Chev releases a turbo four diesel in the Cruze econo box front wheel drive car

   / Chev releases a turbo four diesel in the Cruze econo box front wheel drive car #1  

buickanddeere

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Quote "Chevrolet's new Cruze, which will go on sale this year, will have a 2.0 liter, four-cylinder engine that will get an estimated 42 mpg in highway driving with an automatic transmission." Unquote
The 1.4L gasser is rated at 38mpg, 1.8L with 35 or 36mpg.
Not sure how the vehicle is supposed to pay with reg gasoline at $3.36 and diesel costing 1.17 times more at $3.93 .
42mpg on diesel is the same pump price to drive as a 36mpg gasser.
 
   / Chev releases a turbo four diesel in the Cruze econo box front wheel drive car #2  
that fiat engine looks to be a lot more though, based on the numbers. 148hp & 258ft-lbs torque sounds pretty good. the 1.4 turbo is the better of the other two offerings - mpg and performance both, and it's 100 ft-lbs of torque less. from what i can see it is only offered in one trim package though - leather, 17" wheels, etc. it's also more money than a comparable sized vw tdi. i'm sure the fact that it's an automatic only is part of that difference. that will probably be even more of a disadvantage too. if they had a manual transmission that would take the torque and cost less i bet it would sell better - especially if it could also gain a couple extra mpg.

my opinion - available manual trans, shave some cost on smaller rims and tires, drop to cloth interior and shave 3k off the price and it would look better as a contender. have the option to go back to 17's and leather for those that want it though.
 
   / Chev releases a turbo four diesel in the Cruze econo box front wheel drive car #3  
Typical; if you want the good 6.2 in a pick-up, you got to buy a bunch of packages I'm not interested in
 
   / Chev releases a turbo four diesel in the Cruze econo box front wheel drive car #4  
Patches said:
Typical; if you want the good 6.2 in a pick-up, you got to buy a bunch of packages I'm not interested in

Yep. I walked into a dealer and said I want the 6.2, 4wd, extended cab, hd trailer package, rubber floors, power windows/doors. He can keep all the other bells and whistles. He said that this does not exist and cant be ordered in that combo. I was floored. How ridiculous.
 
   / Chev releases a turbo four diesel in the Cruze econo box front wheel drive car #5  
Yep. I walked into a dealer and said I want the 6.2, 4wd, extended cab, hd trailer package, rubber floors, power windows/doors. He can keep all the other bells and whistles. He said that this does not exist and cant be ordered in that combo. I was floored. How ridiculous.

"If you want a steering wheel on that truck you have to buy a $1000 sunroof - that you don't want". Argh........

The first truck I ever bought new in 1984 I could order each and any SINGLE option I wanted and the truck was built to order for me. No computers, we hand wrote out a list on a form piece of paper at a small country dealership from a binder that listed all the available options and Ford built it as I wanted it.

Those were the days. Now, if you want a certain option, you have to buy a multi-thousand dollar option package to get one item you want. No wonder trucks are bouncing off the $60K mark. It's ridiculous.

DEWFPO
 
   / Chev releases a turbo four diesel in the Cruze econo box front wheel drive car #6  
Unless Ford has recently changed, you could order just about any combination you want. It's not perfect (you can't get King Ranch seats with XL trim) but they have the most combinations available.

But I have noticed that GM has really jumped on that "package" deal now.
 
   / Chev releases a turbo four diesel in the Cruze econo box front wheel drive car #7  
crashz said:
Unless Ford has recently changed, you could order just about any combination you want. It's not perfect (you can't get King Ranch seats with XL trim) but they have the most combinations available.

But I have noticed that GM has really jumped on that "package" deal now.

Yes, Ford is more flexible. My friend ordered his F150 2wd with the eb engine, 3.73 gears, reg cab 8 ft bed, rubber floors and power locks/windows. Good farm truck. He pulls about 10k on a gooseneck a few times a year. It handles it well. The truck reminds me of a heavy half ton
 
   / Chev releases a turbo four diesel in the Cruze econo box front wheel drive car #8  
As an owner of a vw jetta tdi I will confirm that the torque available in the diesel combined with the mileage is the reason you pony up the cash. The tdi is just as fun to drive as my wrx was, 2.0 turbo 4 with 227 hp. The tdi crushes it in everyday driving enjoyment (230ish ftlbs at 1800 rpm). My wrx got 26 mpg on premium. We are getting 45 without trying in the tdi. I can't imagine driving a 1.4 turbo that runs on regular and is designed for economy.
 
   / Chev releases a turbo four diesel in the Cruze econo box front wheel drive car #9  
As an owner of a vw jetta tdi I will confirm that the torque available in the diesel combined with the mileage is the reason you pony up the cash. The tdi is just as fun to drive as my wrx was, 2.0 turbo 4 with 227 hp. The tdi crushes it in everyday driving enjoyment (230ish ftlbs at 1800 rpm). My wrx got 26 mpg on premium. We are getting 45 without trying in the tdi. I can't imagine driving a 1.4 turbo that runs on regular and is designed for economy.

If you go to VW's web site so you can compare apples to apples they say that the gas version of the Jetta gets 34/24 while the diesel gets 42/30. That's about 8 mpg different, about 1200 gallons over 200k miles. Once you add in the price difference for the diesel it's a wash. If, like in the US, Diesel costs more than gas it doesn't pay for itself. I did notice that VW now offers the Jetta with a gas Hybrid option that gets about 6 more mpg over the diesel. Kind of makes you wonder if diesel engines will ever become viable in cars when VW realizes that for the same money they can sell a gas/ electric hybrid that gets better mileage.
 
   / Chev releases a turbo four diesel in the Cruze econo box front wheel drive car #10  
If you go to VW's web site so you can compare apples to apples they say that the gas version of the Jetta gets 34/24 while the diesel gets 42/30. That's about 8 mpg different, about 1200 gallons over 200k miles. Once you add in the price difference for the diesel it's a wash. If, like in the US, Diesel costs more than gas it doesn't pay for itself. I did notice that VW now offers the Jetta with a gas Hybrid option that gets about 6 more mpg over the diesel. Kind of makes you wonder if diesel engines will ever become viable in cars when VW realizes that for the same money they can sell a gas/ electric hybrid that gets better mileage.

i still have some concerns with any electric / hybrid vehicle. i think it's pretty easy to find it to be a cost effective solution, but i wonder how effective it is long term as being as "green" as it is touted to be.

one question is about the exact cost of the vehicles - is there are any sort of incentive for buying electric / hybrid vehicles? does the manufacturer get any sort of tax break that is not given for an gas / diesel? if so, that should be figured in. sure, you don't see it on the price tag, but rest assured that the manufacturer isn't giving any discounts that they don't get reimbursed for. if there are any incentives for the sale and production of these vehicles then they are being paid by us by being hidden in our income taxes.

i know the batteries are looking to be pretty durable. but if there is ever a failure while out of warranty i would think it would be the end of the vehicle in many cases. i know lots of people that still buy and operate vehicles that are 15+ years old. vehicles like this are usually in the price range of a few hundred dollars to purchase, plus a few hundred dollars more in parts, and the rest is a lot of personal labor. with a battery replacement being $2500-$3500 in parts alone, i find it likely that an electric / hybrid vehicle could be salvage once the batteries are depleted when the vehicle is 10-15 years old. the replacement cost of batteries alone would be too risky to invest when you still have the rest of the vehicle systems to consider repairs to. i think the lifespan of these vehicles is a good 5 years less than a conventional vehicle.
 
 
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