The 1.4 chevy turbo motor may be bad with a manual and better with an auto, but Roman, drive the CVT equipped 2020 Malibu with the same motor and you will be begging for the craptastic manual. The hesitation of the turbo mixed with the hesitation of the torque converter and the hesitation of the CVT to make hesitation cubed.
My ex had one of these, he was oblivious to its issues and the brakes failed randomly and he rear ended a ford escape on the highway. He now has a Corolla
@@Skarlet_OverdriveA quick search yields info that the brake booster/assist system can fail randomly with no warning, causing the brakes to go back to an unassisted state, as if the engine was off. I could absolutely see this causing a collision if you had to make an emergency stop. GM issued a recall for them.
I have a 2016 cruze manual and It's much more quiet and composed on the highway than a corolla. It drives like a full size sedan. Not to mention I can go 3-4 hours without my back/ass/legs getting sore. Long term reliability is far better than the 1st gen cruze as well so it's really a competitive option in my opinion.
@@40040Hmm...to each their own. In my opinion to be clear, it's unreliable, uncomfortable, boring to drive. But not boring like how a Corolla can be, no that's boring like how death and taxes are consistent.
I owned one for 5 months. I was looking for good fuel economy. Averaged about 33mpg which is way lower than the epa estimate. Way too small and anemic to only get that in return. Sold it to Carvana and never looked back.
I think I could live with one for 12-13k, but now local dealers are charging almost 20,000 for base models. I can't believe people are actually playing that much for them.
I love this channel to pieces. It manages to take all the anxiety, disappointment, and frustration of living in the USA and blame it on some crap cars. Your liberal arts degrees were NOT wasted!
"the dealership took pity on him." Reminds me of the last time I took my money-pit Audi into the dealership when the clutch, flywheel, and gearbox all started to fail. The service advisor said "maybe you can limp along until you find something else?" Yes...an honest service advisor at an Audi dealership!
My dad was looking at getting an Audi A3 in 2006 (with 3 young kids at the time). The salesman straight up told my dad that he would love the car but it’d be too much of a money pit for a young family. Then he bought a Legacy that shit the bed at 120,000 miles
There are so many funny lines in this episode that I can’t remember them all! And it all started when you refused to do an intro song. That was brilliant. And the line about them not only phoning it in, but that they called collect, actually had me laughing out loud! I can’t tell you how many years it’s been of me watching this channel, but it is every bit as funny as it was from the original ones. I love you guys please don’t ever stop. Sincerely, Joel Breen General Manager, Kunkleman, Chevy, Kia, Tesla, Saab, Ford, and Citroen.
All manuals are bad now, unless they were made specifically for performance cars. They're geared too tall and have a lot of rev hang to meet emissions. Literally, the CVT version will get better economy and move faster because the remaining manuals are playing with a hand tied behind their back.
2018 sonic. Same engine. Approaching 200k. All I've had to replace so far is: radiator, hoses, water pump x2, valve cover gaskets x2, pcv system, engine water outlet, turbo lines, and everything related to the brakes. Its been fun.
If you’d like a hatchback with a manual, check out the Mazda 3. I test drove one a few years ago and it’s a lot of fun to drive and an amazingly nice car. Unfortunately, the turbo engine isn’t available with the stick which sucks but the naturally-aspirated engine isn’t bad.
@@brian5o honestly I kinda prefer the NA engine - not as fast but it feels more natural with the gearing and the inputs imo (plus Mazda’s stick shifts feel so good that you forget about having a merely okay acceleration time) I feel like I’d be more into the turbo if the rest of the car was more aggressive and wasn’t trying so hard to be upmarket and “luxurious”. Rip mazdaspeed I guess
At this point I'm convinced GM is the reason automatics are so popular here in the states. All the WORST manuals I've driven have been GMs. I used to daily an '84 K20 with a Muncie SM465. Shifting it was glacial, the gates were in different time zones, and yet it was still hard NOT to grind gears. The gearing itself was taller than the Himalayas on 3 of its 4 speeds (which was Not enough) but first was so short you were redlined at a fast walk. Plus it constantly howled so loudly that on one occasion I had a *Literal Wolfpack* start howling back at me while I was descending a mountain. I ultimately sold it for an '85 K30 that has a TH400. Despite being a slushbox and having even fewer gears it is Light Years away a better driving experience, as it doesn't feel like a fast farm tractor
Thank you for the "you deserve better" monologue about dreams and expectations. Really hit home for me in a big way on an extremely personal level. Thanks Roman.
It's the stupid chevy clutch. They designed their clutch pedal mechanism for V8 cars with too much torque, where the pressure plate needs excessive force to prevent slip. But they didn't want it to be a chore just to hold the clutch pedal down at a light (even though you should be putting the car in neutral for any decoupling longer than 5 seconds). So they made the clutch pedal heavy at the top then light at the bottom, like all the clutch actuation happens at the top 3rd and then the bottom 2/3rds are highly leveraged so the entire bottom half of pedal travel moves the pressure plate a micron. This makes it easy to keep your foot down on the clutch but when you go to take your foot off, the pedal barely feels like it wants to come up. Then you hit that inflection point and WHAM the clutch pedal snaps back up at you. When the car has a v8 and you barely had to touch the throttle to get going, this feels awful, but at least it works. But with a little 4 banger at 3000 rpm just to make enough torque to not stall, there's this huge speed differential, and the clutch pedal gives the clutch and flywheel 0.01 seconds to make up their mind about who wins OR IT'S MAKING IT UP FOR THEM.
This guy gave the greatest reason for an aftermarket air intake: ease of maintenance. I'll gladly take some heat soak to replace all the screws and latches for a singular band clamp.
Test drove one of these back in 2019. I was excited to go back to driving a "hot hatch", but then I actually drove it and shifted through the gears. My excitement went from "this could be my next car" to "this wouldn't be worth it if I could talk them down $5k."
When my E46 Wagon kicked the bucket, I bought a 2018 Chevy Sonic RS Premier with the 1.4 Turbo and the 6 speed manual. It even had the GM Performance Package from the factory, which was an engine tune, a 1.5" suspension drop, and a special exhaust. I sold it for an automatic 2005 Volvo V70R after two years. The Sonic was...a car. This video helped give me the closure I needed. Sometimes, I miss that car. It got like 38 MPG highway, the armrests were so perfect for my driving position, and it was pretty practical and easy to drive. But the looming turbo issue, a non-compliant shifter, and the absolute lack of torque and power made it pretty uninspiring to drive. You're right. Manual transmissions don't belong in every car. I wanted that to be a budget hot hatch so badly. But it was definitely just a car. Also I stalled that shit all the time. I learned how to drive stick on my grandfather's 1964 Corvette and had driven several manual transmission cars before. I can't tell if it was just the numb clutch pedal or the absurd lack of torque. I never stall manual transmission cars, but I stalled the Sonic once a week.
We have this in Germany as the Opel Astra. My mom has a 2016 model with the 1.4 turbo - the GM M32 gearbox is as accurate as liquid pudding with incredibly long and imprecise shift patterns and the clutch pedal feels like stepping into quicksand. Oh, and the brakes only work if you've already pressed the pedal 80% down. And that's how it was from the factory.
I had one of these in the same year, premier trim in black with an auto trans; drove it from 5800 miles up to 170k miles. No transmission issues, only basic maintenance with a lifetime average mpg around 34-35. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, but have no regrets. This review had me rolling lmao fine work as always!
Well, as a former owner of a 2018 Chevy Cruze Diesel Hatchback with the manual; I can attest, this review is spot on. In January of 2024, my clutch went out. Exactly what the owner of this Red Cruze experience. A stuck clutch. It needed a new Slave Master Cylinder. This issue destroyed my clutch. Thankfully, my Carmax Maxcare picked up the $5200 tab for this. Parts are almost non-existent that it took almost 2 months to get this fixed. This transmission shifts so horribly that I immediately bought a short throw shifter just to help with shifting. Gears are super long. It's loud and not that comfortable either. I did enjoy the torque and the 45 MPG i would get, but that is all. This car certainly belongs at #3 on the list.
My brother in law is a diehard Chevy guy. He married my sister, and a bunch of us dudes are Ford lovers. And some of us prefer Japanese over American cars in general (like myself) I told him I was looking into the Fiesta ST not because of the Ford Family stuff, but because the other American manufactures don't offer anything similar (Sub-Compact Hot Hatchback with a turbo and a manual). He recommended this to me and hearing the horror stories I declined. This car uses the same platform as a Daewoo and even Opel/Vauxhall twins before GM sold those two brands recently to PSA (now Stellantis) Sure, the Fiesta ST suffers from similarly awful design choices that the Cruze does. But out of all the cars I've test driven it's the one that I fell in love with the most
So, funny story, we set this for Monday, but we were in Australia when we scheduled it, so it went live on Australian Monday -- today. So watch today or save for tomorrow as tradition dictates. I'll just be here waiting on our connecting flight from Dallas to Philly (my ass is sore from all the sitting).
You killed it on this one Roman, loved "makes falling down a flight of stairs seem like an all expenses paid vacation" and "The build sheet said 200hp as long as i dont use the radio"
As a lube tech I can tell you we were expected to check the cabin filter on every oil change we were given 24 minutes to complete. That cabin filter was a pain in the ass!
Just because it's hatch and turbo doesn't mean sport. We need to get that out of our Need For Speed and Fast and Furious minds. Hatchbacks are great cars to own and operate 99% of the time, as 99% of owners just want "transportation" and not an experience or high speeds.
The first gen Cruze looked great, great interior for gm at the time. Reviews gave it high fun to drive rating. ( second gen was tuned softer) main problem I read about was reliability and issues with the 1.4 turbo.
Wasn't the Spark the last hatch they had, it came in manual. I get if we are not counting Daewoo designed cars, but the Cruze was not a Chevy USA designed product to start with either.
@@rturner4205 GM uses torx screws a lot, but usually on interior items. Some e-torx screws do get used on engine components though, depending on the car.
00:34 Also not all v8s makes a car better. Dropping 2 cylinders isn't going to harm the tow compacity much either. There's semi trucks that deliver you vehicles to a dealership that have an inline 6 under the hood.
My wife has an auto sedan Cruze. It's a very competent economy car, but we've learned that you can't accelerate from a stop. You HAVE to be already moving to actually move lmao
My first car had GM's first offered 5-speed (a Borg Warner, reverse h-pattern). It ate through a clutch every 35,000 miles and eventually burst out the firewall. It was so stiff you almost needed both legs to engage the clutch. Of course, it's stall prone carb necessitated riding the clutch every time you came out of 1st.
I like listening to Roman more now. Mr. Regular's reviews now seem like they're 85 percent "arrrrrgh barrrghh arrrrghhhbarrrgh" gibberish, 10 percent metaphors, and five percent actual reviews
Wait...I rented one of these in 2019. It was an auto sedan version too and I drove it in the mountains of west virginia. Coming from an S2000 owner, I was a little surprised how well it handled. It was really zippy like a honda despite having such a small engine. It felt really smooth, too. I drove it from Idaho all the way to virginia. The only complaint I had was that the brakes were a tad small (they overheated pretty quickly). It's not the BEST economy sedan I've driven (that honor belongs to the 2024 Accord Sport Hybrid), but it certainly wasn't a TERRIBLE car, either.
My old roommate had one of these. Fun thing I learned doing the oil change for her, the bolt GM stuck under it to drain the oil shreds it head if you aren't careful because its too small to generate enough torque.
I have an ‘18 LT hatch. It’s not the funnest car in the world, but with a tune it’s not half bad. It’s also dead reliable. 165k miles and almost no issues. These second gen Cruze’s are WAY better than the first gen
5 years with my manual Sonic and the trifecta tune helps, but the gearbox does suck the fun out of it; egregious rev hang + super tall gears + vague clutch feeling;
Bought one of these new in 2018. Tons of GM credit card points + a stout GM cash incentive + guaranteed $2,500.00 trade at the dealership = about $14,700 out the door. Not bad considering the sticker was almost 23 grand. Drove it back & forth to my aging parents house for 1.5 years & 24K miles and I just couldn't take it anymore. That shifter felt like a 90's PS/2 mouse. and that transmission...ugh. I was definitely spoiled by Honda manuals. I contacted Carvana in the winter of 2019 and they sent a flat bad and a check for $15,200.00. Good riddance to a car that could've been so much better. Great review, Roman!
When I was a valet, I had just parked a 3 series manual wagon to show my supervisor I could drive stick, I nailed it, and it was amazing. I daily drove a manual accord as well I knew how to drive stick, and enjoyed it And then someone pulled up in a Chevy cruze manual. I was excited. My supervisor got in And I stalled it. Right there in the entrance of a hotel. I stalled it 2 more times before we switched seats. After he drove it away he stopped, and had me try again. I got it without a problem after that but it was such an awful clutch to deal with Sad to see they haven’t gotten much better since then
I live for these reviews…not for the vehicles per se, but the commentary alone. The wit and relatability..especially when reviewing a turbo turd like this is a public service to drivers that want to hear what the real deal is.
I have this exact car except didn't pay extra for fancy paint. It has helped me be calmer & not get triggered into hot-headed driving. I'm happy with it.
Ah, the good ole Chevy Curze. I know its spelled Cruze, but thats the nickname I gave these cars after a buddy of mine owned one. First time around, the thermostat housing somehow got cracked. So I replace it for him. 2 weeks later, he calls me again, "Hey the car is smoking thru the vents and it smells sweet". Turns out his heater core line cracked at the flared flange where the line and heater core meet. So I replaced the heater core and the lines for him. 3 weeks go by, and he calls me again. "Hey, the cars overheating again". Mind you, that at this point, the car only has 70k miles. Go and check it out again and it turned out the cap for the coolant reservoir wasn't properly sealing. Tried to just replace the o-ring on the cap to save him some money, but no cigar. Have to buy the whole reservoir assembly, cuz chevy doesn't sell the cap by itself. I tell my buddy, "Jesus dude. Just sell this POS before something worse happens and you're stuck with an expensive paper weight." He listens and sell the god forsaken thing. 2 months later, were hanging out drinking and smoking around the fire and the Cruze comes up in conversation. He then proceeds to tell me how the guy he sold the car to, had just called him the day before, demanding his money back. He said that somehow, all the cars electronics had failed. That they thought it was a battery issue, but even after replacing the battery, that the car would not crank, turn on the headlights, radio, dash, nothing. I told him, "See, aren't you glad you got rid of the Curze."
From an elder Zoomer, I'd love to hear your opinion on all USDM brands - is mediocrity a trait of all of the Big 3 or is it just GM? Besides the Oil Crisis around that time, ~1971 or so, were there any other factors that contributed to this mediocrity? I share the opinion that American cars were "better" pre-1971; in your mind, what in particular made them better?
I worked at Lordstown, OH at the plant that made this vehicle for a few months. A couple of things about the production of this vehicle: The plant was always concerned about production output, and would never do maintenance on its equipment unless absolutely necessary. The plant itself was a solid generation behind in technology than the rest of GM. They NEVER cleaned the plant, so in body shop where I worked, you'd be walking on weld slag instead of the concrete floor in the robot areas during maintenance. The contractors they hired were the cheapest trash they could find to do updates and installs, and often they failed, requiring more money to hire from someone at my company, and even then, they'd try to hard hustle for free services. It was a bad working environment, the quality of production was bad, and they always went over budget.
I have recently been shopping for modern hatchbacks since we just went to the UK, and I’m not gonna lie, I forgot that the Cruze hatch existed. Much less that there was a manual. I always liked how these looked but damn that review is giving me second thoughts about adding it to the research list. 😬
An ex of mine had one of these. That relationship crashed and burned pretty hard, but I have fond memories of that car. I remember taking it out for many a night drive through the snowy streets of a January night in Madison. Objectively a very mid car, but it was a great little ride for the city.
I have the automatic sedan version of this car. It's not very fast or exciting but it is smooth on the highway and I average about 35 mpg on my 75 mile round trip to work every day. I'm at 115k and the only non maintenance repair was an engine knock sensor at about 100k.
As someone that drives a 1.4 turbo 2011 Cruze from time to time that now has 111,000 miles on it, I can say the engine is much happier with an automatic. The 6 speed auto is a bit, dumb, when shifting manually, you have to tell it to shift about 500 RPM earlier than where you want it to actually shift. Also, with the engine being stock other than a K&N Typhoon intake kit that was installed a few months after the car was bought and a ZZ-Performance ignition coil I installed recently, the 1.4 really does not like being up at red line, the power just drops off quickly above 5,000 RPM, I found the engine pulls best when the transmission shifts about 5,500 RPM, especially in the lower gears where bouncing off the rev limiter hurts acceleration huge. I do recommend to anyone with a Cruze 1.4 turbo upgrading your ignition coil. Even when the car was brand new, the turbo did not spool as quickly as it does now from idle, and you could tell when a cylinder was getting weak spark as the factory coil started to fail. Sorry for the rant, but I can say that the 1st generation Cruze (at least in my experience) that is well taken care of can be a damn good car, but a manual would ruin it, unless it was the diesel. The diesel Cruze made the manual worth it. The 1.4 turbo and the manual transmission was a lot of fun in the Chevrolet Sonic, it matched great there to the shorter wheel base and lighter weight. Also, the 1st generation of Cruze, the ones like my roommate's car with the Z-link rear suspension, handle AMAZING. I hope you guys get your hands on a nice 1st generation Cruze that has the 1.4 turbo, 6 speed auto and the Z-link rear suspension to compare to this car. I personally find the handling of the newer cars to be rather funky and no where near as well controlled.
I read a few articles on this gen cruze with the MT. Both Car and Driver and Motortrend said the stick is to be avoided because it is so notchy and bad. The general consensus is to get an auto then a flash tune to up the boost and disable the start stop. Apparently the 2018s and up have stronger pistons and are very reliable as they finally worked out the issues by then, just in time to kill it.
As someone who sold for Chevy, I’ve only had 2 people in my entire career say “Cruze” with anything positive to follow it….the rest all pretty much chalked-up their choice of compact car to a temporary lapse of judgement
I have a background as a mechanic. EXCEPT for the horrible seats that no add on cushion or accessory helps, this is the most fun econo-box I have ever driven! Better than a 3.1L Malibu that was my previous econo-box fun car choice. ALSO all 1.4L turbo GM engines need premium ! ! ! ! ! ! OMG I can't stress this enough to people! ! ! ! Pre-ignition will ruin any engine, and this engine is said to be especially sensitive to pre-ignition damage in the vein that Pentastar engines are. When I learned the Cruze was being discontinued I searched and found a new 1.4L 2018 Cruze LS with automatic for dirt cheap. I drive it about once a week and always have fun, I just can't sit in those seats for a full week or a long trip.
I'm broken, I saw it, liked it, thought I could deal with those things, started looking at autotempest while watching the video, made it to the end and saw the Jeep got bumped and was so excited, because that's what I've been driving and been thinking about replacing.
Whoops, I uploaded this video while in Melbourne, VIC, Australia. I Set it to release on Monday, but I forgot that Australia time is in THE FUTURE
Hello from the past!
I CAN SEE THE FUTURE
Lol
did you and a toilet that curves and makes BROWN go backwards.
Ah-mahhhh-zing.
Ngl I got scared and thought I missed work today. A very welcome suprise on my Sunday
It's always a welcome suprise on Monday morning, but RCR on Sunday is a welcome shock❤😊
Same, i had to check my clocks to make sure i wasn't going crazy lol
😂😂😂😂😂😂
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GM economy cars - the art of having everything go wrong at the same time to save you on labor costs.
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@@Cool07R6SRiderEw
Wait...it's not Monday!
Might be a mistake
It has to be Monday.
😂😂😂😂@@2steaksandwiches665
Asian timezone
@@SkillzpatchiIts a roman episode... its a mistake
The 1.4 chevy turbo motor may be bad with a manual and better with an auto, but Roman, drive the CVT equipped 2020 Malibu with the same motor and you will be begging for the craptastic manual. The hesitation of the turbo mixed with the hesitation of the torque converter and the hesitation of the CVT to make hesitation cubed.
The Malibu has the 1.5T, the Cruze is a 1.4T
I've never driven a manual, but with how mediocre the 1.4t is with an auto, I dread how much worse a stick would be.
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I was going to mention the ungodly terrible CVT that you got in this as the Auto option
Can confirm, had a 2020 Malibu as a rental and it was terrible.
The build sheet said 200 HP as long as I don't use the radio 🤣
The radio eats 10 horsepower
If you use up all of your windshield fluid, it'll lighten the car and give you better mpg.
Taps head.
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If that has 200hp I'll eat my hat
I guess A/C is out of the question.
My ex had one of these, he was oblivious to its issues and the brakes failed randomly and he rear ended a ford escape on the highway. He now has a Corolla
He got a Corolla. You got a new BF.
Did he do regular maintenance on the brakes or is that the cars fault?
I also own one of these and do regular maintenance so I don't crash into things
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@@Skarlet_OverdriveA quick search yields info that the brake booster/assist system can fail randomly with no warning, causing the brakes to go back to an unassisted state, as if the engine was off. I could absolutely see this causing a collision if you had to make an emergency stop. GM issued a recall for them.
Chevy Cruze Hatch: Someone told you as a joke that this was better than a Corolla, and you believed them.
The base Corolla has awful seats, you might believe it.
I have a 2016 cruze manual and It's much more quiet and composed on the highway than a corolla. It drives like a full size sedan. Not to mention I can go 3-4 hours without my back/ass/legs getting sore. Long term reliability is far better than the 1st gen cruze as well so it's really a competitive option in my opinion.
@@40040Hmm...to each their own. In my opinion to be clear, it's unreliable, uncomfortable, boring to drive. But not boring like how a Corolla can be, no that's boring like how death and taxes are consistent.
2017 Corolla was crap. Reliable yes, but I got back and neck pains after like 30 mins of driving it
For the money, if used, absolutely.
I think a Mitsubishi Mirage review needs to be done for this series.
That was truly the worst car I ever owned.
I owned one for 5 months. I was looking for good fuel economy. Averaged about 33mpg which is way lower than the epa estimate. Way too small and anemic to only get that in return. Sold it to Carvana and never looked back.
This was my thought exactly! I bet it could dethrone the Sentra from the bottom of the list.
I know Mr. Reg did a Mirage G4 already, but I'd definitely love for Roman to put in the Mirage Hatchback in a RTTB.
I think I could live with one for 12-13k, but now local dealers are charging almost 20,000 for base models. I can't believe people are actually playing that much for them.
As bad as this car was, I wish Chevrolet still built it instead of the garbage crossovers they churn out today
pretty sure it's an Opel Astra, and since GM sold Opel that shit is not coming back
@@Fatherless-figurethe Astra was one size up
I love this channel to pieces. It manages to take all the anxiety, disappointment, and frustration of living in the USA and blame it on some crap cars. Your liberal arts degrees were NOT wasted!
"the dealership took pity on him." Reminds me of the last time I took my money-pit Audi into the dealership when the clutch, flywheel, and gearbox all started to fail. The service advisor said "maybe you can limp along until you find something else?" Yes...an honest service advisor at an Audi dealership!
My dad was looking at getting an Audi A3 in 2006 (with 3 young kids at the time). The salesman straight up told my dad that he would love the car but it’d be too much of a money pit for a young family. Then he bought a Legacy that shit the bed at 120,000 miles
I can't tell you how many things I did "because I was in there already."' and would charge parts at cost and no labor.
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That "just because you had to downsize your dreams doesn't mean you gotta settle for worse" line is fucking strong.
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There are so many funny lines in this episode that I can’t remember them all! And it all started when you refused to do an intro song. That was brilliant. And the line about them not only phoning it in, but that they called collect, actually had me laughing out loud! I can’t tell you how many years it’s been of me watching this channel, but it is every bit as funny as it was from the original ones. I love you guys please don’t ever stop.
Sincerely,
Joel Breen
General Manager,
Kunkleman, Chevy, Kia, Tesla, Saab, Ford, and Citroen.
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The look of pure disgust on Roman's face from the dash cam says it all
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As a Fiesta ST owner I felt his frustration with the cabin air filter. Absolutely no idea what they were smoking in Detroit in 2017.
Not Detroit, but Incheon, South Korea. The Cruze was, for the most part, designed by GM Korea.
@@VincentLander i think thats just first gen. second gen which is what this is an opal which is european
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Wait till you have to replace the battery
@@Cool07R6SRidersuch a beta
This is for sure a moment that brings up the question "how do ya fuck up a manual"
All manuals are bad now, unless they were made specifically for performance cars. They're geared too tall and have a lot of rev hang to meet emissions. Literally, the CVT version will get better economy and move faster because the remaining manuals are playing with a hand tied behind their back.
easy ....let GM build it with idiots in mind....LOL
Very easy. People seem to forget that there are (and always were) crappy manual transmissions, too.
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2018 sonic. Same engine. Approaching 200k. All I've had to replace so far is: radiator, hoses, water pump x2, valve cover gaskets x2, pcv system, engine water outlet, turbo lines, and everything related to the brakes.
Its been fun.
The sonic is lighter and probably performs better with the turbo and 6speed
I had sonic with turbo and 6 speed. Very fun to drive and decent ride for small car.
The Sonic does not have the same engine. The Cruze has the 2nd generation 1.4 while the Sonic always had the original
Not the same engine
Mike Nolan drives a fucking sonic 😭
I really like hatchbacks over SUVs, and thought about this when it was new. They canceled the hatchback so fast I never got the chance.
If you’d like a hatchback with a manual, check out the Mazda 3. I test drove one a few years ago and it’s a lot of fun to drive and an amazingly nice car.
Unfortunately, the turbo engine isn’t available with the stick which sucks but the naturally-aspirated engine isn’t bad.
Honda made the Civic hatch Sport with a manual until this year. Even though it's slower, I'd recommend sticking with the non-turbo K20 engine.
@@brian5o honestly I kinda prefer the NA engine - not as fast but it feels more natural with the gearing and the inputs imo (plus Mazda’s stick shifts feel so good that you forget about having a merely okay acceleration time)
I feel like I’d be more into the turbo if the rest of the car was more aggressive and wasn’t trying so hard to be upmarket and “luxurious”. Rip mazdaspeed I guess
Toyota Corolla Hatchback is also a good choice. My 2019 XSE is still running well and it has over 108k miles!
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Congratulations, you set the new record for talking about a Chevy Cruze at 19 minutes! You smashed the old record of seven seconds. 😆
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At this point I'm convinced GM is the reason automatics are so popular here in the states. All the WORST manuals I've driven have been GMs.
I used to daily an '84 K20 with a Muncie SM465. Shifting it was glacial, the gates were in different time zones, and yet it was still hard NOT to grind gears. The gearing itself was taller than the Himalayas on 3 of its 4 speeds (which was Not enough) but first was so short you were redlined at a fast walk.
Plus it constantly howled so loudly that on one occasion I had a *Literal Wolfpack* start howling back at me while I was descending a mountain.
I ultimately sold it for an '85 K30 that has a TH400. Despite being a slushbox and having even fewer gears it is Light Years away a better driving experience, as it doesn't feel like a fast farm tractor
Thank you for the "you deserve better" monologue about dreams and expectations. Really hit home for me in a big way on an extremely personal level. Thanks Roman.
I would pay money to see an interview with GM designers, engineers, and management. I have so many questions for GM, and theyre all, "Why?"
To cut costs
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Whenever I hear The Roman speak, it sounds so impactful. Great writing and narration. I love me a Roman review, especially a day early.
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@ Unrelated, but ight.
It's the stupid chevy clutch. They designed their clutch pedal mechanism for V8 cars with too much torque, where the pressure plate needs excessive force to prevent slip. But they didn't want it to be a chore just to hold the clutch pedal down at a light (even though you should be putting the car in neutral for any decoupling longer than 5 seconds). So they made the clutch pedal heavy at the top then light at the bottom, like all the clutch actuation happens at the top 3rd and then the bottom 2/3rds are highly leveraged so the entire bottom half of pedal travel moves the pressure plate a micron. This makes it easy to keep your foot down on the clutch but when you go to take your foot off, the pedal barely feels like it wants to come up. Then you hit that inflection point and WHAM the clutch pedal snaps back up at you. When the car has a v8 and you barely had to touch the throttle to get going, this feels awful, but at least it works. But with a little 4 banger at 3000 rpm just to make enough torque to not stall, there's this huge speed differential, and the clutch pedal gives the clutch and flywheel 0.01 seconds to make up their mind about who wins OR IT'S MAKING IT UP FOR THEM.
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@@Cool07R6SRider we get it, liberal.
I absolutely hated driving my friend’s Camaro SS, the clutch was so unsatisfying to use and you summed it up perfectly.
and on the cruze it has a "clutch delay valve" lol itr delays the clutch actuation literally. it only lieks being granny shifted and slow.
Ngl that doesn't sound too dissimilar to my Z3s clutch experience, also has the e36 cdv I believe.
This guy gave the greatest reason for an aftermarket air intake: ease of maintenance. I'll gladly take some heat soak to replace all the screws and latches for a singular band clamp.
Test drove one of these back in 2019. I was excited to go back to driving a "hot hatch", but then I actually drove it and shifted through the gears.
My excitement went from "this could be my next car" to "this wouldn't be worth it if I could talk them down $5k."
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You don't appreciate great engineering. You prose-whipped proselytizer of prosthetic powertrains!
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When my E46 Wagon kicked the bucket, I bought a 2018 Chevy Sonic RS Premier with the 1.4 Turbo and the 6 speed manual. It even had the GM Performance Package from the factory, which was an engine tune, a 1.5" suspension drop, and a special exhaust. I sold it for an automatic 2005 Volvo V70R after two years. The Sonic was...a car. This video helped give me the closure I needed. Sometimes, I miss that car. It got like 38 MPG highway, the armrests were so perfect for my driving position, and it was pretty practical and easy to drive. But the looming turbo issue, a non-compliant shifter, and the absolute lack of torque and power made it pretty uninspiring to drive. You're right. Manual transmissions don't belong in every car. I wanted that to be a budget hot hatch so badly. But it was definitely just a car.
Also I stalled that shit all the time. I learned how to drive stick on my grandfather's 1964 Corvette and had driven several manual transmission cars before. I can't tell if it was just the numb clutch pedal or the absurd lack of torque. I never stall manual transmission cars, but I stalled the Sonic once a week.
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I had a 17 hatch with the 6 speed Auto, and she was a great car, tuned, fbo. And I sadly found out that that 4 car crash test is fantastic
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We have this in Germany as the Opel Astra. My mom has a 2016 model with the 1.4 turbo - the GM M32 gearbox is as accurate as liquid pudding with incredibly long and imprecise shift patterns and the clutch pedal feels like stepping into quicksand. Oh, and the brakes only work if you've already pressed the pedal 80% down. And that's how it was from the factory.
I had one of these in the same year, premier trim in black with an auto trans; drove it from 5800 miles up to 170k miles. No transmission issues, only basic maintenance with a lifetime average mpg around 34-35. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, but have no regrets.
This review had me rolling lmao fine work as always!
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@@Cool07R6SRider This is the comment section of a review of a Chevrolet economy hatchback. You are not wanted nor welcome here
Well, as a former owner of a 2018 Chevy Cruze Diesel Hatchback with the manual; I can attest, this review is spot on. In January of 2024, my clutch went out. Exactly what the owner of this Red Cruze experience. A stuck clutch. It needed a new Slave Master Cylinder. This issue destroyed my clutch. Thankfully, my Carmax Maxcare picked up the $5200 tab for this. Parts are almost non-existent that it took almost 2 months to get this fixed. This transmission shifts so horribly that I immediately bought a short throw shifter just to help with shifting. Gears are super long. It's loud and not that comfortable either. I did enjoy the torque and the 45 MPG i would get, but that is all. This car certainly belongs at #3 on the list.
babe wake up new roman on a SUNDAY
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My brother in law is a diehard Chevy guy. He married my sister, and a bunch of us dudes are Ford lovers. And some of us prefer Japanese over American cars in general (like myself)
I told him I was looking into the Fiesta ST not because of the Ford Family stuff, but because the other American manufactures don't offer anything similar (Sub-Compact Hot Hatchback with a turbo and a manual). He recommended this to me and hearing the horror stories I declined. This car uses the same platform as a Daewoo and even Opel/Vauxhall twins before GM sold those two brands recently to PSA (now Stellantis)
Sure, the Fiesta ST suffers from similarly awful design choices that the Cruze does. But out of all the cars I've test driven it's the one that I fell in love with the most
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I love you Roman! You had me at *guitar* "AAAHHH forget it, I don't EVEN feel like doing an Intro Song for this!!"
well... that "you deserve better" segment actually got really personal :( lol
So, funny story, we set this for Monday, but we were in Australia when we scheduled it, so it went live on Australian Monday -- today. So watch today or save for tomorrow as tradition dictates. I'll just be here waiting on our connecting flight from Dallas to Philly (my ass is sore from all the sitting).
You killed it on this one Roman, loved "makes falling down a flight of stairs seem like an all expenses paid vacation" and "The build sheet said 200hp as long as i dont use the radio"
As a lube tech I can tell you we were expected to check the cabin filter on every oil change we were given 24 minutes to complete. That cabin filter was a pain in the ass!
We need to get a Mitsubishi Mirage into Roman's hands!
you guys faces while riding/driving are priceless this is an instant classic
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@@Cool07R6SRider wohooo!!!
Just because it's hatch and turbo doesn't mean sport. We need to get that out of our Need For Speed and Fast and Furious minds. Hatchbacks are great cars to own and operate 99% of the time, as 99% of owners just want "transportation" and not an experience or high speeds.
Roman, this is my favorite review. It’s like every man poetry. Thank you for doing what you do man, really.
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I like when Roman isn’t his normal cheery self
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I rented a Cruz in 2018 and I couldn't agree more.
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Chevy Cruze hatchback: when GM tried to pull a Ford Focus and make a hatch and a sedan on the same platform
I mean that's been a thing since the 70's or 80's.
The Cruze is way better built than a Focus though
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The first gen Cruze looked great, great interior for gm at the time. Reviews gave it high fun to drive rating. ( second gen was tuned softer) main problem I read about was reliability and issues with the 1.4 turbo.
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"Indecisive as a child of divorce trying to choose which parent he wants to live with" Ouch Roman, that one really cuts deep
They got a Cruze with a diesel engine and manual transmission that gets like 60mpg
Up until 4:69 AM caught me off guard 🤣 Nick this is one of your best so far!
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Wasn't the Spark the last hatch they had, it came in manual. I get if we are not counting Daewoo designed cars, but the Cruze was not a Chevy USA designed product to start with either.
Wasn't it an Opel design? I heard Torx screws and immediately thought Germany.
@@rturner4205 GM uses torx screws a lot, but usually on interior items. Some e-torx screws do get used on engine components though, depending on the car.
I finally got rid of that roommate earlier this year! As someone in their early 30s, I didn’t have that 3 more years.
this car is such a rare sight in the wild....now I know why!
that was a pretty cool fly in the engine bay
00:34 Also not all v8s makes a car better. Dropping 2 cylinders isn't going to harm the tow compacity much either. There's semi trucks that deliver you vehicles to a dealership that have an inline 6 under the hood.
My wife has an auto sedan Cruze. It's a very competent economy car, but we've learned that you can't accelerate from a stop. You HAVE to be already moving to actually move lmao
This is true. You can zip out of a toll booth when you are already going 15 but it won't launch at a stop light at all.
might be my favorite race to the bottom so far
love u Roman
I have no clue if this is in the video but Consumer Reports said this was a "used car best pick" for 2024. This exact model year.
I owned a 2016 Cruze RS (first gen) with a Manual. I loved that car. My first car I bought brand new. Glad I didn't get the 2nd Gen instead...
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Roman was on a roll this episode. The roommate rant is one of the best things he's written as part of Race to the Bottom.
My first car had GM's first offered 5-speed (a Borg Warner, reverse h-pattern). It ate through a clutch every 35,000 miles and eventually burst out the firewall. It was so stiff you almost needed both legs to engage the clutch. Of course, it's stall prone carb necessitated riding the clutch every time you came out of 1st.
I like listening to Roman more now. Mr. Regular's reviews now seem like they're 85 percent "arrrrrgh barrrghh arrrrghhhbarrrgh" gibberish, 10 percent metaphors, and five percent actual reviews
Wait...I rented one of these in 2019. It was an auto sedan version too and I drove it in the mountains of west virginia. Coming from an S2000 owner, I was a little surprised how well it handled. It was really zippy like a honda despite having such a small engine. It felt really smooth, too. I drove it from Idaho all the way to virginia. The only complaint I had was that the brakes were a tad small (they overheated pretty quickly). It's not the BEST economy sedan I've driven (that honor belongs to the 2024 Accord Sport Hybrid), but it certainly wasn't a TERRIBLE car, either.
His face during the drive says it all! Lol!
My old roommate had one of these. Fun thing I learned doing the oil change for her, the bolt GM stuck under it to drain the oil shreds it head if you aren't careful because its too small to generate enough torque.
I have an ‘18 LT hatch. It’s not the funnest car in the world, but with a tune it’s not half bad. It’s also dead reliable. 165k miles and almost no issues. These second gen Cruze’s are WAY better than the first gen
5 years with my manual Sonic and the trifecta tune helps, but the gearbox does suck the fun out of it; egregious rev hang + super tall gears + vague clutch feeling;
Bought one of these new in 2018. Tons of GM credit card points + a stout GM cash incentive + guaranteed $2,500.00 trade at the dealership = about $14,700 out the door. Not bad considering the sticker was almost 23 grand. Drove it back & forth to my aging parents house for 1.5 years & 24K miles and I just couldn't take it anymore. That shifter felt like a 90's PS/2 mouse. and that transmission...ugh. I was definitely spoiled by Honda manuals. I contacted Carvana in the winter of 2019 and they sent a flat bad and a check for $15,200.00. Good riddance to a car that could've been so much better. Great review, Roman!
When I was a valet, I had just parked a 3 series manual wagon to show my supervisor I could drive stick, I nailed it, and it was amazing. I daily drove a manual accord as well
I knew how to drive stick, and enjoyed it
And then someone pulled up in a Chevy cruze manual.
I was excited. My supervisor got in
And I stalled it. Right there in the entrance of a hotel. I stalled it 2 more times before we switched seats. After he drove it away he stopped, and had me try again. I got it without a problem after that but it was such an awful clutch to deal with
Sad to see they haven’t gotten much better since then
I live for these reviews…not for the vehicles per se, but the commentary alone. The wit and relatability..especially when reviewing a turbo turd like this is a public service to drivers that want to hear what the real deal is.
I have this exact car except didn't pay extra for fancy paint. It has helped me be calmer & not get triggered into hot-headed driving. I'm happy with it.
Ah, the good ole Chevy Curze. I know its spelled Cruze, but thats the nickname I gave these cars after a buddy of mine owned one. First time around, the thermostat housing somehow got cracked. So I replace it for him. 2 weeks later, he calls me again, "Hey the car is smoking thru the vents and it smells sweet". Turns out his heater core line cracked at the flared flange where the line and heater core meet. So I replaced the heater core and the lines for him. 3 weeks go by, and he calls me again. "Hey, the cars overheating again". Mind you, that at this point, the car only has 70k miles. Go and check it out again and it turned out the cap for the coolant reservoir wasn't properly sealing. Tried to just replace the o-ring on the cap to save him some money, but no cigar. Have to buy the whole reservoir assembly, cuz chevy doesn't sell the cap by itself. I tell my buddy, "Jesus dude. Just sell this POS before something worse happens and you're stuck with an expensive paper weight." He listens and sell the god forsaken thing. 2 months later, were hanging out drinking and smoking around the fire and the Cruze comes up in conversation. He then proceeds to tell me how the guy he sold the car to, had just called him the day before, demanding his money back. He said that somehow, all the cars electronics had failed. That they thought it was a battery issue, but even after replacing the battery, that the car would not crank, turn on the headlights, radio, dash, nothing. I told him, "See, aren't you glad you got rid of the Curze."
I am 64 years old. I remember GM cars of the past. They weren’t this bad, but they haven’t been good since 1971.
From an elder Zoomer, I'd love to hear your opinion on all USDM brands - is mediocrity a trait of all of the Big 3 or is it just GM?
Besides the Oil Crisis around that time, ~1971 or so, were there any other factors that contributed to this mediocrity?
I share the opinion that American cars were "better" pre-1971; in your mind, what in particular made them better?
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@@eljeff1111Cars went to shit in the 70s because of stuff like EPA regulations and then the Americans had to learn from JP cars like the Celica.
I worked at Lordstown, OH at the plant that made this vehicle for a few months. A couple of things about the production of this vehicle:
The plant was always concerned about production output, and would never do maintenance on its equipment unless absolutely necessary. The plant itself was a solid generation behind in technology than the rest of GM. They NEVER cleaned the plant, so in body shop where I worked, you'd be walking on weld slag instead of the concrete floor in the robot areas during maintenance. The contractors they hired were the cheapest trash they could find to do updates and installs, and often they failed, requiring more money to hire from someone at my company, and even then, they'd try to hard hustle for free services. It was a bad working environment, the quality of production was bad, and they always went over budget.
Random comment, but damn, the quality of your voice in this video. Nice work.
I love my Cruze hatch. 7 years. 90 thousand miles. Not one problem!!
At this point Roman should just start his own channel if he hasn’t already
11:48 bro you are doing such a good job. Don't ever stop your passion... Right?
2:00 😳 uhhh...
A classic example of Car manufacturers finding new way to not put turbo in there good cars and instead putting it in a car nobody asked for
I was hoping it’s the diesel variant of the cruze
I have recently been shopping for modern hatchbacks since we just went to the UK, and I’m not gonna lie, I forgot that the Cruze hatch existed. Much less that there was a manual. I always liked how these looked but damn that review is giving me second thoughts about adding it to the research list. 😬
Corolla Hatch. or Mazda 3 Hatchback
Isn't this basically a Vauxhal/Opel Corsa?
The S550 mustang is the ultimate proof that a manual transmission doesn't always make a car, even performance cars, better.
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An ex of mine had one of these. That relationship crashed and burned pretty hard, but I have fond memories of that car. I remember taking it out for many a night drive through the snowy streets of a January night in Madison.
Objectively a very mid car, but it was a great little ride for the city.
I have the 1.6T Opel Astra sedan (Buick Verano) with the Alfa M32 6sp manual. It's very good. Guess they lost the plot trying to ditch the M32.
Had to check the calendar. Regular cars on a sunday? Hell yeah
I have the automatic sedan version of this car. It's not very fast or exciting but it is smooth on the highway and I average about 35 mpg on my 75 mile round trip to work every day. I'm at 115k and the only non maintenance repair was an engine knock sensor at about 100k.
I DARE anyone to drive a Cruze Eco for a year and not stall at least 365 times.
Dare accomplished, where's my trophy
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As someone that drives a 1.4 turbo 2011 Cruze from time to time that now has 111,000 miles on it, I can say the engine is much happier with an automatic. The 6 speed auto is a bit, dumb, when shifting manually, you have to tell it to shift about 500 RPM earlier than where you want it to actually shift. Also, with the engine being stock other than a K&N Typhoon intake kit that was installed a few months after the car was bought and a ZZ-Performance ignition coil I installed recently, the 1.4 really does not like being up at red line, the power just drops off quickly above 5,000 RPM, I found the engine pulls best when the transmission shifts about 5,500 RPM, especially in the lower gears where bouncing off the rev limiter hurts acceleration huge. I do recommend to anyone with a Cruze 1.4 turbo upgrading your ignition coil. Even when the car was brand new, the turbo did not spool as quickly as it does now from idle, and you could tell when a cylinder was getting weak spark as the factory coil started to fail. Sorry for the rant, but I can say that the 1st generation Cruze (at least in my experience) that is well taken care of can be a damn good car, but a manual would ruin it, unless it was the diesel. The diesel Cruze made the manual worth it. The 1.4 turbo and the manual transmission was a lot of fun in the Chevrolet Sonic, it matched great there to the shorter wheel base and lighter weight. Also, the 1st generation of Cruze, the ones like my roommate's car with the Z-link rear suspension, handle AMAZING. I hope you guys get your hands on a nice 1st generation Cruze that has the 1.4 turbo, 6 speed auto and the Z-link rear suspension to compare to this car. I personally find the handling of the newer cars to be rather funky and no where near as well controlled.
A groom with whiskey wang on his wedding night. That’s GOLD Roman. I’ll be working that into a few conversations 🤣
I read a few articles on this gen cruze with the MT. Both Car and Driver and Motortrend said the stick is to be avoided because it is so notchy and bad. The general consensus is to get an auto then a flash tune to up the boost and disable the start stop. Apparently the 2018s and up have stronger pistons and are very reliable as they finally worked out the issues by then, just in time to kill it.
…finally worked out the issues, just in time to kill it, a GM tale as old as time
5 door salute to calling it an early night 😂good one Roman.
A surprise, but a welcome one. At least after I realized that today was in fact Sunday and not Monday.
As someone who sold for Chevy, I’ve only had 2 people in my entire career say “Cruze” with anything positive to follow it….the rest all pretty much chalked-up their choice of compact car to a temporary lapse of judgement
I have a background as a mechanic. EXCEPT for the horrible seats that no add on cushion or accessory helps, this is the most fun econo-box I have ever driven! Better than a 3.1L Malibu that was my previous econo-box fun car choice. ALSO all 1.4L turbo GM engines need premium ! ! ! ! ! ! OMG I can't stress this enough to people! ! ! ! Pre-ignition will ruin any engine, and this engine is said to be especially sensitive to pre-ignition damage in the vein that Pentastar engines are. When I learned the Cruze was being discontinued I searched and found a new 1.4L 2018 Cruze LS with automatic for dirt cheap. I drive it about once a week and always have fun, I just can't sit in those seats for a full week or a long trip.
I'm broken, I saw it, liked it, thought I could deal with those things, started looking at autotempest while watching the video, made it to the end and saw the Jeep got bumped and was so excited, because that's what I've been driving and been thinking about replacing.
Another top quality video from The Roman❤
14:50 “Eventually everyone has to reckon with the notion that they aren’t who they thought they’d be.” - damn, that hits hard.
2010 quality? 1080p is wild for Race To The Bottom.
mr regular too busy buying business class plane tix to budget for a second modern camera