2011 Chevrolet Cruze

2011 Chevrolet Cruze

When the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze goes on sale later this year, 75 percent of the Chevrolet brand's vehicles will offer six-speed transmissions, according to General Motors.

GM states that six-speed automatics are smoother, more responsive, and offer up to 4 percent better fuel economy than traditional four-speed automatics. The 2010 Chevy Malibu, for example, gets 33 mpg highway when equipped with an Ecotec 2.4 liter inline four and six-speed automatic transmission while the popular 2010 Chevy Camaro gets 29 mpg highway with its direct-injection 3.6-liter V-6 mated with either a six-speed automatic or manual transmission. And the Chevrolet Cruze Eco, which will arrive standard with a six-speed manual, delivers a staggering 40 mpg highway while also being able to go from zero to 60 mph in less than 10 seconds.

Preview: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze

2011 Chevrolet Cruze
The initial impression of Chevrolet’s new compact Cruze sedan is that it’s a mini-Malibu — and that opinion sits well with the bow-tie brass. Their intention is to deliver mid-sized comfort, dynamics and amenities, but at compact-sized pricing and fuel efficiency. And although pricing and final fuel numbers won’t be known for several months, this global product is right on target with its other objectives.

The Cruze is already available in 60 markets around the world, but North Americans won’t get their hands on it until the third quarter of this year. With the compact category evolving as the fastest-growing segment in the industry (it’s expected to be the second-largest in the United States by 2012), coupled with the consumer trend to downsize, the timing is right for this car. In fact, it is expected to be General Motors’ single largest volume small-car line globally.
During the preview at General Motors’ Milford proving grounds, Chevy executives described the Cruze as a “transformational” car for the brand, a product that will be sought after by consumers and will be better than competitive models such as the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. It’s expected to generate “huge volume for the brand” and, as a major player for GM globally, the team working on developing the North American edition is enduring unprecedented scrutiny.

As a result of that corporate focus, the Cruze is undergoing intensive testing here, even though it’s a model already on sale elsewhere. For example, although it has already earned five-star-equivalent crash ratings in several overseas markets, including Korea, China, India, Australia and Europe, the North American version is undergoing extensive additional evaluations at GM’s vehicle safety facility.

2011 Chevrolet Cruze

2011 Chevrolet Cruze was enough to confirm that GM’s biggest challenge won’t be meeting or exceeding the competition, but sweeping away all those past perceptions of GM small cars.

Among GM’s homegrown compacts, the Cavalier was always a step behind the competition, while the current Cobalt, which the Cruze replaces, was reasonably comfortable and fuel-efficient but never a standout in most other respects.

To put it bluntly, it simply didn’t have the zippy yet refined feeling that a lot of today’s most acclaimed compacts like the Mazda3, the Volkswagen Jetta, the Honda Civic, or even the new Suzuki Kizashi or Kia Forte, all manage to some degree.

The Cruze, thankfully, finds that mojo without busting our bums in the process or giving up any features. And, as we’ll tell you more about below, it’s looking to be a product that will emerge near the top of the segment in every category.

But the 2011 Cruze doesn’t break entirely free from one mold: Its exterior is a little conservative, almost a little homely, and looks more like a blunted Malibu than it probably should. While most people will likely agree that the exterior styling of the upcoming 2012 Ford Focus, expected early next year, is a lot more visually exciting than that of the Cruze, a quick drive of the Chevy’s new compact sedan is all it took to convince us that it will be a very strong contender, and perhaps superior in many ways.

2011 Chevrolet Cruze

2011 Chevrolet Cruze

The all new 2011 Chevy Cruze has enough test miles on its tires to circle the Earth over 160 times. The Cruze made a lot of stops as it went around the globe, each one seemingly more punishing than the last. Chevy Cruze took on driving rain, mountains, deserts, potholes, mud, bad roads, ice, snow, dry heat, humidity and more. After all that, it finally hit the test track and showed just how fun it was to drive. Even after 4,000,000 test miles, there’s much more of the Cruze story to tell. To keep current, sign up for email updates. We’ll keep you posted on every detail as soon as it becomes available. Cruze arrives in the third quarter of 2010.