G14 AUTOMOTIVE THE CAR PAGES GM is wise to let the Cruze take control L
eadership inherently is at odds with the notion of “good enough.” Leadership believes it can do better. It
works to become the best. “Good enough” makes peace with medi- ocrity and settles comfortably into oblivion, which is where General Motors has been for the past two decades in the small-car segment of theU.S. automobile market. The company made passable
small cars—the Chevrolet Cava- lier, Chevrolet Cobalt, Chevrolet Aveo. Those models had four wheels, engines and steering wheels—and better fuel economy than GM’s trucks. They met feder- al crash-safety standards. They worked. But GM’s little rides competed
in a field of small cars made by companies that took small cars se- riously:Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia. Those companies have always understood the pow- er and value of “face”—giving re- spect by giving the best to those who could afford the least, giving them little cars they could be proud of, even love. They kicked GM’s small-car tail. Now, there is solid evidence
that GMis fighting back. It is the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze, arguably the first small Chevy in 20 years that GMdesigned to be better than the competition. It has better fuel economy than its rivals, bet- ter utility than most of them, and it is put together as well as all of them. It looks much richer than its base purchase price, which means it does an excellent job of saving face. The Cruze is a compact, front- wheel-drive family car of which there are four iterations: base LS, midgrade 1LT and 2LT and top- grade LTZ. The LS is distin- guished from its siblings with a normally aspirated (no forced air) 1.8-liter, inline four-cylinder en- gine (136 horsepower, 123 foot- pounds of torque). The rest of the Cruze line is equipped with a turbocharged (forced air) 1.4-liter, inline four- cylinder engine (138 horsepower, 148 foot-pounds of torque). An aside: Internal combustion
Something for the small-car crowd CHEVROLET CRUZE
Bottom line: The Chevrolet Cruze is a bona fide contender for your small-car dollar. You would be making a serious mistake if you did not put it on the same shopping list as the Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra, Kia Forte and Toyota Corolla.
Ride, acceleration and handling: The Cruze LS gets an excellent mark for small-car ride and good marks for acceleration and handling. The more spirited and likable LTZ gets excellent marks all around.
Head-turning quotient: The Cruze looks richer than it is, inside and out. Congratulations to GMand Chevrolet for finally comprehending the difference between “economy” and “tacky.” One honors the low-cost buyer. The other disparages that customer.
Body style/layout: The Chevrolet Cruze is a compact, front-engine, front-wheel-drive, four-door economy car with a traditional notchback trunk. It is available in four iterations: base LS, midgrade 1LT and 2LT and top-grade LTZ.
Engines/transmissions: There are two available engines including a normally aspirated 1.8-liter, 16-valve, inline four-cylinder model (136 horsepower, 123 foot-pounds of torque) linked to a six-speed manual transmission; and a turbocharged 1.4-liter, 16-valve, inline four-cylinder engine (138 horsepower, 148 foot-pounds of torque) linked to an automatic six-speed transmission that can be operated manually.
GM/WIECK
quality of the interior. GMworked on and thought
WARREN BROWN On Wheels
engines require air and fuel to work. Generally, the more air and fuel an engine can handle, the more work it can do. But larger- volume engines, which can swal- low more air and fuel, generally have poor fuel economy. Turbo- charging, using exhaust-driven impellers to drawmore fresh air into engine combustion cham- bers, is one way to increase power in smaller engines without an ap- preciable rise in fuel consump- tion. I spent most ofmy time in the turbocharged 1.4-liter LTZ, equipped with a six-speed auto- matic transmission that also could be operated manually. What first caughtmy attention was the
about the Cruze’s interior, which is unusual for the automaker in the matter of small-car cabins. Fit and finish were excellent.Most materials, except a fewplastic cover pieces at window corners, were first class. A rust-and-black color scheme, with leather and simulated alloy trim on the dash and optional leather-covered seats, added to the cabin’s attrac- tiveness. Such touches increase the ap-
peal of small cars and the willing- ness of consumers to buy them. But road performance is the grab- ber, and the Cruze LS and LTZ do a good job, albeit the LTZ model does it better. There is none of the perform-
ance anemia in the Cruze often found in the Cavalier and Cobalt (excluding the quite likable Cobalt SS model). The 1.8-liter and 1.4-li- ter four-cylinder engines per- formed smoothly. The LTZ’s tur- bocharged 1.4-liter engine brought smiles tomy face. I endedmy day-long run in the
Cruze cars confident that I was right to continue believing in GM’s people when it seemed everyone else had turned against them. They have the right stuff. They simply needed corporate leaders to pull it out of them. They had those leaders with
formerGMchairman G. Richard Wagoner and product czar Robert Lutz, under whose guidance the Cruze was developed. But theirs was tough luck. After rising through the old GM’s bureaucratic muck to get to a place where they could make a difference in the company’s products,Wagoner and Lutz became the political victims of a strained national economy. Here’s hoping that their admin-
istrative replacements understand the difference between mediocrity and leadership. For assistance, they need look no further than the metal and rubber examples al- ready before them.Mediocrity is what begot the Cavalier. Leader- ship is what gave us the Cruze.
brownw@washpost.com
Brown is a special correspondent.
Capacities: There are seats for five people in the Chevrolet Cruze. Maximum luggage space is 15.4 cubic feet. The Cruze holds 15.6 gallons off gasoline. Unlike most cars with turbocharged engines, this one takes regular fuel. Our real-world estimate for the Cruze LTZ was 40 miles per gallon on the highway. City driving was minimal.
Safety: Standard equipment includes front and rear ventilated disc brakes, four-wheel antilock brake protection, electronic brake force monitoring and distribution, electronic stability and traction control, side and head air bags, dual front knee air bags, and tire pressure monitoring.
Prices: Base prices are $16,275 for the Cruze LS and $21,975 for the Cruze LTZ. Dealer’s base invoice prices are $15,624 for the LS and $21,096 for the LTZ. Prices as tested are $16,995 for the LS and $22,695 for the LTZ, including a $720 transportation charge for both. Dealer prices as tested are $16,344 for the LS and $21,816 for the LTZ.
on
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3Next week: A heavy-duty, diesel-powered Chevrolet Silverado 250 pickup with an Allison transmission.
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