Chevrolet Cruze LTZ

Chevrolet India is a fully owned subsidiary of General Motors which in turn is a JV of General Motors of the United States. Chevrolet came into Indian market in 1928, making General Motors the first company to open an assembly plant in country. The company was then forced by the Indian Government to shut shop during the time of Independence. But GM came back to the market in 2003 with a sedan named Chevrolet Optra and since then it has established itself well and has is now the 5th largest car manufacturer in the county after Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata and Mahindra. Chevrolet recently launched the faceliftmodel of its successful sedan named Chevrolet Cruze. The sedan is the first Chevrolet model in India to use GM’s revamped Delta 2 platform, an architecture that is used on all other GM models round the globe. At present Chevrolet Cruze is available in the market in three variants Chevrolet Cruze LT , Chevrolet Cruze LTZ and Chevrolet Cruze LTZ AT. The face lift of this sedan does not have any major changes in the features and design, the only change that comes in it is the all new Fam-Z engine. The car is now powered by a Fam-Z 2.0L VCDi diesel engine that produces a decent amount of power and torque. Both the interior and the exterior of the car are designed with care making it both elegant and aggressive.

Exterior

The exterior looking of the car is very aggressive, due to the bold design and the advanced features. In the front the car has dual port grille which is the upper and the lower grille separates by a single metal strap. The Chevrolet emblem in the golden finish is embossed on the single strap in between. The dual bezel designed headlamps with the split design tail lamps enhance the beauty. Company has taken some measures to make this sedan look a bit sporty; body colored front and rear bumpers, ORVMs and alloy wheels. Some parts of the car are also sauced with chrome finish to enhance the beauty; these include the door handles, front radiator grille, window sill, exhaust pipe and trunk lid. The additional feature in the exterior of the car is the Electric Sun Roof with Pinch Guard and Protective Mesh . The exterior dimensions are - its length is 4,597mm, width without mirrors 1,788mm, height without roof rails 1,477mm. The car has a wheelbase of 2685mm with a ground clearance of 165mm which is quite good.

Interior

The interior of the car is paid a great attention and is designed with great care, to give this sedan a classy look. Te dual tone dashboard with the Jet Black and Medium Titanium Wraparound Theme makes the interior look of this car very elegant. The dash is mounted with a Triple Pod Instrument Cluster with Icy Blue Illumination and Chrome Surround. It also has a feature to control the amount of illumination on the instrument panel. The upholstery of the car is in full leather along with the steering and the gear knob. The seats are in Monotone Jet Black with the titanium stitch. The additional features in the interior are the 3 spoke steering wheel, front centre armrest with storage and sliding lid, rear seat armrest with cup holders and front and rear reading lamps. The Electronic Trip Computer on the car includes the Trip Distance, Average Fuel consumption, average speed, distance to empty and instantaneous consumption.

Engine and Performance

The car under its hood carries a 2.0L VCDi diesel engine that has 4 cylinders with 4 valves per cylinder in DOHC configuration. This 1998cc diesel engine has CRDI fuel supply system and is affixed with Turbocharger . The engine generates a maximum power of 162.68bhp at the rate of 3800rpm and a peak torque of 380Nm at the rate of 2000rpm. With this power and torque we can readily accelerate the car from 0-100kmph in just 10.24 seconds. The car delivers a mileage of 9.8kmpl in the city and 15.3kmpl on the highway, if compared to its competitors the Volkswagen Jetta with 12.5kmpl and Skoda Laura with 12kmpl it is quite low.

Braking and Handling

The brake mechanism of the car includes the large ventilated disc brakes both in the front and the rear. To further enhance it the car has in it ABS (Anti Lock Braking system) with brake assist, it allows the wheel to interact tractively with the roads while braking, preventing the wheel from locking up and therefore avoiding skidding. The suspension system of the car has McPherson Strut with Linear Cylindrical Coil Spring and Tubular Stabilizer Bar System in the front and Compound Crank Type with Non-Linear and Mini-Block Coil Spring at the rear. For handling the car has in it 3 spoke power steering wheel and 6 speed manual transmission that readily falls into hand .

Safety Features

Chevrolet Cruze LTZ model comes equipped with many advanced active and passive safety features. The active ones include the ABS, Dual Airbags in the front with side airbags both at the front and the rear. Front fog lamps with halogen and Xenon headlamps provide a clear view of the road. The passive ones include the height adjustable front seats, 4kmph impact proof front and rear bumpers, child seat mounting provision, underbody coating, dual horns and battery run down protection. The advanced security system in car includes the Engine immobilizer, Anti-theft alarm, programmable Auto door locking and auto door unlock in case of crash.

Comfort Features

Chevrolet Cruze is a spacious and much luxurious sedan model which packed with lots of advanced and luxurious features that offers higher level of comfort and work as a stress buster. The comfort features available in the car areIntelligent Programmable Passive Entry Passive Start with Push Button Ignition On/Off, Tilt and telescopic Power Steering, Tropicalized Electronic Auto Air Conditioning System, Programmable Smart Screen, Integrated Audio System with CD/MP3, Radio, Aux-in and USB and Steering Mounted Audio Controls, Premium Speakers, 6-Way Power Adjustable Driver Seat, Power Adjustable Outside Mirrors, All 4 Power Windows with Express Down, Driver Side Window Express Up with Pinch Guard, Programmable Follow Me Home Headlamps, Height Adjustable Front and Rear Headrests, Rear Glass Defogger, Foldable Key with Remote Door Lock/Unlock, Boot Release and Anti-theft Function, Delayed Operation for Power Windows and OSRVM, Illuminated Vanity Mirrors with Lid, Clutch Foot Rest, Cigarette Lighter, Rear Accessory Power Socket, Sunglass Holder, Trunk Illumination, Power Folding and Heated Outside Mirrors, 4 Channel Rear Parking Assist, Rain Sensitive Wiper System and Auto Dimming Inside Rear View Mirror.

Pros

Powerful engine, comfort features, safety features, interior

Cons

Mileage and transmission.