American companies introduced quite a few new compact vehicles over the last few years. And while most of them are really great cars, the new 2011 Chevy Cruze stands out as arguably the best compact car released this year. This is one vehicle that definitely lives up to all the hype. The car is not just a hit here in America, but it's extremely popular worldwide and it currently being sold in more than 50 countries around the world. It has quite a few unique features that makes it so well liked by consumers. Chevrolet managed to give it tons of features all while keeping its price at an affordable level.
The engine being used in this particular model is a turbocharged 4 cylinder engine that features lots of power and great gas mileage. According to the car manufacturer, the manual ECO model can easily get 40 mile per gallon, while the automatic model gets around 35 miles per gallon. If you pop open the hood you'll be amazed at just how small the engine is compared to other compact vehicles. But even though it's smaller than most engines, it has 135 horse power and nearly 150 lbs of torque.
But as good as the engine is, it does has its flaws. For example, until the turbo is at full force, you can tell that it isn't nearly as powerful as a regular sized car. Also, it's a lot louder than most of the other cars in its class. But fortunately the noise is only noticeable while driving in stop and go traffic. While on the interstate, the 2011 Cruze is extremely quiet and the handling is great. The great handling is a result of its extra wide stance and its superior suspension system.
The folks at Chevrolet created a system called the Z-link that basically enhances the movements of the rear suspension. The car doesn't have an actual independent rear suspension, but that's only because in order for the vehicle to stay at an affordable price, it had to be replaced with another type of suspension system. When you combine the Z-link and the innovative engine, you can see why Chevrolet has such high hopes for this vehicle. Most of the engineers that worked on the vehicle thinks that it can be the "leader of the pack" in regards to compact cars.
A few other reasons why the Z-link is such a great feature is the fact that it's decreases the overall weight of the vehicle, it's a lot cheaper than the alternative setup and it's more compact. This enables the car to have a bigger trunk space. The handling of the vehicle, as mentioned earlier, is pretty good and the Cruze actually handles the best out of most of the recently released compact vehicles. The weight of the car is just right and while steering it has a nice balanced feel to it. The way it handles tight corners is also impressive.
The styling of the 2011 Chevy Cruze is great and it has various packages that alters the overall look of the vehicle. The RS package makes the car look more luxurious overall while the skirt package makes the vehicle look more like a sports car. As for the overall exterior design, even though it's compact, the 3 window layout of the car makes it look longer than it actually is. The windows are raised slightly higher compared to other vehicles but it doesn't take away from the visibility of the road. And the headlights are designed in such a unique way that it really makes the Cruze visually stand out.
And as for the quality of the interior, it is much nicer than Chevy's older model cars. It seems like the company finally started listening to the consumers who complained for years about the cheap plastic look and feel of the interior parts. Overall, this is a great car that not only looks nice, but priced at only $16,995 it is priced thousands lower than the base level models of its competitors.
