Holden Cruze - unloved?

[CXTdreamer]

....... How does it weigh so bloody much?

[darwinschops]

Media seemed to really like the handling and power of the 1.6t, I had the pleasure of joining in on the media event over in TAS. I might be a bit biased as I work for Holden, if your looking at buying a car in this segment I would highly recommend you jump into a new one and check it out for yourself.

Expecting a lot more articles like this http://www.carsguide.com.au/news-and..._drive_review/

Hah, following this thread have been incidentally trying to read this. A half decent motor would bump it over benchmark rolla in my opinion. Mazda interior fit and finish and such still left cruz with a bit to be desired. Both felt better than corolla though. Last one of those I drove was either representative bucket of shit. Or rental rubbish. The new rental mazda wasn't anywhere near as rubbish though, same k's, age, etc. plastics, creaks, rattles etc was a lot worse than 3 or aurion i drove for example.

....... How does it weigh so bloody much?

airbags, not so good steels, various other stuff. Aren't most of those mids in the same sort of +/- 50kg range? Aren't much more hollowed out vr and s and mid 90's camries with a lot less in them about the same size now anyway? We do all forget the inflation there...

[Asteroid]

The Cruze is absurdly heavy. It weighs about as much as my old 04 Camry despite being much smaller and not much more rigid. I reckon it's just lazy GM engineering.

[tipper]

I haven't read this whole thread but have driven a couple of Cruz hire cars, very ordinary. I drove a new corolla yesterday with 200km on the clock and wasn't impressed. Last night I drove an i30 130km and it felt solid. I was amazed and though it would be a shitbox.

[darwinschops]

The Cruze is absurdly heavy. It weighs about as much as my old 04 Camry despite being much smaller and not much more rigid. I reckon it's just lazy GM engineering.

For sure. That would be the various others I listed above and am very familiar with...

That said though, they are reasonably similar size to most of the mid-large sizers of the 90's now with that much more wedged into them. And likewise, I'll contend that take it a bit further back than an 04 camry (which is ostensibly still a modern car and mate, having driven one, it was at lest as uninspired a fridge in auto form...) it's a more rigid thing, using cheaper steels and with a fair bit more safety spec than your average similar sized lower weight 90's rep mobiles.

Again, if I was looking at this group, it would be a hard sell for the cruz to get around the quality issues I associate with gm. The mazda's just been too damn good really. Nod doubt it'll make a lot of less critical cunts happy though.

[TonyJZX]

i dont think they weigh that much, the diesels are over 1,500kg, the hatches are 1,350kg?

it is a sedan do it is a bit heavier than hatches and i reckon GM engineered them to run on all continents and to be made in a dozen shitty factories with heaps of drivetrain options and i think that accounts for it

i know it sounds bad as an XF Falcon was 1,400kg too but with no ncap or anything like that... i think GM had no intention of any weight saving measures at all

[F|sh]

How much for the tubro cruze? the turbo jetta is 32K and goes like stink...

[darwinschops]

$22,500 for the manual 1.6t seems like good value...

Not to mention the rest of the article is really quite flattering. I'd actually like to compare it to the first of the original 1.8l that I've driven.

But, just to reiterate the gm quality difference, said afore cruz has been back at the dealers at least once or twice. Again, versus 7 yo mazda with not a single problem...

[Asteroid]

For sure. That would be the various others I listed above and am very familiar with...

That said though, they are reasonably similar size to most of the mid-large sizers of the 90's now with that much more wedged into them. And likewise, I'll contend that take it a bit further back than an 04 camry (which is ostensibly still a modern car and mate, having driven one, it was at lest as uninspired a fridge in auto form...) it's a more rigid thing, using cheaper steels and with a fair bit more safety spec than your average similar sized lower weight 90's rep mobiles.

Again, if I was looking at this group, it would be a hard sell for the cruz to get around the quality issues I associate with gm. The mazda's just been too damn good really. Nod doubt it'll make a lot of less critical cunts happy though.

Oh I know it's also a soggy noodle, but the point was that even by modern standards the weight is bad for the size.

[darwinschops]

i dont think they weigh that much, the diesels are over 1,500kg, the hatches are 1,350kg?

it is a sedan do it is a bit heavier than hatches and i reckon GM engineered them to run on all continents and to be made in a dozen shitty factories with heaps of drivetrain options and i think that accounts for it

i know it sounds bad as an XF Falcon was 1,400kg too but with no ncap or anything like that... i think GM had no intention of any weight saving measures at all

^

Oh I know it's also a soggy noodle, but the point was that even by modern standards the weight is bad for the size.

Above really. I'd like to drive one of the newer ones but meh, moot really.

[Sturmovik]

Of all the small cars that ive driven, the Cruze feels the most solid. Isnt a Cruze as big as a VB-VL?

[darwinschops]

Agreed, you couldn't say it feels soft.

iirc, 1290kg or thereabouts for the vb-l series at their heaviest and it'd have to be easy close to the size/dimensions of a 90's repmobile let alone a b-l. My vn is dimensionally pretty close to nopics sp23.

[Captiva Fan]

Oh I know it's also a soggy noodle, but the point was that even by modern standards the weight is bad for the size.

Is 1350kg different to anything else the same size?
I know Mazda3 is a bit lighter, but it's also noisier. Focus is about the same, innit? Corolla may be slightly lighter (I think Toyota stated for this last release that weight-unembiggenment was a goal?).

[Bob Vegana.]

Volkswagen always harp on about cutting weight down, be it in engines, transmissions, suspension arms, etc. Presumably to jam more shit into them, and not negatively affect how it looks on paper.

After my spray in a previous post, I think a lot of the Cruze love comes from badge loyalty (regardless of the fact that it's very much a Daewoo). They apeal to those who've owned Holden Lexcens, Apollos, Novas and N12/N13 Astras. Nopics' sister and her fiance bought one of the Cruze hatches, I'm lead to believe these get sent from Daewoo as a flat-pack, to be stapled together here in Aus. Main reasons they bought it were the finance deal waved at them, and the fact that it was the cheapest of the tarted-up dealer specials (kit, stripes, 19s and a bit of low) at the time. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.

[Asteroid]

Is 1350kg different to anything else the same size?
I know Mazda3 is a bit lighter, but it's also noisier. Focus is about the same, innit? Corolla may be slightly lighter (I think Toyota stated for this last release that weight-unembiggenment was a goal?).

The petrol sedan is in the 14xx range. Compared to a Corolla ascent which is 1250 in hatch and 1315 in sedan. It's a not-insignificant difference which is exacerbated by the lacklustre engine. It is solid of course which I suppose pleases much of the market.