[jsusanka]

Happy 5 year B-Day to my Cruze. Even though I didn't buy it till April my Cruze was built 5 years ago today. Just turned 45,000 miles and still on the original tire, battery, and brakes. Here is to 5 more years. I hope my water third pump can go 5 years with no leaks. If it does I will be a happy camper and it will restore my faith. ccasion13:

 

[Patman]

How time flies. I guess my 1st Cruze would be @ 5 yrs old also. Right now my 2012 has 58K and not sure when that was "born" but I bought it in 2013. Actually for me 3 years is fair amt of time for me to hold on to a car. But I like this one and don't have enough money any more to keep trading in. Happy B day!!!

 

[jjngundam]

My cruze turned 5 this past November. I also have my stock tire and brakes and all still good. Had to change the battery which I suggest you do too as it failed on me twice before I did.

 

[NickD]

Also getting close to have to enrolling my Cruze in kindergarten, hope she gets along with the other Cruze's.

 

[Chevy_Country]

Mine turns 5 five in August ! Original battery, tires, and brakes as well, and still original water pump


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[obermd]

Mine will turn 5 in October.

 

[sparkman]

Wohoo! I should take a look when mine was built.

 

[sparkman]

Mine will turn 5 in October.

Just looked at mine, same here!

 

[Robby]

My Cruze turned three last month......just turned 31k.
The only warranty claim was for the trunk button in the lid.
The car joins the group of many I have owned that were absolutely problem free.

Expenses have only been oil (Mobil 1), oil filters (GM), and two cabin filters.......I still can't figure out how those big leaves get through the inlets, but at least they don't end up stuck in the blower fan blades.

So, for its birthday, I traded it in and bought a new Trax LTZ 2wd.
I was (impatiently) waiting for Chevy to bring the Cruze wagon over here, but when the Trax showed up instead, it was clear they weren't sending the wagon.

The Cruze replaced my 96 Blazer........I figured I should be able to adapt to a sedan with a trunk.....but, when I'm hauling wheels and tires in the winter ( I'm usually restoring something every winter) and various other unwieldy things.....well, lets just say a trunk and folding seats ain't gettin it.

Yes, I have a full size Silverado for hauling duties as well but it has not yet seen salt since I brought it home new, in 97.
It hauls my car trailer and bigger summertime projects.

Why the Trax?
Well, to be frank, the problem free drivetrain of my Cruze motivated me to look carefully at the Trax......its DNA is a mishmosh of Cruze and Sonic......IMO, both really good small cars.
That and even though heavier (but not by much) the around town mileage will likely be similar.......I know the highway MPG will be a different story though......it a aerodynamic box, but still, a box and I'm confident that little 1.4 is gonna be working its sack off at speed.
And, of course, for my lifestyle, a bit more versatile.

This was a leftover 15......lotsa rebate money, lotsa rebate money on my GM card (old style, limited to five k.....I had 2800 to burn off), the dealer (same one I got my last 9 Chevys from since 96) threw in another $1000.00 coupon and GM had a 0% 60m deal going on.....I'm a great believer in using OP money.

The trade value was exceptional, so, I kissed the quarter panel, thanked it for being a fine example and added it to a long line of cars I've owned and been fond of......hope it lands in the hands of another nutcase like me.

As far as the forum.......looks like that high amount of Cruze DNA is the glue that will continue to bind me to this group of enthusiests.
So, you're not getting away from me that easy.

Rob

 

[NickD]

Why am I comparing a vehicle with a kid? Least with the Cruze, really don't have to be concerned about diapers for the first couple of years. But when they get older, this becomes a concern.

 

[Robby]

Why am I comparing a vehicle with a kid? Least with the Cruze, really don't have to be concerned about diapers for the first couple of years. But when they get older, this becomes a concern.

I'm told the diaper thing often happens to us as we age as well Nick, so...............

Rob

 

[BU54]

My 2013 will be 3 in September, that's when I bought her. Don't remember the build date.
She has 14k miles now.

 

[carbon02]

Robby-

I'd be interested in your review thoughts of the Trax powered by the 1.4L. I'd like to go bigger with the next car, but it seems like that car could be under powered with a Cruze engine. Maybe I'm wrong, as I've never driven one, but I did spend some time in the seat at the 2016 Auto Show.

Thanks for sticking around!

When I read the thread, I was thinking your sons Mopar love, was contagious! He's got to be loving cheap gas prices, if he's actually driving it, vs. potential collector condition.

 

[Robby]

Robby-

I'd be interested in your review thoughts of the Trax powered by the 1.4L. I'd like to go bigger with the next car, but it seems like that car could be under powered with a Cruze engine. Maybe I'm wrong, as I've never driven one, but I did spend some time in the seat at the 2016 Auto Show.

Thanks for sticking around!

When I read the thread, I was thinking your sons Mopar love, was contagious! He's got to be loving cheap gas prices, if he's actually driving it, vs. potential collector condition.

Both my sons and I are certifiable car nuts.
Son with the Hellcat also has a ZO6 Vette and several drag bikes, as well as the Silverado diesel work trucks (intentionally plural) and his wife has the family truckster....a 2016 GMC Denalli EXT.

Younger son owns a tuner shop specializing in Honda (I blame his mother) and has a fleet of rice burners......some wickedly fast ones.

I have a SRT8 Magnum, along side a 2002 B4C Camaro, along side a T'Bird Super Coupe, along side a couple of Miatas and several other more mainstream rides.....along with nine bikes.
Hence my nick, Peter Pan......I'm growing old but will never grow up.

Fuel prices?.....you put it the perspective of it costs X in fuel to have fun with your toys.

Regarding the TRAX.....I've only got 70 miles showing so I'm being rather conservative, however, the around town average is 19.3 mph and 27.6 MPG......truthfully, already better than expected.

Based strictly off the 62 miles I've put on it, the stoplight performance is about the same as my 2012 eco automatic.
This makes sense.....the gearing is the same and it is less than 200 lbs. heavier.

I don't know how the results would be if it was AWD and frankly, IMO, that is just too many things for this little engine to contend with.
I did drive a AWD for grins though and it did not feel labored.......no highway driving though.....for either that one or mine at this point.

Having driven FWD daily drivers with winter specific tire/wheel setups I can see no need for AWD......the tire setup is spectacular and, as a bonus, the wheels are the same mounting as the Cruze......got that covered.

As mileage accrues, I should have a good idea how fuel economy compares and I will report same.

For me, first notables are: Cruze DIC information content is superior....much more info.....Cruze is more stable, meaning the TRAX requires a bit more frequent steering corrections.
Surprising to me, the TRAX is quieter......and I was always impressed with how quiet the Cruze was.

This thing has the latest wiz bang B/S gadgetry that comes with each new year.....specifically the radio......probably burned a gallon of fuel jerking around the various settings........sure can tell the younger crowd designs things now........so natural for them, so unnatural for those of us over 60.

I was young when 8 tracks came out.....that was high tech!......I put one in my 63 Fairlane...yea baby.
Then, phased out for cassettes......awesome stuff I thought......can't get much better.
Then that got phased out for disc's......getting a little techy here, but I adapted.....two cars with 12 disc changers, how much better can it be.

Well, buy a new car, in this case, a Trax and you get.......no 8 track, no cassette, no disc.......now if I want to listen to a book if I'm on the road it has to be put on a Zip drive..........I give up, technology wins......Zip this!.......back to listening to the news, or travel in relative silence.

So, evidently, we've come full circle.....car had a optional radio when I started driving.....now it is standard, but still just a radio.....with no knobs to boot.
Now I gotta look at my fingerprints on the screen........progress?

What auto show were you at? Chicago?......no location in your sig.

Rob

 

[carbon02]

We'll be back to an optional radio tuner soon! I'm not old enough to grow up with 8 tracks, but I've seen cassettes, CD's, now streaming radio.

I was at the Minneapolis show while visiting some family members. I'm sorry Chevrolet, I was very disappointed with what they had. A lot of 2016 Malibu's, but no hybrids. I was interested in seeing if the battery eats into cargo capacity. They said it didn't, but that battery has to go somewhere.

Now 2016 Cruze.. Nothing.. They actually had a 2015 Cruze LTZ RS on the floor. Not even a limited. I realize this isn't Chicago or New York, CES, but come on.

Maybe in this market local dealers actually provide the cars for the auto show and GM brings nothing? In years past there were concepts, and last year Buick had that new convertible which they must have brought.

The only Malibu on the ground that could have the hood popped was the 2.0L. I was interested in seeing what the 1.5L looks like and it's packaging as it has to be similar to the new 1.4.

I read the exhaust manifold is now cast into the cylinder head for less connections/packing density on the 1.4L. If that's the case as turbo's fail hopefully they can be accessed and replaced without removing the cylinder head! I'll wait for some service info on the new 1.4L before jumping on board. While I know the packing density of the new 1.4L in the cruze will be tighter than GEN 1, I'm not sure I can deal with really crazy engineering.

I feel like I'm back to the days of the Oldsmobile LX5 3.5L V6, the engine that was way too crazy of a design, that never did what it was marketed to do, replace the historical 3800 Gen 2 I believe. Anyway I digress.

 

[Robby]

carbon02,

I've looked at the new iteration of the 1.4 (I thought it [email protected] 1.4) and yes, there is no formal exaust manifold.......same as the 3.6 V-6 and not really new tech. Also, all aluminum.
The exaust ports are cast into the head and leave in a rather large outlet......turbo is high mounted and bolts directly to the unitized port.
None of the turbo lines are close to secondary heat sources so it should live a better life.
The benefit of this design is likely twofold: quicker heat since the ports are water cooled and quicker catalyst light off since it is even closer to the exaust outlets.
It also appears to have a conventional pcv valve.

However, regarding the current 1.4, my friends at the dealer are seldom seeing valve or manifold failures over the last two/three model years so something has enjoyed a bit of redesign.

What I DON'T want to deal with is this start stop business that all Malibu's except the 2.0T are fitted with as well as all the 2016 V-2 Cruzes will have.
That's a lot of hardware waiting to act up for want of, what, a possible half mpg around town?

I 've been wrenching a long time and this level of hair splitting isn't getting much positive vibration out of me.

Regarding car shows......yes, smaller locales will have the dealers provide the cars and the manufacturer re-imburses for the car not being available for sale and any reconditioning expense after the event.......this is likely why there were no new Cruzes available for the event.....none being delivered at the time.

Rob

 

[carbon02]

Yea I've seen that the start stop has been in Europe for several years, but I agree what's the real gains.

I suspect the starter in a car with start/stop has to be pretty big to handle the duty cycle. I believe the 2015 Malibu's even before the 1.5L/2.0L Turbo had start stop, not sure how smooth it is.

Reading a few service guides, it appears that there's a lot of conditions that must be met before the car will actually go into start stop mode and stop. Like outside temperature and Status of Charge.

In a really cold climate it might be the case that the Start Stop is never activated for cold weather driving. I wonder if the start stop activation time can be adjusted? Literally stopping every time the speedometer reads 0 at a fast stop sign seems crazy. I guess they can keep the emission cat's hot enough to do it.

I love car technology, but the engineer in me makes me justify reliability. Maybe by 2018 I'll consider one of the new ones, but I have a rule to not buy new technology in the first 2 years. I kind of broke that with the 2012 late 2011 purchase, but I needed a car..

 

[chevrasaki]

My '14 1LT 6 speed manual, 1.4L turbo was built January 2014 and was shipped from Lordstown, Ohio to Houston, Mississippi. They screwed a front license plate bracket on it as required my Mississippi dealers then it just sat there. Winter turned to spring then summer, then fall, then winter again and still she sat. My little white car, lonely and unloved.

Then it's name came up when I was starting my search for a replacement for the Cobalt. You should have seen the list I printed out. It started out with about 100 local cars/trucks, all sitting in inventory or within dealer transfer range and 90 of them had a manual transmission. After some time carefully narrowing the list, I ended up with 25 different candidates, and 8 different models of cars, no trucks (out of my budget). After test driving the 8 different cars, I narrowed it down to 3 cars. The Focus, the Sonic, and the Cruze. There were a few different versions of each car I had my eye on but ultimately I had them transfer the my current, old body Cruze with insane discounts to my dealer and took it home.

Currently I've had it a year and 10 days, and put on 22,600 miles in that time. Should have it paid off before 2018 is over, then I can start looking at getting a truck.

 

[NickD]

You can only buy a Trax with an AT? Talk about a shiftless society we live in today.

 

[Robby]

You can only buy a Trax with an AT? Talk about a shiftless society we live in today.

Quite true, the automatic thing......yet, in all the other countries the Trax is marketed in, a manual is standard.
I'll venture a guess and conclude Chevrolet chose not to go through the federal certification process (and expense) for a combination that may only equal 5% of the build.

Rob