# Diesel Driving Impressions - First 500 Miles



## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

For five days in the sun, the night and the rain at speeds up to 68 mph, I've done highway, I've done residential and I've done stop-and-go traffic for 500 miles in my Cruze Diesel. Ive also driven it back-to-back with my DTS. 

Here are my impressions:

It is comfortable and capable. It is fun to drive. It has an abundance of power. The torque is readily apparent. 

The engine's torque seems to come on about half-way through second gear, then drop down at the beginning of third then continue strong for the rest of third all the way through sixth. I presume this is the engine being torque managed. 

It is VERY quiet at highway speeds. But at speeds of up to 35 mpg with the radio turned off or set to 10 the engine sound is noticeable. It is a diesel sound reminiscent of the medium-sized John Deere that does my snow; although many magnitudes quieter, but nonetheless still there. Gasoline engines also have a sound - but it is a sound that I've heard all of my driving life. So the diesel sounds are more noticeable to me at this time. 

It is very fuel efficient as we already know. 

I've had complaints from rear passengers that the Pioneer speakers on the parcel shelf are unpleasant to listen to at any volume above 12. Overall from the front seats the Pioneer system is decent but not as pleasing as the DTS's Bose. 

The tires are not as grippy in the corners as either the Eagle RS-A on my departed Tahoe or the Michelin MXV4 Plus on the DTS. This may also be a factor of the electric power steering which so far I do not find objectionable. 

The Z-link rear suspension is noticeable and a positive contribution to the driving experience when cornering over bumpy road. The shorter wheelbase of the Cruze makes it feel more direct and reactive to drive than my DTS but also has given me a slight feeling of twitchiness once or twice. 

By comparison my DTS feels more refined - but it did cost about twice as much: The seats are softer. The switch gear operates smoother. It has Rainsense wipers and Lane Departure Warning, better audio, HIDs and Intelibeam. It is understandably more luxurious and should be for the price premium. But these differences are incremental improvements from the driver's seat. They are not night and day differences. And they may not be noticed or appreciated by all drivers. 

So after five days and 500 miles I am pleased with my purchase decision.


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## CRUISE-CRUZE (Nov 8, 2010)

So if you rated the Diesel 1-10 what would it be? 7? 8?:question:


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

The US Diesel must be louder than the one we use as the sound is mostly noticeable at idle and the loudest noise on give and take roads is the tyres. I don't have Z-Link (Watts Linkage real name) and the car still turns in quite well. The standard tyres are Contenintal radials and grip is quite good. The extra weight up front has to make the car push the front out but I haven't explored the limits as there really is no point. After 12 months I would give it enough points to say I would buy another one when needed, and that won't happen any time soon.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

It would depend what the measure for a ten is. 

As you can see from my fleet I've always been choosy about what I drive: two police package vehicles (Caprice, Tahoe); one pseudo police-pack (Impala SS); two high-zoot luxury (6000 STE, DTS). The Cruze Diesel is the smallest and cheapest car I've ever owned - so I'm kind of breaking from past practice. 

My best all-around driver was the Caprice 9C1. Almost perfect balance of utility, performance and durability. It would consistently pull 23 mpg on the highway which sounds crazy today but was unbelievable 25 years ago for a car of that size. So if it was a 10 I have to say that the Cruze Diesel is so far an 8. It could go higher but I need to get it through a winter to be able to more fully assess. 

When I drove a 3.6 powered ATS it reminded me a lot of my Caprice 9C1. The problem with the ATS is that it does not have a power telescopic steering wheel and therefore could not fit my wife. Incidentally ATS is smaller than Cruze Diesel by three cubic feet interior and three cubic foot trunk.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

One other thing that I've noticed is that my Cruze Diesel does not have a shaded windshield. When I say shaded, I mean the top four inches of the windshield in a deep blue tint. 

This feels like the only car I've ever driven without this shaded portion above the AS|1 mark.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

So, I thought about the question of what I would rate my Cruze and I am hard pressed to give it a rating on a scale of 0-10, but I can say it is definitely in my top 5 favorites of all the cars I have ever driven (which numbers well into the hundreds if you include test drives). Some that are possibly "better" include a 2005 Bentley Continental GT, 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD, 1985 Chrysler Laser XE Turbo (that car put a smile on my face during the test drive like no other car and I ended up owning it for 3 years - a long time for me).


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## jpm84092 (Jun 23, 2013)

Without a doubt, the only car I own that I enjoy driving more than my 2014 Cruze CTD is my 2002 Corvette Convertible.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Just filled it up. It traveled 600 miles on the 'free' tank of diesel from the dealership and returned 41 mpg. I notice on Fuelly the average of 15 diesels over 105 fills is 41.3 mpg so I'm right in the middle. My departed Tahoe would have done about 18 mpg for similar service. 


I filled it with Shell V-Power Diesel and it now _seems_ quieter at idle.


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## steveg241 (Jul 18, 2013)

Same thing for me after the first fill. Went about 500 miles averaging 39mpg but decided to fill around 1/4 tank left. Filled with Gulf diesel and it did seem to idle better. Switched to Irving diesel mixed with B20 (Burke's Oil in Chelsea, MA) and I'm getting about the same mpg but with a seemingly much smoother idle.


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