During our first drive of the 2016 Chevrolet Cruze, we were happy to report it took nearly everything from the first-generation Cruze, amplified them and made it a better overall vehicle.
But, we will echo what Car and Driver found during its recent comparison test of the Nissan Sentra, Hyundai Elantra, Chevy Cruze, Honda Civic and Mazda 3: its dynamics are suited to highway cruising and long hauls.
The 2016 Cruze always felt nimble, but consistently acted like its bigger brother Impala. In this comparison, passing grades were largely given on driving dynamics, and how the compact cars behaved over miles upon miles.
That meant the Honda Civic, recently redesigned, and the Mazda 3, a longtime enthusiast choice in the field, outdid the Cruze. Despite having the quickest clocked times with its 1.4-liter turbo four-cylinder, the Cruze’s dynamics matched up as sluggish compared to the more sporting Civic and 3.
But, not every person takes their compact cars canyon carving. We still have no doubt the Cruze will find its niche among buyers.
Comments
Why do auto magazine test small sedan cars for “performance” when they were NEVER design as so? That means that the next test feature is carrying cargo, so a small CUV is better than a sportscar? These guys are mixing their minds here. Test them as they would be driven in real life. Small car owners are more interested in safety, confort, and economy (that is why they are SMALL), not in how fast they can outrace their neighbors, which ends up crashing into each other or other innocent drivers. If the “performance” issue is removed, the Cruze will easily beat the imports, and that is great!
Please! Let each segment have their own tests and not mix them.
Looks like the new Cruze is tuned more for ride comfort, making it feel like a larger vehicle. The new Cruze is also much quieter.
Good chance for a sport version to follow.
They didn’t test a Cruze with the RS package with the 18 inch wheels or doesn’t that matter. I didn’t get a chance to drive the car yet.
Well, it is a compact economy car, after all. It’s nice that automakers are trying to improve on car classes’ negative stereotypes, but it’s the buyers’ expectations that always rule out. And probably nobody who actually knows anything much about cars thought that the Cruze was going to be a mini-racer. That’s not the point of it, at the end of the day.
And the only ones save a handful of consumers who think they ought to be a mini racer are these auto rags clearly in the minority here by the sales numbers of each car,
Well it is car and driver overall. As they did rank either the Mazda 3 of the civic as their 10 best
There is the 1.5 166 hp if someone look for more power. and hope they will add the 2.0.
The article was fixed and not based on what the ‘real’ numbers say as other cars got higher scores based on what the tester felt and not what was on paper; the Cruze lost in powertrain despite giving the best performance and fuel mileage, it lost in chassis yet offered the best performance, it lost in vehicle despite giving the driver the best comfort and ergonomics as this tells me that the Cruze lost because the author of the article didn’t want to admit the truth that the best car was the 2016 Chevy Cruze.
Orange is the new black just like compact is the new midsizer and midsized is the new large.
This Cruze as well as Civic trump 2005 Malibu in amenities and size.
I did an extensive test drive of the new 2016 Cruze and I would say that C&D got it about right, based on their “driver’s car” mentality.
I myself prefer large compact cars (what used to be called mid-size cars, before everything got bigger) and the 2016 Cruze fits that bill almost perfectly.
The positives were:
VERY comfortable, quiet, handled very well, absorbed bumps excellently, maneuverable, and had quite a lot of room for the driver and passengers. This is a compact car, but feels like a very decent mid-size.
Everything was easy to do. The info was right there, the ergonomics were fine, basically I can easily imagine driving this car every day.
The engine: Very strong at anything other than initial initial move forward.
The downsides were:
First and foremost, I absolutely hate start/stop. Plus my drive is almost all highway, so it’s barely any use to me anyway – just an annoyance and gives me this constant worry that one day it won’t start at some intersection somewhere. I wish there was a way to turn it off or have a trim level that didn’t include it (maybe just buy the LT manual, which are rarer than hens’ teeth).
The black interior didn’t do it for me. Works for some people, not for me. Maybe the gray or orange (mojave) interiors would have been a better choice on the test drive.
The rear windshield is really small. I mean really small. Combine that with the high trunk and it gets a bit disconcerting. Good thing the backup camera is standard, because you really need it.
The engine. I love the engine at all times other than that initial move forward, because at low speeds when you first press on the gas it feels strangely weak. It gets going very soon after, but it’s like it has two personalities: 98 lb weakling below 10 mph, champ when it gets going.
It doesn’t really feel anything like the new Civic or Mazda3. Those are drivers cars which happen to be inexpensive and have 4 doors (and a lot of space, in the case of the Civic).
Feels much more like the new Elantra and the updated Jetta, which are similar large compacts. Quieter and more comfortable than the Elantra, better seats and steering wheel than the Jetta. (Of course, the Elantra and the Jetta have some very strong positives of their own – especially the Jetta with those amazing turbo engines and massive trunk).
As someone else intimated above, C&D like sports cars. If what you want is a compact that can feel a bit like a high-g sports car on a serious budget, you’ll like the Civic and the Mazda 3.
If instead you are looking for a very decent supersized compact, the Cruze, the Elantra, and the Jetta work better. (The Impreza is in its own category).
I think the second gen. Cruze is a much improved car over the first gens. (not hard to do). I don’t understand why Cruze sales continue to plummet, especially compared to the rest of the segment. The new model has been on the dealer lots long enough to have established numbers for it, but sales are still falling month by month. And now they are going to bring in Mexican produced Cruzen for U.S. consumption. I really don’t understand.