Forget the Volt -- This is the Car That Must Save GM
The Chevrolet Cruze has different jobs wherever it's sold. In the U.S., where it goes on sale from mid-2010, it will be a locally made rival to the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. But in Europe, where we've just driven it, it's GM's Korean-made budget-brand entry and sits beneath the same-sized Opel (and sometime Saturn) Astra in GM's price and brand hierarchy.
GM's been promising Americans an "import fighter" small car for years -- and has consistently failed to deliver, whether it with home grown products like the Cobalt, or with rebadged Opels like the Astra. So here's the key question: if Cruze is positioned as a bargain car in Europe, does it really have the quality and style, the functionality and value, to seriously rival Honda and Toyota in America?
Out on the road, the Cruze catches the daylight respectably. The stance is strong, the wheels pushed out wide in their housings. There's a well-defined shoulder line, a simple but assertive dual-port nose and a rear view that has a surprising hint of BMW 5 Series about it. It's a more interesting shape than the Corolla, for sure.
Inside, the three-port instrument binnacle sits beneath a flying visor, the centre console is well-organized and nicely garnished, and a swath of modern rucksack-type cloth runs across the dash and doors. It's reasonably fresh and nicely executed. Come dusk, the dials light up crisply in Chevy's ice-blue, with red pointers.
Roominess has been carefully benchmarked: out back you get plenty head and knee space. In front the seats support well and adjust through a wide range. This feels like a compact car built for the American human.
Germany's Opel was responsible for the basic platform, GM's new new-generation Delta architecture. Notable features include a high-rigidity shell and relatively sophisticated front strut geometry outfitted with hydraulic bushes and aluminum lower arms. You can certainly feel the solidity of the body, as it traverses rough surfaces with nary a shake, and less audible clang than in most of the Japanese rivals. This despite the reasonably firm spring settings in the European-spec version.
read the rest of the article here