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Originally Posted by upflying
Profits is the reason why the diesel is only available in a 2LT car.
And yes, a base diesel would make this car more attractive to me.
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Agreed. I'm casually looking around at what I might buy as a DD once my Olds dies (whenever that will be). I'm looking for a relatively cheap commuter that I can put a lot of miles on without getting killed on fuel and depreciation. (I'm actually leaning toward a Mazda3 Skyactive or base Jetty TDI) right now). If they would offer this in a more base trim, as VW does with the Jetta TDI, I would be VERY interested in one of these, but I'm not really interested in a fully loaded trim level car, and I'm not willing to pay that much to get the diesel.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DGthe3
50's are easily possible. Go to the first link that I posted above & you'll hear from the chief engineer about how cars in the captured test fleet were frequently getting over 50 mpg, and some of the hypermilers were getting an average of 60 mpg on a 50 mile trip
On the flip side, you also have the fact that the Cruze diesel has a little more power & gobs more torque than any other engine in the line up. Its a premium engine, and while they technically could put it into a 'lesser model' its pretty standard practice to pair top engines with top trim levels.
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Mid to upper 50s highway will likely be common with the Cruze diesel. I think most diesels are actually UNDER-rated by the EPA. My parents both have VW TDIs (only rated at 39 and 40 mpg) and both consistently achieve upper 40s and into the 50s at normal highway speed without resorting to any crazy hyper-miling techniques. Try to get that with any gas engine with the same EPA rating. You can't.
And you also make a good point bringing up the performance of the engine. The diesel Cruze will probably be the best performing engine option, with slightly more power, and of course all that sweet torque. You'd have to actually drive one to truly understand. Those little diesels are amazingly gutsy. I drove one of my parents through the mountains out West last summer, and it crawled up hills and passes in 6th gear that would have even an LS3, Hemi, or 5.0 searching for a lower gear.