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DRIVEN: Chevy Cruze Shows Unexpected Refinement
Solid drivability and quality interior earn high marks for new compact sedan.
Bengt Halvorson  | http://thecarconnection.com  |  Posted August 02, 2010   Washington, DC
The compact Cruze wears Chevrolet's signature horizontal split grille on a smaller scale. (Photo: Chevrolet)
After decades of low expectations for affordable compact sedans, the market for plain, stripped-down products is simply withering away. Shoppers might be happy with a small car, but with a new generation and more tech-savvy comes less of a willingness to skimp on everything else.

And for some of the best evidence of this market change, there's no better place to look than to Detroit and Dearborn, where GM and Ford, this year and next are readying a new generation of small cars. World-designed, U.S.-built mainstream “C-segment' offerings, the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze and the 2012 Ford Focus are no longer going to be followers. They're both looking like some of the best offerings on the market.

While the verdict is still out on the Focus, we've just returned from our first official drive in the 2011 Cruze, and we can say that Toyota had better watch out. If GM can get shoppers into Chevy dealerships for a test drive, by golly it's going to leave them positively gobsmacked.

Curze's exterior styling breaks no new ground, but it provides a spacious interior for a small car. (Photo: Chevrolet)
The exterior is perhaps the weakest part of the Cruze presentation. There's nothing awkward or hideous about it; it's just plain and comes across as conservative from most angles. Some might like it as the design makes no pretense; there's no overwrought combination of creases and curves, just nice, soft surfaces, an arched roofline, a traditional three-box sedan profile, and a front and rear appearance that's clearly derived from the larger Malibu.

Inside, the exterior makes more sense (it affords lots of room), and we really liked how the beltline wasn't ridiculously high; it leaves enough of a greenhouse to enable a good view all around and not instill a sense of claustrophobia to shorter occupants.

The design of the interior has more of a wraparound cockpit feel than you'd expect from a basic sedan and if you squint just a little bit, the cabin bears something in common with the Cadillac CTS and SRX. particularly in the design of the center stack. Looking a bit closer, you might see similarities both to current and former Saab models and to the new Chevrolet Equinox, particularly in the way the audio controls are laid out. The steering wheel has a thick feel and nicely tactile audio controls.

The rich-looking interior reflects GM's more-upscale offerings. (Photo: Chevrolet)
The Cruze's cabin is a very comfortable place to spend the daily commute or a long day on the interstate. It's amazing that this small sedan can fit even the largest or lankiest occupants. The standard manual seat in the Cruze is height- and tilt-adjustable, while the power seats on the LT2 and LTZ models we drove adjust to a wide range of drivers.

And the legroom in front is phenomenal. GM (currently or formerly led by Whiteacre, Wagoner, and Lutz, all tall) went out of its way to accommodate tall occupants. They even two extra inches of front-seat travel and the steering wheel tilts and telescopes in all trims, so that even this 6-foot-6-inch driver was challenged to push the pedals with the seat back all the way.

The lower cushions provide more thigh support than those in most rival small-car models, and only the Volkswagen Jetta comes close for legroom.

The backseat is what reveals the Cruze as a compact rather than mid-size sedan. It's not nearly wide enough to fit three adults comfortably across, and two adults just barely fit, with headroom a little tight for taller occupants and legroom a little harder to get into than it should be, which is mostly the fault of the surprisingly short back doors. With the front seats all the way back, there's not much legroom, but in a moderate position there's plenty. The trunk, however, is a huge 15.4 cubic feet with a large under-floor compartment on most models.

The Cruze is being launched with two different engines and two different transmissions. Entry-level Cruze LS models will come with a new 136-horsepower, 1.8-liter version of GM's well-established Ecotec family, while the rest of the LT and LTZ models will come with a 1.4-liter Ecotec turbocharged four. This engine makes a modest 138 horsepower but turns out a stout 148 pound-feet of torque at a low 1,850 rpm.

GM also assures that the 1.8-liter engine makes 90 percent of its torque from 2,400 rpm all the way up to its redline. Both engines can be had with a six-speed automatic or six-speed manual.
While 1.4T models will begin to trickle out this next month, the 1.8-liter models won't arrive until October.

All the Cruzes we drove this past week in Washington, D.C., surrounding suburbs, and the Virginia countryside, were LT or LTZ models with the 1.4T engine and six-speed automatic transmission.

The 1.4T might be the smallest-displacement four you can recall in decades in an American-built car, but it's a flexible, docile engine that always seemed to manage to churn out more torque than we expected. Once started, it settles to a very smooth, quiet idle, and throttle response is quick.

We especially appreciated the nice, linear, almost German feel of the throttle, which was a refreshing change of pace compared to the on/off, touchy accelerators we've noticed in many small cars of late. The six-speed automatic shifts smoothly and has a very low first gear for quick takeoffs, with a wide span resulting in a deep overdrive sixth; there aren't any paddle-shifters, but there's a manual gate.
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