Drew Dowdell

It's roomier than the Cruze by a lot. The trunk is massive for a mid-size much less a compact. In 2.5 form, it doesn't feel *that* much faster than a Cruze turbo (which I had two weeks ago as a rental). Interior wise, the Cruze uses nicer materials, but the Jetta is put together better.... though in the case of this car, that isn't really hard when most of the buttons are blanks.

I don't think the new one is a chick car at all. I'm not embarrassed to be seen in it because most people won't even notice it's there.

well... um... it has Cruise.

Before anyone says anything about my wish for the Impala over the Jetta... it's purely in the "I have to sit in this thing for 6 hours going in a straight line how can I stay comfortable" sort of way.

This Just In: 2011 Volkswagen Jetta SE I'm in Toronto for training for the week and picked up my rental 2011 Volkswagen Jetta SE with just 14 clicks on the odometer. Ride long with me as we go looking for some Fahrvergnügen. Interactive Review: 2011 Volkswagen Jetta SE

Interactive Review: 2011 Volkswagen Jetta SE Due to incredibly crappy weather here in Toronto - Stock Jetta Photo Shown I'm in Toronto this week for training. Work policy dictates that if I need to drive more than 200 miles, I am to rent a car instead of using my own. The nice lady at the rental counter gave me my choice of 2011 Chevrolet Impala, 2011 Ford Fusion, or 2011 Volkswagen Jetta. I thought "Hey, the Jetta would make a good car for an interactive review since it's been debated so much already". I got all of 5 miles before I regretted not going with the comfort of the Impala..... so just remember the sacrifices I go through for you lot. You better ask LOTS of questions to make this worth it. Clearly not a good start eh? (only been in Canada about 8 hours now). For one, road noise in the Jetta on concrete highways is loud.... it's turn-your-stereo-up loud. Seat comfort on the other hand is excellent. The leatherette VeeDub is putting into this Jetta will fool a good number of people into thinking it's leather. The dash looks soft touch, but it's not. The interior is a sea of gray and punch outs where switches would be if it were a better equipped version. I've counted no less than 8 punch outs for non-existent buttons. The Interior is VERY roomy. I'll look up specs later, but being the largest of the compact class surely has some advantage. I'm thinking that this new Jetta is larger than some mid-size cars from years ago. What has already been said in other threads about the 2.5 liter 5-cylinder is entirely true. I question it's very existence. It is the only non-turbo engine I have ever driven that feels like it has turbo lag. The lag is so distinct I'm going to actually try to get a video of it. It provides neither the power of a V6 nor the fuel economy of a 4-cylinder. The transmission is very shift happy and it needs to be to get any power. All sport mode does is stop the transmission from lugging the engine constantly. In typical driving, the engine note is smooth and pleasant. Under full throttle it's loud. The Jetta is EPA rated at 31mpg highway and my first fill up calculated out to be a smidge over 26mpg. However, I don't know that the tank was truly full , so we'll see more fuel economy postings later. Fuel economy numbers also could be down because I am the very first customer in this car. It had 14 miles on it when I picked it up. Knowing the area, it had to have rolled from the dealer to the gas station to the rental lot into my hot little hands. Handling is unremarkable so far, not that the weather has allowed for any pushing of the car. So have at it C&Gers, what do you want to know about this 2011 Volkswagen Jetta?

What car would you re-badge back? An Opel Omega sold in the US as the Cadillac Catera who's owner turned it back into an Opel "Re-badging" and "Badge Engineering" are 4-letter words amongst auto enthusiasts. Car companies do it to shave the cost of developing a whole new vehicle. Usually in the process, the brand identities of both the donor and recipient brands get muddled. In our example above, Cadillac was trying to shoot for the European entry luxury market by importing and re-badging the respected in its home market, but decidedly not luxury, Opel Omega. The Omega probably could have sold successfully on it's own merits had it not been sold at Cadillac dealerships and priced accordingly. Dear departed Pontiac had two imports from down under. The G8 and the GTO originated from GM's Holden Division. Holden's SS line fit in with Pontiac's sporting image perfectly. The GTO came first. It's design language fit Pontiac, but it fit Pontiac about 5 years too late. By the time the GTO came ashore, it ended up looking like a previous generation Grand Prix coupe. Pontiac followed up with the G8 that actually led Pontiac in a new styling direction rather than following an old one. Unfortunately, General Motors as a whole was too far gone and Pontiac's days were numbered. But enough of the history lesson. What say you faithful C&Ger? What car sold as a rebadge in the U.S., if you got your grubby little hands on, would you convert back to it's original brand? Would you be like our friend up there and convert a Catera to an Omega? Would you do a Pontiac to Holden swap? Or would you go the easy way out and rebadge an Eagle Premier as a Renault?

Bet the crossover goes to Buick too.

I could see a CTS build on Alpha getting up to that weight... but not the ATS.

yes. like potluck dude said - the cars with a million miles on them typically used dino oil

Anyone want to collaborate up for one?

Interesting. So from a performance standpoint, how does it change the car's driving characteristics? Generally, it hurts it, unless the engine has a ton of grunt. Or you lower the ratios for 1st - 4th... which is what Chevy did. Take off should be about the same. It will be more shift happy in 6th on hills

That may be true, but I would blame Lexus for the scourge that is the RX300/350. That is what Cadillac aimed for with the new SRX. And Caddy is rewarded with more than double the sales volume at higher prices. Cadillac is in business to make money.... and at least once or twice, they should build something customers want.

He's saying that Alpha is going to crest 4,000lbs? uh... that's V6 AWD Lacrosse territory... (or base 5-series) grains of salt....

indeed - Hyundai was very annoying with their competitive intelligence folks in NYC. They were the first into the Malibu and the journos couldn't get in.

oh?

Isn't it a bit late for that? There are mules running around already....

Balth, your argument would be more convincing if the GMCs were more than just grill swaps.

GMC is profitable because trucks are profitable. Chevy trucks would be even more profitable than they are today GMC wasn't in the picture.

Wrong. We know exactly how they did that... for 2012 they dropped the axle ratio on the 6-speed automatic transmission cars to 3.53:1 (FXH), it was 3.87:1 in the 2011 models. They could probably have topped 40 mpg if they went with the 2.87:1 axle ratio used by the Equinox or Malibu with the same 6T40 transmission, but that would cost more loss in peppiness than they think buyers would put up with. Again, I am not a subscriber to the small displacement = great fuel economy argument. Gear ratios and reducing cylinder and valve count probably works out better. Imagine this... the Cruze could have had a 1.8 liter DI-VVT 3-cylinder based on the LFX V6 engine making about 160 hp @ 6800 rpm and 138 lb-ft @ 4800 rpm, all while running on regular 87. This compares favorably to the new Focus's 2.0 liter DI four with 160hp and 146 lb-ft, but with 1 less cylinder, 4 less valves and 0.2 liters less swept volume it will probably beat it fuel economy. Besides a 90hp/liter Three is really unique. It might even make a good engine for the SS version of the Sonic. It just wasn't listed in the changes page: This is how the 2012 Cruze transmission is on the ordering guide. <table align="center" border="1" bordercolor="#999999" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="90%"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="top" width="50%">Transmission model</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">AUTOMATIC 6-SPEED HYDRA-MATIC 6T40</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%">RPO Code</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">MH8</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%">GEAR RATIOS</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> First </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">4.58</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Second </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">2.96</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Third </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">1.91</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Fourth </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">1.45</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Fifth </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">1.00</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Sixth </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">0.75</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Reverse </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">2.94</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%">Transfer design</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">three-axis design, output chain</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%">TORQUE CONVERTER</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Element types </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">Variable bleed solenoids</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%">LUBRICANT CAPACITY (pints/litre)</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%">MAX GVW(lbs/kg)</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">1932/876.3552</td></tr></tbody></table> Here is the 2011 Transmission: <table align="center" border="1" bordercolor="#999999" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="90%"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="top" width="50%">Transmission model</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">AUTOMATIC 6-SPEED HYDRA-MATIC 6T40</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%">RPO Code</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">MH8</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%">GEAR RATIOS</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> First </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">4.6</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Second </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">3.0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Third </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">1.9</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Fourth </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">1.5</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Fifth </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">1.0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Sixth </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">0.8</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Reverse </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">2.9</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%">Transfer design</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">two-axis design, output chain</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%">TORQUE CONVERTER</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Element types </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">Variable Bleed Solenoids</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%">LUBRICANT CAPACITY (pints/litre)</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%"> Fluid Capacity </td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">8.21/3.884972</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="50%">MAX GVW(lbs/kg)</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="50%">4400/1995.84</td></tr></tbody></table>

grab a kleenex you two...

If true, Joel is remarkably tone deaf.

Such a shame that they are getting all that volume at the same transaction prices the BMW X3 gets.

Chevrolet Cruze Gains for 2012 Drew Dowdell - CheersandGears.com May 16th, 2011 Being only one year on the market, we wouldn't expect too many changes for Chevy's new compact car. However, Chevy isn't going to sit still on this one. The biggest news is that on Cruze's equipped with the 1.4 liter turbo and automatic transmission gain 2mpg in highway fuel economy. Unfortunately, they don't explain how they do it. There are no axle ratio changes or engine updates listed. The final drive ratio is switching from 3.83 to a 3.53 while other cogs in the 6-speed auto are all getting different ratios as well. (scroll down in thread for details) For those of you who want to row your own Cruze but aren't interested in all that greenie-weenie stuff included on the Eco, you can now buy the Cruze 1LT and 2LT with a 6-speed manual standard. The 2LT can be loaded up fairly nicely so you can now have a fun manual transmission without foregoing other creature comforts. There also appears to be some seat changes for the front passengers as the 8 way seats have been replace with 6 way by deleting the seat bottom tilt. This could be a good thing or a bad thing as seat comfort was one of the more touchy areas in the Cruze. The one thing the Cruze still doesn't have standard in base models? Cruise. Source: 2012 Chevrolet Cruze Online Ordering Guide

Just to update.... the Impala is getting a NEW! Engine, 3.6L SIDI DOHC V6 VVT (302 hp [225.2 kW] @ 6800 rpm, 252 lb-ft of torque [340.2 N-m] @ 5300 rpm)