Chevrolet Cruze

- New Chevrolet Cruze four-door family saloon

- UK sales begin in July

- From £11,995 on-the-road

- Great value, superb dynamics, excellent refinement

It's the most important new Chevrolet yet, and one that is destined to raise the bar in terms of design, quality and refinement for both the brand and the compact value segment as a whole.

On sale from July 2009, the all-new Chevrolet Cruze is Chevrolet's fresh entrant into the highly competitive C-Segment of the market, where it will compete against the likes of the Kia Ce'ed, Hyundai i30 and Skoda Octavia in terms of value for money, but will also take the fight to much more expensive rivals when considered for its specification, pricing and impressive build quality.

Yet it has been designed to be adaptable to suit the needs of each region. For Europe, that means ride, handling and refinement to rival the very best cars in the class, as well as a modern, efficient range of engines, top levels of active and passive safety and a pricing structure that makes it one of the best value for money cars on the market today.

Few other cars can offer such comprehensive levels of standard equipment for such a competitive price. Starting at £11,995, even the entry-level car comes with air conditioning, follow-me-home lighting and Electronic Stability Control as standard.

Available as a four-door, the Cruze benefits from coupe-like styling as well as a more premium feel than some of its obvious rivals, the layout being more in keeping with executive models than with family cars. Yet in terms of passenger space it's one of the best in its class, which coupled to a big boot makes it a very appealing family proposition.

The Cruze will also have a strong appeal to fleet user choosers – Chevrolet's incredible list prices, on which P11D tax values are based, mean that the Cruze will be as cheap to run as many superminis or more basic compact cars in terms of company car taxation. When you consider the incredible specification on offer, especially in LT models, the savvy user chooser can benefit from a well-equipped and spacious car for the price of something far smaller.

Adding further appeal in the fleet market is the option of a 2.0-litre VCDi diesel engine, a first for Chevrolet in the compact class. Initial available in 150PS guise, a 125PS model will follow in the summer of 2009.

Other engine choices are a 1.6 and 1.8 petrol, both modern, efficient units featuring variable valve timing and camshaft phasing. A new six-speed automatic transmission is on offer as an option.

As well as its smart exterior styling, the Cruze has an interior that lifts it way above the value class. Finished with exacting levels of fit and finish and featuring high quality fabrics and soft-touch plastics, the cabin even features smart ice blue backlit dials in keeping with a number of premium manufacturers.

“The Cruze is a great car and it represents huge leap forward for us in this market segment,” says Chevrolet UK Managing Director Mark Terry. “It completely redefines the value sector by introducing new levels of design, quality materials and styling inside and out. It delivers on every conceivable level, and is a great car that we expect to have huge showroom appeal in the current market.”

Interior

- Dual-cockpit look, borrowed from Corvette!

- High quality fit and finish

- Premium blue backlit dials

With all of the attention to detail that Chevrolet's designers lavished on the exterior of the Cruze, it was imperative to make sure that the interior could equal the car's external appeal.

And the good news is that it did – and some! The core design theme is a modern expression of a traditional styling cue – the signature ‘twin cockpit' layout as seen on every generation of Corvette from the 1950s through to the present day.

The dash and centre console combine to wrap around the car's front occupants, giving a greater sense of involvement to both, while high-grade fabrics, soft-touch vinyls and plastics throughout combine to give Cruze a real feeling of premium quality.

Underpinning this high level of refinement is an exacting level of attention to detail. In the centre console, for example, the gaps between components are uniformly less than 1.0mm – a standard of finish as good as any interior in the motor industry.

All of the dials and minor controls are backlit in a soft blue light, reminiscent of those used by certain premium manufacturers, to give the car a welcoming, ambient atmosphere for night time driving.

The three-spoke steering wheel has a thick rim, which is leather-covered in LS and LT variants, which also feature remote control stereo operations, as well as those for the cruise control on the LT.

Interior comfort and spaciousness is among the best in class – the front seats having more fore/aft adjustment than any other car in the compact class making Cruze ideal for the smallest to the tallest of drivers. Leg and shoulder room in the rear is also impressive.

Cruze also scores well when it comes to cabin storage – including a large centre console with CD storage, twin cup holders and an auxiliary power outlet. An additional oddments tray on the top of the dash, door pockets large enough to hold a 1.5-litre drinks bottle in the front and a 500ml drinks bottle in the rear, cupholders in the centre armrest of the back seat, large seat back pockets and a driver's side sunglasses holder are among some of the features that make the Cruze a family friendly offering.

Boot space is generous, with 450-litres available with the rear seat up. The seat also features a 60:40 split arrangement to allow larger loads.

And the attention to detail throughout the cabin is also reflected in some of the user-friendly features of the Cruze, such as theatre-style lighting that dims softly once the doors are open and closed, additional front footwell lighting and retained accessory power, which automatically enables accessories such as the windows, optional sunroof and stereo to be used for up to 10 minutes for after the ignition is switched off.

Dynamics and safety

- Stiff body structure enables precise chassis tuning

- Electronic Stability Control standard across the range

- Comprehensive passive safety equipment

With a car as good looking as the Cruze it was imperative to ensure that the car's on-road performance matched its promising appearance.

As such, Chevrolet's engineering teams across the globe – including at Millbrook here in the UK – worked in harmony to ensure the car was developed from the ground up to suit each individual market in which it could be sold.

All European market Cruzes were designed by benchmarking the best models in the C-segment and ensuring that it could match or beat them in terms of its dynamic performance, ride and overall packaging.

At the heart of the car is a unitary body structure that is tighter and stiffer than any four-door C-segment rival, constructed using high strength steels for the main load bearing body parts.

The stiffened structure not only aids handling and grip, but also helps reduce noise, vibration and harshness within the cabin.

An isolated front subframe, separated from the body by four rubber mountings, minimises the amount of road noise and powertrain vibration felt by the occupants, as well as contributing towards overall ride quality and refinement.

In terms of active safety, all Cruze models including the entry-level car feature Electronic Stability Control (ESC) as standard – a feature normally reserved for more expensive cars, and one that has contributed significantly to the Cruze's impressively low insurance ratings. ESC has been proven to reduce the likelihood and severity of accidents caused by driver error, and operates by automatically stabilising the car by braking individual wheels to help the driver maintain control in an emergency situation. All Cruzes also feature Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), which further helps control in an emergency.

The suspension has been developed to offer an excellent, predictable handling package. At the front, the layout consists of MacPherson struts with side-load compensation, with uniquely shaped springs that reduce the sliding friction caused by bending loads on the strut under compression. The layout has also enabled the front track to be widened, improving stability further.

At the rear, the Cruze uses a compound crank torsion beam with a double-walled U-shaped profile. It is attached to the trailing links, slightly ahead of the rear wheels to form a shallow ‘H'-type pattern in plan view.

The design combines all of the space-saving advantages of a conventional torsion beam with low weight and consistent wheel camber control.

Large bushes front and rear further aid the handling balance and ride comfort, while the rear axle layout has a further advantage in that it contributes to a lower centre of gravity – the 60-litre fuel tank sits low in between the rear wheels, meaning the back seats can also be mounted lower.

Disc brakes are fitted all round, 276mm ventilated at the front, 268mm solid at the rear for S and LS models, 300mm ventilated at the front and 292mm solid at the rear for LT versions. As well as ABS, the Cruze uses a Traction Control System (TCS) to ensure optimal grip at all times.

But even in the safest of cars, accidents do happen, and the Cruze has been designed to offer peace of mind to owners by virtue of a high level of crash protection.

Side curtain airbags in the roof rails, seat-mounted side airbags, driver and passenger airbags and a collapsible pedal assembly are standard in all variants, on top of all of the active safety systems described above.

Efficient load paths designed into the car's body structure provide maximum occupant protection in the event of an impact from virtually any direction – full-length beams and enhancements in the sill areas, B-pillars and A-pillars through the use of high strength steels all contribute to the car's overall crashworthiness.

Energy absorbing front and rear crumple zones deliver further peace of mind and are designed to deform as efficiently as possible to maintain the integrity of the passenger compartment.

Furthermore, the rear of the car is designed to protect the fuel tank and its connections in an impact – the single-piece moulded fuel tank is located low down between the rear chassis rails and has been designed to recover from compression without rupturing.

As well as the multiple airbags, Cruze occupants are protected by three-point seatbelts with pre-tensioners in the front, while in the rear ISOFIX loops for child seats are provided for the outermost seats, with three top tether anchorages meaning it is also possible to secure a child seat in the central part of the rear seat. The front passenger airbag can also be disabled, allowing for the safe installation of a rear-facing baby seat.

All of the safety systems are deployed via a Safety Diagnostic Module, which controls the airbags and seatbelt tensioners via sensors in the front bumper and B-pillars. This allows the bags to be deployed incredibly quickly in an accident – for example within five milliseconds if a car-to-car collision occurs.

The Cruze has also been designed to comply with pedestrian protection regulations – the design of the bonnet is such that it reduces the likelihood of a pedestrian's head striking the engine structure underneath in a collision, while the bonnet hinges spring upwards on impact, raising the bonnet and providing more of a cushioning effect if struck.

Specification and Pricing

- From £11,995 on-the-road

- Exceptional spec levels even on entry-level car

- Air con as standard across the range

One of the core appeals of the Chevrolet range is value for money, and the Cruze is no exception, with comprehensive levels of standard equipment across the entire range.

The line-up kicks off with the 1.6 S, which enjoys a comprehensive list of standard equipment despite its value price tag. As well as air conditioning and remote central locking, the model features follow-me-home lighting, a feature normally reserved for premium cars, a quality CD-radio system with auxiliary input socket, electric front windows, a fully-adjustable drivers' seat and steering wheel, upmarket, soft-touch cabin materials and premium blue-backlit dashboard dials.

The LS model, expected to be the best-seller in the range, starts at only £12,595 for the 1.6 manual variant and includes air conditioning as standard, plus other upmarket features such as 16-inch alloy wheels, a chrome edged radiator grille, front fog lights, body coloured bumpers and mirrors, a leather covered gearknob and steering wheel, trip computer, electric rear windows, steering-wheel mounted audio controls and reverse parking sensors. For an extra £1,100, customers can specify the 1.6 LS with a state-of-the-art six-speed automatic gearbox.

Flagship of the range will be the LT, which comes in 1.8 petrol or 2.0-litre diesel guise, starting at £13,595. For that, you get a list of specification that's truly befitting of a luxury car, including cruise control, climate control, rain-sensing wipers, anti-dazzle rear view mirror, an upgraded high-output stereo with 6-CD changer, chrome detailing and 17-inch alloy wheels, plus the option of an integrated satellite navigation system.

A full list of prices follows below: