Some people spent four years waiting for a World Cup, while GM spent four years developing a revolutionary compact car-Chevrolet Cruze. Two months ago, my colleagues went to Spain to present a wonderful test drive report for everyone. Between the lines, he expressed his affirmation of Cruze in many aspects and thought that its prospects would be optimistic. Not long ago, I participated in the track test drive held by Chevrolet at Beijing Jingang Circuit. When I first approached the Chevrolet Cruze, it rained moderately. I am looking forward to Cruz's performance in the rain. See more Chevrolet Cruze test drive pictures. Many friends around me are asking me, who designed Cruze? It is difficult for me to give an accurate answer until now, but at least I know that GM has assigned the design work of Cruze to design departments all over the world, including Daewoo in South Korea, Pan Asia in Shanghai, and the latest European design center. Finally, the adjustment of Cruze's engine and chassis was completed at the famous New Boglin North Ring Circuit. So, forget the argument about the origin. Since GM has filled in the word "globalization" in Cruze's key words, we have every reason to believe that Cruze can serve people all over the world, including China. The first time I saw Cruze, I was deeply impressed by the shape of the front of the car. In the past, the appearance of compact cars in the United States always lacked a sense of strength. When I finally found out that Fox still had a soft spot for sports, I made a small change and turned it into a softer front face shape similar to Mondeo. But Cruze is very different. Chevrolet's brand-new front face design style has covered the whole car system including Cruze. The golden bow tie logo runs through the shield-shaped middle net and divides the air intake grille into two. Headlights are angular in shape, and the sharp tail is very long and powerful, which is the most prominent highlight of the front shape.

See more pictures of Chevrolet Lutz test drive. Two three-dimensional ridge lines protruding from the front cover extend to the A-pillar, which are staggered with the waist line rising from the side. The chrome trim under the window and the "shark fin" antenna on the roof are the important basis to distinguish 1.6 and 1.8. The short front suspension and streamlined roof remind people to talk about this car with sports. The junction of the C-pillar and the tail is very "harmonious" in today's hot words. The short trunk does not drag down the overall shape, and the 400-liter trunk has enough volume, but the trunk opening is higher. The taillights extend to the front of the car, echoing the headlights, and the internal double-round light group seems to have become the unified design style of Chevrolet brand.

See more Chevrolet Cruze test drive pictures. The interior design is not backward at all compared with the dynamic shape. Chevrolet said that the interior of Cruze comes from Corvette's "two-seat cockpit", so let's take it as a propaganda slogan for the time being. However, the interior of the domestic Cruze is really refreshing in design. The steering wheel is fashionable and beautiful, made of imitation metal and leather, and the low-profile models are made of plastic. The problems in the new Regal are once again exposed to Cruze. The commonly used 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions on the steering wheel are too thick, and I always feel that I can't hold them. Cruze followed the new Regal's acclaimed ice-blue dashboard. The barrel design is dynamic and the color scheme is fresh and elegant. 1.8 The large-screen driving computer on the lift model is similar to the new Regal, and the information displayed in the mileage fuel menu is very rich, except that the high-end configuration such as tire pressure monitoring is cancelled in the vehicle information menu.

See more Chevrolet Cruze test drive pictures. The shield center console seems to have become a new overall design style of GM, which separates the air conditioner from the audio control interface and improves the convenience of operation. The audio-visual control part has reasonable key distribution and excellent key texture. The only deficiency is that all the functions are marked in English, and the English description is very concise, which needs more research in practical use. The navigation system with 7-inch display screen needs to be installed at a high price, and the specific cost is about 10,000 yuan. The materials for the center console of 1.6 and 1.8 liter models are also different. Although both of them are metal-like decorative strips, the facade of 1.8 is similar to carbon fiber decorative panels, which still enhances a lot of sense of movement. But interior materials needs to be strengthened, and hard plastic parts are everywhere. The interior design is so excellent, but it is not worth it if it is delayed by materials and materials. Only 1.8 upgraded Cruze adopts automatic air conditioning, and retains the AQS air conditioning quality automatic control system, which can detect the air quality outside the car, thus automatically adjusting the internal and external circulation modes. This function is very practical for northern cities with serious sandstorms. The keyless start system only appears in the high version of 1.8.

See more pictures of Chevrolet Cruze test drive. Cruze also performed well in seat comfort. The leather seats of the high-profile models are soft in texture and well wrapped on both sides of the backrest. The seat fabric is also used in the central part of the center console, that is, if the low-profile model is selected, the center console will use the same woven fabric as the seat, while the high-profile model will use leather. This design visually enhances the sense of movement and integrity. In addition to the front double airbags and side airbags, the high-equipped Cruze is also equipped with front and rear head safety air curtains. Judging from the price of 6.5438+0.498 million yuan, this is indeed a luxury equipment. It is puzzling that the electric seat equipped with Cruze can only adjust the front and rear height and cushion, and the seat back is still manually adjusted. It's the first time to see such a matching electric seat. However, it is gratifying to keep the electric heating of the seat, and the buttons are integrated on two air conditioning knobs, which can be adjusted in three levels and is very convenient to use.

See more pictures of Chevrolet Cruze test drive. Cruze has a wheelbase of 2685 mm and plenty of legroom in the rear. The height of the "model" in the picture is close to 1.85 meters, and there is still room in the legs. However, due to the influence of C-pillar shape, there is little head space left. The comfort of the back seat is also very good, just taking care of three people in the back seat. The cushion is too straight and the support is not as good as the front seat. I believe you have seen that the domestic Cruze canceled the cruise control, so the left side of the steering wheel is empty, and the right side is the same audio multi-function button as the foreign version. The phenomenon of headlight reduction also appears on the headlight control button. In addition to automatic headlights, the height of headlights can be adjusted in the car before test drive abroad. These two configurations disappeared after they were made in China. I don't know how much cost two headlight adjusting motors and one light sensor will increase. It is the biggest regret that the body stabilization system such as ESP does not appear on the domestic Cruze, which is also contrary to the sports style positioning of Cruze. Although it involves cost, I hope this configuration can appear on high-end models, even if it is optional, it is really unreasonable that the whole department does not provide it. I believe that the majority of netizens will shout: "ESP can have it", but ESP really doesn't have it ... After reading Cruze inside and outside, I believe everyone has a general understanding. I believe that the appearance of Cruze alone can capture many people's hearts, and the interior will also be favored by young users. No matter from the interior space or driving experience, we can feel that GM has really made great efforts in the design and development of Cruze. Of course, the Shanghai Pan-Asia design team contributed a lot. The issue of allocation reduction mentioned earlier is also a joint venture. Of course, we hope to buy more configurations with less money, even if it is one or two less than that of foreign countries, it will not have a decisive impact on car purchase, but I still hope to find these cancelled configurations on 20 10 Cruze.

After the static display, the manufacturer arranged the media to experience Cruze's driving experience on the Jingang circuit. This time, Shanghai GM Chevrolet provided us with 1.6 liter manual gearbox and 1.8 liter automatic gearbox. Let's take a look at the data parameters of the two engines first. See more Chevrolet Cruze test drive pictures. 1.8 liter ECOTEC engine only matches the 6-speed automatic manual transmission. The maximum power 105 kW and the maximum torque 177 Nm are quite excellent in the same class. According to common sense, 1.6 liter should be the preferred displacement of family cars. This 1.6-liter engine can output the maximum power of 86 kW and the maximum torque of 150 Nm. You can choose a 5-speed manual or 6-speed automatic manual transmission. According to the data, Cruze's front suspension adopts cast aluminum control arm, which is rare in economical cars, and the rear suspension adopts traditional torsion beam integral suspension. For the rear integral suspension, many people have great views on it, thinking that it has no scientific and technological content and is not comfortable. At first, I had the same idea. I thought Bora's nickname "King of the Straight Road, Died by a detour" came from nowhere, but it was actually aimed at this set of rear suspension. But after the test drive on the track, I was deeply impressed by Cruze. After the rain, there is not much water in the King Kong track, and the tire grip is still sufficient. The steering wheel points accurately and the steering force is slightly heavier, which is very European. The first test drive was the 1.8-liter automatic gearbox. I naturally switched the gearbox to manual mode, but after a warm-up, I slowly found that this 6-speed automatic manual gearbox could not fully mobilize the power of 105 kW, and the slow shifting speed also led to the uneven power output. When exchanging test cars, I also complained about the 6-speed automatic manual transmission. When I got on the manual version of 1.6 liter and fiddled with the shift lever a few times, all the unhappiness just now disappeared. This 5-speed manual gearbox has a light and accurate shifting process, and the stroke will not be too long. The clutch joint is also well controlled and easy to use.

See more pictures of Chevrolet Cruze test drive When driving on the track, it began to rain again in the sky, and it rained harder and harder with the test drive. However, this did not stop the test drive. What is certain is that the first safety car did not slow down. Very responsibly, the 1.6-liter manual model is much more active in power than the 1.8 automatic model. Although there is a big difference in power output between the two models, the 1.6-liter manual model is easily kept unchanged by the previous 1.8-liter model, and even thanks to excellent transmission ratio training in corners, there is still a chance to overtake. After getting familiar with the car, I began to try to delay the braking point, keep the speed in a high range, hold a slightly heavier steering wheel and command the front wheel to kill the corner. Very wonderful. In the corner, the center of gravity of the front of the car shifts quickly, understeer appears late, and the tail follows well, so you can't feel any anxiety and sideslip caused by the tail. The suspension system is soft at the beginning, and the body shakes obviously when the steering wheel swings slightly, which brings the advantage that it can absorb more bumps on the road. Once entering the corner at high speed, the suspension can provide solid support after being compressed to a certain extent, and the chassis feels very solid. The overall effect is very close to the driving experience of European cars. If you have to experience the torsion beam rear suspension, I suggest you drive through the speed bump quickly, because then you can feel the slight twist at the rear of the car. After the track experience, my affection for Cruze did not stop at the level of styling design, and the excellent chassis training also swept away my inherent concept of American compact cars. It can be said that Cruze has found a suitable balance between comfort and sportiness, but judging from the current powertrain, I appreciate what Cruze has done in comfort. This sports chassis may need a more powerful engine to stimulate its potential. What about the rumored 1.6T engine? Special performance test of Cruze