Cruze round for great value

Nov 30 2009 Peter Hayward

THE latest Cruze from Chevrolet is a great family saloon that I really enjoyed driving once I sorted its foibles.

This is one of a number of cars where the right foot has to be floored to get best performance.

Do that and it delivers pretty well - which means, for the price, and with about £1,000 discount, it is great value

I drove the 1.6 LS and when you floor the accelerator from about 3,500 revs, it accelerates reasonably quickly, with a smooth power delivery and a very sweet soundtrack.

But at lower revs, it really struggles to give very much at all and certainly won't in the fifth gear of five.

It has very tidy handling and safe road-holding and clings on tight with good feedback from the steering.

When it does slide it's neutral on a dry surface and tends to understeer in the wet.

There's not too much roll and it grips superbly even when pushed very hard.

Interior

It comes pretty well equipped, with a good sounding CD stereo, central locking, aircon, electric front windows with the switches in the door, internal beam adjustment and bucket seats with good support all round.

It has good rear legroom, a decent boot and 60/40 split fold rear seats. Seat adjustment for the driver is excellent.

FAST FACTS

Chevrolet Cruze

Price: £12,600

Mechanical: 111bhp, 1598cc, 4 cylinder petrol engine driving front wheels via 5-speed manual gearbox.

Max speed: 115mph

0-62mph: 12.4 seconds

Combined mpg: 41

Insurance group: 5

CO2 emissions: 159g/km

BIK rating: 19%

Warranty: 3yrs/ 60,000 miles

Marks: 8/10

Main rival: None