Chevy’s new Cruze is the pretender to the diesel crown zealously guarded by Skoda. Can it put up a real fight?
Story Harmaan Madon
Photography Sanjay Raikar & Sawan Hembram
First things first: the Cruze is not an American car, no matter what anyone at GM tells you. It has been designed in Korea and will be sold all over the world. The company’s revival will owe a lot to this car, not least in India. It has to battle the best Skoda has to offer which includes both the Octavia and the Laura. The Cruze is priced neatly between the two Czech cars with the lower end LT variant priced almost identically to the Octavia while the higher spec LTZ is just Rs 75,000 shy of the Laura. It’s in august company, then. We’ve pitted the Cruze LTZ against the Laura 1.9 Ambiente here and come away pleasantly surprised.
Design and Style
The Cruze is a striking car; the hunked over front end with the wide two-part grille and chiselled headlights give it a bold, unmistakable identity. The almost coupe-like roofline gives the car a sporty stance. But the flanks are a bit drab and the rear of the car is a generic design, so much so that if you spotted one in the twilight, you might almost mistake the rear end for a Civic. It’s a big car though, and looks the part.
The Laura has just endured a midlife facelift and while the jury is out on whether the new headlight design works or doesn’t, there is no getting away from the fact that it doesn’t entirely gel with the rest of the car. The rear end, however, is virtually identical to what we’ve known.
The Cruze rides on 16-inch wheels shod with 205/60 JK Vectras while the Laura uses Goodyear’s excellent Eagle NCTs in a 195/65 R15 size. We do wish, however, that the Laura had 16-inch wheels too, like in the higher spec L&K variant. Overall, we like the design of the Cruze, not least because it is fresh in this market, but also because GM resisted the temptation of a ‘safe’ design and instead styled a product with a distinctive face.
Interiors and Equipment
The Cruze comes packed to the gills with goodies, especially in the LTZ trim we tested. Your hard earned rupees get you audio controls on the steering wheel, climate control, a sunroof, cruise control (or is that Cruze control?), rain sensing wipers, leather seats, heated outside rear view mirrors and a gimmicky smart key. You can simply walk up to the car with the key in your pocket, pull on the door handles and it will unlock itself. Step inside and there’s a little button to the left of the steering wheel which is the start-stop button. But why the incongruous placement, Chevy? For the facelift, could we have a big, round, red one right in the middle of the centre console instead?
The Chevy’s cabin has a twin cockpit theme and it really does look very stylish. The cool blue lighting for the instruments and the centre console add more flair to the cabin. In comparison, the Laura has a touch of “dear, pass me the hot water bottle” about it. All the buttons are square or round or rounded-off squares and the dark grey and beige colour scheme is very staid. But the Laura counter punches with quality materials; the leather on the steering wheel, the dashboard plastics, the control stalks and the power window buttons all boast beautifully damped operation.
The Laura has better seats than the Cruze and is also more spacious in the back – an important consideration in this segment. Additionally, the Laura has rear a/c vents, which are a boon in our climate and a big advantage in its favour. A glaring omission in the Cruze is the lack of a dead pedal for the driver, simply unacceptable in a car of this class. The Laura has a commodious boot and the ‘porthole’ centre armrest in the back seat gives it additional flexibility for loading long objects without folding the rear seat.
On the road
The Laura and the Cruze both boast four-cylinder diesel motors – the Cruze has a slight capacity advantage – mated to a five-speed manual gearbox (although you can order the Laura with an auto ’box as well). Yet, they are two very different animals altogether. The Laura uses the last generation Pumpe Düse engine while the Cruze employs a common-rail injection system. The results are hugely different: the Laura produces 105PS at 4000rpm whereas the Cruze makes a much healthier 150PS at a similar rpm, however, the way in which they produce their power makes all the difference. The Laura’s peak torque of 250Nm is produced at just 1900rpm while the Cruze needs to spin all the way to 2600rpm before it unleashes its 326Nm of twist.
The Cruze feels practically gutless below 1800rpm, after which the turbo kicks in and catapults it forward with a relentless urge. On an open road with little or no traffic, one might enjoy this but the truth of the matter is that the Cruze is a pain to drive in traffic, be it crawling along in the city or motoring down an old two-lane highway. Furthermore, the gap between the second and third gears is quite a bit, so second feels too short and when you shift into third, it drops right out of the power band. It truly is exasperating in traffic. The gearbox shifts positively, but when you compare it to the shift action of the Laura, it is evident the Czech car has a definite advantage. The Laura may not have the outright poke of the Cruze, but it is definitely far more liveable. Drivability and traction are far superior in the Laura, as is the clutch actuation and gearshift quality.
With its long wheelbase and wider track, one would expect the Cruze to ride better and be more stable at speed, yet surprisingly it is the Laura which once again proves superior. The Cruze rides well at low to medium speeds, especially on broken and rutted roads where it seems to absorb bumps really well. But the overall ride quality of the Laura is superior, although its suspension is slightly noisier in comparison. The Laura benefits from having an all-independent suspension, and this helps in the handling department, but the Cruze is further compromised by the tyres. Despite being a size larger, the JK Vectras cannot deliver the same levels of grip as the Goodyears and they shriek in protest every time you go around a corner. Hairy. The Cruze’s brakes are powerful, but we feel better tyres would help in the braking department as well. Even the steering response and feedback is much superior in the Laura, with the Cruze feeling fidgety around the dead-ahead position. At speed on an open highway, the Cruze feels like a genuine 200km/h cruiser. The engine’s got it, but the chassis hasn’t. The rear of the car doesn’t ‘sit’ like the Laura’s, whose high speed stability is much better than the Cruze.
Fuel efficiency
The Cruze manages 12.5kmpl in the city, but out on the highway it returns 17kmpl which makes for an overall figure of 13.6kmpl. The Laura, on the other hand, manages 14.5kmpl in the city and an excellent 22.2kmpl on the highway which is a huge advantage. The constant shifting required in the city hampers the Cruze’s fuel economy and the more powerful engine is obviously thirstier on the highway as well.
Verdict
The Cruze is definitely a big step forward for General Motors. It boasts a whole new design and philosophy for the carmaker and comes across as a stylish and exciting product. Even the build quality is an improvement over what we’ve seen from GM in the past. It’s loaded with features and the cabin is a special place to be in. But the Laura comes across as the more complete car. Simple things like the dead pedal for driver comfort, the rear a/c vents for the passengers, three-point seatbelts for all rear passengers and the wing mirror mounted turn signals show that more thought has been applied while designing the car. The Laura also has more rear headroom and legroom, is better built, rides and handles better and is substantially more fuel efficient as well. For the Rs 67,000 premium, the Laura is a car which no amount of toys in the Cruze can make up for.
