In June 2011, the Chevrolet Cruze was the top selling car. The Toyota Camry fell to 4th behind the Chevrolet Malibu and Ford Focus.
I know part of this is because of the Japanese tsunami etc, but wow. Chevrolet has the #1 car…my mind is officially blown.
No doubt! We’ve been talking about how befuddled we are that the Camaro is outselling the Mustang too.
I live like 20 min away from where the Cruz is built. It’s a beautiful well made car, with what could seem like a spare no expense experience for the traveler. And by that I mean it’s a flimsy POS, that will be rusted and worthless in five years. I buy cars that I will drive, and then enjoy driving in. Sort of like shoes, I only buy ones that feel good. I don’t know why some people feel the need to buy throw away cars, but the Chevy Cruz is a disposable automobile.
Simon: wow. Could you elaborate. From what I’ve seen looking around the Cruze, the body seems well protected against rust and the components well-protected against wear-and-tear. Plus, it feels solid. If they had a sport suspension, I would buy one and run it for 10+ years (like I am doing with my Focus).
Do cars rust that much today?
It was a motortrend 2011 car of the year finalist and almost all the reviews I have seen are favorable.
It’s a major step forward from the cavalier and sunfire and other small cars GM used to make. I can understand why it’s the best selling car. It looks good, and is a good value in a tough economy. No more bland interior, and the upgraded engine is a pretty nice 1.4L Turbo.
Well, it’s not bad for a Korean design-German engineered product. You can thank GM-Daewoo in Korea and GM-Opel for their contribution to the GM small car wonder… BTW there is absolutely no relation whatsoever to any Cavalier, Sunfire or pre-2005 North American GM small-car product.
Now if they can just bring that Opel Wagon over here…
Yah up north where we use plenty of salt they rust… the Mazda 3 mainly 04-07’s rust in the rear wheel wells within 3-4 years.
Also the paint on Lancer’s is very thin and I am sure you will see lots of those rusting out very shortly. Mostly on the hood and where rock chips get kicked up on rocker panels.
3M is making big bucks up here!!
I don’t know much about build quality on this car (never seen one for real), but I’m sure you could drive one for 10+ years. Sad thing is that styling wise it already looks like a ten years old car…
@Nurb I’m guessing it’s the Opel Insignia (station wagon) you’re thinking of? That car looks great. It’s not often a family car makes me think “I’d like one of those”, and crikey!.. it’s an Opel!
Hoodzy: Here in Montreal, I see a lot of Mazdas with rusty window frames. Mazda has always welded the window frame onto the door, then covered the frame with a black tape. Unfortunately, the tape seems to just trap moisture in the window frame and rot it out. It’s even happened on my, otherwise clean, Miata.
As for the steering wheel, Chevrolet has already recalled the Cruze to correct it. Scary though.
The interiors have a nice cover on them so they should fare well. The Cruz is a cheap car, and it’s just not going to go the distance. I see a lot of the same crowd buying them that got sunfire’s and cavilers, they won’t warm the turbo engine up, won’t keep the plugs fresh, etc. I guess my main problem with the crus is that they are cheap, and look about as cool as my mom’s 04 lancer.
I don’t know about up north, but down here in Chicago we have these things called car washes. They remove corrosive materials like salt. They are quite effective in preventing rust.
So is the car cheap or are the people buying them not maintaining them properly? As you can imagine, someone who buys a $16,000 Cruze is more unlikely to take it for regular maintenance, or cut corners when they do need it as apposed to someone who buys a $25,000+ car. If you take care of the Cruze, I’m betting it will last. I would like to hear specifics about why you think the cruze is so cheap (considering it’s price) compared to what you don’t think is a cheap car in the same price range.
Simon: Time will tell on this point. The traditional problem with the domestic resell values was their enormous fleet sales that flooded the market after a couple of years. People never take care of a car that they don’t own. Same with the leasing. Supposedly, GM and the others are trying to actually sell cars now, rather than financing. That should protect their value long term and mean that the owners will take better care of the cars (because it’s theirs).
iab: Winters in Canada are from another planet. I wash my car every time the temp. gets up near 32 (don’t want my car to freeze shut). Even then, the salt and moisture attack the car.
Over here the Chevy Cruze is marketed as the successor to the Korean built, Ital Designed Nubira.
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The Cruze is light years ahead of the old GM small car offerings in terms of fit and finish. It may still be
sold for a low price, but to me it didn’t feel “cheap”.
The new Jaguar XJ, that I had as a loaner, was much worse…and not concerning the price point.
It was just “a dog”.
mo-i
Yah well that may be true. But spending 4 dollars a day on a car wash probably isn’t worth it. Not to mention you can’t really wash a car that well when its -25 for a good 4months of the year. Does Chicago use so much salt that your roads turn white?
Here in Minnesota they spray down a chemical salt solution that’s good to -10 or so. That stuff sticks around for ages. Paint is hopeless here…
Your winter is definately more harsh, but our politics are even harsher. In 1979 Michael Bilandic lost re-election as mayor of Chicago to Jane Byrne. He lost that election largely to the fact he did a poor job of snow removal. Since that election, no mayor has spared any expense in removing snow. So, for every inch of snow we get, they put down 2 inches of salt.
I don’t wash my car everyday, but my last car was a 12 years old (Honda Civic) and had only 1 dime-sized rust-color paint on the rear wheel well. I sold it for $2,500, easily a $1000 more than a rust bucket. Figure 6 washes a winter, 72 total at $6 each. I wouldn’t wash my car at -25 C, but I would definately wash it below 0. Nothing helps more than a good blast to the undercarriage. 
Anyone know anything about metal oxidation at low temperatures? Does the cold inhibit it?
