AP Sources: GM to sell diesel version of Chevy Cruze in US; car could get 50 mpg on highway

They weren't apparently terrible, they were terrible.

 

i don't get it... they have the cruze re badged with a large battery they call the volt... (everything is different but they still look very similar)... plus.. the cruz gets better gas mileage long range than the volt... now, this might just slap the volt in the face again?... hmm...

they need a diesel volt.. maybe gm can pull that one off...

 

I'm not quite sure how you get better gas mileage in a cruze than a volt. According to the tracking figures a volt uses about 9 gallons of gas per 1000 miles and 230 kwh of electricity. This is opposed to about 20 gallons of gas in a prius or 30 in an eco cruze, a diesel cruze would likely fall in between. Unless you are driving much more on gas than the fleet of volts out there you are going to use more gas in a cruze. Many will find the volt more fun to drive also, but it does cost more and uses more electricity.

They are doing the diesel in europe for the cruze so why not try it in the US. GM needs to meet new cafe standards. For the volt we can expect a modified engine next year to qualify for at-pzev, and a redesigned and likely more efficient one in the next generation. I doubt it will be a diesel as that would cause more pollutants and would not qualify for at-pzev standards.

 

The smallest Diesel that I can think of (Golf TDI) gets 42 MPG on the highway. It'll be surprising if they can pull 50 MPG on the highway.

On the other hand, City is 30 MPG.

 

42 is 'around' 50 for really large values of 'around'.

It is probably closer than the 230 MPG they claimed for the Volt.

 

especially since that VW 2.0 TDI in Europe gets a lot better mpg than comparable Opel TDI engine. But extra cats destroy it....

 

Here is an older article with information of the diesel cruze selling elsewhere. I'm not sure of the changes for the US but these should be good ballpark numbers

General Motors considers a diesel Chevrolet Cruze | cleveland.com

Same highway numbers as prius, but 37 versus 51 in the city. The prius C will be out over a year by then and they may be about the same price.

 

GM needs to do something, because numbers like the one below is unacceptable. The CNN story will not go away, published in Carscoop magazine today. So they will sell diesel in small volume in order to PR the mileage vs. the Prius. And they know the Prius plug-in, the Prius c are coming with better than 50mpg.

CNN Says Toyota Prius Plug-in will Top Chevy Volt, 12 Months before the Former Goes On Sale - Carscoop

I am not impressed with advertising highway mileage since I don't own a home on the side of the highway. First city driving with traffic lights and find my way to the highway. The Jetta diesel is 30/42 with a combined of 34mpg.

The Cruze Eco mileage!
Automatic: 26/37 ; combined: 30
Manual: 28/42 ; combined: 33

 

The 2012 Cruze Eco AT is 26/39; combined: 31
They've added taller high gears to all the AT versions so their highway economy has been bumped.

 

Well, It shows that GM is doing something to improve the car at least.
But, none of these cars achieved an EPA rating of 30mpg City or a combined of 35mpg. For me the highway mileage does not really matter because when I start a vehicle in my driveway or when I stop in traffic, I get 0mpg. Then as I move slowly, 1,2,3,4,5mpg which will be averaged with the high highway MPG = Combined. The highway mileage only exists for a portion of a trip.

 

If you do an 82% conversion from the NEDC it's 42 combined. But, additional emissions control have, in the past, hurt fuel economy. However, emissions controls are getting better both in terms of fuel economy and in cost.

The Cruze is already pretty pricey and the diesel would just add to the price. However, if fuel economy were everything, more people would drive a Prius. Like the Germans, they'd sell it as fuel economy without compromising the driving experience.

I hope they go for it. VW have had the standard diesel market to themselves. It would give them a much needed kick.

 

Man that city figure is horrible.

I am glad our ford meets or exceeds EPA in almost every condition.

 

To be like Europe we need a manual transmission diesel CRUZE and we need to add ~$2 excise tax on gaso. Now diesel CRUZE would look very good with higher mileage and lower fuel cost.

 

I like the idea of a diesel Cruze simply because it would be an option for using biodiesel.

 

If GM does bring out the Cruze diesel, the biodiesel will more than likely be limited to 5% due to the particulate filter. So far, all DPF equipped diesels in the USA are limited to that percentage.

 

That's disappointing, and surprising - their Camaro gets better city mileage than that by almost 50%.

 

Ah. I was comparing real-world Camaro MPGs against CR Cruze MPG's. In the real world the 3.6L Camaro gets about 23 city, 29 highway. Whatever hellish traffic jam CR does their testing with, I want no part of it!