Chevrolet Cruze

[thaimate]

I have had an Optra 1.6 for the last 5 years ,bought from new ,to be honest its been a lovely car,no problems and still looks and drives like new ,just looked at the Cruze and must admit to liking it a lot ,has anyone test driven it yet? and what did you think?

Edited December 16, 2010 by thaimate

[thaimate]

92 views and nothing to say? come on lads

[rics21]

saw the car at the esplande ratchadapisek last saturaday. according to the sales person the car wasnt ready for test drive yet.

[DougLee]

Good idea, will go see if they have one at the dealer next door.

[thaimate]

Good idea, will go see if they have one at the dealer next door.

I have heard that in about 6 months a new diesel one is out. but the car itself has great reviews from Europe.

[Rdrokit]

Here's a Malaysian review and some pics. Thailand should get the same model.

Cruze Review

[Shipwreck]

Isn't it a tad expensive? 900k or so?

An Altis with a good package at 800k will be more reliable, get you better service and better resale value in the long run.

However, if you are happy with your Chev and plan on driving the Cruze until it won't drive any longer (10+ years) I say go for it.

I want to see one on the road.

[thaimate]

Sorry but find the altis a bit dated,the civic is not bad but smaller than the cruz ,i agree about the resale prices ,but do you just buy and drive a car because it will fetch more when you sell it? A tad sad(or Thai), just joking ,

I bought the optra as a stop gap when i arrived, but as i said liked it so much still have it 5 years on ,and it drives and looks like new ,so i think you will get more than 10 years out of the chevy .

[Haooo]

Short tested the 2.0 diesel version at Motor Expo. The engine sounds clattering when idling, noiser than Ford Focus TDCi. Did not get a chance to test the acceleration yet.

The figures show the 2.0 VCDi from Captiva has more torque and hp than many 2.5 diesel engines from pickups, even 5hp more than Ford Focus TDCi.

Real suspension is torsion beam with air spring, but don't know how the handling will be. In such a price I would expect the multi-link rear suspension as Civic or Focus.

Interior is quite sporty.

The sales told me lead time is around half month.

[powderpuff]

Is this a Thai made car?

[Rdrokit]

Is this a Thai made car?

Yes it will be assembled in Thailand. The reason for the delay is they have to retool the Chevy Optra plant to make the Cruze.

[CheGuava]

if it costs the same as a Civic it just does not make sense.

[thaimate]

if it costs the same as a Civic it just does not make sense.

its a better car ,civic now getting old?

[rixalex]

Sorry but find the altis a bit dated,the civic is not bad but smaller than the cruz ,i agree about the resale prices ,but do you just buy and drive a car because it will fetch more when you sell it? A tad sad(or Thai), just joking ,

I bought the optra as a stop gap when i arrived, but as i said liked it so much still have it 5 years on ,and it drives and looks like new ,so i think you will get more than 10 years out of the chevy .

The only customers who can sensibly reason in the way you are, are those who will never ever sell their car - and i mean never. For the remaining 99.9% of people who will at some stage sell their car on, the money they will get for it has to be a consideration. How can it not be? Unless of course you happen to be rich and don't care about money...

Still, manufacturers of cars that depreciate badly must love customers that think like you.

[aussiebebe]

Sorry but find the altis a bit dated,the civic is not bad but smaller than the cruz ,i agree about the resale prices ,but do you just buy and drive a car because it will fetch more when you sell it? A tad sad(or Thai), just joking ,

I bought the optra as a stop gap when i arrived, but as i said liked it so much still have it 5 years on ,and it drives and looks like new ,so i think you will get more than 10 years out of the chevy .

Given your experience and knowledge of the Optra, I hope you post a review or your opinion of the Cruze if you get to test drive it. They are both based on some sort of Daewoo and must be quite similar. I can't see why the Cruze won't replace the Optra in Chevy's line-up now they have the CNG 1.6 Aveo on the market. It's easy to overlook that Chevrolet only came to Thailand in 2000.

[thaimate]

Sorry but find the altis a bit dated,the civic is not bad but smaller than the cruz ,i agree about the resale prices ,but do you just buy and drive a car because it will fetch more when you sell it? A tad sad(or Thai), just joking ,

I bought the optra as a stop gap when i arrived, but as i said liked it so much still have it 5 years on ,and it drives and looks like new ,so i think you will get more than 10 years out of the chevy .

The only customers who can sensibly reason in the way you are, are those who will never ever sell their car - and i mean never. For the remaining 99.9% of people who will at some stage sell their car on, the money they will get for it has to be a consideration. How can it not be? Unless of course you happen to be rich and don't care about money...

Still, manufacturers of cars that depreciate badly must love customers that think like you.

so your saying that i have to buy a car i dont want as it will have a better resale price?

Toyota must love you

[rixalex]

so your saying that i have to buy a car i dont want as it will have a better resale price?

Toyota must love you

You don't have to buy it, just take it on board as one of the deciding factors.

Toyota don't love me. I drive a Saab. Would i have bought it new? You must be crazy! I love it and i love Saab but does that make me prepared to take on a product the value of which would plummet faster than all other similar products. No way. I'm not rich enough to be that dismissive of the financial side of it, much as i would like to be. I bought it at a time in the car's life when it's depreciation had leveled off to a similar rate as anything else on the used market. It's called buying with the head as well as the heart.

[Farma]

I had the re-badged Holden version Cruze as a hire car in Oz for 2 weeks last year. I didn't like it at all. It was OK to drive but I wouldn't buy one myself.

My main beef was with the layout of controls. Non standard positions located all over the place. Headlights in particular annoyed me. I got the feeling the car was controlling me rather than the other way round.

If I was offered one as a hire car again I would look elsewhere.

[rixalex]

To my mind, whether or not it is a good product, Chevrolet needed to be aggressive about the way it marketed it. Japanese cars have such a stronghold that to stand any chance of success, it needed to be impressively packaged and impressively priced. I can't speak to the packaging, but the pricing doesn't look great, and that's disappointing because it does look good and the Japanese could certainly use some competition.

[MoonRiverOasis]

To my mind, whether or not it is a good product, Chevrolet needed to be aggressive about the way it marketed it. Japanese cars have such a stronghold that to stand any chance of success, it needed to be impressively packaged and impressively priced. I can't speak to the packaging, but the pricing doesn't look great, and that's disappointing because it does look good and the Japanese could certainly use some competition.

100% Agree - It has to be on of the most mishandled marketing campaigns in Thai Motoring history.

Chev have a target of 1,000 units/month - my guess is they'll be lucky to achieve 10-20% of that. Now I'm just waiting for the PR that tries to explain away the production stoppage

[thaimate]

To my mind, whether or not it is a good product, Chevrolet needed to be aggressive about the way it marketed it. Japanese cars have such a stronghold that to stand any chance of success, it needed to be impressively packaged and impressively priced. I can't speak to the packaging, but the pricing doesn't look great, and that's disappointing because it does look good and the Japanese could certainly use some competition.

100% Agree - It has to be on of the most mishandled marketing campaigns in Thai Motoring history.

Chev have a target of 1,000 units/month - my guess is they'll be lucky to achieve 10-20% of that. Now I'm just waiting for the PR that tries to explain away the production stoppage

I actually know 2 people who work quite high up in the chevy hiarachy (get a discount ) and you will have no worries about them only achieving 10/20% sales are very very strong already. and as for the marketing the tv ads are on nightly far more than for any other car

[MoonRiverOasis]

To my mind, whether or not it is a good product, Chevrolet needed to be aggressive about the way it marketed it. Japanese cars have such a stronghold that to stand any chance of success, it needed to be impressively packaged and impressively priced. I can't speak to the packaging, but the pricing doesn't look great, and that's disappointing because it does look good and the Japanese could certainly use some competition.

100% Agree - It has to be on of the most mishandled marketing campaigns in Thai Motoring history.

Chev have a target of 1,000 units/month - my guess is they'll be lucky to achieve 10-20% of that. Now I'm just waiting for the PR that tries to explain away the production stoppage

I actually know 2 people who work quite high up in the chevy hiarachy (get a discount ) and you will have no worries about them only achieving 10/20% sales are very very strong already. and as for the marketing the tv ads are on nightly far more than for any other car

Motor Expo bookings were just 1,700 units (I imagine 1/2 - 2/3 of what Chev marketing expected), which translates to ~1100-1200 actual sales - and outside of the March/April 2011 International Motor Show, that's the best month the model will have, ever I stand by my prediction of if failing to meet the forecast of 12,000 units/year in domestic sales.

Edited December 24, 2010 by MoonRiverOasis

[versionupdate]

To my mind, whether or not it is a good product, Chevrolet needed to be aggressive about the way it marketed it. Japanese cars have such a stronghold that to stand any chance of success, it needed to be impressively packaged and impressively priced. I can't speak to the packaging, but the pricing doesn't look great, and that's disappointing because it does look good and the Japanese could certainly use some competition.

100% Agree - It has to be on of the most mishandled marketing campaigns in Thai Motoring history.

Chev have a target of 1,000 units/month - my guess is they'll be lucky to achieve 10-20% of that. Now I'm just waiting for the PR that tries to explain away the production stoppage

I actually know 2 people who work quite high up in the chevy hiarachy (get a discount ) and you will have no worries about them only achieving 10/20% sales are very very strong already. and as for the marketing the tv ads are on nightly far more than for any other car

Motor Expo bookings were just 1,700 units (I imagine 1/2 - 2/3 of what Chev marketing expected), which translates to ~1100-1200 actual sales - and outside of the March/April 2011 International Motor Show, that's the best month the model will have, ever I stand by my prediction of if failing to meet the forecast of 12,000 units/year in domestic sales.

you just go to www.cruzeclubthailand.com and check for further details about Cruze..there are plenty of info down there ( if you can read thai lol )

[thaimate]

Has anyone test driven one yet ,ive been to look and it looks good ,but not had a chance to drive it ,the reviews from abroad though rate it highly.

[MoonRiverOasis]

Just as a heads-up, Chev TH are already planning a minor change for November this year, which will see the 2.0L VM Motori diesel replaced with a 2.2L unit sourced from the all-new Colorado (GMI-700) pickup. Honda will be releasing the all-new Civic (2HC) at the same time (full model change).

Also note that the "new" Mazda 3 hatch and sedan officially launch in TH this coming March - it'll be a minor change version of the 2nd generation model originally launched in some markets in 2009 (Thailand and neighbors are the last global markets to still have the 1st gen '3').

Edited January 10, 2011 by MoonRiverOasis

[elrey]

this is a good looking car, for too much money,

IMHO, it ain't that good looking..

Plus, Chevy? I would put that much money and trust on a chevy?

I'd have a lot better bets out there...

[thaimate]

this is a good looking car, for too much money,

IMHO, it ain't that good looking..

Plus, Chevy? I would put that much money and trust on a chevy?

I'd have a lot better bets out there...

I bought the optra 5 years ago ,thinking to get rid of it after about a year ,but to be honest it has been such a good reliable car with such low service costs here i am 5 years later still driving it , i know that it loses more in value than the honda and toyota but then ,money cant be allowed to rule your life.

Edited January 11, 2011 by thaimate

[DougLee]

Saw one at the mall, it looked much better in other countries/internet. Seems like you need to rice it up to make it look not too cheap. Civic sounds like a better deal, even though there is too many of them.

[anothertorres]

I bought the optra 5 years ago ,thinking to get rid of it after about a year ,but to be honest it has been such a good reliable car with such low service costs here i am 5 years later still driving it , i know that it loses more in value than the honda and toyota but then ,money cant be allowed to rule your life.

so... did you make a decision yet? did you pick up a Cruze yet?

[thaimate]

I bought the optra 5 years ago ,thinking to get rid of it after about a year ,but to be honest it has been such a good reliable car with such low service costs here i am 5 years later still driving it , i know that it loses more in value than the honda and toyota but then ,money cant be allowed to rule your life.

so... did you make a decision yet? did you pick up a Cruze yet?

Not yet ,a friend who works for chevy at Rayong (quite well placed) advised me to wait 6 months for a diesel that they will produce.