Cruze Takes Top Spot in August

[kam327]

Cruze - 25,975
Civic - 24,897
Corolla - 24,311
Focus - 19,073
Elantra - 17,989

So not only does the crappy Corolla routinely pounce on the Focus in sales, now the Cruze is giving to us good? Good gravy.

[Sponsor]

[Wildsailor]

Originally Posted by kam327

Cruze - 25,975
Civic - 24,897
Corolla - 24,311
Focus - 19,073
Elantra - 17,989

So not only does the crappy Corolla routinely pounce on the Focus in sales, now the Cruze is giving to us good? Good gravy.

It is the 'lease deal' that is being advertised that may have lead to this. Even my wife asked why I wasn't going to look at a Cruz when they are "only $125/month." That is the 'come in and check us out' advertising. One of my coworkers actually did go in and drive one and ran the numbers; that is the base model without any options (none are available), 24 months lease, 10k miles/year, with $1400 or so down at signing. He was looking at $190/month with what they had and the 15k/year miles he needed, which is still cheap for a new car, and THAT may be the reason the Cruz is moving right now...money taped on the hood.

[kam327]

Originally Posted by Wildsailor

It is the 'lease deal' that is being advertised that may have lead to this. Even my wife asked why I wasn't going to look at a Cruz when they are "only $125/month." That is the 'come in and check us out' advertising. One of my coworkers actually did go in and drive one and ran the numbers; that is the base model without any options (none are available), 24 months lease, 10k miles/year, with $1400 or so down at signing. He was looking at $190/month with what they had and the 15k/year miles he needed, which is still cheap for a new car, and THAT may be the reason the Cruz is moving right now...money taped on the hood.

Actually they're saying it's their latest "Chevy Confidence" program.

[bball40dtw]

The Cruze doesn't have a ton of money on the hood. $1000 conquest, plus some extra lease cash. The Focus is at $750 for the most part when leasing. The Cruze does have a higher residual and more cash to dealers. It also sells better than the Focus because it is more vanilla and has more room. There is no doubt that the Cruze has a quality interior and makes a great commuter for most people.

[FFR_1574]

I'll bet the gov't is buy a lot of them too.

[VectorZ]

I drove the Cruze when I was shopping and thought it was pretty nice. But then I discovered some videos of them randomly catching on fire and said no thanks. X-Plan pricing helped too.

[suss6052]

Originally Posted by VectorZ

I drove the Cruze when I was shopping and thought it was pretty nice. But then I discovered some videos of them randomly catching on fire and said no thanks. X-Plan pricing helped too.

I drove several with the 1.4L Turbo and the 6AT and that powertrain combination was horrible to drive. The gearbox couldn't decide what gear to be in every single time, and it kept the engine out of boost in the middle of driving around a simulated city course and dodging obstacles.

[bball40dtw]

Originally Posted by suss6052

I drove several with the 1.4L Turbo and the 6AT and that powertrain combination was horrible to drive. The gearbox couldn't decide what gear to be in every single time, and it kept the engine out of boost in the middle of driving around a simulated city course and dodging obstacles.

Thats the biggest problem with small turbocharged engines. If you aren't in the right gear, you aren't going anywhere. The manual version of the Cruze (1.4T) is much better than the automatic.

[dan50]

Originally Posted by suss6052

I drove several with the 1.4L Turbo and the 6AT and that powertrain combination was horrible to drive. The gearbox couldn't decide what gear to be in every single time, and it kept the engine out of boost in the middle of driving around a simulated city course and dodging obstacles.

Funny how perceptions differ. I looked hard at a Cruze and thought its powertrain was superior to the Focus, with more low rpm torque, better throttle response and an automatic transmission that was less of a drama queen. It's also a bit bigger inside. I thought the Focus had a much nicer interior, much more interesting styling and was a better highway cruiser, being quieter and having much, much better steering feel.

Bought the Focus. Not sure that was the right decision.

[suss6052]

Originally Posted by dan50

Funny how perceptions differ. I looked hard at a Cruze and thought its powertrain was superior to the Focus, with more low rpm torque, better throttle response and an automatic transmission that was less of a drama queen. It's also a bit bigger inside. I thought the Focus had a much nicer interior, much more interesting styling and was a better highway cruiser, being quieter and having much, much better steering feel.

Bought the Focus. Not sure that was the right decision.

The Cruze used a port injected turbocharged engine with much less displacement, when the car also weighs much more in every single trim level. This is a poor decision on GM's part. If you're going to downsize the engine and turbo charge it you really need to directly inject the fuel so that you can run more advanced timing and make more power on less fuel.

I recall being sorely disappointed with the gearbox as it would never pick the right gear and was always hunting, like a poorly programmed automatic. The interior seemed cheap and ugly even in the higher trim variants. Its a little bit bigger inside because its a 3/4 scale midsized car rather than a standard compact, since its attempting to be large enough for the world.

The Cruze did have more rear interior space than even the Malibu. That wouldn't cause me to buy one however.

Over all I would rank the Cruze somewhere just ahead of the old Corolla, behind the Dart, and way behind the Focus in terms of driving dynamics, feel, interior quality, but that's just my opinion. This is why I bought the Focus over its rivals, and I went for the hatchback which isn't available from GM or Chrysler.

Not really interested in another corolla or matrix either. My last car was a 1994 Geo Prizm with the 5MT (Toyota Corolla sedan built in California). The new ones were out of date when they were released years ago.