Thanks! That answers my uncertainty above!The Cruze's use of SCR (the system that uses DEF) theoretically should make this less of an issue. Both EGR and SCR work to accomplish the same task of reducing NOx emissions. VW tried to get around having to use DEF by relying more on the EGR and subsequently encountered the problems of more intake clogging and worse DPF performance since the engine has to run richer and use EGR more which creates more soot.
By using SCR, the Cruze should rely a lot less on the EGR putting less strain on the intake system and the DPF. Only time will tell.
Diesel, many congrats on your experience so far; excellent write-up. Here's to the next 50,000 miles.
50000 Miles in a Cruze Diesel
Well, I finally hit the first milestone in my 2014 Chevy Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel. (Well, that’s not 100% accurate – I am actually at 49,439 miles as of this writing, but figured I was “close enough” to do this writeup.) When I first bought it, it was more of just a curiosity, something I thought I would play with for a while and then sell, as I have done so many times before. I’ve owned more than 80 cars and have a short attention span, so it’s not unusual for me to trade a new car with 10K miles. (…or 1K miles. My record is a 2009 Toyota Highlander I traded with 731 miles on it. Ouch.) So I was surprised when 10K, 20K, 30K miles showed up on the odometer and I still loved the car. My story will be a bit random and I will jump around to different topics, so be prepared as you read it.
So, as I promised in another post a while back, here is my writeup about what it’s been like to drive this car 50,000 miles or so. I drive in a variety of situations, but the balance (if you consider time and not miles) is about 25% city, traffic and short trips. The other 75% is long haul highway trips. In short, the car has proven to be 100% reliable and trouble free. I got one of the first ones off the production line, and it looks like they got this car right, right from the start. In comparison, I had a 2012 Civic before this and it needed fuel lines and a CV axle in the first few months of ownership. (I wasn’t really all that crazy about the Civic, but I had set a goal to put 100K miles on it, which I accomplished then promptly got rid of it)
Here are my impressions of the CTD overall: At first, I was not so sure about the comfort of the seats, but somehow I managed to get the seat set so that it was all-day comfortable. At my friend’s suggestion, I pulled the fuse for the seat so that the parking attendants or friends or service technicians who drive the car can’t change it. The car is serene and quiet on the highway, and a level of quiet, comfort and driving dynamics that I would associate with an entry-luxury sedan rather than an econobox. This is also the first car with EPS (electric power steering) that has a good feel to it. I think it is weighted perfectly. It really is quite an extraordinary piece of automotive machinery. I also love the sound of the engine at idle and at low speeds. I will often drive with the windows open just to hear the engine better.
Things I have noticed as the miles have added up: The engine sound really hasn’t changed all that much that I can tell. It pretty much still sounds exactly the way it did when I got it. One thing I noticed is that after about 20-30K miles it sometimes would make some new sounds when I first started it on a cold morning, but nothing that really ever sounded out of the ordinary for the car, especially with a few miles on it. It did seem to gain power as the engine broke in. I am pretty sure it’s more powerful now than it’s ever been. I would imagine with synthetic oil (GM Dexos2 partial synthetic for the first 30K miles, then Total Quartz INEO 5W30 thereafter) the engine break in is still going on, even with about 50K miles. Oil consumption is negligible and really doesn’t change much on the dipstick. I do not have to add any oil in between changes. It always starts quickly and settles into a smooth idle. No perceptible differences since new.
When I first got the car I wondered how long the injectors and glow plugs would hold up, but they are all working perfectly so far. I think I read somewhere that the glow plugs are good for 100K and the injectors are good for 200K. These are most likely jobs I will take on myself and write another DIY for the forum. I would like to do the timing belt myself, but will have to see about that one. I’ve never done one before on a car but I have tensioned a timing belt on a 2.5 Chrysler engine once, and the engine did not self destruct after I was done, so that is a good thing.
My lifetime fuel economy has been right around 41 MPG. This is with June-March ownership. I am sure that will improve slightly over the warmer months. I was getting 42-43 overall in the warm weather and 38-39 overall in the winter. Roughly 10% difference likely due to the blended fuel, snow tires, thicker air, etc.
I have driven the car through some pretty bad weather on multiple occasions and I can safely say that when equipped with Michelin X-Ice XI3 tires, it is fantastically stable and secure in the snow. It also has very good grip and has always been able to make it up my steep unplowed driveway without issue.
A hotly debated topic is engine break in. I drove it like I stole it from day one. WOT, redline and long trip cruise control on. All the taboo “no-no’s” and my engine is just fine. I think oil consumption and power are good indicators of the overall health of an engine, and as mentioned earlier, mine doesn’t really use any oil and has great power.
Is there anything I don’t like about the car? Yes, but really a very minor complaint. This issue goes for all Cruzen instead of a diesel specific characteristic. I find that the front window defroster could have been a bit better designed. It doesn’t get the whole window and the side windows don’t seem to have a way to get good defrosting action. I don’t consider it a major issue as I was always able to get enough visibility to drive safely.
One of my favorite features of the car is the electric heat. It is so nice to be able to get into a very cold car and have meaningful heat after a couple minutes. I use the manual mode to keep the engine at higher RPMs to get it to heat up to operating temp faster. This combined with the heated seats make it very nice to drive in the winter.
In summary, I am very impressed with this car. For what essentially amounts to a completely new powertrain (for the US) and with mine being one of the first off the production line, it’s truly been a flawless execution. To anybody who has any concerns about buying one, I can 100% safely say I would do it all over again and would recommend this car to anybody without hesitation. Yes, some members have reported problems, but they all seem to be minor and there aren’t that many of them. I’ve been active on this forum since I purchased my Cruze and I think the number of reported problems by members can be counted on one hand, which is also very impressive. For a contrast – take a look at the Maserati Ghibli forum. EVERYBODY on that forum has at least a couple issues with their new Ghibli.
And of course, I welcome any questions about my experience so far or if you are wondering about anything I may have forgotten to mention.
So, as I promised in another post a while back, here is my writeup about what it’s been like to drive this car 50,000 miles or so. I drive in a variety of situations, but the balance (if you consider time and not miles) is about 25% city, traffic and short trips. The other 75% is long haul highway trips. In short, the car has proven to be 100% reliable and trouble free. I got one of the first ones off the production line, and it looks like they got this car right, right from the start. In comparison, I had a 2012 Civic before this and it needed fuel lines and a CV axle in the first few months of ownership. (I wasn’t really all that crazy about the Civic, but I had set a goal to put 100K miles on it, which I accomplished then promptly got rid of it)
Here are my impressions of the CTD overall: At first, I was not so sure about the comfort of the seats, but somehow I managed to get the seat set so that it was all-day comfortable. At my friend’s suggestion, I pulled the fuse for the seat so that the parking attendants or friends or service technicians who drive the car can’t change it. The car is serene and quiet on the highway, and a level of quiet, comfort and driving dynamics that I would associate with an entry-luxury sedan rather than an econobox. This is also the first car with EPS (electric power steering) that has a good feel to it. I think it is weighted perfectly. It really is quite an extraordinary piece of automotive machinery. I also love the sound of the engine at idle and at low speeds. I will often drive with the windows open just to hear the engine better.
Things I have noticed as the miles have added up: The engine sound really hasn’t changed all that much that I can tell. It pretty much still sounds exactly the way it did when I got it. One thing I noticed is that after about 20-30K miles it sometimes would make some new sounds when I first started it on a cold morning, but nothing that really ever sounded out of the ordinary for the car, especially with a few miles on it. It did seem to gain power as the engine broke in. I am pretty sure it’s more powerful now than it’s ever been. I would imagine with synthetic oil (GM Dexos2 partial synthetic for the first 30K miles, then Total Quartz INEO 5W30 thereafter) the engine break in is still going on, even with about 50K miles. Oil consumption is negligible and really doesn’t change much on the dipstick. I do not have to add any oil in between changes. It always starts quickly and settles into a smooth idle. No perceptible differences since new.
When I first got the car I wondered how long the injectors and glow plugs would hold up, but they are all working perfectly so far. I think I read somewhere that the glow plugs are good for 100K and the injectors are good for 200K. These are most likely jobs I will take on myself and write another DIY for the forum. I would like to do the timing belt myself, but will have to see about that one. I’ve never done one before on a car but I have tensioned a timing belt on a 2.5 Chrysler engine once, and the engine did not self destruct after I was done, so that is a good thing.
My lifetime fuel economy has been right around 41 MPG. This is with June-March ownership. I am sure that will improve slightly over the warmer months. I was getting 42-43 overall in the warm weather and 38-39 overall in the winter. Roughly 10% difference likely due to the blended fuel, snow tires, thicker air, etc.
I have driven the car through some pretty bad weather on multiple occasions and I can safely say that when equipped with Michelin X-Ice XI3 tires, it is fantastically stable and secure in the snow. It also has very good grip and has always been able to make it up my steep unplowed driveway without issue.
A hotly debated topic is engine break in. I drove it like I stole it from day one. WOT, redline and long trip cruise control on. All the taboo “no-no’s” and my engine is just fine. I think oil consumption and power are good indicators of the overall health of an engine, and as mentioned earlier, mine doesn’t really use any oil and has great power.
Is there anything I don’t like about the car? Yes, but really a very minor complaint. This issue goes for all Cruzen instead of a diesel specific characteristic. I find that the front window defroster could have been a bit better designed. It doesn’t get the whole window and the side windows don’t seem to have a way to get good defrosting action. I don’t consider it a major issue as I was always able to get enough visibility to drive safely.
One of my favorite features of the car is the electric heat. It is so nice to be able to get into a very cold car and have meaningful heat after a couple minutes. I use the manual mode to keep the engine at higher RPMs to get it to heat up to operating temp faster. This combined with the heated seats make it very nice to drive in the winter.
In summary, I am very impressed with this car. For what essentially amounts to a completely new powertrain (for the US) and with mine being one of the first off the production line, it’s truly been a flawless execution. To anybody who has any concerns about buying one, I can 100% safely say I would do it all over again and would recommend this car to anybody without hesitation. Yes, some members have reported problems, but they all seem to be minor and there aren’t that many of them. I’ve been active on this forum since I purchased my Cruze and I think the number of reported problems by members can be counted on one hand, which is also very impressive. For a contrast – take a look at the Maserati Ghibli forum. EVERYBODY on that forum has at least a couple issues with their new Ghibli.
And of course, I welcome any questions about my experience so far or if you are wondering about anything I may have forgotten to mention.
21 - 40 of 62 Posts
I haven't really paid that close of attention to it. Whenever it occurs to me, I will check the DIC to see if it is 35% or below and then I will feed it a 2.5 gallon jug. I tend to think of it on the same level as windshield washer fluid, just something I top up once in a while.How often have you filled the def how far have you gone
i wonder why our trucks at work with 15,000 + hrs have zero coking issues...they are def/dpf systemsAlso, on the TDI engine, the EGR system tends to coke up the intake manifold and start killing performance. I checked mine when I did the timing belt and it appears my TDI had the intake cleaned before I got it, my son's is starting to get bad, I have a spare manifold on the shelf. The EGR cooler also needs cleaning at this time, this all needs to come off of the car to be cleaned so nothing migrates into the engine and does damage. I'm an admin on a regional VW/Audi web site and one of the guys there bought a newish CPO BMW diesel that was eventually determined to have a coked up intake. After the repairs were done, it died from main bearing failure soon after. The fight is still ongoing but the suspicion is that some of the intake debris ended up in the engine and clogged the pickup screen or got into some part of the oil system. BMW doesn't sell many diesels so they don't know how to handle this stuff apparently, so I would suspect it's best to look into this yourself in case the dealer isn't up to speed on everything related to a diesel.
I haven't looked into how the Cruze EGR system is set up but when you guys start getting to this 50k mile level on the car you probably should start looking into whether there is any data on the other versions of this engine out there to see if this is going to be a problem needing monitoring. That's one of the few things I know of that can kill a diesel other than running it out of oil/coolant or total neglect of maintenance.
lotsa trouble with def and dpf systems, but no intake issues
I really know nothing detailed about the "urea" type add ons on later VW's or other diesels, all I have experience with is the VE mechanical injection pump version of the VW diesel that has nothing more than a cat and the EGR for smog control. I read enough on TDIClub.com about the disaster stories with the PD (2004) and later VW TDI engines to run my VE pump cars till they can't be repaired any more.888, do you know much about urea injection? It's my understanding cars without it have to run heavier egr as it's my understanding. If that's the case I would think our motors might experience the same issues but take longer to gunk up. What's your thoughts on this?
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That's a lot more than i knew about the later system, thanks.The Cruze's use of SCR (the system that uses DEF) theoretically should make this less of an issue. Both EGR and SCR work to accomplish the same task of reducing NOx emissions. VW tried to get around having to use DEF by relying more on the EGR and subsequently encountered the problems of more intake clogging and worse DPF performance since the engine has to run richer and use EGR more which creates more soot.
By using SCR, the Cruze should rely a lot less on the EGR putting less strain on the intake system and the DPF. Only time will tell.
Diesel, many congrats on your experience so far; excellent write-up. Here's to the next 50,000 miles.
Really, cleaning the intake and EGR cooler isn't that big of a deal as long as you know it needs to be done and how to do it. The biggest problem is VW's insistence on using small socket head screws to hold everything together, it's all mostly blind work on the back side of the engine.
There are aftermarket EGR delete kits for the TDI, I just haven't bothered with it.
Excellent review at 50k and very well written, I might add. It would be great if R&T, Car and Driver, Motor Trend would get a copy of your comments and incorporate them into a review of higher mileage diesels.
Having driven your car for only 9 months, I'm curious if you are seeing any wear points on the car as in seats, steering wheel controls, or maybe the paint luster, etc. I had a 2008 Mustang Bullitt for only 18,000 miles (sold it when I got beat at the drag strip by a Chevy Cobalt SS) and found the turn signal stalk, steering wheel and heater control switches showing wear.
I don't have a great history of keeping my cars that long, but my wife loves this car and she has been a Lexus, Buick Regal, Chrysler mini-van fan for many years. I really thought she would grow tired of the smaller space by now (we have nearly 9k on ours).
Thanks for the write-up.
Having driven your car for only 9 months, I'm curious if you are seeing any wear points on the car as in seats, steering wheel controls, or maybe the paint luster, etc. I had a 2008 Mustang Bullitt for only 18,000 miles (sold it when I got beat at the drag strip by a Chevy Cobalt SS) and found the turn signal stalk, steering wheel and heater control switches showing wear.
I don't have a great history of keeping my cars that long, but my wife loves this car and she has been a Lexus, Buick Regal, Chrysler mini-van fan for many years. I really thought she would grow tired of the smaller space by now (we have nearly 9k on ours).
Thanks for the write-up.
Really no noticeable wear on anything except the steering wheel is starting to get a little bit shiny where I most often hold it. Everything is holding up very well. Seat leather seems very durable. All buttons still look new too.Excellent review at 50k and very well written, I might add. It would be great if R&T, Car and Driver, Motor Trend would get a copy of your comments and incorporate them into a review of higher mileage diesels.
Having driven your car for only 9 months, I'm curious if you are seeing any wear points on the car as in seats, steering wheel controls, or maybe the paint luster, etc. I had a 2008 Mustang Bullitt for only 18,000 miles (sold it when I got beat at the drag strip by a Chevy Cobalt SS) and found the turn signal stalk, steering wheel and heater control switches showing wear.
I don't have a great history of keeping my cars that long, but my wife loves this car and she has been a Lexus, Buick Regal, Chrysler mini-van fan for many years. I really thought she would grow tired of the smaller space by now (we have nearly 9k on ours).
Thanks for the write-up.
Yes, I quoted myself. I shouldn't have posted what I did bragging on my TDI because it developed a massive oil leak somewhere at the cooler/filter assembly and I may have killed the car. It's a long story I can tell if people want to hear it because it may apply to the Cruze but I'm still sorting out what exactly has happened. I didn't get the oil light/buzzer but it was pretty low on oil when I got to work and had been leaving a trail for a while.Good to know, hopefully the 6 speed manual and cloth seats make it to the next gen and it doesn't look like a Prius so I can buy one. Diesel cars can be pretty amazing as far as mechanical longevity goes, the TDI I drive every day has 253k on it and it runs as well as others I have recently driven with half the miles. It doesn't use oil or otherwise misbehave, I see no reason it won't make it to 300k. My other TDI is driven by my son and it has 200k but it is chipped and seems to have more issues with oil leaks etc but still runs like a beast.
The point of this post is to be sure you always check your oil and don't rely on the garage floor to tell you if something is going south. The TDI and the Cruze both have belly pans and they will hold a lot of oil before you start seeing something on the garage floor to tell you there is a problem.
Taking oil pressure gauges out of vehicles was a stupid idea. I've blown out cam seals multiple times on my old car, with no warning or oil pressure light from the car at all. It dumped out 2-3 qts of oil in about as many miles...luckily, has a 6-qt sump.Yes, I quoted myself. I shouldn't have posted what I did bragging on my TDI because it developed a massive oil leak somewhere at the cooler/filter assembly and I may have killed the car. It's a long story I can tell if people want to hear it because it may apply to the Cruze but I'm still sorting out what exactly has happened. I didn't get the oil light/buzzer but it was pretty low on oil when I got to work and had been leaving a trail for a while.
The point of this post is to be sure you always check your oil and don't rely on the garage floor to tell you if something is going south. The TDI and the Cruze both have belly pans and they will hold a lot of oil before you start seeing something on the garage floor to tell you there is a problem.
Even that, with no belly pan, could develop a leak from something that would just pool on the turbo/exhaust, but never show up on the ground for days. Your only hint would be a burning oil smell.
Sorry to hear about the potential demise of your VW TDI. I know it's the kiss of death for me, every time I start bragging about how many miles I have gone with no problems/issues on any of my cars. More often than not, my car will make a liar out of me very shortly after I open my mouth.
You offer some great advice with this post. I remember relying on previous experience with the series of engine in a used pickup truck I bought. I checked oil while on a trip and it was 3 quarts low. I found the dealership had to know this truck had a serious problem on the used vehicle which shows what lengths a dealership will go to make a profit.Yes, I quoted myself. I shouldn't have posted what I did bragging on my TDI because it developed a massive oil leak somewhere at the cooler/filter assembly and I may have killed the car. It's a long story I can tell if people want to hear it because it may apply to the Cruze but I'm still sorting out what exactly has happened. I didn't get the oil light/buzzer but it was pretty low on oil when I got to work and had been leaving a trail for a while.
The point of this post is to be sure you always check your oil and don't rely on the garage floor to tell you if something is going south. The TDI and the Cruze both have belly pans and they will hold a lot of oil before you start seeing something on the garage floor to tell you there is a problem.
You know, it actually did it twice and neither time did I run it low enough to hurt it. It still fires right up and purrs like a kitten. I've done everything I can with inspecting/renewing the sealing on the oil filter assembly and I still get pressure seep past the O ring. I guess I need to take apart the oil cooler assembly, flush it in the tank at work, and renew the seals, and see what it does.Sorry to hear about the potential demise of your VW TDI. I know it's the kiss of death for me, every time I start bragging about how many miles I have gone with no problems/issues on any of my cars. More often than not, my car will make a liar out of me very shortly after I open my mouth.
At this point, as much as I want to wait on the Cruze diesel, I'm not sure it's ever going to be offered with the cloth seats and manual transmission. I keep looking at my wife's Malibu which never requires any attention and wish I had something as reliable as a daily.
I've started looking at gas 1.4 Turbo manual tranny Cruzes, if I can get the TDI reliably repaired to the point I'm comfortable selling it, I might have to bite the bullet and go with the gas version. I'm running into the same thing I did when looking at a CPO Malibu for my wife, the price difference between CPO and new is so small that there's no point in buying used.
Not exactly what I want to do but I'm getting to the point that trying to keep two TDI's running is more than I can deal with right now.
I hear you. My Cummins truck has an oil pressure gauge and I watch that more than I do any other gauge.Taking oil pressure gauges out of vehicles was a stupid idea. I've blown out cam seals multiple times on my old car, with no warning or oil pressure light from the car at all. It dumped out 2-3 qts of oil in about as many miles...luckily, has a 6-qt sump.
Even that, with no belly pan, could develop a leak from something that would just pool on the turbo/exhaust, but never show up on the ground for days. Your only hint would be a burning oil smell.
Talk about stupid, when VW designed the New Beetle they didn't even include a temp gauge. Just an idiot light to tell you if the engine was cold or hot. If you try to find an AEG code 4 cylinder 2.0 replacement engine, good luck. The New Beetles killed them off.
Subaru did the same thing on the recent Outback I had as a loaner, took out the temp gauge in favor of a vacuum/MPG gauge. This on a flat four engine that in many versions inhaled head gaskets on routine intervals. What the **** are these people thinking?
That's one area Ford really excelled back in the day of the early Ranger pickups....even the base model came with a full gauge package when the base S-10's didn't have much of anything.
No kidding. When I had my Impala, I was able to see my thermostat failing via the temp gauge long before it ever reached any red lines. Going up a mountain pass at 90+ degrees F OAT, the water temp climbed higher than it ever had by at least 20 degrees. Going down the other side, it nearly bottomed out on the gauge. Popped in a new thermostat and it was solid as a rock again. No idiot light was going to tell me that.Talk about stupid, when VW designed the New Beetle they didn't even include a temp gauge. Just an idiot light to tell you if the engine was cold or hot. If you try to find an AEG code 4 cylinder 2.0 replacement engine, good luck. The New Beetles killed them off.
Subaru did the same thing on the recent Outback I had as a loaner, took out the temp gauge in favor of a vacuum/MPG gauge.
Subaru took the temp gauge out on the 4th Gen Outback from 2010-2012, but IIRC when they did the mid-cycle refresh they put it back in starting with the 2013 model. They must have had a lot of complaints.
Our Chevrolet Express has Ammeter, water temperature, and oil pressure gauges and it gives great piece of mind.
I just wanted to add one more thing.....the problem with the TDI oil leak appears to be with an "OEM " oil filter cap from ID Parts. I tried new O rings and other various tests with no luck. I kept the old cap because the center spindle was what was broken and finally found it last night. I decided to reinstall the old cap with the existing O ring just for fun before tearing the oil cooler assembly apart and everything stayed dry in a 6 or 7 mile drive where previously I started losing oil between the cap and the housing.
So...OEM means different things to different people, and when it comes to keeping the oil in your engine, maybe it's best to go to the dealer.
So...OEM means different things to different people, and when it comes to keeping the oil in your engine, maybe it's best to go to the dealer.
Never seen a GM product with an ammeter. Only a volt meter.Our Chevrolet Express has Ammeter, water temperature, and oil pressure gauges and it gives great piece of mind.
Congrats on the milestone,
We just turned 25k on ours. 90% HWY 10% city we have a lifetime average of 44 MPG. Only issue we had was the steering gear had to be replaced due to the notchy issue that has plagued the gas ones.
We just turned 25k on ours. 90% HWY 10% city we have a lifetime average of 44 MPG. Only issue we had was the steering gear had to be replaced due to the notchy issue that has plagued the gas ones.
What did they do to correct the steering?Congrats on the milestone,
We just turned 25k on ours. 90% HWY 10% city we have a lifetime average of 44 MPG. Only issue we had was the steering gear had to be replaced due to the notchy issue that has plagued the gas ones.
My dealer would like to know.
Yeah I'm curious, I haven't taken my car to the dealer because there doesn't seem to be a solution that actually works.Congrats on the milestone,
We just turned 25k on ours. 90% HWY 10% city we have a lifetime average of 44 MPG. Only issue we had was the steering gear had to be replaced due to the notchy issue that has plagued the gas ones.
21 - 40 of 62 Posts
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