Chevrolet Cruze Range Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Chevrolet Cruze
Prices: £12,795-£16,045 – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 4-10
Emissions: [2.0 VCDI 150] 149g/km
Performance: [2.0 VCDI 150] 0-62mph 10s / Max Speed 131mph
Fuel Consumption: [2.0 VCDI 150] (combined) 50.4mpg
Safety: Twin front, side and curtain airbags / ABS with EBD / Seatbelt pretensioners
Dimensions: [4dr] Length/Width/Heightmm 4597/1788/1477mm

LOOK CRUZE TALKING

Our Rating: 7.0 / 10

Chevrolet thinks its Cruze stands a big chance of making an impact in the UK market. Steve Walker reports.

The challenge for Chevrolet as it bids to make further inroads into the UK car market is one of altering public perception as much as it is of achieving higher standards with its products. It arrived on these shores with the bizarre combination of a brand that spoke of gas-guzzling American trucks or muscle cars and a product range comprised of re-badged budget runabouts from South Korea. Slowly but surely, Chevrolet has been working at unifying its brand message and its vehicle line-up in a manner that will hit the right notes with European buyers. Could the Cruze be the car through which the all-American marque finds its European accent?

The Cruze had a decent pedigree from the outset because it arrived as the first production car to use the sixth generation Vauxhall Astra platform, known as the Delta platform in General Motors speak. These underpinnings were designed around European tastes and tested on European roads, which goes without saying for the big selling Astra but was a first for any Chevrolet product.

Lots of Chevrolet’s UK offerings have been rather forgettable from a design perspective but the Cruze changes that. It’s a handsome compact saloon with an athletic stance and sharp, sculpted lines. The design language is set to be reproduced across all the brand’s forthcoming models, so we can expect to see lots more of the distinctive deep front grille split by a horizontal bar with the Chevrolet badge at its centre. The headlights curl around the corners of the Cruze and smear back to a point along the bonnet line, while the roof drops away towards the rear, meeting with the stubby saloon boot. The car is 4,535mm long and 1,796mm wide, putting it in the same size bracket as booted versions of the Ford Focus and the likes of Volkswagen’s Jetta.

Handling excellence is not something Chevrolet is known for but this car is a big step in the right direction, as you would expect from its Vauxhall Astra-based underpinnings. Aside from very quick and direct steering, the whole experience is geared more for comfort than sporting endeavour – which will almost certainly be something suited to its likely clientele. So it is that there’s more body roll and less grip than you’d get in a Focus or an Astra but as long as you don’t rev the engine too much, refinement is impressive, suggestive of a much larger and more expensive saloon, and the ride is pretty good over all but the poorest surfaces. Extra effort has gone into stiffening the body structure and this is a central reason for the car’s polished performance on the road.

The engine choice sees buyers in search of petrol power decide between 113PS 1.6-litre and 141PS 1.8-litre engines, with a six-speed automatic gearbox available as an option. Those prepared to pay the premium for diesel power get a 2.0-litre common-rail unit with either 125PS or 150PS on tap. Performance from all these engines won’t deliver too many fireworks, but it’s quite adequate, even the feeblest 1.6-litre petrol unit managing 0-62mph in 11.8s on the way to 115mph, whilst at the other end of the line-up, the 150PS 2.0-litre VCDi version makes 62mph from rest in 8.7s on the way to 130mph.

Interior quality is a sticky issue for any budget car as materials quality and eye-catching design are usually amongst the first things to be sacrificed to achieve that eye-catching price. The Cruze defies expectations on this score, however, because it’s actually very slick when you clamber inside. Some of the switchgear will be familiar to owners of the Vauxhall Insignia and the dashboard design is well resolved - the stereo controls being a particular high point. Chevrolet has also built in a wide range of adjustment for the driver’s seat and steering wheel which should help most people get comfy.

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