Chevrolet Cruze LT

Cruze in Naples, Florida

       On my recent vacation to Florida, my family rented a Chevrolet Cruze LT. This handsome sedan, introduced in 2008, is built on the Delta II platform, which it shares with the Buick Verano, and has an inline-4 under the hood, capable of going 0-60 in 9.2 seconds. Our Cruze was fitted with the RS package, which adds unique front and rear fascias, lower body moldings, and a rear lip spoiler.

          The Cruze's front fascia features angular headlights, which have an elongated look, as the upper left corner is stretched back over the front of the wheel arch, forming a crisp line that flows into the window lining. This make the sedan look aggressive, giving it a sports car feel. The Cruze also features the corporate Chevy two-piece grille. Although its not particularly revolting, I dislike the bar running through the middle of the grill, because it makes the grill feel smaller. The idea of a small grill reminds me of the ugly cars of the 90's and early 2000's, which had useless, miniscule grilles (i.e. Ford Contour). The lower front fascia has fog lamps, surrounded with chrome inserts, which give the car an upscale look. Moving back, a sharp crease runs just above the door handles, and about 6 inches below the window sills, giving the body more texture. The hubcaps, although a pretty basic 5-spoke design, reinforce the Cruze's sporty vibe. At the rear, we have one piece taillights, which have two circles, the outer one larger than the other, which is similar to the two piece taillights of the Camaro or Corvette, or the almost two-piecers of the Malibu and Traverse. A rectangular chrome bar connects the taillights, and the Chevy badge, and Cruze and LT are written above it. While this Chevy is conservatively styled, it is still a good-looking compact.                                                                          

Cruze in Naples, Florida

        Now for the interior. The center console featured silver plastics contrasted by a piano black surface. It is luxurious looking but can be annoying as it smudges and shows fingerprints easily. The infotainment screen was of a decent size, and worked fairly well, although we didn't use it that much. My only complaint was that sometimes it felt as if it was too backlit, that there was too much exposure. The majority of the buttons, dials, and switches were easy to use, and the hazard button and the AC dials were very easy to find.

The steering wheel has a somewhat clean design, with only a moderate amount of buttons and a basic layout. The instrument cluster is also very basic, although the center gauge could've been put to better use, for a larger speedometer possibly. The seats, while not the most comfortable, were nice enough for an inexpensive compact. The only place where I felt uncomfortable was the backseat. I'm fairly tall, and therefore I felt a lack of headroom (I hit my head into the roof on multiple occasions) and also the seatbelt dug into my shoulder. This made long drives pretty awkward for me, as I had to sit hunched over. Another minor quibble I had was that  the overhead light section in the front had too much empty space, which could've been use for bigger lights, or, as I have seen in cars like the Australian Toyota RAV4, a small, swing-down storage compartment.

        But despite the few minor complaints, the Cruze was overall a very good looking car, because of it's slight sporty feel, and a pretty comfortable car on the inside.

Grade
Front: B+
Back: B

Overall: B+