Chevy Cruze - Thinking about one

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When I was in college the supermarket I worked at scheduled me according to my class schedule. Not hard to do considering so many employees at the store.

Waffle House is better than working at Uber.
 
I don't see where there is any real money in Uber after reading the article..
 
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How about when the guys/girls puke in the car after partying. Plus the old people that go in their pants and you get remnants that soak into your seats/carpets. Or the passengers that assault you since there's no partition between you and them? Robbery? Get stuffed in your own trunk. At least with the cab companies they know when a driver is in trouble usually. All sorts of things can go south in a hurry.

No wonder they have to use "bait" to capture their future employees. I wonder if upper management looks at the drivers as livestock.
 
For the 1.4T models, the turbo will last a decent time with regular oil changes. The part is $600 and is changed by swapping out the exhaust manifold as a unit. Ask for maintenance records and pull the oil fill cap. Those engines can have issues with water pumps. Thankfully it's an easy $80 repair.

Pizza delivery can go very right or very wrong. Best bets are smaller suburban places, either regional chains or mom'n'pop operations. Suburbanites generally order (and tip) more, the houses are generally easier to find, and there's less stop and go on the car.
 
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Does the 1.8 Cruze have the same cooling system issues as the 1.4t? I never read anything about the 1.8, but the coolant smell complaints and other coolant issues are one of the problem areas of the 1.4t.

The manual transmissions have some bearing noise issues. There's a lot you can read about it online. After two tries I got my Chevy dealer to replace mine under warranty.

They're good driving cars with a nice firm ride. The steering is lighter than I'd like, but that's my only driving dynamics complaint.After getting my transmission replaced this car is really quiet on the highway.

The manuals are good to drive, unlike some other cars in the class. Chevy did a good job with the shifter/clutch/throttle programming.

The 1.8 Cruze is optioned in some weird ways. For example, you can't get a 1.8 Cruze with a manual and factory cruise control. Cruise is a must-have for me.

The back seat in the Cruze is super small and sucks compared to some other cars in the class.

Being a small American car, the Cruze has been depreciating hard. You can get a lot of car for your money. I bought mine certified used with lots of powertrain warranty and low miles for about 50% of the new price.

GM has a good site for owners where you can create an account and see all the remaining warranty coverage you have and some other info. I was surprised to find this.

For a while GM was offering a 5-year/100k mile powertrain warranty. My Cruze has this, but they cut back the warranty for 2016, if memory serves.
 
I'd rather work less and have more time, than work more and have more toys. Especially while in college. [But I was an EE so I was a bit busy with just school.]

I had to go look again. Looks like the same 2015 on the lot--wonder what that will go for.
http://www.banksautos.com/detail-2015-chevrolet-cruze-4dr_sedan_manual_l-used-14908484.html

I still have yet to drive one. Looks like HVAC can be worked easily enough, not sure about audio... I like resting my hand on the gearshift and working those controls.

Back seat does look narrow. I wouldn't want to be stuck in the back of one by the looks of it.
 
With low gas prices and more people just buying brand new these days, i would expect very heavy depreciation on an american sedan. Keep that in mind in negotiating and considering ownership of such a rapidly devaluing car. Assume the worst case scenario with resale value. That you will be stuck with it till it falls apart, and if your okay with that, go for it.
 
I had a Cruze LTZ rental for 2 weeks and i really liked the way it drove. If you buy a Cruze you will enjoy driving it.
 
Between the Cruze and the Dart rentals I had, I actually preferred the Dart from a driving pleasure perspective. Dart's steering felt more communicative/responsive. Some of it could have been attributed to the wheels/tires, I'm sure, as the Dart had some fairly low profile tires.

Not sure how these two compare from reliability perspective. I know the first year Darts were pretty bad, but so are most first model year vehicles.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Between the Cruze and the Dart rentals I had, I actually preferred the Dart from a driving pleasure perspective. Dart's steering felt more communicative/responsive. Some of it could have been attributed to the wheels/tires, I'm sure, as the Dart had some fairly low profile tires.


I test drove manual transmission versions of the Cruze and Dart and I ended up going with the Cruze. The Cruze does have light steering, but I remember being unimpressed with the manual transmission in the Dart from a driving perspective.
 
Yikes! Didn't know the Cruze was so small. I'm almost 6'2", I went to a local dealer and sat in the passenger seat and the seat was scooted up to where my knees were touching the dash. I got out and sat in the rear seat and my knees were in the back of the front seat. No way Jose, that thing is way too tiny. My Camry is very spacious compared to it.

Also the 2 I went to look at turned out to be Lemon Law buyback cars.

Almost all the cars were locked, which has been the opposite of my experience at other car dealers. I asked the salesman if they were worried about people stealing cars in broad daylight, he responded with "We don't want people to get in the cars". Bye!

Thanks for the help guys. Looks like my only option is a Sonata. Maybe.
 
Wow, that's a rude dealership. There's a Hyundai dealer around here that literally leaves all the cars unlocked with keys in them. Even the back lot trade in junk.
 
Hmm, I guess I wouldn't expect them to be unlocked. Lot of work to lock them up at night.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
My Camry is very spacious compared to it.

What did you expect? Camry is a midsize/fullsize. Cruze is a compact.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
My Camry is very spacious compared to it.

What did you expect? Camry is a midsize/fullsize. Cruze is a compact.
I was under the impression it would be sized closer to a Malibu. I guess it makes sense now, since they wouldn't be producing 2 of the same sized cars.
 
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
I had a Cruze LTZ rental for 2 weeks and I really liked the way it drove. If you buy a Cruze you will enjoy driving it.


Both of the ones I test drove (new, left over '15 1.8 auto, and '12 1.4T manual RS), rode/handled very well.

I like the looks/aesthetics of this car more than anything else in it's class, and as far as I know it is built here with a good portion of U.S. sourced parts.
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But, sadly enough, it is NOT a 'performance car', and was worried that the 138-148 hp, and 125-138 lb.ft. of torque (of both engine choices) would seriously disappoint me lugging around a 3000 lb. + car.
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I do not like the looks of the Fiesta ST hatchback, especially in the 4 door version which is all we are offered here (cool looking 2 door is available in Europe which I DO like).
But I could live with it's power (and potential for power when modded lightly) pulling around only ~2700 lbs.
 
How often do you plan on carrying adult passengers?

I'm also 6' 2" and I have plenty of room in the front seats of the Cruze, but that eats up most of the rear seat leg room because the rear seat is tiny.

In my case, I'm generally in the driver's seat, my wife is in the passenger seat and the baby's car seat is behind the passenger seat.

It's definitely not a great car for carrying large passengers, but if you don't do that with frequency then you don't need a large back seat.
 
I'm average height/weight, so I can sit behind myself in my Cruze. It's not the best car for having tall friends sit in the backseat, though.

Also, the front seats are height-adjustable in addition to front/rear and backrest angle. With the seat hiked up, knees don't have much room. Put it down a little and a lot more room opens up.

I would be wary of any lemon-law car. Yeah, it's supposedly "fixed". Unless they disclose what the original issue was and how it got fixed, I'd run. If it's something that involved major parts replacement, it would need to be cheap and come with a good genuine GM extended warranty. If it's something silly like a broken seat adjuster or they couldn't get their phone to pair, it would be up to the rest of the car.
 
Originally Posted By: sciphi
I'm average height/weight, so I can sit behind myself in my Cruze. It's not the best car for having tall friends sit in the backseat, though.

Also, the front seats are height-adjustable in addition to front/rear and backrest angle. With the seat hiked up, knees don't have much room. Put it down a little and a lot more room opens up.

I would be wary of any lemon-law car. Yeah, it's supposedly "fixed". Unless they disclose what the original issue was and how it got fixed, I'd run. If it's something that involved major parts replacement, it would need to be cheap and come with a good genuine GM extended warranty. If it's something silly like a broken seat adjuster or they couldn't get their phone to pair, it would be up to the rest of the car.
I won't buy one with a branded lemon title.

One was lemon-lawed due to overheating, the other due to cooling system issues.
 
Originally Posted By: stephen9666
How often do you plan on carrying adult passengers?

I'm also 6' 2" and I have plenty of room in the front seats of the Cruze, but that eats up most of the rear seat leg room because the rear seat is tiny.

In my case, I'm generally in the driver's seat, my wife is in the passenger seat and the baby's car seat is behind the passenger seat.

It's definitely not a great car for carrying large passengers, but if you don't do that with frequency then you don't need a large back seat.
Im looking to drive Uber with it, so it won't work.
 
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