Report: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze to deliver 44 mpg

............um ok.

Better then smart Car fuel economy in a 4 door car for $15,000... without the use of diesel engines or hybrid systems... If they can manage to squeeze out that last few mpg this vehicle will be a very strong offering from gm.

It'll be interesting to find out how they achieved such good fuel consumption figures. It was also interesting to read that GM's performance division staff had been working to increase fuel efficiency instead of just increasing horsepower & torque.

On another note: I was disappointed to hear that the next Impala will in deed, be FWD on the LWB EpII platform. However, it is understandable b/c Chevy, as a division, must appeal to the masses in a much great capacity than before. If the FWD platform offers additional fuel efficiency advantages over a dedicated RWD/AWD architecture, then GM should run with that plan. GM still has Cadillac for the RWD luxury offerings.

wow!! another ugly fuel efficient vehicle.

"build it and they will come"

Watch GM grossly overprice this thing...and shoot themselves square in the foot.

I think we could have found a better picture than the grainy one above. Unless my work computer just sucks that much (totally possible LOL).

I really like the Cruze, inside and out from all the pictures I've seen it is edgy, up-to-date, and really helps GM step away from the Cavalier and Cobalt names. Not that they were bad cars, but as the years went on they really lost there credibility as true competitors.

The old original Z24's with the 5spd. and the cowl induction hoods. Then they went sorta soft after a few years of the newer body style and were offering Sun Sport versions and what not. The Cobalt came and was basically the next generation Cavalier renamed, cause the body style looked too close to the Cavalier. The SS is a fun car in both the turbo and S/C versions, but that left the rest of their lineup pretty lackluster.

Kudos to GM for the Cruze, it should be a good seller if they can keep the price point. It will be interesting to see how it competes against the upcoming refresh on the Civic (mid-model), and Corolla shortly after. Make a hatch version as well and you could really put the Toyota Matrix and Mazda 3 on the defense.

Good point, I would like to see it perform against the new corolla,new civic, and of course nissan has a new cvt and suppose new upgrade engines that will use dual injector tech coming in 2010 and later.These japaneese are not just going to roll over and play dead, ohhh and remember the koreans are just behind the japs.

My gripe with Nissan is they are not appealing at all with small cars. The Versa does not fit so nicely compared to say a Yaris or Fit. The Sentra went way off canter with the sharp edges and boxy/rectangle looks. Nothing about it looks like it could perform well in any category. The SE-R and Spec V versions from the last generation were hot items and for the cost of under 20k you got a lot. The current Sentra needs a MAJOR redesign and quick.

I agree with you on that subject they need better designs.

Oh one important point europe milage differ from usa, so the GM group have to be very careful about claim high milage, becuase condition does cause the cars to vary in milage,same thing happen to nissan and suzuki new series engines example the versa (Tiida) both give good performance in europe and japan but when it was introduce in usa the milage was not as good.

If the government wants to helpout automakers aside from giving them billions, why not work with the EU on a universal safety platform. I am totally unsure of how feasible it is but it seems it would be cost effective in the long run in making it easier for more competition and quicker model alignment (i.e. bringin Euro models here).