[jblackburn]

Most recently, '17 Accord Sport SE and '17 Fusion SE 1.5 Ecoboost.

Strongly disliked the Accord. Loathe the interior (very cheap looking and feeling) and horrible road noise. Terrible ride quality. Infotainment is a freaking joke compared to the Ford and uplevel Chevy. Loved the engine and transmission, and like any Honda, very sturdily built.

Liked everything about the Fusion, but didn't feel as refined as the Cruze and the motor just wasn't as punchy (it's heavy). If it were a 2.0 for the price of the Cruze, I'd probably have taken it.

In the end, it came down to a great price and tons of features on the Cruze for me. I didn't want to buy another GM, but it's a nice freaking car. I sure as heck wasn't buying another GM manual after my experience with the 12.

The new Civic 1.5T probably would have been up my alley, but that thing is too freaking ugly to want to be seen in. Naw.

 

[jblackburn]

There's something fundamentally wrong with the getrag M32 in paticular. The getrag F23 5-speed in my Cobalt was VERY different. It actually felt like the shifter was connected to the transmission despite the cable linkages. It felt very robust, and it could take abuse. It offered positive feedback and it never fought back. It never ground gears unless you messed up the timing. And the gearing was perfect other than 5th could have been taller. I loved the transmission/engine combo in the Cobalt. The Cruze is so vastly different in comparison.

The gear ratios or clunkiness didn't really bother me. It was the fact that it all broke horribly in 50k. Every. Single. Part.

Ok, reverse bothered me. Who the heck geared THAT? Also the clutch is terrible. Even with a new clutch disc, it isn't grabby like a Honda. Easy to drive, sure, good to drive, nay.