruze diesel a good car? I honestly know nothing about these cars, however it has leather and it pretty nice inside. It seems like a good deal if it doesn't have any issues.

Is it worth selling my 2003 Jetta TDI with 275K that averages 44.4 MPG to get this car?

Is there anything I should be looking out for, like a "Red Flag" with these cars that would be a deal killer?

TIA
Click to expand...
My opinion would be "Don't buy it"! The diesel has too many issues that even some chevy dealerships can't handle. If you want a cruze stick with the 1.8 DOHC 16V or 1.4 turbo. The 1.8 is my favorite. Its got enough power to make it fun to drive and its the least needy as far as maintenance.
 
#24 ·
While it's true some dealerships are not going to do good work, that is not by any means exclusive to work on the LUZ Diesel. Virtually every issue anyone has reported, except some of the transmission issues, is due to the emissions, and as others have already pointed out, a delete fixed that, or use on mostly highway miles and the system works OK. Now do only short city driving and you are asking for trouble, but that is actually true for most vehicles to some extent, except maybe an electric.. but you can get 800 miles plus range on the diesel, you won't do that in any gas car without some massive gas tank modification.

I still have my '96 Saturn, it has been really low maintenance and is well over 200K miles.. I used to think it had amazing MPG, but now compared to the Diesels, it is gas guzzler, while being a smaller, lighter car with far fewer comforts.

To have decent performance, and economy, you really don't find that in anything but an diesel car.

It is also worth noting, the OP has a user name of "Diesel4Ever", so I don't think he's going to be very interested in a gasser.... just saying;)
 
#25 ·
Diesel4Ever said:
A co-worker is upgrading to a new Subaru and wants to sell his 2014 Cruze Diesel.

He is offering it to me for the same price Carmax offered him, which is $8K. He is the 2nd owner and it currently has about 50K miles.

He knows I like VW diesels, currently own a 2003 Jetta and Golf TDI 5MT which is why he offered me the car.

He says it has an issue with hesitation and bucking and says it was from an ECU flash the dealer did. Other than that, it is G2G he says.

Is the 2014 cruze diesel a good car? I honestly know nothing about these cars, however it has leather and it pretty nice inside. It seems like a good deal if it doesn't have any issues.

Is it worth selling my 2003 Jetta TDI with 275K that averages 44.4 MPG to get this car?

Is there anything I should be looking out for, like a "Red Flag" with these cars that would be a deal killer?

TIA
Click to expand...
I have a 2014 2.0L TD Cruze has 26050 miles. Purchased Dec 24th 2014 for my wife (X-Mas) present has factory Navigation and collision warning and and lane change. Needed EGT sensor at 21,000 I replaced it was out of warranty. The DEF heater tank replaced under recall. Then at 23500 miles the fuel filter. Has been a great car. No dents or dings. I would not sell it for less than $13500. Hope that helps
 
J
#27 ·
When I had the delete kit installed, with the dealerships knowledge and approval I might ad, they explained it to me.
They installed a new down pipe, bored out the DPF, left the sensors and wiring complete, and left in the DEF tank. Upon a quick visual inspection all appears to be OEM equipment.

Any reference to the emissions was deleted from the computer. The dealer told me that if I ever needed repairs that involved the computer, they would have to add that portion back into the computer. The place that did the delete kit can remove it again for a small fee.

I asked the delete mechanic if I would notice any difference. Yes was his reply. 10-20% better mileage and they tuned it up and gave me another 30 horse power.

My daily commute is 200 miles round trip. I can say that I am now averaging 51-52 MPG on the highway. We drive 74-80 miles an hour.

This weekend we took a trip to a county fair. 212 miles round trip. I used 3.2 gallons. 65 was the top speed the whole way.

The best I ever got was coming out of Colorado heading east on I-80. 87 mpg for 25 miles at 80 mph.

There is no question about the diesel. I'd buy another one if they were still being built.
 
B
#32 ·
I bought mine because I was tired of filling up twice a week and I was getting bored with the car I had.

My only reservation was the expense of diesel specific repairs. This car was hard to like at first due to all of the recalls and warranty issues. But the last 30-40k miles have just been normal wear and tear - non diesel type repairs - stuff you would have on any car. GM at least did a good job with the extended warranty and specialty coverages with it. If you can find one that has already had all of that done then I would pick it up if it were similar in price to a normal Cruze. The extra MPG is crazy.

I've owned this car longer than I've ever owned a car before. I drive around 30k miles a year so I figure if I am going to rack up a ton of miles I might as well keep the car I paid a premium for the better MPG. I can't imagine the resail value on these is very good so if I'm going to kill a car's value by putting miles on it, this will be the one.
 
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