I feel I have been cheated and told lies by Holden on its fuel economy or should I say lack of fuel economy.
Holden service manager says stated fuel economy and actual are two different things. They couldnt find anything wrong with the car
Strangely I get similar fuel econlmy out of an all wheel drive 2.5 lite AWD subaru legacy 2.5 lite that is 14 years old!

cruze,like focus,is a global car.between cruze and astra(both delta platforms) must of sold nearly a million units next year.i cant see parts being a problem.

a smart play would be to wait for the new diesel powerplant(cruze),released today with the locally made version.and wait for the new model focus,which at least looks the business…

Today I viewed both the Ford Focus and the Holden Cruze. Being a Ford lover all my driving years, I have to admit that this time I am finding it difficult to make a choice between the two. Dare I say it, I think I am leaning towards the Cruze!! The Cruze is new and exciting, looks great and drives well. My problem is that we kinda know the Focus because its been around a while and maybe its a ‘go with what we know!’ mindset for me… l’d really like to get some kind of comparison/s of service costings on each of the tested vehicles here? Would there be a marked difference?
And what about parts? With the Cruze being realatively new to the Australian market, can we determine what known problems they have yet? Maybe they are too new to know! Any Recalls? .. I’m sure you all think Im being paranoid but its a very big *HUGE* financial decision for me! A difficult choice overall!

The Cruze’s ride is superior, steering is sharper, cabin noise is lower and the dash appears classier. The one area the i30 beats the Cruze is that 5 year warranty. However even with the $1100 to extend the Cruze out to 5 years the Holden still has the Hyundai beaten.

The ride is very good and the extra capacity of the engine doesn’t equate to extra torque steer through the front wheels. I recently read some criticism of the cruze’s torque steer and couldn’t replicate it. I even pulled over to a stop and flattened it to check the turbo lag that has been previously mentioned. There is little lag and negligable torque steer. By comparison I noticed more of it in the hyundai despite not trying to flatten it in the same way.

The seats in the Cruze were excellent and a cut above the hyundai. My single biggest concern is that I can’t get a dash mat for it and in Cairns that’s a biggy. So I will be checking for an aftermarket mat before making my mind up. People need to erase what they think they know about Daewoo as this car is not a daewoo. It has been designed from the ground up by GM and is a quantum leap above the craptiva/ epica pair.

The diesel CD model with auto can be had for under 30k and that’s a six speed. When you consider the toyota crapolla still offers a poorly matched 4 speed and only to its rather coarse petrl engine I have to wonder why people keep buying their cars.

The safety and strength of the cruze has been well documented already. I’m impressed.

I am an industrial designer and I’m very happy with my manual Diesel Cruze.

I get around 900km per tank, Living in richmond with a few trips on the hwy per week.

Design- The line work and manufacturing of the car is of a much higher standard than most Holden’s I have analysed, demonstrating more attention to detail than prior models.

Although manufactured in Korea the surface treatment is quite high with very few short cuts.

Three days ago i took my new car on a trip to the top of Mt Buller for fun and i was pleasantly surprised with the handling and turbo power with the gear ratio being so high. it was such a fantastic drive.

I give the Australian designer a pat on the back for creating a great car for its price. The car is no longer a Daewoo in my opinion.

Liam