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From what you described, if you have $28k to spend and have lots of highway driving and want a car that lasts a long time, I would without a doubt go with the diesel. Yes, I am biased (I own one and love diesels), but the power and refinement of the diesel is excellent, and it will likely pay off for you long-term in longevity as well.
I haven't owned my diesel long enough to give you accurate mileage numbers, but lots of guys on here are easily getting better than EPA numbers both highway and city.
As far as reliability, it's probably too soon to know about the diesels as they've only been out about seven months and so far there are only about 2,500 of them on the road in the U.S., but thus far there have been no major problems with them that I know of, and a couple of guys on this forum are already up in the 20k or even 30k mileage with theirs with no issues. The engine is not new; it's been in Europe for several years already and was modified for U.S. emissions, and the transmission is a heavier duty and very reliable Aisin transmission not found in any other Cruze.
As far as the gas Eco, the 1.4L turbo engine has proven itself as quite reliable aside from some water pump and coolant smell issues which plague a lot of gas models. The water pumps have been redesigned, however, and the failed ones have been covered under the longer power-train warranty.
From what you described, if you have $28k to spend and have lots of highway driving and want a car that lasts a long time, I would without a doubt go with the diesel. Yes, I am biased (I own one and love diesels), but the power and refinement of the diesel is excellent, and it will likely pay off for you long-term in longevity as well.
I haven't owned my diesel long enough to give you accurate mileage numbers, but lots of guys on here are easily getting better than EPA numbers both highway and city.
As far as reliability, it's probably too soon to know about the diesels as they've only been out about seven months and so far there are only about 2,500 of them on the road in the U.S., but thus far there have been no major problems with them that I know of, and a couple of guys on this forum are already up in the 20k or even 30k mileage with theirs with no issues. The engine is not new; it's been in Europe for several years already and was modified for U.S. emissions, and the transmission is a heavier duty and very reliable Aisin transmission not found in any other Cruze.
As far as the gas Eco, the 1.4L turbo engine has proven itself as quite reliable aside from some water pump and coolant smell issues which plague a lot of gas models. The water pumps have been redesigned, however, and the failed ones have been covered under the longer power-train warranty.
