The Chevrolet Cruze has been around since 2009 and has made its mark in the Executive Sedan segment.
The Chevrolet Cruze has been around since 2009 and has made its mark in the Executive Sedan segment. It’s been kind of a benchmark in terms of performance and styling. The Cruze is also sold as Daewoo Lacetti Premiere in some countries and also as Holden Cruze in others. The Cruze sold in good numbers at the beginning until lately when it began to show age against stiff competition from newer models like the Volkswagen Jetta, Skoda Octavia, Hyundai Elantra, Toyota Corolla and the Renault Fluence. There was a minor facelift on the Cruze a few years ago which included the exterior, interior and the engine upgrade. Now recently General Motors have got the Cruze under the scanner and got a major facelift on it and presented it as the 2016 Cruze. We drive the ever so sporty Chevrolet Cruze to find out if it still can demand the attention it once did. Find this out and lots more on our road test review right here.
2016 Chevrolet Cruze Facelift Exteriors:
With the major facelift, the Cruze now appears much sharper and younger. The front now sports an all new grille that is smartly done with chrome strips running horizontally. This is a twin style dual-port grille with the upper section having one chrome strip while the lower part gets three strips running across. The Chevrolet bowtie logo now gets a bit smaller as it sits handsomely in the middle of this chrome surrounded center grille. Along with this all new grille, the front bumper also gets totally revamped. The bumper is more rounded and gives a feel of being a lot wider. The designing on the bumper gets highlighted by aggressive bold lines that smoothly integrate into the white LED day time running lights that are placed in the middle of the bumper.
Just below these bright white strip LED DRLs, are the round projector type fog lamps. A thick C shape chrome garnish surrounds the DRLs, making the face look classy. The headlights retain the sweptback sharp angular design and remain unchanged. The sides on the 2016 Cruze remain unchanged with the only addition being keyless entry buttons on the chrome door handles. The top end LTZ that we tested comes with a sunroof and you also get electrically foldable wing mirrors with integrated LED turn lights on them.
The roof now gets a long stick type radio antenna. The alloy wheels get a new design on them and now come with 5 thick multi-spokes in silver. The tyre spec remains the same and the 2016 Cruze drives on 205/60 R16 spec JK Tyre Vectra tubeless radials. General Motors have not cut costs and the 5th wheel (spare wheel) too comes in full spec tyre mounted on alloys.
The rear section too majorly remains unchanged with the only inclusion being the boot lid lip spoiler in body color and a revised rear bumper that now looks a lot trendier. The exhaust pipe comes with round chrome tip. The tail lamps remain unchanged on the 2016 Cruze.
The all new face on the 2016 Cruze facelift makes the car look a lot younger while the new bumper makes the car look broader and stand bolder when seen head on. The exteriors are well built and the paint quality is also good.
2016 Chevrolet Cruze Facelift Interiors:
The Cruze always boasted of a trendy looking dash inspired from that of an aircraft. The dash on this facelift remains the same. Dual tone dash with black on the top and grey in the middle. The steering has a Camaro-inspired design with all the needed MFD buttons laid on it. This steering can be adjusted for height and reach manually. The steering comes with a thick V shape silver insert band.
The speedo cluster and the center dash come with thin shining chrome linings giving a good premium feel here. Instrumentation remains the same with twin barrel round meters, RPM on the left and speedo on the right and two more tiny round meters for engine temperature and fuel level in the middle. Below this you have the trip meters and the drive mode indicator. The center dash gets a very rich-looking brushed metal thick body insert line that flows around making the console look premium.
The biggest change on the inside of the 2016 Cruze is the addition of MyLink, now this system works on the 7-inch color LCD touch screen display. Through MyLink you can control various multimedia functions such as Radio, CD, USB, Bluetooth Telephony, AUX and Wireless Audio Streaming along with USB etc. This screen also doubles up as the reverse camera display when in that mode. The first Chevrolet car model to get MyLink was the Trailblazer that we tested some time back. Apple iPhone users would be pleased to know that when you connect the phone you can use SIRI handsfree via your voice command on MyLink. This is a very convenient, simple-to-use and helpful system that integrates itself very well on the vehicle.
Along with this there are a few changes on the buttons on the center console and the steering wheel. The all black leather upholstery remains untouched and looks very sporty. The driver’s seat can be partly electrically adjusted. You can adjust this seat electrically for reach, height and tilt while the back rest tilt can be adjusted manually using the lever provided. The front seats offer excellent support and comfort and also come with side seat bolstering that kind of hug you and hold you in place when hard cornering etc. and also enhance the comfort/support to the sides of the back.
The auto transmission shifter remains the same but looks premium as it’s now surrounded by the brushed metal premium looking inserts. The older squarish engine start stop button has now gone round with chrome around it. Like the older Cruze, the facelift one too comes with single zone climate control with no blower vents for the rear but the fan blow speed is good that it reaches every corner of the cabin even at low speeds. Between the front seats you have the adjustable arm rest with storage space under it and lots of storage places in the center console, door pockets and also one in the middle of the dash. USB port and AUX input port is inside this center arm rest storage area.
The rear seats come with two adjustable headrests and a center foldable arm rest. The seats are well designed and offer good comfort. Leg room is not the best in class but adequate, head room is decent while the seating angle is excellent. The Cruze comes with a large boot area of 450 liters as before. As mentioned, the spare wheel in the boot, is full sized with alloy on it, no space-saver here.
2016 Chevrolet Cruze Facelift Engine:
The Chevrolet Cruze is always known for its high performance diesel engine, with this engine being recently updated, a few years back. Powered by a 1998cc DOHC CRDI Diesel engine that makes 166PS of power and belts out 360 Nm of torque, this easily is the most powerful engine in terms of power and performance currently in the segment. This massive engine is mated to a 6-speed dual clutch automatic transmission which we drove. There also is a 6-speed manual transmission variant available.
Start the engine and you can hear it roar, rev it and the sound turns into a heavy sporty roar. Shift to the drive mode and press the throttle, you are instantly pushed back into the seat while the Cruze surges ahead like a locomotive on the run. The automatic shifter is very quick and the shifts go through unnoticed. The engine redline comes up at around 4900RPM while you can also manually shift using the tiptronic shift mode. Chevrolet claims a fuel economy of 14.8Km/L while in real world drive conditions 11Km/L is what it returned even when being driven hard and pushed around.
The drive feel is solid and the steering feedback is on the heavier side, but we are not complaining. Suspension is tuned for Indian conditions and is set on the harder side to enhance the drive feel. Power delivery is very quick and you can easily do wheel spins when you start off from stand still. There are no mechanical changes on the Facelift Cruze, so the drive is very much like the earlier Cruze. The brake setup is an all disc unit that has a good amount of bite.
2016 Chevrolet Cruze Facelift Safety:
Right from the time General Motors launched the Cruze here in India, it came with mostly all the safety features loaded on to it. There are front and side airbags, ABS with EBD apart from others.
2016 Chevrolet Cruze Facelift Verdict:
The Cruze was always a big seller for General Motors. It just got younger and a lot more stylish with this facelift. The addition of innovative features like MyLink makes the already plush and comfortable cabin even better. On the outside, the all new face is one of the best among its rivals in the segment. General Motors has also the cashless service offer that makes servicing their cars cash-stress free. Yes, this is the best and most powerful Diesel engine that you can get in this segment till the next generation Cruze comes to India in 2017.
2016 Chevrolet Cruze Facelift LTZ Automatic Photo Gallery:
Pics: Ritesh Madhok
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