[jrb3]

I just passed 5,000 miles yesterday on my Silver, 6 Speed Cruze so wanted to post up some things I like, and probably more things I wish the car had.

Fuel mileage is great. I've filled up 8 times so far, averaging a little over 52 MPG's with about 80/20 highway/city. Highway driving, I usually stick between 75-78 MPH commuting from Rock Hill, SC to Columbia, SC, about 72 miles one way. The only reason I put where, is if you are so inclined, you can look at the elevation changes, not too many big hills, but some smaller ones. The road noise is pretty decent, coming from a Chevy Sonic, it's not surprising. Clutch is light, radio is pretty decent. I had some Android Auto issues in the beginning, where it wouldn't connect, but I haven't had an issue for a while. No issues so far in terms of reliability. The OnStar WiFi is pretty nice, I am going to continue with the service. Very good reception. No rattles or squeaks, the engine is really quiet. Hill hold is strong, stronger than in the Sonic. Plus, it works nose up or down, I think the Sonic was only nose up. I could be wrong.

Things I wish it had / things I don't like:

• I have the leather package group - no lumbar support adjustment, no where on the manual is it even an option.
• The driver seat is terrible, reminds me of the Sonic. I'm 6'0, 210 lbs and the bottom cushion, left side just doesn't have enough support. You can feel the metal piece in the seat. I imagine this will only get worse with more miles.
• Non-sliding sun visors. I drive South in the AM, North in the PM. The sun is always on the drivers side and the visor doesn't extend to where the sun is. The only 2 chevy vehicles I have been in that doesn't have this is the Sonic and the Cruze. I would have paid a few hundred extra dollars for this. Seriously.
• No HomeLink available. Just a nit, but still, really?
• Front cupholder is in an awful spot. It's right in the way of the shifter. Not a great design
• No auto up/down on ANY window. The cheaper Sonic at least had it available on the driver's window. Yes, it was an LT too.
• No sunroof option for the manual.
• No Auto Dimming Rearview Mirror option
• The door pockets hold a lot of stuff, but it's so high that you have to use your right hand to get things out. Kind of stinks when driving down the road.
• First gear is different. I don't know why, but it's just different. I currently own 3 other manual cars (plus have owned maybe another 20 or so in my lifetime), and it's just hard to get used to. I don't know why.

I really love the mileage. Filling up every 4th day instead of every other is great. The car is ok, I didn't test drive until I picked it up after paying for it. It's not bad, it's just when you spend 15 hours a week in a car, you quickly find it's faults. I don't drive it on the weekends. I have a few other cars I drive then. I can't tell you how people like the back seat or how the trunk space is (I've only opened it once to throw some jumper cables and some emergency things in). Overall, I would buy it again, just because of the mileage alone. Of course, I wouldn't mind a 20 gallon fuel tank! Having never bit the bullet when the TDI was out, I jumped on the opportunity to get the Diesel Chevy. I'm glad I held out, the timing belt in the VW was my main hold up. With my mileage, doing it every 3 years seemed crazy. I hope to keep the Cruze to 250,000, but I did plan on keeping my Sonic to 200,000 Miles and pulled the trigger on the Cruze with 110,000 on the Sonic.

Anyway, not much of a write up, I guess just getting things off of my chest.

 

[Rivergoer]

Nice write-up, surely others shopping the Gen 2 diesel will find it very useful. 52 mpg avg at 75 mph is just awesome.

Question about the timing belt comment...what's the timing belt interval for the Gen 2 diesel? The Gen 1 CTD timing belt interval is 3 yrs or 97,000 miles. Is the Gen 2 interval longer or did they go with a timing chain instead?

My 09 TDI timing belt interval (per the owner's manual) was 120,000 miles but VW dealers started hounding me to change it at 80,000 miles claiming the owner's manual was incorrect. I waited till 120K to change it with no problems.

 

[Sperry]

Pretty sure the gen 2 has a timing chain. Another reason I'd like to get one. ( still holding out to see and drive the diesel terrain )

 

[Rivergoer]

Pretty sure the gen 2 has a timing chain. Another reason I'd like to get one. ( still holding out to see and drive the diesel terrain )

The new Colorado small diesel pickup sounds interesting too. Tow capacity like a 3/4 ton pickup with great fuel economy. The buy-in cost seems high but definitely more affordable than a full-size Duramax.

 

[jrb3]

Definitely a chain.
Deep Dive: Chevrolet's New 1.6L Ecotec Diesel Engine – News –Â*Car and Driver | Car and Driver Blog

 

[jblackburn]

What RPM does it run at say, 70 MPH? How's the pickup if you just mat the pedal without shifting in 6th?

I've only driven the 1.6TD in auto, and was ridiculously impressed with the torque virtually anywhere in the powerband. I felt the same way about the VW TDI Golf I drove 5 years ago.

 

[danielfox118]

I can't give you an exact number, but the needle is maybe in the 2,100 range at 70 in 6th? 6th is just such a tall gear that I barely notice the change on the tach between most of my highway speeds. On my Jetta, it would climb a decent amount between 65 and 70 even.

I really liked the write up. I'd definitely say I have some of the same gripes after 3,200. The visor thing drives me nuts! I didn't even realize that wasn't just some kind of standard until I didn't have it when I needed it. I actually have auto down on at least the front windows though. The lack of auto-up is pretty frustrating though. And the cupholder thing is terrible. In general, I'd say the storage things weren't very well thought out.

 

[johnmo]

I was going about to start a post and you beat me to it. I just logged 10,000 miles this week on my White 6-speed. How many miles can I put on it and still call it a new car?

Fuel mileage is great. I've filled up 8 times so far, averaging a little over 52 MPG's with about 80/20 highway/city. Highway driving, I usually stick between 75-78 MPH commuting from Rock Hill, SC to Columbia, SC, about 72 miles one way. The only reason I put where, is if you are so inclined, you can look at the elevation changes, not too many big hills, but some smaller ones. The road noise is pretty decent, coming from a Chevy Sonic, it's not surprising. Clutch is light, radio is pretty decent. I had some Android Auto issues in the beginning, where it wouldn't connect, but I haven't had an issue for a while. No issues so far in terms of reliability. The OnStar WiFi is pretty nice, I am going to continue with the service. Very good reception. No rattles or squeaks, the engine is really quiet. Hill hold is strong, stronger than in the Sonic. Plus, it works nose up or down, I think the Sonic was only nose up. I could be wrong.

I've filled up 14 times and have averaged 56 MPG. This is excellent. I'm almost 100% highway. My commute is 53 miles one way with speed limits varying from 55 to 70 MPH with a few stoplights along the 55 MPH stretch. I generally see 60+ MPG on the last 25 mile average at some point during the trip each way. I have a sizable hill to climb at both ends of the commute that knocks it back down to the low 50s.

I've had one exhaust sensor replaced under warranty, but aside from that, it's been 100% reliable. The exhaust sensor wasn't a showstopper -- just a CEL.

I agree that road noise is good. I have a buzz related to high-RPM in the middle of the dash and a buzz related to low-RPM in the top-left corner of the glovebox. Definitely going to have the dealer look at the one in the glovebox since I spend so much time at low RPMs on the highway.

I really like the head unit because of Android Auto. I'm finding that battery drain is an AA issue. Lots of people report it across all makes. I got a new battery for my phone and a splitter cable to feed juice to the phone from an external battery and the phone battery still drains about 10%/hour.

I'm not a huge fan of the hill hold feature. I'm still adjusting to it. I've stalled it a couple of times when nose down and in reverse because it just didn't let go quickly enough.

Things I wish it had / things I don't like:

• I have the leather package group - no lumbar support adjustment, no where on the manual is it even an option.
• The driver seat is terrible, reminds me of the Sonic. I'm 6'0, 210 lbs and the bottom cushion, left side just doesn't have enough support. You can feel the metal piece in the seat. I imagine this will only get worse with more miles.
• Non-sliding sun visors. I drive South in the AM, North in the PM. The sun is always on the drivers side and the visor doesn't extend to where the sun is. The only 2 chevy vehicles I have been in that doesn't have this is the Sonic and the Cruze. I would have paid a few hundred extra dollars for this. Seriously.
• No HomeLink available. Just a nit, but still, really?
• Front cupholder is in an awful spot. It's right in the way of the shifter. Not a great design
• No auto up/down on ANY window. The cheaper Sonic at least had it available on the driver's window. Yes, it was an LT too.
• No sunroof option for the manual.
• No Auto Dimming Rearview Mirror option
• The door pockets hold a lot of stuff, but it's so high that you have to use your right hand to get things out. Kind of stinks when driving down the road.
• First gear is different. I don't know why, but it's just different. I currently own 3 other manual cars (plus have owned maybe another 20 or so in my lifetime), and it's just hard to get used to. I don't know why.

I like the leather and don't have a problem with the seat. It's at least as comfortable as my Jetta was and probably better.

The cupholder is in a bad spot.

I'd like to have a sunroof too.

The door pockets are very awkward to access.

First gear be weird.

I really love the mileage. Filling up every 4th day instead of every other is great. The car is ok, I didn't test drive until I picked it up after paying for it. It's not bad, it's just when you spend 15 hours a week in a car, you quickly find it's faults. I don't drive it on the weekends. I have a few other cars I drive then. I can't tell you how people like the back seat or how the trunk space is (I've only opened it once to throw some jumper cables and some emergency things in). Overall, I would buy it again, just because of the mileage alone. Of course, I wouldn't mind a 20 gallon fuel tank! Having never bit the bullet when the TDI was out, I jumped on the opportunity to get the Diesel Chevy. I'm glad I held out, the timing belt in the VW was my main hold up. With my mileage, doing it every 3 years seemed crazy. I hope to keep the Cruze to 250,000, but I did plan on keeping my Sonic to 200,000 Miles and pulled the trigger on the Cruze with 110,000 on the Sonic.

The fuel economy is the killer feature. I went from filling up every other day to once a week and that has a lot of value for me. I'd also like to have a bigger fuel tank, but filling no more than once a week is my threshold of pain so the tank size is adequate.

No complaints from my tween-aged kids about the back seat. The trunk is roomy. My main interior beefs are with the door pockets and the absence of a designated spot to keep my sunglasses. The Jetta had a compartment for sunglasses over the rear-view mirror.

I put 100k out of the 167k my Jetta TDI accumulated before the buyback. The timing belt wasn't a big deal. I had it changed at 120k miles. It's not an entirely bad thing because it's a good time to replace all of the accessory belts. I've had two other cars with timing chains break accessory belts because I just don't think about changing them any more. The timing belt is the really important one and I get those done on schedule along with all of the other belts because they're off anyway for the TB service. I do like that the Cruze uses a timing chain and that chains seem to be generally coming back into favor over belts. The real nightmare fuel with the Jetta was the HPFP and to a lesser extent the DMF.

I'm enjoying have a stick-shift again, but I do miss the DSG in the Jetta. I've always preferred manuals, but the DSG earned my respect. Sport mode on the DSG was perfect and a lot of fun. I could flog that car really hard and not feel like I was eating the clutch or the syncros.

The plan for mine is 10 years and 300k miles. I don't usually just get tired of a car, so as long as it holds up mechanically, I'll probably drive it that long.

 

[Cruze2.0TD]

Are there less options available for the US Cruze Diesel manual transmission than the Canadian manual transmission Cruze? On the Canadian build and price tool, it shows a sunroof being part of the "Diesel True North Edition" package. From the looks of it, you can option a manual transmission one and an auto transmission one exactly the same in Canada.

 

[johnmo]

Are there less options available for the US Cruze Diesel manual transmission than the Canadian manual transmission Cruze? On the Canadian build and price tool, it shows a sunroof being part of the "Diesel True North Edition" package. From the looks of it, you can option a manual transmission one and an auto transmission one exactly the same in Canada.

A sunroof is not an option in the manual diesel Cruze in the US. I suspect this may change with the 2018 model year as the diesel hatchback is added to the lineup and GM tries to push diesels more into the mainstream with the diesel Equinox.

 

[Cruze2.0TD]

A sunroof is not an option in the manual diesel Cruze in the US. I suspect this may change with the 2018 model year as the diesel hatchback is added to the lineup and GM tries to push diesels more into the mainstream with the diesel Equinox.

Weird that it is an option in Canada. Usually we get the same as you guys in the US or we get less!