A whole new life will be open to you now, think of the possibilities....You decide you want/need to take a 500 mile trip, you just hop into your MODERN car, under factory warranty and just go, with no reservations whatsoever.
Let us know how that Cruze is, it's supposed to be a very nice, little (OK, not so little) car.
Living in the DC area, I'm surprised you went with a manual!
I bought a new car today!
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JRL
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Re: I bought a new car today!
Mod note. Jim passed away in early 2022, his contributions to this forum are immortal, and he is missed. RIP
2000 V70R Black, 144,000 miles Wife's R.
2007 V70 2.5T White/Oak 111,000 MILES. Polestar tune, IPD bars, rear spoiler, dark grey Thors, DWS 06, HU850, sub.
2000 V70R Black, 144,000 miles Wife's R.
2007 V70 2.5T White/Oak 111,000 MILES. Polestar tune, IPD bars, rear spoiler, dark grey Thors, DWS 06, HU850, sub.
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precopster
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Well done Justin and congrats on both the new position and the new vehicle!!
The Holden Cruze as it's known over here was Car of The Year over here and in both economy and driving dynamics seems to be a real winner. It's also the basis for Korean Daewoo driven development for the electric Chevy Volt (is it on sale there?) and the Holden Volt by another name due for release soon.
Seems as though little bro' there has got a handle on things. Looking forward to his contribution (and yours too)
The Holden Cruze as it's known over here was Car of The Year over here and in both economy and driving dynamics seems to be a real winner. It's also the basis for Korean Daewoo driven development for the electric Chevy Volt (is it on sale there?) and the Holden Volt by another name due for release soon.
Seems as though little bro' there has got a handle on things. Looking forward to his contribution (and yours too)
Current cars VW Transporter 2.5TDI, 2010 XC90 D5 R Design
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JRL
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I think you have it wrong, the Cruze is OPEL derived, not Holden.
I read a lot about it when it came out and no one mentioned Holden
I read a lot about it when it came out and no one mentioned Holden
Mod note. Jim passed away in early 2022, his contributions to this forum are immortal, and he is missed. RIP
2000 V70R Black, 144,000 miles Wife's R.
2007 V70 2.5T White/Oak 111,000 MILES. Polestar tune, IPD bars, rear spoiler, dark grey Thors, DWS 06, HU850, sub.
2000 V70R Black, 144,000 miles Wife's R.
2007 V70 2.5T White/Oak 111,000 MILES. Polestar tune, IPD bars, rear spoiler, dark grey Thors, DWS 06, HU850, sub.
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precopster
- Posts: 7543
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JRL wrote:I think you have it wrong, the Cruze is OPEL derived, not Holden.
I read a lot about it when it came out and no one mentioned Holden
Nah I didn't say HOLDEN designed it. It's just our own spin on the model. It's actually a Suzuki derived car: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Cruze with most of the engineering done by Opel.
At the moment the Australian car industry can't design a small car and hasn't done so since our Toranas from the 70s.
The only locally designed products are our Falcon (Ford) and Commodore (GM) which are just OK by world standards. The 2 door coupe version of the Commodore (our Monaro) was touted to be sold as a US car under the Chev badge. Haven't been keeping up with whether this happened. Did it??
Current cars VW Transporter 2.5TDI, 2010 XC90 D5 R Design
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jblackburn
- MVS Moderator
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The Commodore made it here as the Pontiac G8 and GTO. It was a decent sports car from the reviews - RWD, V8 engine, but it totally flopped in the US and was killed off with the Pontiac brand. I don't think it was ever worthy of the GTO name plate that accompanied the big boats from the 60's with HUGE engines.
The Cruze has been in Europe since 2008, with both 1.6 and 1.8 liter engines. The 1.6 is apparently garbage, and the 1.8 that comes in the base models here isn't very powerful. It makes the same HP as the 1.4, but the 1.4 has a lot of torque that kicks in around 1500 RPM from the little turbo on it. The 1.4 was used without the turbo in the Chevy Volt. The engine looks so small under the hood and does vibrate a bit, but it's very smooth inside the car and sounds pretty good under acceleration.
It's no T5 when you push the pedal down on the highway, but it is a torquey, tossable little thing that loves to zip around town and go through the gears.
As far as the manual...I drove the automatic and hated it. It was lazy and slow to shift...programmed for maximum fuel economy I'm sure. I also drove the Cruze ECO model in a 6-speed, and the transmission gearing was all wrong. 4th, 5th, and 6th just dropped the engine out of the power band entirely and it had no motivation to change speeds on the highway when changing lanes.
We'll see if I hate myself for buying the manual in traffic, but as I'll mostly be leaving the car in a parking garage and riding the Metro into DC, I shouldn't be stuck in too much bumper-to-bumper traffic.
I compared this car to the Hyundai Elantra (the 10 year warranty is tempting, but the car is no fun to drive at all), Ford Focus (a very nice little car), Honda Civic, Mazda3, as well as midsize cars like the Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata, and 2012 Toyota Camry. The 2012 Camry came in a very close second - it's actually fun to drive and has a great engine/transmission combination even in the 4-cylinder package, but the Cruze was the winner for me. And I'm very excited that I don't have to give up the enjoyment I get from driving by buying something like a Corolla or Civic.
The Cruze has been in Europe since 2008, with both 1.6 and 1.8 liter engines. The 1.6 is apparently garbage, and the 1.8 that comes in the base models here isn't very powerful. It makes the same HP as the 1.4, but the 1.4 has a lot of torque that kicks in around 1500 RPM from the little turbo on it. The 1.4 was used without the turbo in the Chevy Volt. The engine looks so small under the hood and does vibrate a bit, but it's very smooth inside the car and sounds pretty good under acceleration.
As far as the manual...I drove the automatic and hated it. It was lazy and slow to shift...programmed for maximum fuel economy I'm sure. I also drove the Cruze ECO model in a 6-speed, and the transmission gearing was all wrong. 4th, 5th, and 6th just dropped the engine out of the power band entirely and it had no motivation to change speeds on the highway when changing lanes.
We'll see if I hate myself for buying the manual in traffic, but as I'll mostly be leaving the car in a parking garage and riding the Metro into DC, I shouldn't be stuck in too much bumper-to-bumper traffic.
I compared this car to the Hyundai Elantra (the 10 year warranty is tempting, but the car is no fun to drive at all), Ford Focus (a very nice little car), Honda Civic, Mazda3, as well as midsize cars like the Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata, and 2012 Toyota Camry. The 2012 Camry came in a very close second - it's actually fun to drive and has a great engine/transmission combination even in the 4-cylinder package, but the Cruze was the winner for me. And I'm very excited that I don't have to give up the enjoyment I get from driving by buying something like a Corolla or Civic.
'98 S70 T5
2016 Chevy Cruze Premier
A learning experience is one of those things that says, "You know that thing you just did? Don't do that."
mercuic: Long live the tractor motor!
2016 Chevy Cruze Premier
A learning experience is one of those things that says, "You know that thing you just did? Don't do that."
mercuic: Long live the tractor motor!
Jason,
What are you going to do with all your free time now? No more TB changes or PCV changes or hundreds of other little things that need to be addressed
What are you going to do with all your free time now? No more TB changes or PCV changes or hundreds of other little things that need to be addressed
Git Er Done
dbeckwith
95 850 GLT
264,000 miles
dbeckwith
95 850 GLT
264,000 miles
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jblackburn
- MVS Moderator
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Justin 
And that's a good question. I'm excited that I'll be spending much more time with my girlfriend instead of one of us driving 4 hours every other weekend or so to see each other. Skype and phones are great, but it's just not the same. I'm really glad that we have been able to keep that up for a year now because everything is finally turning out the way I've wanted it to for a really long time
I'm sure I'll still be helping Collin some weekends with the Volvo - it still has some things like struts, shaky CV joints, warped rotors, and an AC evaporator that are all items that need to be addressed at some point or another. Having a warranty on my own car is going to be amazing though, and hopefully it turns out to be a very reliable car - it certainly seems to be built MUCH better than any of the American cars my family has owned in the past.
And that's a good question. I'm excited that I'll be spending much more time with my girlfriend instead of one of us driving 4 hours every other weekend or so to see each other. Skype and phones are great, but it's just not the same. I'm really glad that we have been able to keep that up for a year now because everything is finally turning out the way I've wanted it to for a really long time
I'm sure I'll still be helping Collin some weekends with the Volvo - it still has some things like struts, shaky CV joints, warped rotors, and an AC evaporator that are all items that need to be addressed at some point or another. Having a warranty on my own car is going to be amazing though, and hopefully it turns out to be a very reliable car - it certainly seems to be built MUCH better than any of the American cars my family has owned in the past.
'98 S70 T5
2016 Chevy Cruze Premier
A learning experience is one of those things that says, "You know that thing you just did? Don't do that."
mercuic: Long live the tractor motor!
2016 Chevy Cruze Premier
A learning experience is one of those things that says, "You know that thing you just did? Don't do that."
mercuic: Long live the tractor motor!
Justin, I knew that too 
Just wanted to let you know I appreciate how much you helped me with my project Volvo, took the extra step of finding me resources to try and deal with my tranny issue and many others I am sure feel the same way.
Check in and say Hi once in a while
Just wanted to let you know I appreciate how much you helped me with my project Volvo, took the extra step of finding me resources to try and deal with my tranny issue and many others I am sure feel the same way.
Check in and say Hi once in a while
Git Er Done
dbeckwith
95 850 GLT
264,000 miles
dbeckwith
95 850 GLT
264,000 miles
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jblackburn
- MVS Moderator
- Posts: 14043
- Joined: 8 June 2008
- Year and Model: 1998 S70 T5
- Location: Alexandria, VA
- Has thanked: 9 times
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Of course! As always, I'm happy to help out.
'98 S70 T5
2016 Chevy Cruze Premier
A learning experience is one of those things that says, "You know that thing you just did? Don't do that."
mercuic: Long live the tractor motor!
2016 Chevy Cruze Premier
A learning experience is one of those things that says, "You know that thing you just did? Don't do that."
mercuic: Long live the tractor motor!
