"Chevrolet Cruz": the pros and cons of the car, specifications, equipment, features and owner reviews

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:42

"Chevrolet Cruz" was created under the leadership of Tevan Kim. The General Motors company presented this car as a replacement for the Chevrolet Lacetti. The car is based on the new global platform "Delta II", on which the Opel Astra J is built.

In Russia, Chevrolet Cruze hatchbacks and sedans were produced at the company's plant in St. Petersburg (Shushary). With a station wagon body, cars were produced at the Avtotor plant in Kaliningrad. Officially, the model was present on the Russian market from 2009 to 2015.

Reviews about this car are somewhat contradictory, especially in the Russian automotive community. Some owners practically do not see any shortcomings in it, and some argue that the car "crumbles". In this article, we will analyze the pros and cons of the Chevrolet Cruze.

Features

First of all, consider the main characteristics of the car. Available in the body: sedan, station wagon, five-door hatchback. Drive - front. In Russia, it was produced with P4 gasoline engines with a volume of 1.4 liters (power - 140 "horses" with a turbocharger), 1.6 liters (with a power of 109 and 124 hp), and also with a power of 141 hp. and volume 1.8. The pros and cons of the Chevrolet Cruze are primarily related to the checkpoint. It is either a five-speed manual or a six-speed automatic. The fact that there is an "automatic" in principle is a plus. His capriciousness is, of course, a minus, but the automatic transmission will be considered in more detail below.

Restyling

There were only two of them, but both were not very significant. In 2012, manufacturers updated the grille and headlights. There were also changes to the air vents located around the fog lights. New alloy wheels became available, and the "stuffing" was supplemented with the MyLink entertainment system, which is added to the package as an option. In 2014, the design of the radiator grille was changed. Now it has become an angular shape, similar to the style of the Malibu models.

Leaving the Russian market

Now the car has left the Russian market, remaining only in the secondary market. There is an opinion that it was precisely in connection with the political situation in the world that the Korean concern General Motors announced that it would no longer sell its cars in Russia. Meanwhile, the direct ancestor of the ChevroletCruz" is more or less successfully sold with us under the name "Ravon Gentra (Gentra)".

Comparison

Consider the pros and cons of the Chevrolet Cruze. Compared to its predecessor, the Lacetti, the car does not suffer from "diseases" of optics. It does not fog up or melt, and light bulbs last much longer. The rather fragile fastening of the bumpers causes dissatisfaction among many owners, since the plastic part can move away from the fixation points, even if you just carelessly "support" the snowdrift during parking. After 4-5 years of operation in many cars of this model, the trunk release button fails.

If we talk about the pros and cons of the Chevrolet Cruze, then the first, of course, should include a thin paintwork that is poorly resistant to chipping. However, many modern cars have this disadvantage. In defense of the Cruise, one thing can be said: although the paintwork is unstable, the anti-corrosion treatment is up to par. The owners say that even after two or three years the chips do not rust.

Picking up the hardware

"General Motors", releasing this model, expected a lot from it. The Chevrolet Cruze, with pluses and minuses, whatever they were, wanted to take the place of the best-selling car in the world. But it's hard to create something perfect. "Kruz" is available with two transmission options: manual and automatic. Both have theirshortcomings.

The mechanical five-speed gearbox D16, in particular, has such a minus: leakage of drive seals. This can often be observed during the off-season, when temperature changes are especially unpredictable. Sometimes owners have to change oil seals twice a year: in autumn and spring. This "feature" in the list of minuses "Chevroe Cruz" can be called the brightest. It was she who greatly spoiled the reputation of the car as a durable and reliable car. Maybe the Korean concern hasn't adjusted for the Russian weather?

To make the gearshift of the Cruz manual gearbox more clear, experts advise almost immediately to replace the factory oil in the gearbox with any good analogue. In order for the box to serve as long as possible, the oil needs to be changed every hundred thousand kilometers. This advice is even more relevant for Chevrolet Lacetti owners.

What about the "automatic"?

If we talk about the pros and cons of the "Chevrolet Cruz", then a fair share of the latter will have to experience the owners of the "Cruise" with an automatic transmission. Automatic transmission "General Motors" Series 6T30 / 6T40 is rather capricious. The most obvious problem is various vibrations, as well as jerks when switching, which occur quite quickly, sometimes already by thirty thousand kilometers. The unit has frankly weak points that have a very small resource of work. These include the valve body and its solenoids, the control unit, which is built into the automatic transmission. Lots ofproblems appear due to the retaining ring of the brake drum, which, falling apart by a hundred thousand kilometers, falls into the gears of the planetary gear, bringing the repair cost to decent amounts.

Also, the box is different and leaks. Most often, the cooling pipes that go to the heat exchanger flow, and the gasket between the half-shells of the box.

Treatable?

Is it possible to "equalize" the pros and cons in the operation of "Chevrolet Cruz"? Mechanics claim that frequent oil changes (approximately every 40-50 thousand kilometers) will help to slightly increase the service life of this type of automatic transmission. However, the help from this will not be as significant as we would like. Some owners "treat" this automatic transmission by installing an additional radiator to cool the box. Specialists involved in the professional repair of "automatic machines" believe that during normal driving such an upgrade is just a waste of money. Additional cooling will be useful in extreme conditions, but will not be able to "cure congenital diseases".

Pendant

Both pluses and minuses of the car "Chevrolet Cruz" are present. This also applies to the suspension, which, however, is very good. The Cruz shares a platform with the Astra J, but the Cruz's rear suspension does not have Watt's mechanism. It is equipped with a conventional elastic beam without additional rods. The design is very simple, so there is practically nothing to break.

The front suspension has one minus -These are rear silent blocks of levers. They "live" up to a maximum of one hundred thousand mileage. Other elements have much more work resource. Also, engineers claim that the Cruz has all the nodes more massive than the Lacetti. These pros and cons of the Chevrolet Cruze refer to 1.6 liters and 1.8 liters. The turbocharged 1.4 engine can also be supplemented with expensive turbine repairs, which will probably have to be done after 100-150 thousand km of run.