[Cruze2.0TD]

I only actually looked at four vehicles before getting my Diesel, but I had a few in mind. At the time I got my Cruze, my umber vehicle was a '98 Camaro Z28 with a 6 sod and a '95 Chevy K1500 with a fully built 5.7 TBI. I was looking for something cheaper to maintain and cheaper on fuel. I still wanted something that had enough power to be fun to drive.

2014 or 2015 Subaru WRX
Couldn't find any 2013's with the options I wanted and it was more than I wanted to spend. Subaru stopped making 2014 WRX's in December of 2013 and the 2015's weren't released until March of 2014.

2011 Infiniti G37xS
Was my dad's company car and I could've got the buyout on the company lease for a good deal, but Infiniti maintenance made me nervous. I had worked at an Infiniti dealer for a while in the service department and the maintenance was pretty much BMW expensive.

2014 Ford Focus ST and 2014 Ford Fiesta ST
was quite ineterested, but couldn't find a dealer that even had one for me to come and look at, nevermind drive.

2014 Jetta TDI Highline with a 6 spd manual
Almost bought it. Test drove it and was going to come back in a few days to finalize the sale. I had already booked the appointment to test drive the Cruze though, so I ended up going and looking at it.

2014 Cruze Diesel
Fell in love with it shortly after driving it. Every aspect about the Jetta that was better, didn't really matter to me. The Jetta had more interior space, a bigger trunk, and better city mileage. I'm the only one ever in my car so interior space doesn't matter, either does trunk size. The slight difference of the Cruze compared to the Jetta in fuel economy was almost irrelevant as either were going to be way better than my current vehicles. I liked the bit extra power the Cruze had although I really wished it had a manual transmission option. Due to issues with the extended warranty negotiations, the deal almost fell through and I almost ended up getting the G37xS.

 

[Cruze2.0TD]

You may be the only person ever to cross-shop the Cruze with those models lol. Glad you found the right car for you. Related question, how does the diesel model drive? Is it particularly sluggish off the line? Does it have the typical diesel idle (ie loud)

Lol.....yeah, it took a bit of searching for me to find what I wanted. I was okay with giving up outright speed compared to my Camaro as long as the torque was satisfying enough to compensate for the lack of horsepower. I either wanted something decently fast or so,thing where the
torque gave the illusion of decent performance. So I was naturally drawn to the diesel. I didn't even know that the Cruze Diesel existed until I came across the Car and Driver article comparing the Jetta to the Cruze.

I love the the way the diesel drives, but I will be honest and say, yes it is painfully sluggish off the line. Not even like a turbo spool sluggish. I think it has a lot of torque management programmed in. It's loud from the outside, but on the inside it's very quiet. Looking back, I wish I had considered a gas Cruze. I would've been looking at a loaded 2LT RS with a manual and financially that would've made way more sense. I got the Diesel in early 2014. The gas Cruze's had 0% financing and some decent discounts. The Diesels were new models and the best they'd offer was 3.99% and pretty much no discounts. Also, a lot of driving I do is heavily city. The gas Cruze would've probably been better fuel economy than the diesel is. I do truly love my diesel and may have still ended up getting it anyways, as I said though, I wish I at least considered a gas Cruze.