My gawd, that front end design is just a complete and utter disaster!

I think the cruze looks a winner. your just too used to the bland VW look.

now just needs better engines… counting the months.

If it were marketed here as a daewoo i would be praising it but you can do better holden

Well said Big End and Nobody, I absolutely agree. The Cruze looks so cheap and it can`t even beat a 5yr old Focus, but the blind faithful will buy it because it has Holden badge.

holden claimed that Cruze use 7.5l/1ookms… but actually they use a lot more that that(Caradvice and wheel magazine)about 9.3l/100Kms.. If the consumer know that who are going to buy this car. (OH!my god almost 2 lites different) holden what are ytou thinking??????

so they sold a thousand,BIG DEAL.if my memory’s right,they sold about 25,000 astra’s a year(at bigger dollars)when they had it.it would not surprise me at all if HOLDEN sold 1000 cruze’s this month…

I agree with most on the amount of marketing behind this car.
They are giving this thing air time around the clock non stop (exaggerating), and some of the things they are saying would have to be border line false advertising.

Its a bloody good campaign they are running, hats off to them.

One of the blokes that works for me asked me the other day to confirm that holden had badged a vehicle a cruze before.
I agreed they had indeed and then asked why…..

He told a mate of his was about to go and look at the cruze as a replacement to his Barina.

I asked him did he know its a Korean made car?
He said “no, but isnt it the car thats meant to save Australia”……
I just shook my head

In all fairness GM own the factory/company in Korea and given that it looks like a 3/4 size VE(not a bad thing) then I reckon it would be safe to believe that GM did have major design input.

Anybody that says the finish is below par is deluding themselves.

Focus is a good car but Cruze does look better and finished better IMO.

Don’t they plan to build it here provided the numbers are high enough?

This anti Korean jibe is getting boring.

A possible reason for so many people degrading the Cruze despite the fact that they haven’t even driven one and most likely never will
Could be because that they feel threatened by it… well not just the Cruze but the other cars coming out of Korea ATM

The design and build quality of the Korean cars has improved alot over the last decade.. Hyundai is a perfect example of this and given time I expect that Daewoo will probably be the same.. They’ve improved more than Daihatsu

For what they are the Korean cars are exceptional value for money particularly with the list of features you can now get.
Would I buy one? I don’t know it depends however; I wouldn’t
just disregard it because of where it comes from like so many on here appear to be doing.

Dan, the Cruze isn’t a Daewoo. Yes it is built in Korea, Daewoo’s domain, but it is a global design and build by GM. Korea is just the cheapest place they can build it.

Drove the Cruze loved it waiting for mine to arrive. You people need to wake up and support Australian car companies. If Holden and Ford go then all you will have to #$%% about is Jap cars. Shame on you all, well done Holden, I will support you and the country you stand for.

Yep, the best way to support the Australian car industry is to buy a commodore/falcon/camry/aurion.

What’s so Australian about this car? How much say or input did Holden actually have in the Cruze? Whatever the case, it’s good they’ll be eventually building it here – means alot of people at the Holden plant will keep their jobs.

Nobody, Holden had a significant input of the design and the engineering side of the Cruze.

It’s very cheap there.
I think the top cruze is something like:

1,500 pounds cheaper than the base focus,
1,000 pounds cheaper than a base mazda 3 and
the same price as the cheapest golf (a model that I think is below the base model we get here)

Compared with here where:
The BASE cruze is $500 more than the CL Focus and only $1,000 cheaper than the Mazda 3 (Ok, the golf is a bit expensive at $5,000 more)

I’m not saying that the cruze is rubbish – I just don’t know (although I’m look at that rear torsion beam with suspicion), but the competition is strong and in this country, they are the same price.

Anti-spam word – Daewoo (haha)

Mike and LN, I’m interested what you liked/hated about the car.
LN what have you or what are you considering to buy instead?

Holden should have done the right thing from the start and built it in the Elizabeth Bay(?)Plant. Would have been better for the Jobs in Australia.

Anyway I’m waiting for the Australian made Hatch.

As I have said previously I think that Holden should have built a locally made version of the [AWD] Insignia instead of the Cruze.

Not only because GM are going to sell Opel [or at least have a 20% share in the European car company if the Magna deal goes ahead] and the Insignia is one of the best cars in the current GM Line-up..
But also because the Cruze is being built in at least 3 other countries; including Korea – where its cheaper for Holden to import cars from than it is from Europe.

However; at least the Cruze Hatch will ensure Holdens future in Oz for at least the next 10-20 years.

Frenchie –
I’ll take your word for it.
Whether there is $1,000 in it or not, it is pretty close.

The point I was making was that, in the UK the cruze is a focus sized car for fiesta type money. That’s its edge in the market. It is priced like a Kia.

Here the cruze is focus sized car for focus type money.

Competition at the $20k-25k price point is fierce.

While reviews have praised the car’s interior features, the lack of independent rear suspension and the poor engine (petrol at least) are disappointing. Obviously there are some reasons to choose it over the competition, but the point I’m making is that for the UK customer, the cruze is the equivalent of a $19k car, not a $21k car which it is here.

Obviously the market will have the final say, but if it does not work I want Holden to realise why this one hasn’t worked and change their approach accordingly and not throw their hands up in the air and say “The market doesn’t want a car this size. Let’s build another commodore derivative.”

I totally agree with u “What The”. Leave Holden alone. Already dealing with crap from ppl cause its made in Korea. Wow. Build a bridge & get over it. Aussie made Cruze will be a sucess. Go HOLDEN!

BTW, Anyone got news on Astra’s future?

You have the right idea What The. People should stop bagging on Holden and just see this as Holden trying to move in the right direction. First people bagged then for not making a small car, and now when they get a reasonable car people bag that. You guys send Holden mixed signals and then cry when they misinterpret them. Get over it and support your nation.

The Liquidator – That is true However; given that of late the courts have been handing down extremely light gaol sentences or a small fine; not to mention that a number of States around Australia have introduced anti-hoon laws where they will confiscate and even crush cars

Therefore if the “Enemy” are deprived of their Transport [Holdens} they will most likely resort to stealing cars belonging to the Victors.. which means that you could lose your Lexus BMW Merc-Benz etc

The Liquidator – Sounds like someone liquidated your brain.

Liquidator many people actually dont want to see Holden fail. Just because at one pint in time only bogans bought them they become the Bogan car maker. its because of simple minded people like you that Holden is trying to shake off that image. By your logic only Nazi’s drive Mercedes’. Get some more scope when it comes to maufacturing. Your grandchildren will probably be driving around in Geely’s and they’ll like them.
Lomg live Australia’s car industry.

my point is no body cares what your point is

Yep, owned a Holden once, yep owned a Mitsubishi as well, both crap and luckily for me the late 90′s holden caught on fire because of poorly installed fuel injectors and the Mitsubishi was killed in a hail storm.

I wish some commentators here would stop making out GM is competent and worthy of saving or even deserves people handing over hard earned cash for its under engineered tatt. If they made a decent effort in the past you would give them a chance, but how long do you give them?

You can make a bad cake look nice with nice icing, to me it (Cruze) seems nicely painted and even reasonably well finished on TV, as a new model, but suffer the poor joker who buys it second hand or even third hand and the thing needs a full overhaul because of the poor components used or you might be lucky like me that the poor quality components were poorly screwed in and the thing catches on fire and you pocket the insurance and purchase something from a manufacturer who has an idea about quality.

Just because it is Korean, Australian, Brazilian, Thai etc does not mean necessarily mean poor quality, it depends on the core engineering of the individual company who screwed it together, GM is bankrupt and will sell you a camel if it could get away with it. I pity those who think it will last, its not the first time people have baught cars by a dying car maker and found the first few years OK, after the warranty expires the tune will change, GM are known for their top shelf warranty programs – NOT!!!!!