Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 23

Thread: Josh's Coal-Rolling Cruze

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    1,484

    Josh's Coal-Rolling Cruze

    Last Saturday, in the midst of this rabbit-based drama, my wife and I started discussing the possibility of picking up a newer, more reliable, and still under warranty vehicle. We did some research that afternoon, focusing on highway mpgs being >40. Came up with a short list including many of the hybrids & diesels on the market, ideally under 5 years old, and sub-70k miles or so. That evening, we decided to hit up a few dealerships and check out local selection and pricing. The first dealership we hit was chevy, because it happened to be the closest. Were checking out one of the new diesel Cruzes they had in stock when a salesman walked up and said, "Checking out the diesel, huh? Want a test drive?" Yeah, why not, seems nice enough even though the price is substantially higher than what we were looking to spend. I was a really nice drive - Leather, heated seats, back up camera, etc. Handled well for a non-sporty sedan, and had really decent pickup, especially from part-throttle. Once we got back to the dealership, salesman wanted to talk price, and we said "Eh, we're more looking for a few years old, sub $20k, etc. Have any of those in stock?" He says no, I say give me a call if you get one in in the next few weeks, and we take off.

    Check out a few other vehicles, and mostly mark them off the list - due to pricing, discomfort, lack of local selection, etc. We sort of settle on keeping our eyes open for good deals on low-mileage Priuses, TDI Passats or Jettas, or the outlier diesel Cruze.

    Skip ahead to Tuesday afternoon, when my phone rings and its the chevy salesman. He says that they've just gotten a shipment of several '15 Cruzes and he's talked to his sale manager, suggesting that they ought to drop the pricing on the 2014s and he has somebody interested. Manager tells him to bring us in and we'll try to work it out. Wife and I discuss, and go down there Wednesday afternoon. It goes well, we showed up with a firm number we're not going to go above and a spreadsheet for price, apr, payments, etc.(Wife is an accountant). LSS - I'm now the owner of a new Tungsten (Dark Grey Metallic) 2014 Cruze CTD with the "Driver convenience" and Pioneer Audio packages. So far, it's been really nice and I'm looking forward to shaking it down next weekend on a few hundred mile road trip.
    -Formerly Stabulator

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    3,882

  3. #3
    Corvette Enthusiast Kchrpm's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Cincinnati, OH
    Posts
    8,697
    Very nice I was a "high" performance package away from having a Cruze as well.
    Get that weak shit off my track

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    10,171
    Very cool - I'd love to hear how it goes over a while. I really like these cars, and a the ecodiesel is icing on the cake. Congrats!

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    3,553
    Quote Originally Posted by speedpimp View Post
    This

  6. #6
    Member Member 21Kid's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Orange, CA, USA
    Posts
    5,307
    Rolling coal!!!?!!!

    Oh... you just mean diesel. Cool. I always kept my eye on TDIs. But, they hold their value too well.

  7. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    1,484
    Thoughts, 1 week in:
    The chevy All-weather floormats are crap. Maybe it's because I got spoiled by the very effective mats in the Rabbit, but the ones for the cruze a) Aren't as deep, making them less effective at holding crap when we get into snowy weather, and b) Offer no traction for your heel whatsoever, when driving with them in place my foot (regardless of what shoes I'm wearing) slips forward until it's at an uncomfortable angle. It's pretty weird. I'm definitely going to pick up some aftermarket ones before the weather turns.

    OnStar is kind of weird. We've got the free trial and tried out the "Navigation" feature the other day - The way it works is you press the OnStar button on the rearview mirror; The car then makes a phone call to an onstar operator; You say "I want to go to blah-blah address or business." The person on the other end says, "I can do that for you, do you need anything else?" Then, you hang up and they send the directions to the car. Seriously, I have to talk to a person to get directions? What am I, a farm animal?
    Also, the onstar navigation package is $35/month? What? I can get the highest end Garmin with lifetime maps, traffic, and all the bells and whistles for like $250.

    Beyond those two (very) minor things, the first 425 miles have been great. Passing power, especially on hills, is GREAT, there's a very steep one on the way to my wife's work and the Cruze just zips up it with basically no effort, leaving pretty much everything else in the dust. Also, the fuel gauge only hit the halfway mark yesterday, so the mileage seems to be as expected.

    Should have some further updates after this weekend, when we have a several hundred mile roadtrip scheduled.
    -Formerly Stabulator

  8. #8
    Bad Taste novicius's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Mad-city
    Posts
    5,731

  9. #9
    Member Member 21Kid's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Orange, CA, USA
    Posts
    5,307
    I never understood the OnStar option. It seems like it would be used in a very high end car, like an automotive butler. But, in a Chevy? I don't see the point.

  10. #10
    Corvette Enthusiast Kchrpm's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Cincinnati, OH
    Posts
    8,697
    For a lot of people, the OnStar subscription isn't about your every day use (live person Google Maps, basically), but the emergency response stuff. My aunt and uncle got a vehicle with OnStar for her, and upon finding out that it would automatically contact local emergency services with an accident notification and their location if the airbags deployed, said they would only buy cars in the future that also had it.
    Get that weak shit off my track

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •