CRUZE - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU BUY

Exterior: IF YOU ARE READING THIS REVIEW, IT’S MAINLY BECAUSE YOU LIKE THE LOOKS OF THIS CAR. My take on looks - it's not girly but muscular, tough and stylish. It is the best looking car in all segments below Honda Accord and above. I own a Cruze but I still like the Accord it has what no other does (review is not about Accord though...). At first you might not like the rear view so much but once you own it, you get to observe it closely and the styling is wide at the rear bottom and looks somewhat like Swift, it comes as bold & bulky from the bottom and gets narrower as you move up, you will know what I mean once you see it more carefully.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort): I WILL WRITE WHAT IT DOES NOT HAVE, rear head room is not meant for guys/ladies taller than 5'10" especially when you are sitting in rear corner seats (curved roof-top is the culprit). 

NEXT IS WHAT YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE HEARD SO FAR BUT IS CRITICAL!!

There is bit of A problem with the cockpit design too (I must admit dashboard was one thing that forced me to buy this missile in first place), if you do adjust your front seat so that you could see car bonnet you will hit the dashboard with you knee too often and it does not feel great at all!! Also, if you lower down your front seats, AC knobs are placed such that your knee is bound to change the settings every time you hit the AC knobs namely temp control and fan speed.

ONLY COMES WITH FRONT AIRBAGS (I would have loved at least 6 airbags, considering the speeds it can go up to) AND --- NO USB? WHY?

EVERYTHING APART FROM ABOVE IS EXCEPTIONALLY COOL AND I LOVE IT!!

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox: NOTHING YOU CAN COMPLAIN ABOUT, as most you have already heard the lag during low RPMs it is not that bad, if you owned petrol car in past you will adjust well with this shortcoming - reason? You tend to change gears too often in petrol engine to keep engine in sync with speed, if you do same with CRUZE and control the RPM above 1400 it never lets you down. 

Ride Quality & Handling: NO COMPLAINTS FOR RIDE QUALITY BUT HANDLING IS WHAT I AM AFTER, ride quality is as it should be in this segment (apart from the pothole created sound from the tyre but that only happens when you hit a big one and really hard, experts will argue and blame that on tyres not the car itself). Handling is a bit of a letdown for me, power steering is not calibrated properly, I guess. You would only realize the problem when you have to steer car steeply on little-higher speed, steering seems to work unevenly and it feels that it’s too sensitive to your response and gives a feeling of sudden jerk. 

UPDATE:

1. I had mentioned in my review that power steering is very choppy in corners etc. It turned out to be mainly due to too much air in the tyres (thanks to Car Dealers who sold me this car with 50psi pressure where it should have been between 32-39 psi as per car specifications).

Final Words: IF THIS CAR WAS COMING FROM TOYOTA OR HONDA IT WOULD HAVE BEEN 16-20 LACK CAR. Meaning, price tag takes it all from competitors, Please do not go by what I have mentioned, I have only highlighted Cons that people must know before buying it but car has so many usable features that above problems cannot take away from CRUZE. Things I enjoy most: Pickup, Speed, Mileage, Comfort, Muscular Looks, Big Alloy and Tyres, Keyless operation, Suspension, Sunroof & LOOKS, PICKUP, SPEED and LOOKS, PICKUP, SPEED...... ...... ...... .....

Areas of improvement: POWER STEERING, USB, REAR HEAD ROOM, NUMBER OF AIRBAGS, NOISE FROM TYRES (THIS CAN BE REDUCES BY LOWERING THE AIR PRESSURE - RECOMMENDED SETTING BY CHEVY FOR COMFORT DRIVE).

UPDATE: The passive entry system is not perfect, I have noticed it twice in last 2 months that pressing start button does not always start the car and produces sound as if battery is low or car is missing few self beat in the beginning. In order to start again I press stop button and start again and it works fine!!

2. Once I got the tyre pressure right, I was surprised to drive this beast and there were no problems with the steering and more over the tyre noise in cabin reduced considerably.

LOOKS, MILEAGE, PRICE, PICKUP, SUSPENSION, BREAKS AND LOT MOREREAR LEG AND HEADROOM, LAG AT START UP, NO USB PORT