Everyone has been waiting for the upgraded edition of General Motors’s hotselling Cruze sedan since quite some time now. Well, the American car maker will introduce the new Cruze to Indian market on 27th this month. It may be noted that GM already sells the facelifted model in the international markets and it is about time for the manufacturer to bring the refreshed car to India. However, the surprise element here is that the car won’t be given any sort of cosmetic upgrade for the Indian market. But the good news is that the car will come with a new Z-Series diesel engine that produces more power than the outgoing engine ( 163 BHP vs 148 BHP). This is not all as the new engine should also have lesser turbo lag than the current motor. Talking about torque, the updated engine has 33 Nm of more pulling force than the older engine. All this means that the car is slated to become quicker and should hit a ton in 9.5 seconds with a top whack of about 220 km/h. While we are really happy that GM has decided to bring the latest engine to India, a slight botox injection would not have had hurt.
Base model LT price hiked Rs. 30000 (Till Yesterday it was Rs. 12,54,376.00)
The big disappointment is the fact that this is not the facelift version that was unveiled at the Busan Motor Show and was expected to be launched here. In fact this is not a facelift at all; it is a technology upgrade to the Cruze sedan to make it more powerful and efficient.
There are few minor changes to the exteriors like new fog lamps, repositioning of the Chevy bowtie and new alloys. Also GM will offer new dual tone interiors on this version. The most important change is that the Cruze will now produce 164PS and 380Nm – 16PS and 50Nm more than the current version. The car is also expected to be lot more economical than before.
Thanks for updating us, Sankalp. There are no visual changes on the exteriors although GM has ensured to make Cruze more powerful. Here are some quick highlights:
No Major Changes (Exterior/Facelift) - I think Facelift Version will come next Year
Unjustified Price hiked for just adding a marginal refined new engine
All new engine
166PS of power output
6-speed automatic and 6-speed manual gearbox options
To get Dual mass flywheel
Lighter Clutch
Lesser turbo-lag
About Engine -
Chevrolet Cruze which earlier had the long stroke design in the VCDi engine is being replaced by square bore-stroke layout in the new Z-series engine. The sedan mow gets more smoother as the square bore engines are the smoothest movers as of now. Both the bore and stroke measure 86 mm compared to the bore and stroke measurements of 83 mm and 92 mm in the old engine.
Another major change
Reduction of turbo lag through lower compression ratio and increase in turbo boost. Compression ratio has been reduced to 16.5:1 from 17.5:1 and turbo boost is increased from 2.0 BAR to 2.0 BAR.
These features result in peak power and torque figures of 163 Bhp and 360 Nm compared to the older diesel engine's 148 Bhp-327 Nm. The Z-series engine has a timing chain instead of a timing belt, which lasts longer. A six-speed manual transmission and automatic gearbox are given as options. The vehicle is said to do the 0-100 kmph sprint in just 8.5 seconds and a top speed around 220 kmph.
Face Lift Cruze (we will able to see in India Next Year)
Lower variant LT has got many features from LTZ such as Passive entry, PB start, Chrome handles etc...Major diff between two now is Sunroof, cruise control, leather upholstery, electrically retractable mirror, rain sensing wiper.