As some of you already know, we provide a list of things we enjoy in vehicles we examine up close, or spend some seat-time with. And just as well, we list a few things we don’t. The 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel that was revealed during this week’s Chicago Auto Show is no exception. So, without further adieu, here are the five things we believe will be a challenge for the Cruze TD when it launches in a few months from now.
1. No Manual Transmission
Diesel passenger cars make up a smidgen of the overall vehicle market in the United States. So a manual diesel vehicle is especially niche. Though there is no denying the enthusiast’s preference of rowing through the gears by hand and foot, and that more often than not, it’s the stick shift that provides superior fuel economy.
2. No Basic Model To Make Things More Affordable
At a starting price of over $25,000, the Cruze TD might give potential buyers a case of the sticker shocks. Especially when looking at the Volkswagen Jetta TDI, which has a base price that’s $1,500 lower. However, the Cruze TD is generously loaded, but those who would rather simply have a frugal model with cloth seats will have to browse other Cruze models.
3. The MCE Still Eludes Us
From what’s been rumored, the all-new Chevrolet Cruze is roughly two years out, which means GM is most likely gonna be riding the current generation model out for as long as it can. In fact, it’s rather surprising we haven’t seen a mid-cycle-enhancement at all.
4. Overly Cautious Buyers May Shy Away From The DEF System
While the Volkswagen Jetta TDI was launched in North America before U.S. government regulations really started cracking down on diesel emissions, the Cruze TD is forced to comply, and thus requires an extra system to operate. GM engineers tell us that the system is good for 10,000 miles at the very least before the DEF tank needs a refill, but it could be argued that the market will need some time to warm up to this mandatory technology.
5. It Doesn’t Surpass The Cruze Eco In Estimated Fuel Economy
Yes, thanks to a larger tank than the Cruze Eco, the Cruze TD is expected to have the longest range of all variants offered in North America. Yet at an estimated 42 miles per gallon on the highway, the highway fuel economy of the Cruze TD with an automatic transmission is equal to that of the Cruze Eco with a manual transmission, while being pricier. This puts the Cruze TD in a funky spot, with buyers only being those who are willing to pay extra for a power upgrade that the diesel engine provides while retaining the same mileage as the cheaper, though less powerful, Cruze Eco. If the Cruze TD could even touch 45 miles per gallon on the highway officially, customers might find the deal to be much sweeter.
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Comments
Maybe charge more to loose less if it flops are doesn’t meet sales predictions.
If it does decent, I bet we will see the Cruze Eco-D, which is where we will see cloth seats and manny tranny, along with the typical Ego trim aero pieces and addons
I’m in total agreement with pretty much all of the above, GM sort of messed up what could have been a brilliant idea and a succesful car. Hopefully GM will rectify the situation…
They seem to be doing a lot of that recently. [sigh]
I saw this at the Chicago Auto show today and was underwhelmed. 42 mpg is too low, and I thought Chevy would launch this with a refresh across the model line, making the changes too tough to notice. It should be “The NEW Cruze, lead by the NEW Diesel” not “The OLD Cruze, with an indistinguishable and over-priced model…”
Or offer Biodiesel found in Astra?
I own a 1993 Dodge pick up, owned a 2005 Jetta diesel and own a 2014 Cruze diesel. In all cases Biodiesel, true to the enrgy diff between real diesel and it, produces approx 30% less mileage per gallon. Cruze got 40 with bio and 56 with real on same road surfaces and cruising speed.
The price will be what drives value driven folks away from this car. When you do the math it’s easy to see one would never recover the extra acquisition cost over a regular Cruze.
I want one! I drive from NY to Chicago 4 times a year and 200 miles a week to Connecticut. I have a 2011 ECO with a six speed manual.I consisting get over 40 MPH on the highway and about 35 in the city. I’ve averaged 54 MPG once driving from Manassas Virginia to Long Island at 58 MPH with control. I have nitrogen in the tires!
Disappointed thus far, I will not get one with diesel fuel being 40- 60 cents a gallon more than gas with the same MPG . They need to offer a manual trans, ECO equivalent model and get mid 50-60 MPG to be worth it. Putting a larger gas tank in to make the claim that it goes 700 miles on a tank is slightly misleading. PS I’ve never bought a foreign car. I also own a 2013 Malibu LT2 with the new 2.5, I’ll save my comments for that blog.
Same problem all new cars have…they cost to bloomin’ much to justify. Especially for high mile drivers. There’s a lot of good used stuff out there that has already been broken in. Leases are OK, if you just want something to look nice in your driveway.
I like diesels. But why does it cost a dollar more in the US? When I go overseas diesel fuel is cheaper and diesel cars are everywhere. The cruze’s 1.4 gas turbo would be cheaper to buy and operate. You pay more diesel fuel, more to buy the engine, and maintenance costs are higher, and you better keep up on the maintenance or pay even more down the road. It would be all worth it if the fuel was not so high priced.
If other articles are correct at torque news, the mpg is expected to be 32 city, 56 highway and 44 combined. Past reports on this site keep referring to 44 but never say if its highway or combined until this article. Time will tell. And it will support 20% biodiesel blend supposedly. Waiting to get my hands on one to check out. Otherwis all the other points are valid especially the options. But selling my manual now, having a manual truck, I like the automatic.
I like the Chevy Cruz, but I think that adding a Turbo Diesel to the lineup is like “this is the answer to the question nobody asked.” I expect that it might make up about 5% of the Cruz sales, it just is NOT needed.
GM’s marketing department is once again falling on their sword. That entire department needs to be purged. They are killing really good products…Haven’t they learnt that you simply cannot unveil a car with the top-of-the-line model? You wait until all of the lower models can be unveiled…the volume sellers have to go through the door first. Then when excitement is gathered, you unveil the top-end model a few months later. These fools need to go back to school…
Totally agree with the previous few comments. This was a chance for GM to make its mark and they appear to blowing it. Too pricey, poor fuel economy(for a diesel), added costs(exhaust fluid), Yadda yadda. Its as though they aren’t sure what the plan for this car should be. What is the direct competition, target demogrphic etc. typical Detroit I hate to say. The real issue will be the Mazda 6 diesel due out this summer. It has the price, size, looks and economy to destroy the Cruze. Running costs should be lower and there is always the perception (rightly or wrongly) the Japanese quality will be superior. So the diesel Cruze will probably flop as they present it currently. Which is a real shame as anything that bring more publicity to diesel power is badly needed in America.
They keep messing up these decisions. Who keeps dropping the ball, engineering, marketing, upper management, or the bean counters? Or maybe all the above. They will turn around and drop the car and say diesels don’t sell in America.
Must be the lack of maintenance, which makes GM not push Diesels. Gas engines need at least spark plugs by 100,000 miles. Diesels need nothing but oil changes until death.
You guys just want to forget GM and its promises. Get a real car and buy a VW Golf diesel DSG Auto. It will blow you away, and the opposition.
Ken — while the VW EA189 (2.0 TDI) and its successor, the EA888, are fine engines — as are the transmissions they’re mated to, the powertrain combos are not perfect.
Driving my fiance’s 2012 Jetta TDI with the DSG, I notice a very annoying trait that occurs under braking: the transmission downshifts aggressively as the vehicle is being slowed by the brakes, which results in the “pushing” of the vehicle forward by the down-shifting, making it more difficult to stop.
That’s a major engineering flaw, one that should have been noticed and corrected before ever allowing the vehicles to hit the market.
So while the Cruze TD doesn’t have an efficient and direct-acting DSG, at least it won’t exhibit the rather unsafe bugs found in the DSG, like the one I mentioned.
It’s interesting that you mentioned these niggles with the DSG. I have a coworker with a 1.4 TSi (twin charged) Jetta that has DSG and it shudders noticeably as it moves away from rest. The dealer is giving him the old “they all do that” crap, but I’m not buying it. VWs, like everything built on the wrong side of the Atlantic, are garbage and are just failures waiting to happen.
Will be interesting to see if that’s something VW addresses with the next-gen Golf that will be made in Mexico…
That down shifting actually slows the vehicle, Not speeds it up. It’s causes the engine to rev, which slows the vehicle naturally. It’s the same as down shifting a manual transmission when coasting… If the engine is running at a higher rpm without your foot on the gas pedal, the vehicle will slow down. The only way it would speed it up is if you are driving an automatic vehicle with both feet, Which is not proper.
Mark, I realize that the downshifting is intended to slow it down. But that’s not what I was referring to. Rather, it’s the sudden nature of the downshift, which throws the car’s occupants forward (braking) while you’re already applying the brake yourself.
I’ve never seen any other automatic gearbox exhibit this kind of behavior, which makes stopping very unpredictable. It’s not like the Jetta’s brakes can’t handle stopping the vehicle by themselves… and why put the additional strain on the powertrain when the brakes are more than capable of stopping the Jetta?
What it comes down to is a driving experience that’s substantially worsened by the DSG’s programming. I’d even go so far as to say that the experience is ruined by this behavior. Sometimes, I have to resort to shifting to neutral while braking, just to avoid the “downshift of death”, as I’ve come to call it.
And don’t get me started on the Jetta’s numerous cabin rattles — something for which GM tests extensively.
GM has underestimated the importance of this car and the growing acceptance of diesel over the next few years.
So the 2012 Jetta TDI retails @ $22,775 & achieves 30 City (mpg) & 42 Highway (mpg) (MSN autos). Thre Cruze gets 42 hwy. Anyone complaining about the Jetta mpg?
I agree though, they should introduced this model when the Cruze is all new or refreshed. Hopefully this is the top of the line model with decontented models to follow at a lower price point.
From what i just read, most of the people who made comments are anti Diesel or Anti GM. I feel this is just a start for other vehicles to get Diesel option with in GM and i think that is a great idea. Now don’t be critics, instead give suggestions.
I applaud GM for this effort and I hope that they succeed. However, GM seems to be following traditional approaches so success is not guaranteed.
For example, let’s look at pricing. So GM did its homework and benchmarked it against the Jetta TDI. One is established in the market with a high reputation, one is new. In virtually every similar situation, no matter what the product, the “new” entrant has to either offer superior value and/or mitigation of risk.
Here the pricing gets conflicted with the vehicle offering and the cost/benefit/value must be given to the customer by a third party (dealership salesperson) in many cases.
Okay, supposedly they are priced properly versus Passat, but is it enough to overcome the risk? That’s where things like an extended powertrain warranty can be worthwhile.
But the biggest mistake the GM makes comes from not understanding cross-elasticity between the vehiclesl on it’s lot. The Cruze diesel may be priced competitively with the Volkswagen Passat but the most important pricing is the price comparison to other Cruzes if you want to sell in volume. Whether you markiet it as a model or as an option, the premium for a diesel should be readily evident for all to see.
Im not a critic but I have waited a while for this to come out and frankly 42mpg was not what I had in mind to replace a 10year old car tha continues to get 32 on gas of similar size. Yes its a GM product. But they should offer the 1.7 new engine they have going too to satisfy all of us….power hungry or mileage gains AND not force everyone to buy upgrades such as leather seats. I would never normaly buy them as they are hot in the winter and cold in the winter among other things..yeah yeah heated seats..yet another upgrade option one can do without. Now the info taiment systems I want.
Add this to the dislike. Some idiot put on a belt instead of a timing chain on a dieslel that is eaisly expected to have 200k and more miles on it as it ages gracefully if this line from an article is true…. why GM why. A timing chain can’t be that much noisier than a belt. “Quiet belt-driven cams/valvetrain with high-strength belt material and tensioner rated for 100,000 miles.” If this is true now I have to reconsider buying this. But if the highway mileage truly does come out to 56 wisper number and average 44, then that may keep me wanting it. Can anyone confirm indeed the diesel has a timing belt and NOT a chain?
@iamnjunk it’s a belt… not a chain. 🙁
It’s not the best diesel offering GM has to offer… I personally would rather have this all-new 1.6 liter unit:
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2013/01/opel-announces-all-new-1-6-liter-turbo-diesel-engine/
you guys that wan’t a stick, drive a dump truck,then you’ll come back to a auto.
Lolz @Joe… driving a dump truck with a stick is a bit different than driving a compact sedan, wouldn’t you say? 🙂
But diesel dump truck?
don’t knock anything till you try it ..who knows you might like it..