A picture of The Chevrolet Cruze uses General Motors' Delta platform. How ironic that General Motors is launching the excellent Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan just as the parent company faces the question of its very survival. The Cruze symbolizes the progress that GM is making to sort out its engineering fundamentals, product quality and global manufacturing plan--everything for which the company historically (and deservedly) has been kicked.
In fact, the Cruze is the first of about a dozen models to be based on the new global Delta platform, technology that will be tooled on three continents, clothed in nearly half a dozen different bodies and graced with as many nameplates as survive GM's troubles.
The styling carries significance beyond a single model, too. We may have seen the headline-grabbing Chevy Volt first, but behind closed doors, the Cruze was the car on which GM developed the look.
The interior is a welcome step in the right direction, with soft-touch plastics and a high-quality four-dial instrument cluster detailed with sporty chrome trim. It's a pity that the high-spec Euro model we drove had a curious swath of soft cloth across the fascia. At least there is a version without it.
Our test car was powered by a Euro-spec diesel mated to a five-speed manual transmission. The four-cylinder, turbocharged, 1.4-liter gasoline engine with automatic transmission slated as the mainstay U.S. drivetrain is not yet available for testing. The diesel does demonstrate, however, the Cruze's clear ability to match the best that Europe can muster, including the refinement of the new, sixth-generation Volkswagen Golf and the interior quality of its more direct rival, the entry-level Skoda Octavia.
It also shows the Cruze as a clear step up on the Saturn Astra, a car based on the previous-generation Delta platform. Good and welcome progress, GM.
The Cruze does not have the same responsive steering or iron-clad body control of the best-in-class--and $3,500 more expensive--Ford Focus, but it can still hustle along a European back road with gusto.
Stable and composed in high-speed corners, with comfortable seats that feel as if they'd cosset on a lengthy cross-state drive, the Cruze also lives up to its name.
Front and rear legroom are on a par with the European and Japanese competition, and the trunk is just about big enough to get four people's luggage to and from the airport.
President Obama is probably too busy saving the world to read this review, but since he holds the keys to GM's survival, maybe his advisers could let him know that the automaker has done a neat job on the new Chevy Cruze.
2011 CHEVROLET CRUZE
On sale: May 2010
Base price: $17,000 (est)
Drivetrain: 1.4-liter, 140-hp, 148-lb-ft turbocharged I4; FWD, six-speed automatic
Curb weight: 2,900 lb
0-60 mph: 11.5 sec (mfr)
Fuel economy: 39 mpg (mfr est)
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