CRUZE HATCH A ‘BIG STEP’ FOR GM
Building on sedan’s global success, little Chev will also get a diesel, writes Lesley Wimbush.
Chevy’s targeting a DETROIT younger, more ethnically diverse and largely male buyer with the new hatchback version of its best-selling compact Cruze — one who’s relatively affluent, active and hip, given the carefully crafted image of our surroundings.
A repurposed industrial building in the heart of Detroit is the new home of Third Man Records, the latest project of punked-out blues artist Jack White, where you’ll find an eclectic collection of obscure music paraphernalia, from vintage turntables to wooden 1960s recording booths. Here we’re introduced to North Ameri- ca’s first hatchback variant of the Cruze (Europe’s had one since 2011), surrounded by robotic record presses, steam pipes and a blues-playing acoustic guitar picker, dressed in all black.
“The Cruze has been our bestselling vehicle globally,” said Alan Batey, president of GM North America. “And now, extending the range, here in the U.S. (and Canada), the new hatchback is a really big step.”
It faces very stiff competition — including the segment-leading VW Golf, Mazda3 Sport and Ford Focus Hatch, and soon, the iconic Honda Civic hatchback.
While the wheelbase is exactly the same as the Cruze sedan, the Mexico-built hatch’s overall length drops from 4,666 millimetres to 4,453.
Interior cabin space is exactly the same as the sedan, except for the all-important rear cargo space. In comparison to the sedan’s 419 litres of trunk space, the hatch offers 523 L of cargo room, with a total of 1,189 L of flat space with the rear seats down.
Like the sedan, the Cruze hatch offers a torsion-beam axle on the base LT trims, and a Z-link rear setup on Premier models. Front suspension across the lineup consists of MacPherson struts, coil springs and stabilizer bar.
While the sedan offers three trims, the hatch comes only in LT and Premier trim — at $750 over the sedan. The base Cruze hatch LT manual starts at $20,595, or $22,045 with automatic. The Premier is $24,645.
As with the sedan, Convenience and Technology packages build on standard features; a True North Edition adds the safety technology suite and the eightinch MyLink touch screen with Apple CarPlay. There’s also an RS appearance package with sport body mouldings, rear spoiler, fog lamps and RS badging.
Safety tech includes lane-keep assist, IntelliBeam, forward-collision alert with following-distance indicator, lane-change alert, rear park assist and rear cross-traffic alert, but there’s no adaptive cruise control. This is available on mid-range Honda Civics and will be offered as standard on all upcoming Corollas, including the sub-$17,000 base models.
Our day was spent in the top- spec Premier True North; features include heated leather seats and steering wheel, and remote push-button start. Chevy boasts that the Cruze is the “most connected car in its segment,” and on top of Apple CarPlay, it also features standard 4G LTE Wi-Fi across the lineup.
There’s really no marked difference in handling between the Cruze hatch and its four-door sibling. The single engine choice is a turbocharged 1.4-L four-cylinder producing 153 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque, mated to a six-speed automatic in upper trim levels. Performance is adequate, if not invigorating; the transmission is smooth but a set of paddle shifters would add some sparkle.
The Cruze rides smoothly with plenty of composure and very little engine noise. But even with the available spring and exhaust performance mods, this isn’t a hatch for boy-racer wannabes. The steering, a rack-mounted electric setup that reduces parasitic draw from the engine, is nicely weighted but not as communicative as the Golf’s.
Those of a more enthusiast bent may want to wait for the diesel variant, which is set to arrive in Canada next spring. The diesel engine will likely be the 1.6-L CDTI four-cylinder found in the Opel, which produces only 136 hp, but has 236 lb.-ft. of torque.
“The torque that you get out of this type of diesel, in this type of vehicle — particularly being a Brit — with a manual transmission, that’s what I call fun,” said Batey.
In addition to the six-speed manual, the diesel Cruze will be available with a new nine-speed automatic, a configuration that could boast fuel efficiency up to 50 mpg (5.6 L/100 km). Officially, the gasoline-powered Cruze hatch sips slightly more fuel than the sedan, at 8.3/6.4/7.4 (city/ highway/combined) for the LT manual, 8.1/6.2/7.3 for the LT automatic, and 8.4/6.4/7.5 for the Premier automatic.
The Chevrolet Cruze hatchback is available in showrooms now.
And for the record, Jack White drives a Tesla.