With the announcement earlier this year that Chevy would bring a diesel version of it’s Cruze state side I got a little excited. You see I love diesel. Long gone are the days of loud, smokey, rattling diesel cars and in are the days high torque, plentiful horsepower, and high fuel economy. It is the best of all worlds. Not to mention the price of diesel where I live is actually less then gasoline right now. The Cruze is already and excellent car and the added torque and economy of a diesel is sure to only improve that. Needless to say I can’t wait to get my hands on one to road test.
The Cruze’s turbocharged 2.0L knocks out a respectable 151hp and 264lb-ft of torque. However the engine has an overboost feature that can be used temporarily under hard acceleration increasing the torque figure to 280lb-ft which is as much as a 350 Chevy small block made in the early 70s. That is no number to sneeze at. This takes the Cruze from 0-60 in 8.6 seconds which is nearly a half second faster then the VW Jetta TDI which is the Cruze’s chief competitor. This all translates to 46mpg which is pretty good. Certainly worth the added extra cost.
Plenty more pics after the jump.
A pic from the autoshow of the Cruze TDI engine out of the car. It’s a compact little thing.
I think the Cruze is a stylish car. It’s also a nice place to sit for an inexpensive car. You might remember a while back I drove the gasoline version of the Chevy Cruze and was quite happy with it.
