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Chevrolet Cruze LT Auto 2013 Test Drive



Chevrolet Cruze LT Auto 2013 Test Drive Photos and Stories.

All CarCentral Test a 2013 Chevrolet Cruze LT Auto, 12/23/2013, Salt Lake City, Utah




Chevrolet Cruze LT Auto 2013 Test Drive


 2013 Chevrolet Cruze LT Auto

We did a driving experience of the 2013 Chevrolet Cruze LT Auto over 7 days and found it to be a very capable car, in town and on the freeway. The Cruze was the preferred car for transporting 4 people over the Ford Focus that was also available to us.

The most positive areas were the overall controls, which were easily at hand and very easy to read/understand the functions that they controlled. We used the heater and all the settings were understandable and easy to set while driving. For cold morning starts and cabin warming the Cruze was warm and clear of frost on the windows after a short idle period. The one down side was a drive-off with a cold engine as it was about a mile or so before warm up.

 2013 Chevrolet Cruze LT Auto

I am only 5"5" and the seat was placing my line of sight out the front windshield a bit too high as to where I felt that the rearview mirror and the large blanked-out area above the mirror mount was infringing on my reading signs and such. I could not find how to adjust the seat to a lower level. The over all ingress was good for all seating. The display screen was small and provided quite a bit of easily understandable information. But did not provide GPS, a system I have become to rely on, especially in unfamiliar areas.

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Loading items into the trunk/boot was easily accomplished and the capacity was more than adequate for hauling luggage and random items. The trunk lid was opened remotely with the key controller and worked right away as apposed to the door(s) actuator button which did not always respond to my untrained fingers. I never did find the trunk release button within the cabin. Parallel parking was easy with corner awareness good.

In town and at slower speeds the Cruze was very easy to maneuver and the shifting was for most part accommodating. However to accelerate, many times the engine management seemed to require the transmission to first downshift, causing a lag with some engine racing before the Cruze would respond.

On the freeway, the Cruze was easy to control, not experiencing any wind or buffeting from the larger trucks and had good power to move around the traffic. The suspension was constant with the duties of every-day-driving with little dip, sway, or dive. However at some highway speeds reacting to a call for a rapid acceleration caused the engine management to downshift and the slow response of the transmission was distracting.

Climbing steep hills at speeds around 30 to 40 MPH caused no noticeable challenge and the Cruze was smooth doing its work as expected. The dash read-out constantly showed around 35 MPG during mixed driving.

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 2013 Chevrolet Cruze LT Auto

Conclusion: Great all around car for town, country and Highway driving. Roomy with good power and ease of use. Advertised base price: $19,655. EPA Est. MPG, 42 MPG hwy

"Cruze 1LT automatic offers a 138-horsepower ECOTEC® 1.4L turbocharged engine, 16-inch alloy wheels and body-color outside rearview power-adjustable mirrors. Inside 1LT, you'll find a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, USB port and steering wheel-mounted cruise controls."

Tech. Information Source: Chevrolet.com/2013-cruze-compact-car/features-specs/trims.html

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