Potential Diesel buyer advice?

14565 Views 74 Replies 33 Participants Last post by BDCCruze, Aug 1, 2019

resurgent cineribus

Discussion Starter · Feb 26, 2019

Hi everyone!

I've been seriously looking at the Cruze diesel for some time to replace my trusty (but sadly rusting out) Escape. I've had my eye on it for some time but am finally getting serious and was hoping for some advise. I figure what better advise than in this thread?!

So I have some requirements with my car search:

1) Excellent fuel economy; I do a lot of driving; long commute to work and multiple locations etc so something efficient is a big help to my budget. Even with spending more on diesel the economy is impressive
2) space; my needs are modest but I do often have to lug some supplies around for work (IT) so a hatch would be ideal. A truck/SUV is overkill and I'm actually looking to buck the trend and downsize to a car. I do have to have enough space for a car seat for my son (who is 2.5) but other than that I rarely need to carry passengers especially not in the back so rear space isn't too critical. That said I am about 6'1 or 6'2 so I do need to fit reasonably comfortably.
3) at least a little bit fun to drive. I'd like to get the 6 speed assuming its an easy manual to live with. I'm a bit rusty driving a stick (learned on a TDI jetta years ago) A real high performance car probably wouldn't be as easy for me to live with my daily commute. Also hoping for something comfortable that doesn't feel really cheap inside. I really liked the look of the fancy seats available; for a car I spend so much time in in should be nice despite my modest budget. I've locked at sportier cars (ie fiesta ST, but honestly those seem a little small and maybe not the easiest to live with day in/out not to mention MPGS not quite where I want) I'm 33 years old so I haven't totally given up yet but I may be too old for some other cars lol

The combination of these things keeps leading me back to the Cruze. I was quite disappointed to see it being discontinued (and the 2019 eliminating the manual) So my hope has been to find a 2018 hatchback 6 speed unfortunately they seem to be hard to find. Im assuming you can't order them anymore. I'm willing to go out of state to get what i want. I just found a 2018 manual hatch with about 20k miles for 17.5 which seems pretty reasonable (not my exact specs but I may have to compromise a little given how rare they seem to be)

Is anyone willing to share their advice on this car or the process of finding/buying one?

thanks!

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firehawk618

· #30 · Mar 1, 2019 (Edited)

If you're looking for cost / benefit in a new Cruze diesel vs gas you won't find it. Besides the premium paid for the car new the fact that diesel is significantly more expensive than gas *and probably always will be* washes away any money savings because of increased economy. In fact it's probably more expensive to own the diesel over the life of the car because of the added fuel expense.

Anyhow, I chose the diesel because I love the torque curve. 1.4t just doesn't do it for me for my daily commuter.

Definitely go drive one. Try to drive a gas and a diesel. You might just save yourself a bunch of time and research if you don't like them.

resurgent cineribus said:
Thanks for the feedback everyone; lots of good points/ideas.

I have crunched the numbers a bit. gas/diesel prices fluctuate sometimes at different rates times. Last time I filled up I think diesel was 2.99 and 87 was about 2.30. I think i mentioned in the beginning that I do a lot of highway driving which probably is a pro for the diesel; my commute to work is about 30 miles each way and I do a far amount of driving for work throughout the day some days. It possible that under some conditions my costs could be a little less with the gas but even then it would be close (and probably more likely the diesel would win) i'm less worried about calculating the exact break-even point vs gas with initial purchase price especially if i buy a lightly used one that has already been hit pretty hard by depreciation. I'm driving an old V6 escape right now and probably average 2-2.5 tanks of gas a week (14 gallon tank). I didn't do the math on that but the gas savings over my current car will probably be a nice perk with how much driving I do.

I do worry about major mechanical system issues ie clutch, turbo, etc. Years ago a friends TDI jetta (that introduced me to small diesels and i learned to drive a stick in) had the turbo fail while we were driving through the mountains; that car barely made it up them without the turbo kicking in. I've been shopping some almost new-used ones that still have at least a good chunk of factory powertrain warranty on. Basic maintenance and repairs I'm plenty happy to do myself

The longevity of gas vs diesel engines may or may not be a major factor. My escape is still cruising along with 282k on it but the rust is what is killing it. Unless I moved or got a dedicated winter beater it will probably be what kills all my cars before the engine goes (assuming a decent engine of course) With that said in several years if you needed a replacement or rebuilt gas engine they'll probably be easy to find vs diesel.

I'm shopping around seeing if i can make a purchase happen. I suppose i should at least go by a dealership and sit in one just to make sure its a good fit for me before buying.

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