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2,170 Posts
Bought my car one year ago today! Figured I'd put together some quick thoughts on my one year of ownership.
When I first bought the car, it was not love at first sight. I did not buy the Cruze with my heart, I bought it with my money. It was the cheapest new car I could find. ($13,921 after incentives, before tax and fees) After putting on a couple hundred miles, I thought "Have I made a mistake?" The Cruze seemed much slower than my Cobalt I traded. I knew it was heavier and had less power, but the torque was almost identical and came much lower in the RPM band. I expected more. Plus, my knee kept bumping into the A/C temp knob, and I wasn't getting much better MPG. I read up a little bit, and realized my Cruze prefers 91+ octane. After filling it with some Shell 93, the personality of the car changed, not a whole lot, but I noticed. Throttle response was better, MPG was better, and I didn't have to downshift going up hills to keep the engine from lugging. Felt much smoother. I figured out a way to rest my leg without hitting the temp knob too. The only other issue I was having was the second gear grinding. I found this forum and read about the Amsoil synchromesh manual trans fluid swap, so I changed that at 5,000 miles and the grinding went away. Then all of a sudden I was starting to fall in love with my new car.
I just crossed over 22,000 miles today, according to fuelly I've averaged 33.2 MPG which is excellent considering the driving conditions. I have a heavy foot, do a lot of stop/start driving while delivering, 81 mph cruise control on the freeway, and the abundance of hills in TN doesn't help. So I am pretty satisfied with that. I love it more and more every day. I was resetting my trip 2 until I saw others were leaving that to record their lifetime, So I reset mine at 3,000 miles and haven't touched it since. If you have any questions, ask away! Y'all have a great day!
When I first bought the car, it was not love at first sight. I did not buy the Cruze with my heart, I bought it with my money. It was the cheapest new car I could find. ($13,921 after incentives, before tax and fees) After putting on a couple hundred miles, I thought "Have I made a mistake?" The Cruze seemed much slower than my Cobalt I traded. I knew it was heavier and had less power, but the torque was almost identical and came much lower in the RPM band. I expected more. Plus, my knee kept bumping into the A/C temp knob, and I wasn't getting much better MPG. I read up a little bit, and realized my Cruze prefers 91+ octane. After filling it with some Shell 93, the personality of the car changed, not a whole lot, but I noticed. Throttle response was better, MPG was better, and I didn't have to downshift going up hills to keep the engine from lugging. Felt much smoother. I figured out a way to rest my leg without hitting the temp knob too. The only other issue I was having was the second gear grinding. I found this forum and read about the Amsoil synchromesh manual trans fluid swap, so I changed that at 5,000 miles and the grinding went away. Then all of a sudden I was starting to fall in love with my new car.
I just crossed over 22,000 miles today, according to fuelly I've averaged 33.2 MPG which is excellent considering the driving conditions. I have a heavy foot, do a lot of stop/start driving while delivering, 81 mph cruise control on the freeway, and the abundance of hills in TN doesn't help. So I am pretty satisfied with that. I love it more and more every day. I was resetting my trip 2 until I saw others were leaving that to record their lifetime, So I reset mine at 3,000 miles and haven't touched it since. If you have any questions, ask away! Y'all have a great day!

