# is the cruze turning into another GM bomb?



## cruzeman (Mar 13, 2011)

I have been on this board for months and within the last month there has been an overwhelming amount of post with people with problems with their Cruze. Does anyone else notice this trend?


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## Sour Kruat's 951 (Nov 9, 2010)

I would have to say there are enough of them on the road finally for the masses to start chiming in. As I just stated in another thread I just discovered a leaking transmission today with only 3200 miles.

If the trans and engine have to come out for the repair I will not be a Cruze owner any longer.


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## iKermit (Dec 13, 2010)

I hope not, it would be the last thing GM would need. I know i am keeping my Cruze for as long as my warranty lasts lol. And then until something major happens.


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## FieroItaliano85 (Aug 5, 2011)

2011 is the first year in north America, relax guys there are gonna be problems!!!


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## FieroItaliano85 (Aug 5, 2011)

BTW that's why I got a 2012!!!!


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Nah, I think the echo-chamber effect of Internet forums is happening. We're not listing all the positives about the car, and only discussing the negatives.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

..._4 million miles and they haven't got it right yet!_


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## alex725 (Apr 2, 2011)

I think its more just because there are a lot more on the road now then when this website was started more problems are going to pop up. I dont think its going to be another bomb, because it is a good car. Even with my bad transmission problem I still really like my car.


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## Boost (Aug 13, 2011)

The Cruze is a very good and solid product. It is a Holden, just like the Camaro and the GTO / G8 / new Caprice. Relax guys, 1st year bugs + normal quirks in a "cheap" car don't mean lemon. This is a very good car and I want one !


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## CHEVYCRUZE RS (Mar 29, 2011)

I love my cruze and hope nothing major happens. You can expect some minor problems since it is a brand new 1st generation car, IMO


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## got_boost (Sep 29, 2011)

There's so many ppl driving them that you don't hear bout their problems. But you also don't hear bout not having problems. Atleast chevy tackles problems right away instead of putting em off like toyota,bmw, etc


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## CHEVYCRUZE RS (Mar 29, 2011)

Nicely said, and yes.....i also agree.



got_boost said:


> There's so many ppl driving them that you don't hear bout their problems. But you also don't hear bout not having problems. Atleast chevy tackles problems right away instead of putting em off like toyota,bmw, etc


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

Boost said:


> The Cruze is a very good and solid product. It is a *Daewoo*, just like the Camaro and the GTO / G8 / new Caprice. Relax guys, 1st year bugs + normal quirks in a "cheap" car don't mean lemon. This is a very good car and I want one !


Fixed!....



J/K. 

There seems to be a lot more random problems with this car starting off. Obviously a lot are centered around the transaxle. 




Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

Thought to ponder: both the *Corvair* and the *Vega* were "loved" by _some_ of their owners too, but _not_ by many owners in the end.


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

70AARCUDA said:


> Thought to ponder: both the *Corvair* and the *Vega* were "loved" by _some_ of their owners too, but _not_ by many owners in the end.


Yes, I really loved my '65 Corsa, but that simple little 1800 lb. car can not possibly be compared with a Cruze. My '65 was a cheap, reverse engineered 911 and it had quite a few flaws and weak points. The Cruze is none of that and is in a completely different class. It is a very complex car and I am not surprised that it has some problems, especially since it is a first year production in a plant with some old baggage. It looks to me like Chevy is fixing the problems as they show up. The only problem that gives me pause is the transaxle. It seems that when a problem arises with it, GM is not really up to the task of dealing with it. Even though the 6T40 has been built in other GM locations, The ones in the US Cruzi are comming from a brand new production line with brand new manufacturing equipment (and much of that equipment is not sourced from US manufacturers). Remember, the Cruze outsold every vehicle in the US, but one in July. All of a sudden, there are a lot more of them on the road now.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Eh, there are a good number of transaxle problems. Manual and automatic alike. At least they "may be" dealt with.


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## wbwing (Feb 23, 2011)

Sorry to hear everyone's troubles. I did a quick search for 'transaxle' and only found one thread with a few people that had a specific problem. Which sucks, but I am wondering if someone can detail for me all the other problems folks are seeing with their powertrain. All transmission?


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

wbwing said:


> Sorry to hear everyone's troubles. I did a quick search for 'transaxle' and only found one thread with a few people that had a specific problem. Which sucks, but I am wondering if someone can detail for me all the other problems folks are seeing with their powertrain. All transmission?


Transaxles are what the Cruze has. People just generically call them transmissions.




Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app


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## Patman (May 7, 2011)

Make me feel fortunate. I haven't had any problems other than ones I created myself with fire hydrants. Knock on wood!! As Boost and ChevyCruze RS said it is a first year car. IMO a lot of these cars have been modded during the summer and the weather is turning colder it is having unforeseen[FONT=&quot][/FONT] affects(turbos with CAIs/tunes not working well with the cold). I am sorry to hear the problems with the transaxles. I just hear problems with the automatic transmissions(why I got a manual). I plan on keeping my Cruze (best car I have owned since my 02 Alero) unless something catastrophic happens. I didn't buy my car to change it into something it is not by adding horsepower/etc. I bought it because it was a good fit for me and I needed to get out of my Civic. I have been happy with my decision so far


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## yourdoinitwrong (Aug 7, 2011)

A few posts on a forum that represents a very small amount of Cruzes sold and you call the car a bomb? A car forum typically has people who are more interested in vehicles than the average public and are even more vocal about issues with their cars. You always hear more complaints than you do people who have no issues, that goes for any product. Here is a link to the IQS on the Cruze from JD Power:

JDPower.com | Cruze

The car is not perfect and the powertrain does seem to be an area of concern but it is far from being "a bomb." How many owners on here rave about their cars versus those who say it's a piece of crap? That really doesn't matter either because you cannot conduct a reliable survey from comments on here. When I saw the title of this thread my first thought was "here we go....this is going to get locked soon." These threads usually come from haters or trolls but to see a mod start one of these is surprising and a little disappointing. Cars are complex mechanical products and are going to break, to pretend otherwise is nieve. Go check out the reliability ratings of VW's and Range Rovers, yet people still love them in spite of the problems. No car is perfect and the IQS ratings for the Cruze are average for it's class. I could go on about some "premium" cars that I owned in the past that by reading their forums you wouldn't even consider buying yet they sell like crazy. Seriously, what was the point of this thread?


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## cruzeman (Mar 13, 2011)

I was just stating a trend I have been noticing and having bought a Cruze that I need to last a minimum of 200000 miles it concerned me. I've never had a manual transmission problem ever, not even a clutch going out so it raised flags when I hear a clunk while shifting a new car. Or when the car decides to stop accelerating while passing someone or have the ventilation system jamming up requiring me to disconnect battery. Don't get me wrong , I love my car and plan on keeping it a long time but I don't want to be losing confidence in it.


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## jakkaroo (Feb 12, 2011)

if you mod your car it will never be the same as factory,might last 2 weeks or last 20 years who knows.only time will tell


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## wbwing (Feb 23, 2011)

This forum may be a small percentage of owners, but a large percentage of problems for the owners on Cruzetalk can be indicative of a common problem for the Cruze as a whole.


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## SeanM402 (Aug 8, 2011)

The only problem I have had with my Cruze is that I hit a coyote at 4 in the morning.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

SeanM402 said:


> The only problem I have had with my Cruze is that I hit a coyote at 4 in the morning.


 roadkill...taste like chicken?


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## yourdoinitwrong (Aug 7, 2011)

wbwing said:


> This forum may be a small percentage of owners, but a large percentage of problems for the owners on Cruzetalk can be indicative of a common problem for the Cruze as a whole.


If that were based on statistical data then I'm all for believing it. I have no idea how many members there on this forum and I have not seen any numbers regarding the number of problems per vehicle so it's impossible to say there is a "large percentage of problems." The 2011 industry average is 107 problems per 100 vehicles with new or redesigned vehicles averaging 122 problems per 100 vehicles. Going by that each typical vehicle produced averages more than one problem in initial quality. If each member on here averaged 1.2 threads of problems with their vehicle we would see nothing else. I have seen several other members besides myself that have had no issues at all, so to me the number of problems reported here doesn't seem out of the ordinary.

There is a ton of actual, scientific data available on the JD Power site which is very revealing. There is room for improvement with the Cruze to be sure but it doesn't get significantly worse scores than other vehicles in its class, excluding Honda. As a brand Chevrolet ranks as "average," while some brands with extremely loyal owners are ranked below that. Those include Mini, Jeep, VW, and Land Rover to name a few. I had a VW Jetta GLI and it was a blast to drive and I loved the car but in a 13 month period it racked up almost $6,000 in warranty repairs. A Pontiac GTO I owned was just as bad and my Infiniti G35 Coupe wasn't much better and rattled inside like a 1984 Chrysler K-car. All cars will have problems, period.

Whenever we spend a good chunk of money on a vehicle of course we want it to be problem free. The reality is that isn't going to happen no matter what you buy. I'm not a Chevy or Cruze fanboy and I'm not implying in any way the Cruze is perfect, it's not. My point is simply in response to the thread title. I sell Chevys and I do it because it's my job, not because I was born with a golden bowtie tattooed on my forehead or anything like that. I have owned many, many different brands. What we have going for us as Chevy owners is the powertrain warranty to address the issues, fairly quick parts delivery and a large dealer network.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

FYI...the info is on the HOME page:

*Members: 3,336*
Threads: 3,996
Posts: 54,547
Top Poster: 70AARCUDA (2,517)

...and, to the new owner of a Cruze even "one" problem is one TOO many, especially in light of GM's dubious _"...4 million miles of testing..."_ advertising statements all over the brochures_. _One would assume that most (if not all) of the major problems (like the transmission!!!) would've been found and corrected by now, the second model-year in NA, but (sadly) that doesn't seem to be the case (remember, the 6T40 transmission has been used in NA since 2008).


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## yourdoinitwrong (Aug 7, 2011)

70AARCUDA said:


> FYI...the info is on the HOME page:
> 
> *Members: 3,336*
> Threads: 3,996
> ...


Again, my whole point is that the Cruze is not a bomb and the scientific data out there proves that, as it does for a whole bunch of other vehicles that get the same ratings. Hopefully GM takes the data and improves the shortcomings. However, to expect a zero defect vehicle is absolutely ridiculous, that doesn't exist anywhere at any price. Porsche has been building the 911 since the 1960's so I would suspect that they have quite a few miles and hours of testing as well yet it doesn't have perfect scores. Expecting a quality vehicle is absolutely reasonable, expecting a perfect one is completely unreasonable.


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

yourdoinitwrong said:


> Again, my whole point is that the Cruze is not a bomb and the scientific data out there proves that, as it does for a whole bunch of other vehicles that get the same ratings. Hopefully GM takes the data and improves the shortcomings. However, to expect a zero defect vehicle is absolutely ridiculous, that doesn't exist anywhere at any price. Porsche has been building the 911 since the 1960's so I would suspect that they have quite a few miles and hours of testing as well yet it doesn't have perfect scores. Expecting a quality vehicle is absolutely reasonable, expecting a perfect one is completely unreasonable.


1) Being a MOD has noting to do with your opinions or questions as a member. You're attempt at labeling him a troll could be seen as a troll attempt in itself. Lets nip that little statement in the butt here.

2) JDPower is not the end all to the Cruze problems vs reliability debate. Calling it "scientific" when it's anything but the scientific method doesn't help either. Everything should be taken with a grain of salt. For some the Cruze has been excellent. For other's it's been a pain. The amount of major mechanical problems posted on here on Cruze talk is "above average" in my experience with new cars and their associated forums. I've bought one first year production vehicle as well as one first year powerplant optioned vehicle. Based on my experience the amount of complaints on an internet forum *is* higher than average. Especially when you take into account that the problems are major components.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...if anybody is interested, I STILL have a copy of my *J. D. Power Questionaire*...and, it basically does NOT ask about "problems" just "form & fit."


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## Calintz (Jul 21, 2011)

So far I have had no problems with my cruze *Knock on wood* for a GM product I am very pleased with my car nothing but greatness has come from this cruze. Every car has its problems and perks but I can say for myself this car feels solid for a chevy. =)


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## wbwing (Feb 23, 2011)

I just wanted to point out that problems on here can be indicative of larger patterns, but you're absolutely right, the "trends" on this forum should be taken with a grain of salt.

The Cruze has been great for me. I haven't noticed any problems, but I haven't been looking really hard. I certainly haven't felt any problems. Transmission is a little jerky every once in a while, but nothing that has me concerned.

On a seperate note: Those of you that have tuned shouldn't blame GM for any powertraing issues in the future. You take the powertrain into your own hands when you do that.


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## yourdoinitwrong (Aug 7, 2011)

Aeroscout977 said:


> 1) Being a MOD has noting to do with your opinions or questions as a member. You're attempt at labeling him a troll could be seen as a troll attempt in itself. Lets nip that little statement in the butt here.
> 
> 2) JDPower is not the end all to the Cruze problems vs reliability debate. Calling it "scientific" when it's anything but the scientific method doesn't help either. Everything should be taken with a grain of salt. For some the Cruze has been excellent. For other's it's been a pain. The amount of major mechanical problems posted on here on Cruze talk is "above average" in my experience with new cars and their associated forums. I've bought one first year production vehicle as well as one first year powerplant optioned vehicle. Based on my experience the amount of complaints on an internet forum *is* higher than average. Especially when you take into account that the problems are major components.


1 - My comment had nothing to do with opinions but everything to do with a post that seemed to want to incite a flame war, at least the way I saw it. If you will look back at many of my posts you will see that I try to be helpful to many of the members and have looked up quite a few of their Cruzes for recall checks, check my private message if you want. Not exactly trolling. If I took the post in the wrong way I apologize and will try to better monitor what I say in the future.

2 - You're right that JD Power is not the be all, end all of information. However, it is the only quantified data we have access to. GM doesn't release any numbers and guessing what is average or above average from posts on an internet forum isn't very reliable either.

At any rate, I apologize for being a little strong in my opinionated response, everyone is entitled to their own opinion based on their experience and it's not my place to judge that. I will try to play nice now! :redface:


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...as one of the "_un_-named" *co-conspirators* (or, *protagonists*, if you will) in this issue, let me _also_ promise to _"...behave better..."_ and bite-my-tongue a little harder and longer _before_ commenting.


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## budd (Apr 12, 2011)

most forums about anything, cell phones radio control cars ,trucks .planes anything all you hear r the prblems people have. you dont hear a lot from the people who have no problems. i've had none so far(knock on wood) and i dont post much. but if i have a problem i'll post on here to see if anyone else is having the same problem and maybe a fix or maybe i've been doing something wrong.


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## 70x7 (Apr 24, 2011)

not sure. there will be more problems the more are put on the road but...
some of these problems that i see posted arent really "problems" but just people really not understanding thier vehicle...


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...granted most owners don't actually *read* their Owners Manuals, but problems such as these below are obviously not addressed in ANY owners manual:

1) squeeking front struts
2) over-filled transmissions
3) harsh automatic gear engagements
4) squeeking brakes
5) USB interfacing problems
6) steering wheel mis-alignments directly from factory
7) erratic speedometer displays
8) very poor fuel economy for automatic-transmissioned vehicles
9) rusting fasteners directly from factory
10) SRS "no-detect" of front seat passenger
11) computer controlled thermostat failures
12) ..._etc._

...feel free to *update* this list at any time using data posted by forum members.


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## cwerdna (Mar 10, 2011)

*Consumer Reports Dec '11 issue*

At the risk of being accused of being a troll again, I received my December 2011 print issue of Consumer Reports yesterday. Both versions (by engine: 1.4T and 1.8) were well below average in reliability. 

2011 Annual Auto Reliability Survey: New models tarnish Ford's reliability: Consumer Reports http://pressroom.consumerreports.org/pressroom/ and Car reliability, most reliable cars briefly mentions it. At Car reliability, most & least reliable new cars (you'll need a CR online subscription to view it), the Cruze and Mini Cooper Clubman S made it under the least reliable small sedans/hatchbacks category.

Keep in mind that per http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...mer-reports-carreliability-faq_ov.htm#topPage and many other places, they require a min sample size of 100.

If someone doesn't start a new thread w/more details on the trouble spots cited (available only w/CR online sub, not in the print magazine) and a pic of the graph in the magazine in the next few days, I will...


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## Cottoz (Oct 30, 2011)

Ok, so if the Cruze isn't a good choice, what would you recommend for the same price and size?


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## cruze01 (Mar 25, 2011)

budd said:


> most forums about anything, cell phones radio control cars ,trucks .planes anything all you hear r the prblems people have. you dont hear a lot from the people who have no problems. i've had none so far(knock on wood) and i dont post much. but if i have a problem i'll post on here to see if anyone else is having the same problem and maybe a fix or maybe i've been doing something wrong.


DITTO! Isn't this why we use forums? We come to see what kind of problems others are having and post our own. And lets face it... we love to complain! I have posted all my problems as well but overall I am still very happy with my Cruze, I traded in a 08 civic for it and still say that the Cruze is better in almost every aspect other than fuel economy. I have only bought 2 new vehicles in my life, my first one was a 05 Jeep Liberty, still have it and in 60,000 miles I have only had 2 $10.00 problems, not even any warranty work, its been a great vehicle but i guess I got lucky on it.


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## cwerdna (Mar 10, 2011)

Cottoz said:


> Ok, so if the Cruze isn't a good choice, what would you recommend for the same price and size?


These aren't my recommendations, but FWIW, on p. 65 of the Dec '11 issue of Consumer Reports, they recommend these cars in these categories. In each category, I've listed them in descending order of reliability. 

small hatchbacks:
Scion xD, Honda Fit, Scion xB, Toyota Matrix, Mazda3, VW Golf (2.5), Hyundai Elantra Touring, Nissan Versa, Kia Soul - last two are barely above avg in reliability

small cars:
Mazda3 sedan, Toyota Corolla, Suzuki SX4, Nissan Sentra, Hyundai Elantra Sedan, Kia Forte - Forte is actually a tiny bit below avg

(Both engine types of the Cruze were listed under small cars w/the 1.8 having the worst reliability in that category and the 1.4T being directly above it. Thus, they couldn't be recommended.)

fuel-efficient hatchbacks:
Lexus CT 200h, Toyota Prius, Chevy Volt, VW Golf TDI 

(Note: VW Jetta TDI was under small cars w/way below avg. reliability so it couldn't be recommended.)

Some of the above (mainly the Volt and Lexus CT) are not in the same price range and some aren't of the similar size.

The car has to do at least ok in their tests (take them for what they're worth), have average reliability or above, along a few other criteria. ConsumerReports.org - New Cars Make/Model - A to Z Index - Consumer Reports spells it out and lists a whole bunch more cars w/the red checked ones being recommended. 

There are a few cases where it's not recommended because the car's done too poorly in their tests (e.g. Dodge Caliber, previous gen Toyota Yaris, Honda Insight, '12 Honda Civic, Smart ForTwo) and in some cases they can't recommend them yet because there was a redesign or it's a new model, so there's no reliability data for it yet.

No other categories make sense given what Cottoz is asking. The issue should show up on newsstands and bookstores soon, if it hasn't already.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...the *two* major problems with the Cruze are (1) its' 6T40 6-speed automatic transmission and (2) its' 1.4LT engine. Both are experiencing way too many problems for products that are NOT "new" to GM, specifically:

1) *6T40* Hydra-matic *transmission* has been in production since *2008*, that's *five* years ago. It was introduced and first used on the 2008 Malibu with 2.4L engine. Cost to replace: $2,281.25 (parts only).

2) *1.4LT* 'Family Zero' *engine* has been in production in europe since *2009* on the GM Vauxhall and GM-Opel vehicles; that's *four* years ago. Cost to replace: $5,777.78 (parts only). Almost _all_ of model year 2011 Cruze engines came from GM-Opel, so they were NOT built here at the Flint, MI, plant. The 1.4LT is a GM-Opel designed engine!

...couple these facts with GM's touted _"...4 million miles of testing..."_ and one wonders "What did GM test and why are they having so many problems..._at OUR expense?"_ If GM 'knows' there's a problem, they should "fix it" (at the factory) _before_ they ship the cars to the customers.

...and, lastly, it's sadly apparent that _most_ GM dealership Service Managers and technicians _do not_ know how to *correctly* _diagnose_ and _repair_ Cruze problems. The cars have gotten TOO COMPLICATED and computers have taken over 'thinking' for problem solving--computer sez: "remove & replace X" but it's NOT the right part and doesn't solve the original "root cause" problem, so the car sits in the service department longer and longer. Call GM and ask what the engineers think the problem is...which takes more time!


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

70AARCUDA said:


> ...the *two* major problems with the Cruze are (1) its' 6T40 6-speed automatic transmission and (2) its' 1.4LT engine. Both are experiencing way too many problems for products that are NOT "new" to GM, specifically:
> 
> 1) *6T40* Hydra-matic *transmission* has been in production since *2008*, that's *five* years ago. It was introduced and first used on the 2008 Malibu with 2.4L engine. Cost to replace: $2,281.25 (parts only).
> 
> ...


Amen! And the 6T40 in the Malibu has the same shifting problems that it does in the Cruze. Why doesn't the 6T45 (same transaxle, but with a wider drive chain) have these issues?
Sorry, got called away from the computer. Despite all of these issues, I still am looking to replace my oldest car with a Cruze.


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## wbwing (Feb 23, 2011)

70AARCUDA said:


> ...the *two* major problems with the Cruze are (1) its' 6T40 6-speed automatic transmission and (2) its' 1.4LT engine. Both are experiencing way too many problems for products that are NOT "new" to GM, specifically:
> 
> 1) *6T40* Hydra-matic *transmission* has been in production since *2008*, that's *five* years ago. It was introduced and first used on the 2008 Malibu with 2.4L engine. Cost to replace: $2,281.25 (parts only).
> 
> ...


 
In my opinion, I think one reason the "4 million miles of testing" doesn't apply a 100% here is because they did all that testing in Europe (I believe). Europe has better fuel, better oils on average, and car owners there are more accepting of a little knock, would rather have a calibration that is close to the edge. I don't know that GM did as much testing here. 

However, I take solace in the fact that the new GM knows that it can't lose Cruze customers it has worked so hard to obtain. The new GM is very seriously focused on customer service and will work hard to make sure the customer is happy. The Cruze will get better over time, but it is absolutely unfair to the customers that bought in when this car first came out. I'm going to have to do a closer inspection for the problems you just mentioned.


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## sahein (Apr 5, 2011)

The last 4 cars that I saw dead along side of the road were 2 Mercedes, 1 Honda, and 1 Mini.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

sahein said:


> The last 4 cars that I saw dead along side of the road were 2 Mercedes, 1 Honda, and 1 Mini.


• counterpoint--were they _all_ brand new 2011 or 2012 cars?


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Kind of glad I have a 2012 instead of a 2011. A lot of the problems with the MY 2011's were ironed out by MY 2012. Shifting is better, although getting the Flint engine plant up and running to supply engines for the late 2011's and 2012's likely led to a few issues. 

Dealership incompetence is a big issue. The service departments have no idea how to fix these cars. They'd better get a clue, since there are well over 100k Cruzes roaming about by now!


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## cruzeman (Mar 13, 2011)

when did they start using usa built engines in the cruze? Im pretty sure mine was from Germany since it was built in april.


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## cwerdna (Mar 10, 2011)

70AARCUDA said:


> ...and, lastly, it's sadly apparent that _most_ GM dealership Service Managers and technicians _do not_ know how to *correctly* _diagnose_ and _repair_ Cruze problems. The cars have gotten TOO COMPLICATED and computers have taken over 'thinking' for problem solving--computer sez: "remove & replace X" but it's NOT the right part and doesn't solve the original "root cause" problem, so the car sits in the service department longer and longer. Call GM and ask what the engineers think the problem is...which takes more time!


FWIW, I've heard the similar complaints leveled against some Toyota dealerships. It seems there are some Toyota dealers who won't do squat for certain classes of problems unless there's a code, stored or otherwise, but not so much a problem of being "parts throwers" 

I've heard anecdotal reports of many VW dealers being "parts throwers".


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

The days of drive-ability diagnosis seem to be mostly dead.


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## slyedog (Mar 17, 2011)

Jim Frye said:


> And the 6T40 in the Malibu has the same shifting problems that it does in the Cruze.


I would completely disagree. My Malibu has been perfect shifting from the get go, especially compared to the Cruze I had. I really liked my Cruze ,but felt that over the time I owned it it wouldn't hold up so I traded it for a Malibu. Still miss certain aspects of the Cruze but am much happier with the Malibu.
:brave:


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## cwerdna (Mar 10, 2011)

wbwing said:


> In my opinion, I think one reason the "4 million miles of testing" doesn't apply a 100% here is because they did all that testing in Europe (I believe). Europe has better fuel, better oils on average, and car owners there are more accepting of a little knock, would rather have a calibration that is close to the edge. I don't know that GM did as much testing here.


Holden Cruze sedan range - First drive: Holden Cruze debuts at $20,990 | GoAuto (cited by Cruze Wikipedia entry) mentions


> Using General Motors’ Delta II front-wheel-drive small-car platform, the Cruze was developed globally over a 27-month period at a cost of $US4 billion ($A5.3 billion). GM built 221 prototypes during that time, with testing done in Australia, the US, Sweden, Canada, the UK, South Korea and China.


Any idea where those prototypes were built along w/the Daewoo Lacetti Premiere and Holden Cruze? Those two models (AFAIK) had been selling before the Cruze in the US.

There could be different set of suppliers for the parts in common w/the US model or they could come from a different plant of the supplier (e.g. US plant for US version vs. a Korean plant for Korean version). This could apply to both the prototypes and the shipping models in those countries.

It can take a LOT of work to build prototypes (usually by hand) and I think things look very different when either GM or a supplier makes tiny quantities of parts for prototypes vs. full-blown production.

Ultimate Factories/Man-Made: Chevy Volt on NGC - PriusChat Forums showed all the pre-production work for the Volt, which was quite interesting. For example, stamping was in very low quantities and they even had a guy hand hammering over folds at the edges of panels. You'd never do this by hand in mass production. Welding was virtually all done by hand and very slow going.

I found part 1 at 




Much later, a Speedmakers ep (Speedmakers: Electric Vehicles (Tesla Roadster, Chevy Volt, and Jaguar C-X75) - PriusChat Forums) came out showing Volt mass production. Again, it's a huge contrast to the work to build prototypes. You can watch the whole ep on Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/watch/230234/speedmakers-electric-vehicles.


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## Mahty (Nov 23, 2010)

cruzeman said:


> I have been on this board for months and within the last month there has been an overwhelming amount of post with people with problems with their Cruze. Does anyone else notice this trend?


Happy People don't complain, I've read many reviews of products and If I listened to the negative reviews only I'd never buy. I LOVE MY CRUZE 2LT granite black, sun roof, fog lights. up to 41mpg's sometimes never below 28Mpg's; great ride; QUIET, It's great. I bought mine one year ago. Also everyone I spoke to who owns one loves there's to.


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## cwerdna (Mar 10, 2011)

Mahty said:


> Happy People don't complain, I've read many reviews of products and If I listened to the negative reviews only I'd never buy. I LOVE MY CRUZE 2LT granite black, sun roof, fog lights. up to 41mpg's sometimes never below 28Mpg's; great ride; QUIET, It's great. I bought mine one year ago. Also everyone I spoke to who owns one loves there's to.


I disagree about "don't complain". Your post, the "everyone you spoke to" along w/a bunch of other folks on this board have posted about being happy w/their car, the mileage they're getting, etc.

That said, EVERY car board I've ever been always has some # of people w/some problems. No car has a perfect reliability record. 


wbwing said:


> I just wanted to point out that problems on here can be indicative of larger patterns, but you're absolutely right, the "trends" on this forum should be taken with a grain of salt.


Totally agree.


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## Dale_K (Jul 16, 2011)

I'm happy with the basic design of my Cruze LS and I'm happy with the low price but I never expected as many problems as I've seen. Interior rattles, a weird pulsing sound from the A/C that GM can't fix, harsh hot starts that rattle the manual transmission and a driver's seat that moves under load are my main complaints. I'd have to say Consumer Reports might be on target with their rankings.

If I could start over I might pick a different brand. Too bad the Corolla is such an obsolete design.


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

*GRAIN OF SALT WARNING:*​

To go with Cwerdna's post

CR Brand Reliability Ratings

1. Scion (1)
2. Lexus (8)
3. Acura (3)
4. Mazda (12)
5. Honda (4)
6. Toyota (6)
7. Infiniti (5)
8. Subaru (7)
9. Nissan (14)
10. Volvo (8)
11. Hyundai (11)
12. Kia (13)
13. Jeep (20)
14. Lincoln (15)
15. Chrysler (27)
16. Volkswagen (16)
17. Chevrolet (17)
18. Mercedes-Benz (22)
19. BMW (23)
20. Ford (10)
21. Dodge (24)
22. GMC (21)
23. Mini (25)
24. Buick (18)
25. Cadillac (19)
26. Audi (26)
27. Porsche (2)
28. Jaguar (not rated)

* Numbers in ( ) are last years ratings.


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## SilverCruzer (Nov 30, 2010)

To support the earlier post about people being happy with their Cruze despite the problems, this was quantified in the Consumer Reports survey. The Cruze was rated above average in owner satisfaction despite getting a poor rating in PREDICTED reliability (actual reliability for first year does not "look" poor in CR, but it is much worse than others therefore predicted is rated at poor). Two other compacts with above average reliability had only average owner satisfaction.

Some things I noticed about the individual reliability categories with the Cruze in the first year of ownwership: Power Equipment was the worse rated category (average) and Transmission - Major was rated excellent. Transmission - Minor was rated above average.
When comparing that to this forum, there are considerably more complaints about transmissions than power equipment.


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## bartonmd (Jun 30, 2011)

It's just like any forum, and nearly all of them show a much higher than average concentration of issues, for a couple reasons... 

There are a certain number of people who will be on the forum, anyway... These people are usually "car people" and usually have higher expectations than Average Joe car buyer... These higher expectations and general "more paying attention" to the vehicle, along with the old "It's not working how I think it should work" (like the transmission shifting complaints we get around here), somewhat inflate the issues-per-vehicle among this group... I don't know that we've seen a lot of actual transmission failures... Just "I don't like the way this thing shifts"...

The second group is where the lion's share of the issue inflation comes from... It's the people who know forums exist, but don't usually hang out there... until they have a problem... Seems like everybody who has a problem comes to the forum to either find out if other people are in the same boat, find a way to fix it (out of warranty, usually), or just bitch about it... These are the people who, had they not had a problem, wouldn't have come to the forum at all...

Having said all of that, a lot of the stuff we've seen, I hope, has been first year (at a new-to-it assembly plant) stuff... Only issue I've had so far, at 7500 miles, has been the airbag connection in the steering wheel, and at about ~600 miles, the "service airbag" light let us know there was an intermittent connection issue, dropped it off at the dealer, and picked it up that afternoon... No big deal...

Only been 1 or maybe 2 problems with the ECO 6MT, but I sort of have doubts as to how it was driven, given the one guy that needed a new one also drives tuner cars, so did he tear the syncros out of it doing the 1-2 shift excessively fast? Who knows... I do know that small and light are generally the ways to effeciency, and there's a reason we don't have a NV5600 or G56 in this thing (other than the obvious FWD/RWD difference)...

Mike


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## FatKidsCruze (Sep 2, 2011)

^ This post 
/End thread.


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## iKermit (Dec 13, 2010)

bartonmd said:


> The second group is where the lion's share of the issue inflation comes from... It's the people who know forums exist, but don't usually hang out there... until they have a problem... Seems like everybody who has a problem comes to the forum to either find out if other people are in the same boat, find a way to fix it (out of warranty, usually), or just bitch about it... These are the people who, had they not had a problem, wouldn't have come to the forum at all...
> 
> Mike


Most of our non regular posters are people who registered that either 

1)Have a problem
2)Need installation help 

Usually have no other interest in being around enough to post more.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...hm-m-m-m, most people I know follow the _"...if it ain't broke, don't fix it..."_ philosophy, which is exactly *why* they would *not* be visiting sites like this *IF* things _weren't_ *broke* and needed *fixing*.

...sounds like *valid* _cause & effect_ to me...especially since GM "Customer Service" is a total misnomer if there ever was one.


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## dby2011 (May 14, 2011)

Hate to say this but GM is aware of the 2011 auto trans issues. Go to your dealer and drive a 2012 and you'll see. The update to the 2012 auto trans was more then just a gearing change to increase gas mileage.


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

dby2011 said:


> Hate to say this but GM is aware of the 2011 auto trans issues. Go to your dealer and drive a 2012 and you'll see. The update to the 2012 auto trans was more then just a gearing change to increase gas mileage.


OK, I'll bite. Just what are those changes? Is it more than just the shift mapping? Can the 2012 programming be applied to a 2011 transaxle and have it work like a 2012? From what I've seen, and been told by Chevy sales personnel, the 2012 trans. might not have the shift issues earlier owners are seeing, but what hard evidence does anyone have to prove it. I'm not being nasty, I just want to know what changed to make it shift better.


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## dby2011 (May 14, 2011)

Jim Frye said:


> OK, I'll bite. Just what are those changes? Is it more than just the shift mapping? Can the 2012 programming be applied to a 2011 transaxle and have it work like a 2012? From what I've seen, and been told by Chevy sales personnel, the 2012 trans. might not have the shift issues earlier owners are seeing, but what hard evidence does anyone have to prove it. I'm not being nasty, I just want to know what changed to make it shift better.


I have no idea what they did and it is my understanding they are not even clear with the techs at the dealers. If it was a simple as reprogramming I'm sure it would already have been done. I test drove some 2011s and then a 2012. Was amazed at the difference. The gears did not hang up at all before shifting on the 2012. Even the saleswomen who rode in the 2012 was suprised at the differences- it was her first time riding in a 2012 when I bought mine in August.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...we've had our LTZ back twice for "reprogramming" and although things seemed a little _different_, they were not _better_ by any stretch of the imagination. The wife still compains about its "slam-bang" engagements.


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## A&J Cruzin (Aug 8, 2011)

well...as these cars are designed,built,tested,and repaired by humans....and as humans..were not perfect...by far....so wouldnt it be true that the things we produce wont be perfect either???....


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## Family0 (Mar 18, 2011)

cruzeman said:


> when did they start using usa built engines in the cruze? Im pretty sure mine was from Germany since it was built in april.


 Flint started ramping up in January. My March Cruze had a Opel version though. To tell the difference look at the front timing cover of the engine, and check the barcode sticker. Opel engines have a 1D bar code(like on most products) while Flint engines are tagged with 2D data matrix(similar to QR code) By May almost all were Flint engines.


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

A&J Cruzin said:


> well...as these cars are designed,built,tested,and repaired by humans....and as humans..were not perfect...by far....so wouldnt it be true that the things we produce wont be perfect either???....


Perhaps, but I used to work for a large computer company and we installed business computer systems in the 80s and later that literally ran for years without every shutting down or failing. The errors that did happen were usually caused by the humans running those systems.


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## mr_raider (Aug 13, 2011)

Aeroscout977 said:


> *GRAIN OF SALT WARNING:*​
> 
> To go with Cwerdna's post
> 
> ...


Be very careful with those numbers. There are several methodological issues with these ranking, not the least of which is that CR does not give raw failure rates per number vehicles, nor does CR give a margin of error for point estimates, as any statistical survey would. With brands like Ford, Bucik and MAzda seeing huge swings in their rack from year to year, I'm guessing a lot of it is due to inherent statistical variability.


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## crk585 (Aug 31, 2011)

My 2 cents:
ALL 1st year production cars have problems. We love our Cruze, no issues other than the ECM recall, we also bought the 2012, so I assume the 2011 will have many more issues.
Lets not forgot about the fact that you will hear way more people voice complaints than compliments. Out of the 20 local Cruze owners ("non-internet forum people btw...") I've met, not 1 has informed me of any issues, and they love their Cruzes. If those 20 came on here, and voiced their compliments, it would cancel out the 2% which complain.


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## Quick10 (Aug 1, 2011)

I'm not very active on this site but check in fairly regularly to see what kind of issues people are having. I'm happy to report that I've had zero problems with my 2011 ECO m/t Cruze. I just had the oil changed and tires rotated at 7800 miles. It cost me $54 at the dealer and I can send in for a $10 rebate. I'm perfectly happy with the car and get 37-39 MPG in mixed driving. Most people don't go to forums and out of those that do I bet most don't post their problems.


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## FieroItaliano85 (Aug 5, 2011)

crk585 said:


> My 2 cents:
> ALL 1st year production cars have problems. We love our Cruze, no issues other than the ECM recall, we also bought the 2012, so I assume the 2011 will have many more issues.
> Lets not forgot about the fact that you will hear way more people voice complaints than compliments. Out of the 20 local Cruze owners ("non-internet forum people btw...") I've met, not 1 has informed me of any issues, and they love their Cruzes. If those 20 came on here, and voiced their compliments, it would cancel out the 2% which complain.


:goodjob:


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## dacruze (Jul 15, 2011)

Man this thread has grown. The last time i read it it was only 2 pages. I can't help but laugh, but dawg-gone, some of you dudes are touchy 

I love my '12 ECO M/T. No problems at all, so far. I do hear an occasional "pop" acclerating up a gradual hill in 5th gear, but the way i look at it is, "i got 100,000 miles to figure it out, right now no big deal." 

Most of you guys have really been helpful and answered my questions, and i value your opinions and experiences w/ your Cruze. And i know some of these posts are opinions, but man isn't always correct. I own a 1993 2wd Chevy S-10 w/ 2.8L eng. Everyone told me that was the worst G.M. engine ever, i would hate it. I drove it everyday until i got my Cruze, which was 16 years and close to 300,000 miles and i've never had a engine or trans. problem, just routine stuff. 
I also own a Chevy Silverado 4x4, which everyone told me is reliable and one of the best trucks, and i call it my lifelong project. I believe i've replaced everything between the front and rear bumpers. I feel just as confident in my s-10, as i do in my cruze, but i hesitate to drive my 4x4 to the store. 
So who knows, all car's are going to have little issues, some more major than others, but overall i give chevy the thumbs up on the cruze. I love mine- Dan


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...issue _*re*-_statement:

• *MT* Cruzes almost routinely get _good_ MPG, often easily _beating_ their EPA numbers.

• *AT* Cruzes *do not* get good MPG, _seldom achieving_ their EPA numbers_._


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## C'sCruze9093 (Jul 6, 2011)

Transmission feels like its missing gears sometimes


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...OK, time to throw another bucket of gas on the "*bomb*" *fire* (pun intended)!

...how long has GM been putting thermostats in their cars and why should the one's in our Cruzes be going BAD at only 10,000 miles?

STORY: wife notices small "wet spot" on driveway, smells "sickly sweet" smell; look under car, everything has a "wet sheen" on it; take car into dealership and they diagnose it as a "BAD" thermostat. Geez, so much for Mr. Goodwrench's "product reliablility"...sitting right there in the *outhouse*!

*• Bright spot* of this picture? The dealership tech's seem to have diagnosed the problem _accurately_.

*• Dark spot* of this picture? The dealership had to ORDER the part because they _don't_ STOCK them!


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## yourdoinitwrong (Aug 7, 2011)

70AARCUDA said:


> ...OK, time to throw another bucket of gas on the "bomb" fire (pun intended)!
> 
> ...how long has GM been putting thermostats in their cars and why should the one's in our Cruzes be going BAD at only 10,000 miles?
> 
> STORY: wife notices small "wet spot" on driveway, smells "sickly sweet" smell; look under car, everything has a "wet sheen" on it; took car into dealership and they diagnose it as a "BAD" thermostat. Geez, so much for Mr. Goodwrench's "product reliablility"...sitting right there in the *outhouse*!


I'm sure GM is the ONLY company to ever have a thermostat go bad. :icon_scratch::signs006:


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...well, in 51 years of car ownership, this is the FIRST time I've ever had a "new" car have a bad thermostat -- EVER!

Our 1987 Chevrolet Astro Van went 210,000+ miles on the _original_ thermostat.
Our 1999 Chevrolet Malibu went 60,000 miles before it's thermostat started leaking.
Our 2004 Pontiac Vibe 1.8L has gone 109,000 miles on its _original_ thermostat.
Our 2009 Ponitac Vibe 1.8L has gone 25,000 miles on its _original_ thermostat.

...it's not good when the 'simple' things begin to fail first. Translation: GM has '*complicated*' a _simple_ device, the bi-metal *thermostat*, by making it _computer _controlled.


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## bartonmd (Jun 30, 2011)

70AARCUDA said:


> Translation: GM has '*complicated*' a _simple_ device, the bi-metal *thermostat*, by making it _computer _controlled.


Something they should have done 20 years ago! Stays cool when you're around town, for power, and heats up when you're on the interstate, for fuel effeciency... 

And it doesn't sound like it was doing anything wrong to the engine, just leaking? Infant failure, no big deal, this is what warranties are for...

Mike


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...sounds like a "new" design product coupled with poor QC of vendor supplied component to me.


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## bartonmd (Jun 30, 2011)

70AARCUDA said:


> ...sounds like a "new" design product coupled with poor QC of vendor supplied component to me.


I suspect it was a workable design that the supplier couldn't make 100% right 100% of the time... I suspect if it's more than just a supplier problem, future models will have one designed slightly differently, and more able to cope with supplier QC problems...

Mike


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## cruzeman (Mar 13, 2011)

you have got to be kidding me!!!!! so im driving home doing 60 when I start noticing the steering giving out, like the tension is released for a sec. So when i get home i pop the hood and now i smell ANTIFREEZE!!!!!!!!! the overflow tank is lower then i remember but i do not see any leaks??? wtf!!!!! I am losing confidence fast

where is the thermostat in this thing?


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## roceye (Feb 13, 2011)

so far so good with my Cruze. These cars are very Korean so we'll just have to wait and see. The Engine is my concern, having seen alot of problems with the Aveo.


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## Sir Fink (May 4, 2011)

2011 Cruze ECO / manual transmission. 15K.

No issues whatsoever. Great car, great mileage, no complaints here at all.



Fink


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## pkx12 (Feb 1, 2011)

*2011 23000 miles 2 Major problems*

At about 10000 miles lost thermostat. It is computer controlled and had to be programmed. At 23000 last week while driving on highway it was drifting, I would try to correct and it had a little lockup then would release. Power assist gear and rod went bad and was replaced today. I drive 110 mile to work round trip each day. Not sure if it will keep going. With defrost on I am smelling antifreeze. :angry:
I am getting 32.5 MPG


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

70AARCUDA said:


> poor QC of vendor supplied component


Gee, could this be the problem behind the erratic shifting 6T40 transaxles that some are reporting here (and other places)? Since reloading the TCM doesn't seem to fix the problem, what else could be causing it?


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

roceye said:


> These cars are very Korean so we'll just have to wait and see.


Well, yes, the Cruze platform was co-designed by Daewoo and Opel, and it is 65% domestic content, but "very Korean"? I believe the engines in the '11 Cruzen were sourced from Austira, not Asia. The engines in the '12 and later Cruzen are from Flint, MI.


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## bartonmd (Jun 30, 2011)

Jim Frye said:


> Well, yes, the Cruze platform was co-designed by Daewoo and Opel, and it is 65% domestic content, but "very Korean"? I believe the engines in the '11 Cruzen were sourced from Austira, not Asia. The engines in the '12 and later Cruzen are from Flint, MI.


I think they switched from Austria to Michigan on the engines in March-May sometime... I read on here that if your timing cover has a regular bar code like you'd see on groceries, it's made in Austria; but if it's a 2D bar code (like a UPS package), it's made in Michigan...

By this, my '11 ECO that I got off the lot in early July has an engine made in Michigan...

Mike


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## KenJr (Feb 26, 2011)

cruzeman said:


> I have been on this board for months and within the last month there has been an overwhelming amount of post with people with problems with their Cruze. Does anyone else notice this trend?


No problems. Great car, 43 mpg highway, >30 mpg city, love the tight handling and spunky acceleration.

Hopefully next year the front black air dam will be hard rubber and attached with something stronger than snap-in fasteners.

As for the air conditioner, it makes for dog like acceleration at 6,000 ft. Elevation until the turbo kicks in (i'd like to see an A/C disable switch on the steering wheel). As it is, I try to not use it, at least in the city .. Also note - it does drag the mileage down to a rather significant degree.

One other point .. The manual does say, with the manual transmission, to move the shifter to the right if it shows a preference to not enter first gear. I find that as long as I don't get too agressive with my shifting I don't have to take that advice very often.

This is my first American car in decades. The reasons for not buying American, at least with this car, no longer hold water. 

Signed, 
A very satisfied Cruse Eco owner.


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## 19potsy45 (Oct 15, 2011)

*Blown transaxle*

The transaxle on my 2011 LS departed this life at 10k miles. something about a 1234 piston delaminating and containinating the transmission so that a complete to the case rebuild was required. Also two recalls have not increased my trust in this turkey. The transmission performs about as before that is jumpy. The shifts are not smooth nor are they precise. 
Gas milage is disappointing 26 on the highway and 19 around town. Our 2006 mecury Montego and 2008 Ford taurus both are much better. 
So would I buy another NO.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...time to _"...clear the air..."_ and *clarify* a point: I am not claiming the Cruze *IS* a bomb (yet). Rather, all I'm saying is that it *DOES* seem to be _heading_ that way, evidenced by all these problems, which should NOT be occuring this frequently in a vehicle that was supposedly through _"...4 million miles of testing..."_ BEFORE it reached North America...and, the fact that the 6T40 6-speed transmission has been in production since model year 2008.

...this juror member is "still *out*", waiting for ALL the testamony/facts _before_ I cast my "guilty" or "innocent" vote.


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## lostjuan (Jan 21, 2011)

Downside is that Consumer Reports ranked it pretty much at the bottom as far as reliability. But for me I have experienced no problems. Hope it stays that way.


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## cwerdna (Mar 10, 2011)

lostjuan said:


> Downside is that Consumer Reports ranked it pretty much at the bottom as far as reliability.


Yep. Both the 1.4T Cruze was 2nd to worst in reliability for small cars while the 1.8 was the worst.

If you have a CR online subscription, you can see the numerical values of how much worse than average and you'll see both were rated much worse than average. The 1.4T was 50% worse than average and the 1.8 was ~62% worse than average.


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## gojira (May 1, 2011)

Hmm. I put about 20000 miles a year on a car, and my Cruze is at 10,000 miles and just under 6 months of ownership. Total problems so far == 0. (Just trying to help the average here.  )


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## smelly (Mar 25, 2011)

just to add my two cents worth.... I have 8000km on my Lt, automatic tran, and it runs great. fuel milage is good too, but to get the maximun fuel efficency staying under 100km per hour or just slightly under 60miles per hour is the sweet zone. 90% of my driving is highway.120km round trip to work. Lets just hope it goes for at least 5 years.... the time it takes to pay it off.


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## A&J Cruzin (Aug 8, 2011)

no probs here either...i have the dreaded auto trans....and in no way do i drive the car for mpg's....i push it on back roads,the back end will step out on you....i drive it like a 16 year old at times...slamming the gas..and getting to speed quick...its "my"car..thats the way i have always driven the cars ive owned..

the difference between this one and all the others...it was new when i bought it...i can take it in and have things fixed for free...i will say i dont drive it hard all the time..usually only when i spent most of my day off playing gt5 or forza 4..then feel like going for a drive down some nice curvy back roads...a bit faster than i should be...and the car does fine...heck if i didnt know any better it may actually enjoy it too...

its luck of the draw..some people baby their cars..and they have all the probs...then people like me...drive theirs hard at times..and dont have one thing to complain about...so to each their own...i dont bother with all the surveys and bs on all the mags and stuff...look at some..and bmw and merc and audi and porsche all rank low??....

the best car i ever owned was a 76 cj7..with a 304 turbo 400 trans..and the hated quadra track 4wd transfer case...i always heard of other people having probs with it..i never did..even after i put a new higher hp 304 in it..it would spin all 4 tires anytime i wanted it to..and would go over 100 on then autobahn..with top and doors off..i got many stares from people for that...and i never even had a second thought of driving it over 1000 miles from south dakota to arkansas then back..it never left me stranded..and it was always ready for anything....

owning a car is just like any other relationship in your life...you will have problems..you will argue..you will have to work at it...and at some point it will end..and you will go onto another relationship with something new...maybe my car enjoys being driven hard...maybe some of the cars that have probs are bored with going slow..and their owners always playing the mpg game...or maybe ive seen the movie christine one too many times..and i put too much of a personality into the cars i own..but ive never been let down by any one i had....

if the orginal parts break...then they get replaced with something of a better quality..and so on....and sence ive lived all over the world..it seems to me that (most) cars made for the american market..are softened,dumbed down and just boring...compaired to their counterparts in other countries...i know its true for the german cars i had when living in germany...the us spec ones just dont feel the same...

like they are just as lazy,and over weight and soft and all they do is whine,,,like some people these days do...what happened to the cars that the us builds?...its like this country has been neutered..and has to always be polite and respectful..and is worried about offending people??...where are the loud,fast,beautiful cars of our past?...so what if they drank alot of gas...heck gas here is still some of the cheapest around...the cruze isnt a bomb...it may have some growing pains...but what car dosnt?..if your looking for perfection in a car..that costs less than 20 grand..you probably wont find it.....

yeah ive ranted enough and gone waaaayyy off topic...but as for my 2011 1.4 lt auto summit white cruze...no probs...other than it wishes it was as agressive as its german cousins..and they still get good mpg's...


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## 52pickup (Feb 21, 2011)

2011 Eco MT/connectivity here, 7200 Miles and still enjoying the Cruze...no problems. (yet?) My old Cherokee on the other hand is sucking the life out of me. (*J*ust *E*mpty *E*very *P*ocket)


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## Jedcoyxiicut (Aug 15, 2011)

Well I can tell you of one car that thermostats blow quite frequent. It is the Alfa Romeo that I used to drive. They blow thermostats like there is no tomorrow but what took the cake for me is that at every 25K miles you would need to change the entire upper arm, lower arm, and anti roll bars unless you want your car handling like crap and enjoying all the squeaking going on. Basically the bushes were gone but for these cars you cannot just change the bush, you need to replace the entire arm assembly. In terms of reliability the chevys are fine if you compare them with the Selespeed tranny on the Alfas... I used the car for 4 years and I call it the sillyspeed systems cause i lost count on the number of times I got stranded by the roadside as the gearbox got stuck in a particular gear. So chill guys you have it fine... If you think this car is bad go buy yaself an Alfa Romeo.....


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## cruzeman (Mar 13, 2011)

cwerdna said:


> Yep. Both the 1.4T Cruze was 2nd to worst in reliability for small cars while the 1.8 was the worst.
> 
> If you have a CR online subscription, you can see the numerical values of how much worse than average and you'll see both were rated much worse than average. The 1.4T was 50% worse than average and the 1.8 was ~62% worse than average.


after i discovered 2 new issues with my car i sat back to read CR and theres the cruze with a huge black bar running to the left!!! I may be the first one here with a blown head gasket!! where else is the antifreeze going???


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## RaymondE (Sep 18, 2011)

I just purchased a 2011 Cruze LT RS in September and have transmission problems of Erratic shifting, engine racing between shifts. I haven't looked to see if the transmission is leaking. Made an appointment at the dealer for 8:30 AM on Oct 31 and showed up at 8:15, and at 12:15 my Cruze was still in the same spot where I parked. This is poor service for sure. I spoke with the person that sold me the car and he agreed and we walked back to the service department. They gave me a 2011 Cadillac Courtesy car to drive back home and said they would call me. No word yet!


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## bartonmd (Jun 30, 2011)

cruzeman said:


> after i discovered 2 new issues with my car i sat back to read CR and theres the cruze with a huge black bar running to the left!!! I may be the first one here with a blown head gasket!! where else is the antifreeze going???


If you have a coolant smell, it's leaking somewhere... Very likely, it's a split in the radiator end tank or some other plastic part... Every time I've had a plastic end tank radiator split, it leaks only for the time that the pressure is up, but the radiator hasn't started getting coolant flow yet... Once the radiator heats up, the crack seals up, and it's good to go... Drive it for like 3 minutes, then let it sit and idle with the hood open, and see what happens... That's when the leak will be happening...

Mike


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## Yama1yzf (Feb 13, 2011)

70AARCUDA said:


> ...time to _"...clear the air..."_ and *clarify* a point: I am not claiming the Cruze *IS* a bomb (yet). Rather, all I'm saying is that it *DOES* seem to be _heading_ that way, evidenced by all these problems, which should NOT be occuring this frequently in a vehicle that was supposedly through _"...4 million miles of testing..."_ BEFORE it reached North America...and, the fact that the 6T40 6-speed transmission has been in production since model year 2008.
> 
> ...this juror member is "still *out*", waiting for ALL the testamony/facts _before_ I cast my "guilty" or "innocent" vote.


 
Even though the tranny may have been used since 2008 it was not to my knowledge used in conjunction with a turbo. I think a LOT of the transmission complaints are more turbo related than transmission. If you drive the car with moderate throttle in a straight line the tranny shifts fine (at least mine does). Its the on/off throttle transitions that seem to trip mine up as there is a "dead spot" getting back on the gas after slowing down for someone turning in front of me etc. The hesitiation there is not tranny related but turbo lag (discussed previously). 

How many buyers of the Cruze or the saleman for that matter focus on the fact that this powertrain is turbocharged? Its certainly not advertised heavily by Chevy and there is no Turbo badging on the car itself. In fact, I would bet that the overwhelming majority of new buyers of the Cruze have never owned or driven a turbocharged vehicle. They behave differently and even modern electronics cant fully mask the Turbo effect.

I too have issues with the tranny (F****n downshifts) but overall this car is a solid effort by Chevy in this very competitive class. In my eyes my LTZ looks better, drives better, is quieter and offers a lot of thoughtful bells and whistles that the competiton does not have (and I have driven all but the Civic). Go look at ANY car ownership forum and you would be astounded by the number of issues with any car are. Good advertising and solid word of mouth sell things and if the Cruze was getting bad word of mouth it would not be one of the best selling vehicles out there.

Just my 2 cents.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

Yama1yzf said:


> ... I think a LOT of the transmission complaints are more *turbo related* than transmission. If you drive the car with moderate throttle in a straight line the tranny shifts fine (at least mine does). Its the on/off throttle transitions that seem to trip mine up as there is a "dead spot" getting back on the gas after slowing down for someone turning in front of me etc. The hesitiation there is not tranny related but turbo lag (discussed previously).
> 
> Just my 2 cents.


...FWIW, I agree about the turbo probably being the 'root cause' behind the 6T40's "odd" behavior...I attribute it to combination of bad programming and unintended mechanical feedback between the turbo-ECM-transmission (ie: not sufficiently tested).

...and, having experience in computer programming, I'm aware that software can be used to "patch/fix" mechanical problems...so, I'm hoping the GM bit-twiddlers have a solution to this problem...SOON!


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## mr_raider (Aug 13, 2011)

The feature people are not aware of is neutral idle. The transmission will need to re-engage when starting from a dead stop, and some people may feel this roughness. In the case of our 2012 LTZ, the transmission has been butter smooth.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

mr_raider said:


> The feature people are not aware of is neutral idle. The transmission will need to re-engage when starting from a dead stop, and some people may feel this roughness. In the case of our *2012* LTZ, the transmission has been butter smooth.


...the "key" word here is model year *2012* and the implication that GM has 'fixed' the problem.

...however, the BAD point here is that GM hasn't (yet) decided it's necessary to go back and 'fix' all the model year *2011* transmissions. And, this seemingly "ignore-the-problem" attitude isn't winning GM any "*Brownie Points*" in the public opinion arena.


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## gfxdave99 (Feb 26, 2011)

#1 people are more motivated to go online and bitch then they are to praise 

#2 I have had my cruze for 8 months and have just over 14k and have not had any major issues. 

Minor issues ive had is one time it got confused with the theft deterrent system and said to service it but then the next time i started the car it went away and it only happened once.


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## cruzeman (Mar 13, 2011)

pkx12 said:


> At about 10000 miles lost thermostat. It is computer controlled and had to be programmed. At 23000 last week while driving on highway it was drifting, I would try to correct and it had a little lockup then would release. Power assist gear and rod went bad and was replaced today. I drive 110 mile to work round trip each day. Not sure if it will keep going. With defrost on I am smelling antifreeze. :angry:
> I am getting 32.5 MPG


Did your steering feel notchy at high speeds? Mine is and its not a good feeling at all. Something Def wrong with this electric steering


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## bartonmd (Jun 30, 2011)

cruzeman said:


> Did your steering feel notchy at high speeds? Mine is and its not a good feeling at all. Something Def wrong with this electric steering


Get an alignment. 

Mine had developed sort of a dartiness at higher speeds (by around 7k), like there was something wrong with the electric assist, OR like a slight toe-out condition... Took it into the dealer and told them what was up... Yep, toe was a little out of spec... They put it back in spec (for free, as it had less than 7500 on it) and it's good to go again...

Had the same thing with the Trailblazer... Bushings and stuff got broken in around ~5k and it needed some toe adjustment... Free there, as well...

That's the reason alignment is warrantied until 7500 miles...

Mike


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## kkilburn (Mar 1, 2011)

Yama1yzf said:


> Even though the tranny may have been used since 2008 it was not to my knowledge used in conjunction with a turbo. I think a LOT of the transmission complaints are more turbo related than transmission. If you drive the car with moderate throttle in a straight line the tranny shifts fine (at least mine does). Its the on/off throttle transitions that seem to trip mine up as there is a "dead spot" getting back on the gas after slowing down for someone turning in front of me etc. The hesitiation there is not tranny related but turbo lag (discussed previously).
> 
> Not necessarily true. I have a 2011 1.4T and am currently driving the 1.8L as a loaner car. The 1.8 tranny is worse than mine is. It's terrible. The 6T40 is garbage. I should have gotten the manual tranny. I guess I will know for next time.


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## BallingerMike (Jun 5, 2011)

Ive got about 4,000 miles on my base model '11 Cruze with a manual trans. I love this car so far and have had zero problems.


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

70AARCUDA said:


> ...FWIW, I agree about the turbo probably being the 'root cause' behind the 6T40's "odd" behavior...I attribute it to combination of bad programming and unintended mechanical feedback between the turbo-ECM-transmission (ie: not sufficiently tested)./QUOTE]
> 
> I'm not so sure it is turbo related. After all, not all of the 2011s Cruze owners that have posted here have complained about the shifting. Some have said it is fine. I have seen complaints from 4 cycl. Malibu owners and 1.8 L Cruze owners as well, so I inclined to discount the 1.4LT motor as the basis for the problem. I found a TSB from December of 2010 that instructs the service tech to download the "latest" software version available to fix the shifting problem. If they are doing that, and it hasn't fixed the problem, then something else must be wrong with those transaxles that are not fixed by the software update. The turbo motor may be aggravating the problem, but I don't think it is root cause. I was a computer programmer and systems engineer for several decades, so my experience is leading me to believe that the root cause of the 6T40 shifting problems is a random mechanical part flaw, and I'll bet it is in the valve body or the shift solenoid assembly. There have been three postings here that indicated that the transmission is being replaced to fix the problem. Today, one showed up as a complete car swap (due to lemon law). We used to call that a Mechanical Replacement at IBM. If you couldn't fix a problem with software, or parts, and it was causing the customer financial grief, the Branch Manager (think Chevy dealership manager) could request a MR and the customer would get a completely new system. In neary thirty years of work, I saw it happen only once in our territory. It would have likely happened twice, but I found a flaw in the system's Fortran compiler and saved that system.


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## cwerdna (Mar 10, 2011)

Aeroscout977 said:


> *GRAIN OF SALT WARNING:*​
> 
> To go with Cwerdna's post
> 
> ...


To go with the above Club Lexus Forums - View Single Post - Consumer Reports Annual Car Reliability Survey (updated October 2011) is a slightly more elaborate version of the chart that appeared in the Dec '11 issue of CR. 

Some Losers in Consumer Reports Reliability Survey Are Winners in Showrooms - NYTimes.com mentions "The Chevrolet Cruze, equipped with either the 1.4-liter or 1.8-liter engine, received the worst rating of any small car in the survey."


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## KenJr (Feb 26, 2011)

Aeroscout977 said:


> Transaxles are what the Cruze has. People just generically call them transmissions.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Front wheel drive cars have the transmission and differential in one housing. So .. When someone talks about transmission issues they're talking about the transmission part of the transaxle assembly.


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## ErikBEggs (Aug 20, 2011)

I do not anticipate a single thing wrong with my Cruze in the near future. The car I bought was actually a dealer demo and showroom model in their care for its first 2,000 miles so I would imagine any defects were detected before they put it on the lot. Of course, I'm hoping this is the case. I only have 6,000 total miles on it as of now. But since the day I drove off of the lot its been smooth as butter, engine was pretty well broken in too only thing that has changed is the transmission learning my driving style.


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## Cottoz (Oct 30, 2011)

Personally, here is where I am with the reliability issue:

First of all, reliability isn't the only reason to buy a car. However, it becomes a bigger factor as the reliability gets worse. So, I wanted to see what these numbers from CR really mean in terms of what I can expect from the Cruze. Just how many times am I going to be inconvenienced by a repair trip? Bringing in some numbers from truedelta.com, I see that in a 2011 Cruze there would be about a 50% chance of me going to the shop in a years time. That's about average. Looking at other makes/models, I see that I could opt for a 2011 Elantra and I would have a 25% chance of ending up in the shop within a year. (I compare the Elantra due to it being the only other contender for me because of it's interior size.) The types of repairs on both cars run the gamut; just look at their forums for more information. So, If I go with a 2011 Cruze because I like the way it drives and it fits my family, I can count on being in the shop maybe once every two years instead of once every four years with the Elantra. 

The question is, do I want to put up with a car that I don't like as much to save one trip to the shop in four years?

Also, looking at the CR chart, the Cruze wasn't the worst Chevy. The Silverado got that honor. So, I can only believe it's somewhere in the middle. 

Keep in mind that in the above example, the 2011 Cruze is 50% less reliable than the Elantra. It sounds like a big deal, but is it?

And, the 2012s have improved, but CR is going by problems in the US's first model year production of the Cruze. As they say, past results do not necessarily indicate future performance.

All this said, I think my choice is still going to be a 2012 Cruze ECO in MT. I think it's the least likely to run into (major) trouble. And, its powertrain has the 5 yr/100k mi warranty.

Am I making sense here? Or, am I getting my math wrong somewhere?

--
Cottoz


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## gman19 (Apr 5, 2011)

ErikBEggs said:


> I do not anticipate a single thing wrong with my Cruze in the near future. The car I bought was actually a dealer demo and showroom model in their care for its first 2,000 miles so I would imagine any defects were detected before they put it on the lot. Of course, I'm hoping this is the case. I only have 6,000 total miles on it as of now. But since the day I drove off of the lot its been smooth as butter, engine was pretty well broken in too only thing that has changed is the transmission learning my driving style.


I can ditto ErikBEggs experience....only difference is mine wasn't a dealer demo, I just turned 4K miles this morning on my commute to work.


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## mr_raider (Aug 13, 2011)

Cottoz said:


> Personally, here is where I am with the reliability issue:
> 
> First of all, reliability isn't the only reason to buy a car. However, it becomes a bigger factor as the reliability gets worse. So, I wanted to see what these numbers from CR really mean in terms of what I can expect from the Cruze. Just how many times am I going to be inconvenienced by a repair trip? Bringing in some numbers from truedelta.com, I see that in a 2011 Cruze there would be about a 50% chance of me going to the shop in a years time. That's about average. Looking at other makes/models, I see that I could opt for a 2011 Elantra and I would have a 25% chance of ending up in the shop within a year. (I compare the Elantra due to it being the only other contender for me because of it's interior size.) The types of repairs on both cars run the gamut; just look at their forums for more information. So, If I go with a 2011 Cruze because I like the way it drives and it fits my family, I can count on being in the shop maybe once every two years instead of once every four years with the Elantra.
> 
> The question is, do I want to put up with a car that I don't like as much to save one trip to the shop in four years?



Indeed. People use this logic to buy BMWs and Audis over Lexus and Infiniti, where the privilege of owning German can cause some serious aggravation in terms of repairs and downtime. I don't see why it wouldn't be acceptable to make the same compromise for a Chevy if that's what you like.


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## Cavere (Sep 11, 2011)

Personally for me it comes down to acknowledging when issues become serious. By the time a major repair is needed we should all be very comfortable and used to how the car runs. When something major changes then maybe it's time to trade it in. My other vehicle currently is a Nissan Xterra with 68k miles on it. From looking at other peoples issues I know exactly what to look out for and what may go wrong in the next 100k.

Previous to that I had a 99 VW passat for years. And though I did love that car for the first 80k miles I didn't pay attention to how it was behaving and it cost me a lot in repairs and in resale value. That is part of the reason I opted for 100k bumper to bumper on the cruze. It being a manual transmission and the turbo being in use in other vehicles I can assume that I won't run into any major problems for the next 4 years which is when I bet I will hit 100k.

We all ran the risk of buying a car that is still fairly new in production. I bought a 2012 because most of the foreseeable issues that occurred in the 2011's should be sorted out. So when it comes to reliability I feel like it falls on us to maintain the car (oil changes, properly inflated tires and monitoring driving habits), and I believe that this car will last a long time.


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## SunnyinHollister (Mar 17, 2011)

My 2011 2LT has been to the shop once for the recall and that's it. I'm coming up on 24k miles. To put it in perspective, my 2005.5 Jetta TDI had been towed to the shop at least once by this point. I'll put up with the occasional quirky shifting of the transmission as long as it does not leave me stranded. My fuel economy is not that great (wish I had the 2012 gearing and tune) but I can live with it. The only other complaint I have is the interior seems to be a pain to keep clean. So far the car is a keeper.


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## Ilovemytruck49 (Nov 4, 2011)

Oh minor problems! I have had the air conditioning pump replaced. That happened the beginning of Oct. I got in my car this morning to go to work, turned on the rear window defroster and the rear window blew out. This has been an expensive day. So the dealer has no loaner and I am stuck. It will take several days to get the window in.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...more gasoline for the "*bomb*" *fire* (pun intended)/

...the dealership finally received the new water pump, but it doesn't come with a new gasket (wtf?), and guess what? The gasket is on "National Back Order" meaning it has to come from the manufacturer.

...GM is playing "Russian Roulette" with Customer Service, betting that they can "hide" their "just in time" delivery problems. Looks like they're passing along their problems to the customers; another week without the car.

...looks like two weeks for a water pump replacement--due to a single gasket--which is totally rediculous considering:

a) these engines have been around since 2008 in europe;
b) the engines are now built in USA (Flint, MI); and,
c) GM has "known" they have a problem with these pumps since February of this year (see *NHSTA 10038464* and *GM PI-0375*).


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

Ilovemytruck49 said:


> turned on the rear window defroster and the rear window blew out.


omg wow that's a new one


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

..sounds like WAY too much current through the metal-film rear window heater foils.


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## cruzeman (Mar 13, 2011)

Ilovemytruck49 said:


> Oh minor problems! I have had the air conditioning pump replaced. That happened the beginning of Oct. I got in my car this morning to go to work, turned on the rear window defroster and the rear window blew out. This has been an expensive day. So the dealer has no loaner and I am stuck. It will take several days to get the window in.




That's just ridiculous, these cars are just about turning into yugos . I love(d) my Cruze but not enough to keep bringing to shop.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

It sounds like GM's suppliers need to step up their game. Also, with 20-25k Cruzes being sold every month, there are bound to be some issues. 

Agreed, though, I hope this car doesn't turn into another Vega.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...did GM trademark™ register the name *US-YUGO* by any chance (wink,wink)?


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## jsusanka (Jan 31, 2011)

so far my cruze has been pretty good overall - no engine/mechanical trouble - the only major thing I had was the flute noise on windy days and the ac on max. I troubleshot the problem with the dealer by putting painters tape on three sides of the windshield. Once I did that the noise went away. The dealer resealed the windshield but said they have to replace them cause getting them out is not fun and they have to break them most of the time. But the problem is now gone and the dealer was great about fixing it. 
Oh one other thing was I had to take in for a recall. 

funny that scion finished first cause I owned a toyota corolla and I will never own another one again. That thing was trouble from day one. Always something breaking on it and the dealer would do everything in their power to not fix it and spend the money even though I was in the warranty period. 

The cruze really seems like a good car so far - I have 5000 on it and besides the things mentioned above I am pretty happy with it. It really does seem like a more expensive car IMO. 


We also owned a 96 honda civic ex. it had it shares of problems and the dealer fought to fix them too even in the bumper to bumper warranty period. But I guess so far it was the best car our family has owned as far as reliability. But like I said we had problems and recalls with it too so it wasn't perfect either. 

Our other car is a 2007 mazda 3s and it seems cheaper than the cruze. The metal seems thinner and flimsier and the doors sound cheap when closing them. We also just had a motor mount go out but fortunately it was covered on the 5 year 60000 miles warranty. The dealer there too tried to look everything up to not cover it but couldn't. It is an automatic too and to me it shifts funny too. It is hard to start smoothly in this car. It jerks and revs but once it is going it is smooth. 

Anyway my 2 cents worth.


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

issues are common with new cars. Major component failures and discrepancies however are usually not associated with new car launches.


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## benlyboy (Sep 10, 2011)

I own a 2012 Cruze LTZ, I would like to make a few points.


This thread asks whether the Cruze is GM's next bomb. After reading though this thread there is certainly no evidence in here to suggest that is, or will become so.


Lets look at the three main pieces of evidence that are being use to convict the car one at a time. 




 Lets talk about the fact that the survey in Consumers Report didn't look good. Why this is true we have to remember two things in looking at that report. First the report includes all reported repairs but doesn't look at if it is an ongoing problem, is there a trend or is it just one of those things. Things DO GO WRONG WITH NEW CARS that is just a fact. Which brings me to my second point on the report. 2011 was the first year of US production for the Cruze, most of the other cars in the survey have been around a lot longer. My dad always said you never buy a car on the first year of manufacture. The fact is that they can do all the testing they like, but at the end of the day you will not find all the problems until you put the car out into the real world.
The transaxle, from what I have read here there is certainly a problem with the 2011 Transaxle. I have had no such problem with my 2012, if indeed they have fix this problem then we can have hope that GM has been and will continue to work to make the car the best it can be.
Last of all please be real, If you buy any mass produced car you may have a few problems, remember not only is the car mass produced, but so is every component on it. Even in the space industry they can't get a 100% none fail rate in production. Trust me you wouldn't want to pay what it would cost to build a car that even got close. the manufacturers know this thats way they give us a warranty, so we can end up with a car that is right even if it wasn't when it left the factory
 



Ok so is the Cruze a bomb who knows maybe 2012 will tell us maybe not but i'm enjoying my car alot


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## sahein (Apr 5, 2011)

In almost 20k miles our LTZ has been absolutely perfect. There was a recall to lube the front sway bar bushing squeak and a pcm reprogram to change a cooling value for the engine electro-thermostatic valve (Superior non conventional thermostat). Neither issue caused any apparent problem with the car. There was no squeak or engine cooling problem. Kudos to GM for trying to make an excellent vehicle more perfect. The LTZ came with the optional additional sound proofing package and is very quiet. More quitet than some luxury vehicles. I really love the car and at about $10,000 less than anything else even approaching the equivalent value, you should be able to understand why I am so pleased. The fuel economy has averaged almost 33mpg while using A/C in 50/50% city/highway miles.


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## Sosad (Nov 13, 2011)

I do not think I am whinning or being hateful telling what my cruze is or isnt doing correctly. Mine has so many problems I am affraid to drive it. Car wont move when giving gas, hesitation in taking off, and no brakes when you step on them, etc., etc., etc.


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

Sosad said:


> I do not think I am whinning or being hateful telling what my cruze is or isnt doing correctly. Mine has so many problems I am affraid to drive it. Car wont move when giving gas, hesitation in taking off, and no brakes when you step on them, etc., etc., etc.


Sorry to hear about your dissatisfaction with your Cruze. I've been down that road with another brand (51 repairs in the first 15 months) and did get rid of it. I'd like to hear how many times you've had your Cruze into the dealership for a given problem? How many visits altogether? Who is the dealership that is giving you the run around. Do you live in a state that has a lemon law? If so, maybe your Cruze really qualifies as one legally? That may be an out for you. It appears that the '12s have corrected a great many of the problems that the '11s had. Maybe all you need is to have the current Cruze replaced. If you can do it under a lemon law, it will be far less expensive than trading your current, year old Cruze in on another car. Believe me, I've been there, and done that. I didn't have a lemon law available when I had my lemon. 

Jim


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## Patman (May 7, 2011)

So Sad,
Look into your state's lemon laws, if the dealer will not take care of the problems! If neither of them work, call GM customer service. They will work diligently to resolve your problems(you need to explain your problems) and they will even contact the dealership to work the problems out! 

Good luck


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## DrVette (Dec 6, 2011)

Regarding the "electronic" thermostat, REALLY just what's up with that ?

Did the old units suddenly stop working, can the computer-control add enough economy for the trouble ?

Leaking Antifreeze, 
if ANYONE has ever heard what an animal sounds like after consuming it, they'd make sure it never happened to their pet.

My cat got into some, [Vet said] the animal screamed like it was getting torn apart by dogs, for like 2 full minutes until I found her [I'm deaf in one ear, so I cannot determine direction of sounds]

The she went into convulsions and noises that would make a Navy Seal puke.
I wish I'd used my 22mag. instead of taking her to the vet twenty miles away, but I didn't know the symptoms and hoped for a fix.. $165 for info and euthanasia.

Antifreeze is bad news for pets.... even a drip will lure them under the vehicle to lap it up, I think it was my leaking 2000 S-10 that got her and my 12 year old cat, my most favorite.


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## Dale_K (Jul 16, 2011)

Some modern antifreeze is "embittered" to make it taste bad so pets won't drink it.

I agree about the computer controlled thermostat. I don't see how the benefit outweighs the complexity and reliability downsides.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...with the newer, higher CAFE MPG requirements, all the car makers are scrambling (not very successfully, however) to use every "trick" they can to eek out more milage at no cost to their profit margin...in other words, _"...on the cheap..."_


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## Keylo (Jul 11, 2012)

In my opinion if you spend thirty thousand dollars on a top of the line Cruze you shouldn't have any issues but indeed there are lots from transmission to spark plugs calipers turn signals loss of power when accelerating turbos leaking and of coarse who could forget the mass recalls for being a fire risk I know I should have bought a gas guzzler that wouldn't fall apart with 20 000 km


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Keylo, have you had any of these problems?


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## a_guy1948 (Sep 24, 2012)

sciphi said:


> Nah, I think the echo-chamber effect of Internet forums is happening. We're not listing all the positives about the car, and only discussing the negatives.


Agree with that! My Cruze 1LT auto just turned over 4000 miles yesterday and barely over a month old. 1st time the DIC showed over 40 mpg after round trip from Toledo to Cincy to see the granddaughter! Very pleased with the ride and how quiet the car is. Hope to have it for a very long time!


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## chrisholland03 (Oct 13, 2011)

obermd said:


> Keylo, have you had any of these problems?


I'm trying to figure out how he paid $30000 for a Cruze...


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## Beachernaut (Mar 27, 2012)

Keylo said:


> Wall of text


Sorry man, but I'm too lazy to try to understand your post.

OTOH, you're always going to hear more negative about a car on a forum. Go look at any other car forum, it's the same. I have yet to have any problems with my Cruze.


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## GFO_Hoffi (Jun 5, 2011)

happy with mine even mpg km/l is bit low


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

This thread has run its course. 

If anyone has a specific issue with their Cruze, please create a new thread specifically for it and we will do our best to help you. This is not the place to report or diagnose an issue. If you've read this thread and reached this post, please keep in mind that all car manufacturers will have issues, and out of the over 600,000 Cruzes sold in the US alone (to date), a few will have some occasional problems.


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