# 1st Impressions on the Cruze Diesel



## Grr (May 14, 2014)

Great post, everything you said I would agree with. I went with the light interior there was no way I would have gotten the black, I would have ordered one and waited for the cocoa and cream!

i also need to put a hitch on for pulling a single snowmobile and my bike rack, which did you get? Dd you like it? Price?


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

I agree, except I love my black leather. Also haven't had any regen issues, regen will work in the background as it has for me. Don't know why yours set off the light


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## Sperry (Aug 3, 2013)

Just turned 32,000 miles on mine and still loving the little beast


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

I'm actually liking mine more and more the more I drive it


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## MOTO13 (Mar 26, 2014)

By today's standards, this is not a real expensive car. Probably about average in the $25-$29k range, but it seems that GM, while well known for skimping on some of the most painfully obvious things, did pretty good with the diesel cruze. The missing homelink is one thing that I'll never quite get, but everywhere else seems to be a pretty well thought out car and they used good components. The leather seems pretty decent, the dash and interior overall are very nice, comfortable, quiet, peppy. Plus, it's a darn nice looking car. The EPA mileage seems even to be understated by a bit which was a great surprise. I am curious of the long term reliability. But so far with 2000 miles on mine, I would highly recommend the car.


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## KpaxFAQ (Sep 1, 2013)

Nice write up, other then the junk paint that chips looking at it, happy here


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## alyupe11 (Jun 9, 2013)

Excellent write up......


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

Thanks for the writeup and welcome!


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## grs1961 (Oct 23, 2012)

About the regeneration - if it can't complete after three tries, the light comes on. If it can't complete it then or after one more try - it won't try again, because something must be wrong.

When I have the light come on I and can't hit the open road I just tootle around the suburbs in second, it heats up nicely and goes away, takes about 15 minutes or so.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

I guess I've been lucky, I haven't seen the light yet


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## WVDave (Feb 21, 2014)

i also need to put a hitch on for pulling a single snowmobile and my bike rack, which did you get? Dd you like it? Price?[/QUOTE]

I purchased the CURT Trailer Hitch #11371 for $254.86 and also the CURT T-Connector #56214 for $107.20as recommended by others on this forum . One of the people at the dealership cautioned that purchasing these aftermarket items and installing them after the dealer released the car to me might cause warranty problems later. I wasn't concerned about the hitch, but knowing how much more complicated electrical systems are in cars are these days I was reluctant to install the T-Connector fearing that in the future any electrical problems would be attributed to it. Consequently I had the dealer send it to their subcontractor to install the hitch and the T-Connector. I was pleased with the hitch. I don't see any way a receiver hitch could be installed that would be less visible. The T-Connector works fine also and tucks away under the panel in the trunk when not in use. However, I was disappointed with the way the installer drilled a hole through a part of the frame underneath and threaded a wire through the hole. I fear eventually vibration and wind will abrade the insulation and then I will have electrical problems. The drilled hole is just slightly larger than the wire so I can't get any kind of an insulating sleeve into the hole to protect the wire. I will probably use some epoxy glue to fill in the hole and protect the wire.


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## WVDave (Feb 21, 2014)

About the regeneration - if it can't complete after three tries, the light comes on. If it can't complete it then or after one more try - it won't try again, because something must be wrong.

If I understand you correctly, in my case it attempted regeneration three times without my knowledge. Because all of the trips were short, it then sent the message giving me, in effect, two more attempts before displaying a CEL and reducing engine power and forcing a service trip. I wish the car would display a message indicating it was attempting a regeneration so that in the event it was not convenient or possible for the driver to keep driving at the time he would at least know that on the next trips he would have to not turn off the car for such things a filling up on fuel, stopping in a convenience store or reporting for work. Is it likely that on a beautiful summer morning an employer would accept as an excuse, "my Diesel Cruze told me I had to keep on driving it a little longer"?


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## MilTownSHO (Oct 9, 2013)

They skimped on automatic climate control, how is it not even an option on the diesel?!

I would never ever buy anything but black interior, tan/grey interior ages much worse in my opinion.

Glad your enjoying the new car. I just flipped 20k and have had no major issues yet!


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

My diesel is nearly 2 years old and the run me harder light has only come on once and the regen seems to happen in the background. The only indication that it is happening is when the engine fan roars for a while after the engine is turned off. According to my owners manual when the particulate filter light comes on you are supposed to drive with the engine above 2,000 rpm until the light goes out. I have a different engine to the US Cruze and have no DEF to worry about. I would not willingly go back to a petrol engined car again.


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## bigluke (Aug 18, 2013)

I agree with your post, I have the tan leather and love them as they aren't too hot in the summer but I'm tired of cleaning them all time, so now I clean them before winter and once in the summer but they are very hard to clean. My blue jeans always leave some ink on the seats so now you can clearly see a huge difference between the driver and helper side leather color. Anyway once you sit on you don't care anymore..haha!


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## MOTO13 (Mar 26, 2014)

Yeah, auto climate would be nice I suppose, but hardly a deal breaker. I have had several cars with it and it's on my truck...I never use it.


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

I forgot to mention that I have black leather seats and steering wheel, as well as automatic climate control. The hot weather (100F+) is no problem since I put a good quality window tint on as soon as I bought the car.


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## Su8pack1 (Apr 17, 2014)

Good post. Finally picking up mine Thursday morning.


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## BradHerr (Sep 29, 2013)

Great report! I've put 15,000 miles on mine in 4 months and haven't had the "keep driving" message yet. 
I also put a hitch and t-connector on my CTD and have been pulling an aluminum fishing boat back and forth to the lake. I get some funny looks backing it down into the water, but the diesel doesn't complain about dragging it around our hills. 


-Brad


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## vwgtiglx (Jun 13, 2013)

With that much driving you'll never have to worry about Regen warnings.


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## grs1961 (Oct 23, 2012)

WVDave said:


> If I understand you correctly, in my case it attempted regeneration three times without my knowledge. Because all of the trips were short, it then sent the message giving me, in effect, two more attempts before displaying a CEL and reducing engine power and forcing a service trip. I wish the car would display a message indicating it was attempting a regeneration so that in the event it was not convenient or possible for the driver to keep driving at the time he would at least know that on the next trips he would have to not turn off the car for such things a filling up on fuel, stopping in a convenience store or reporting for work. Is it likely that on a beautiful summer morning an employer would accept as an excuse, "my Diesel Cruze told me I had to keep on driving it a little longer"?


Yes, that about sums it up - even the "I kept driving a little longer", but my boss doesn't fuss about what time I turn up, an advantage of increasing grey hair!

You will get used to it, I have my DIC set to instant economy (and Metric), and I can tell when a DPF regeneration starts, the usage jumps up by about 3l/100k and the idle RPM climbs by 100 or so.

And the Cruze is such a fun car to drive I often just take it out at night and give it half an hour or so on the freeway, just because I can!


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

grs1961 said:


> Yes, that about sums it up - even the "I kept driving a little longer", but my boss doesn't fuss about what time I turn up, an advantage of increasing grey hair!
> 
> You will get used to it, I have my DIC set to instant economy (and Metric), and I can tell when a DPF regeneration starts, the usage jumps up by about 3l/100k and the idle RPM climbs by 100 or so.
> 
> And the Cruze is such a fun car to drive I often just take it out at night and give it half an hour or so on the freeway, just because I can!


You can really tell when a regen is going on during downhill coasting on the highway. If you have the average MPG screen on, you can see it says 99MPG, but the MPG average slowly drops until the regen is done. (Which by the way indicates that the instantaneous MPG display isn't directly connected to the average display, but the extra fuel used during a regen does go into the average)


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

Yup. I average 3.5L/100km on my road and when regen kicks in I get a ridiculous 6.6ish, which is funny because that's what my cobalt got all hwy


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## MOTO13 (Mar 26, 2014)

The temperature adjustment should read in digital numbers and not just a generic dial cold to warm.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

The diesels don't have the digital temp. Neither do any 13/14 as far as I know


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## Barefeet (Jan 1, 2014)

It would be nice to have a regeneration in process light so that I wouldn't be wondering what I am doing wrong to cause the average mpg to be dropping.


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