2012 Chevrolet Cruze Launched

In November last year, General Motors celebrated its centennial year of existence worldwide, and among the many memorable moments and trend setting appendages it was the American auto giant’s most revered brand Chevrolet, which was celebrating its very own in house milestone, the sale of over a million Chevrolet Cruze models in the US alone.

Better known as the ‘diesel rocket’ in India, the Chevrolet Cruze was among the first few models launched by GM as a part of its new design philosophy back in 2009, and a few years down the road it’s a car that has not only set benchmarks here in the Indian mainstream sedan segment, but also created an absolute furor internationally.

But by paying heed to even the smallest grievances from Cruze customers over the past three years, Chevrolet has managed to re-work the model in certain key areas, some of which were great to begin with and others that certainly needed improvement.

Although carrying almost identical engine displacement as the outgoing 2009 model, the new oil pot is a marvel in the making and in our recent road test report (2012 Chevrolet Cruze Road Test) of the vehicle, Cruze aficionados can be enlightened by exactly which plugs have been pulled where, to make this new engine the way forward for the 2012 diesel sedan model.

The final result is not a face-lifted Cruze, but a 2012 edition (Old Cruze vs New Cruze Specs) in which now resides a brilliantly re-engineered 2.0 VCDi unit, which now offers a significant increase in horsepower from 150PS @ 4,000rpm to 166PS @ 3,800rpm and an increase in torque from 327Nm @ 2,600rpm to a whopping 380Nm @ 2,000rpm.

The new six-speed manual LTZ variant we tested completed its 0-100km/h sprint in 10.7seconds, knocking almost a whole second off the earlier car. Top speed remains fatal at over 200km/h, but hitting that magic 200 figure on an uphill climb with an automatic box will require some added perseverance.

As per recent tests, the new Chevrolet Cruze returned a rather satisfactory 10kmpl in crawling city traffic and 17kmpl on the highway from its manual gearbox’d LTZ variant. And handling wise, it’s pretty much the same story thanks to the stiffened suspension to cope with the heavier engine.

Besides all the significant power and performance improvements on the new model, two customer comfort focused features that are now part of the package include an electrically adjustable seat position for the driver’s seat in the top-end LTZ model and more importantly improved headroom at the rear, which was a major point of contention in the previous model.

Otherwise, everything is where it always was; even the 'Jet-Black' interiors and its accompanying convenience, comfort and media connectivity features introduced last year have been maintained.

Starting from a price of Rs 13.85 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) for the base LT variant all the way upto to Rs 15.67 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) for the fully loaded auto box spec model, Chevy’s top-selling nameplate is back with a cannon under the hood and a new baton in its hand, ready to sprint faster than ever before and keep its customers safer, more delighted and all the more at ease while doing so.