August 19, 2010
First Look video: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze
Chevrolet replaces the mediocre Cobalt this September with an all-new sedan, the Cruze. Already on sale in many markets around the globe, the Cruze will give the division a much more competitive small car in the States than in the past. We borrowed one recently to give our auto engineers a chance to preview this significant new model and share their impressions in this First Look video.
Chevrolet’s Coming Cruze Is Downright Entertaining
By: Bill Visnic , Contributor
The long-talked-about 2011 Chevrolet Cruze is finally going on sale in September 2010, and although Chevrolet is still working out some details, it uncrated a few engineering prototypes for a first-time drive on U.S. soil at GM’s proving grounds in Milford, Michigan. The engineers on hand said the three cars were about 85 percent representative of the final-product Cruze.
Unless that final 15 percent gets really messed up, the compact-sedan-segment big dogs — the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla — had better start looking over their shoulders for Chevy’s Cobalt replacement. The 2011 Cruze is more than equal to those big-selling Japanese compacts and has enough going on to pique the interest of enthusiast drivers, too.
And although the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze costs a bit more than the Cobalt (the base Cruze rings in at $16,995; our test car’s price tag was $22,695), Chevy’s impressive all-new compact is price-competitive with the imports, as well as with the all-new 2012 Ford Focus, coming to our shores in early 2011. All three of the prototypes Chevy offered for test-drives were sedans and all had the new 1.4-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engine. A variety of trim levels were represented, but we concentrated mostly on the line-topping LTZ.
At a press conference in Lordstown, OH this afternoon, GM CEO Rick Wagoner officially announced that the Chevrolet Cruze would be built at the plant alongside the exitsing Cobalt. Wagoner alluded to this in June during the company’s annual meeting. Read the rest of this entry »
