The Chevrolet Cruze proves once again that any word looks cooler when you spell it with a "z." The big question is whether any of that hipster cool transfers over to the compact sedan that wears the name. Sorry, make that "wearz." At least the Chevrolet Cruze is chasing only a modest heritage of Chevy's small carz.
The direct lineage of the Chevy Cruze goes back to the introduction of the legendarily awful Vega, through its evil spawn the Monza, on to 23 years of the Cavalier, and finally six years of the Cobalt. The Cruze enters production during 2010 as a 2011 model. And like all those previous vehicles, the Chevy Cruze is built at GM's assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio.
GM developed the Chevy Cruze as an international car that could be successfully sold in markets around the world with only slight variations. So the Cruze is built atop the front-drive "Delta II" platform that supersedes the "Delta" platform upon which the Cobalt was built. It's a conventional unibody structure with MacPherson struts holding up the front of the vehicle and a torsion beam axle in the back. Though similar in specification to the Delta platform, GM claims the Delta II is significantly stiffer and stronger. While the Cobalt was offered as either a two- or four-door, initially the Chevrolet Cruze is offered solely as a four-door.
The big innovations for the Chevy Cruze lie under its hood. Besides the standard 1.8-liter DOHC variable valve timed standard engine (making about 138 horsepower), upon launch a miserly turbocharged 1.4-liter version of the engine is available. Unlike the turbo engine in the previous high-performance Cobalt SS, the turbo 1.4 makes a modest 140 hp but delivers superior fuel economy. In that way at least, the Chevrolet Cruze represents a huge philosophical break with small Chevys of the past.
While the Chevy Cruze is Chevrolet's mainstream small car, it also shares its Delta II architecture with the technologically daring Volt plug-in hybrid. The Volt may wind up revolutionizing the automotive world, but a lot more Chevy Cruzes are likely to be produced.
