New Chevrolet Cruze LS Special Offers

The Chevrolet Cruze needs the added impetus of a hatchback model if it's to level with the big hitters in its class. Andy Enright reports.

The Chevrolet Cruze was always a fine budget car hampered by only having four doors. And some rather forgettable petrol engines. The former of these issues has been fixed with the introduction of a five-door hatch version and a new diesel engine looks set to lessen the impact of the latter.

What does the Chevrolet Cruze mean to you? For most people it won't spark a glimmer of recognition. For others it will be the vision of racing driver Jason Plato punting an unfortunate rival off into the scenery in a Cruze touring car. It's fair to say that due to some fairly modest sales figures, the Chevrolet Cruze has yet to make it as a mainstream commodity. The reasons for this are many and varied, but chief amongst them is that when it was first brought to the UK, it was only offered as a four door saloon. Unlike the US, we like hatchbacks. Small saloons here register somewhere between investment bankers and bilharzia on the popularity scale, so it made solid sense for Chevrolet to introduce a hatchback version of what is a very capable car.

Get the basics right and you can concentrate on the details later. Chevrolet certainly equipped the Cruze with a solid foundation by basing it on the General Motors Delta platform, which is the same chassis that underpins the latest Vauxhall Astra. This means you get compact and effective suspension, and a good ride/handling compromise. Factor in state of the art crash structures with the added benefit of electronic stability control on even the entry-level model and you have a very composed and safe car.

The Cruze hatchback is initially offered with a choice of two petrol engines and one diesel but a smaller diesel unit is said to be in the pipeline. A 123bhp 1.6-litre marks the entry point to the range with a 140bhp 1.8-litre petrol engine also available. The 162bhp 2.0-litre VCDi diesel engine is the range-topper but with prices looking more akin to a supermini, these relatively large engines shouldn't deter too many potential buyers. Unfortunately the petrol engines are rather gutless and when you do press the hard, they sound raucous and thrashy. The diesel is by far the better bet from a driving perspective, but does it justify its £1,700 premium?

For what is still a budget car, the Cruze doesn't appear instantly built down to a price. The panel work is taut and the conversion from saloon to hatch has worked seamlessly. There are elements of Lexus' CT200h in the rear treatment, especially when viewed in profile, but that's no bad thing. The Cruze has always been spacious inside and this hatch model is no exception. The rear seats fold 60/40 with no huge surprise in its packaging. With the seats in place you have almost 400 litres of space at your disposal which makes this Cruze hatch one of the best load luggers in the family hatch class.

The cabin is well finished, with plenty of adventurous details, such as the swatch of fabric that runs across the dashboard, the triple cowled instrument panel and the Transformer-mask centre console. The clocks emit a soothing blue glow at night while the stalks and switches move with an integrity that would shame some Mercedes models.

The Cruze has some redoubtable rivals to contend with. Don't think of it as a Focus or Astra competitor as these cars are in a different price, if not size, bracket. Instead the Cruze will need to face down cars like the Hyundai i30 and the Kia cee'd and that's no easy task. Nevertheless, it has aggressive pricing on its side. There are four trim levels, LS, LT,LTZ and LTZ Executive, with prices starting at £13,995. The opening diesel model starts at £17,195 with £19,295 buying you the diesel in plush LTZ Executive trim. This nets you cruise control, electric windows all round, a multi-function trip computer, parking distance sensors, Bluetooth, a USB port, rain-sensing wipers, automatic headlights, an electro-chromatic rear view mirror, 17-inch alloys, aluminium-effect trim on the instrument panel, leather trim, satellite navigation and heated front seats. Tack another £1,000 onto that and you can have an automatic gearbox, at which point you start considering the law of diminishing returns.

It's hard to directly compare the value proposition of the Cruze hatchback against the Korean rivals because its engines are so much bigger. For example, the plushest version of the Hyundai i30 diesel undercuts the Cruze by £1,500 but you're comparing a 1.6-litre diesel with a 2.0-litre. One thing's apparent from this exercise though. If Chevrolet is serious about attracting value-conscious buyers, its smaller diesel engine can't come quickly enough.

Here we arrive at the biggest caveat in the Cruze hatchback's make up. Do you buy one of the underwhelming petrol engines or do you spend more and get the far superior diesel? On the basis of driving satisfaction the diesel engine is the one to go for. It's got enough torque to punt the Cruze along at a respectable clip. The trouble is, when you compare the 42.8mpg 1.8-litre petrol car with the 50.4mpg diesel model, it soon becomes clear that you'd need to cover more than 100,000 miles in the car before your savings at the pump outstripped the initial premium for the diesel. Best to just pretend the petrol engines don't exist and go for a diesel or sit on your cash until the smaller diesel arrives.

Insurance isn't as cheap as it is for many rivals, ranging from Group 14 to Group 22. The diesel is fully five groups more expensive than the Hyundai i30 1.6 CRDi, but then it is 10bhp more powerful. Still, that seems like quite a hike for ten ponies. So there we have it. As a budget car, the Cruze is not without its cost issues. Swings and roundabouts, so as to speak.

Introducing a five-door model to the Cruze range was a logical step that Chevrolet just couldn't afford to overlook and the hatch is a well-finished and handsome addition to the line up. It's priced aggressively, although it really is worth ignoring the rather nasty petrol engines and viewing the diesel-engined models as the entry-level cars. No, they don't justify their cost premium purely in terms of fuel savings, but unless you want a car that's just going to be used to trundle to the shops, the driving benefits of the diesel engine are well worth springing the extra for.

There's little that's particularly innovative about this car but what is perhaps most impressive is getting this practical car with the huge quantity of kit that LTZ Executive trim level brings and the punchy 2.0-litre diesel engine for less than £20,000. To put that into perspective, even the base Ford Focus 2.0 TDCi diesel is £200 pricier. The Cruze is the sort of car that makes sense if you value in-car equipment over investment in, let's say, a complicated multi-link rear suspension setup. I think a decent number of customers might. Will this help to drive down the average age of Cruze customers? That remains to be seen.