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Never mind the Cobalt. Forget you ever heard the name Cavalier. The newest compact C-car from Chevrolet is the Cruze – a globally engineered vehicle designed not just to compete in the growing small-car segment, but to win.
And for the first time, well, ever, this isn’t just marketing hype behind a lackluster model with a typically low-grade interior.
Already on sale in 60 countries worldwide, this global platform still has a few surprises for its North American debut. Most notably is the launch of a new turbocharged 1.4-liter 4-cylinder engine, designed to deliver the power and driving experience of a larger powerplant with class leading fuel economy. In fact, Chevy claims an ECO model (with a 6-speed manual transmission) will get 40-mpg on the highway. An automatic ECO model will get slightly less, with standard models most likely in the mid 30s range – although no official numbers have yet to be released.
The engine looks tiny in the cavernous space under the hood, its puny turbocharger about the size of a fist. Yet despite its size, the 1.4 delivers both power and fuel economy. During our day with the Cruze, we registered an average of 27-mpg (under what can easily be considered harder than average driving conditions). As for power, the little engine makes a total of 138-hp and 148 ft-lbs of torque, with that torque number coming on strong at 1850 rpm.
General Motors has announced it will expand the use of a brake override system to all eligible cars, just as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has reportedly opened an investigation into brake issues on GM products that could see a recall of up to 6.2 million vehicles.
The "enhanced smart pedal" technology will be installed on all GM vehicles with an automatic transmission and electronic throttle control by 2012 says GM. The software will allow the brakes to override the throttle if both pedals are pressed simultaneously.
As for the possible recall, NHTSA said it is looking into a situation of brake line corrosion on 6 million GM pickups and SUVs made from 1999-2003 and 189,000 2500 heavy-duty pickups made in 2003. The NHTSA says it has received 110 complaints and allegations of three crashes relating to the loss of braking power due to corroded brake lines.
Toyota recently announced the expansion of a brake override system to all of its vehicles after it recalled million of vehicles due to sticking brake pedals.
For 2010 the New York Auto Show has a bit of everything and continues to deliver with a concentrated presence of luxury vehicles. But this year the luxury fits into numerous niche segments. On one end, there's the world premiere of the 2011 Infiniti QX56 SUV, while on the other there's the North American debut of the Lexus CT200h hybrid hatchback. Luxury will even take wagon form, with Acura announcing the TSX Sport Wagon, while rumors suggest Cadillac will unveil a CTS-V SportWagon. Heck, Hyundai even has a flagship luxury sedan, called the Equus, that is designed to compete with cars like the Mercedes S-Class. Aston Martin is showing its four-door Rapide and Porsche has on display its Cayenne S Hybrid SUV.
In more traditional luxury, BMW is unveiling the all-new 2011 5 Series for the first time in North America, flanked by the facelifted 3 Series, 335is, 2011 X5 and Alpina B7.
Outside the luxury sphere there are exciting vehicles, including crossovers like the Nissan Juke, Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, 2011 Kia Sportage and MINI Countryman. And when it comes to sedans, the Korean automakers are showing important new contenders like the 2011 Kia Optima, as well as turbocharged and hybrid versions of the Hyundai Sonata.
And after unveiling the all-new Legacy and Outback last year, Subaru has the incredible new Impreza WRX which gains the STI's wide-body for 2011.
Overall good report. Lots of good things to say. Amazing how much the base tires hurt handling compared to the 18's. They weren't too happy with the 2.4 performace either. I guess they should have tested one with the 3.6.
Also interesting how they say the car is only about 1/2 way through its service life. I wonder if the new car is a little further off then we think?
In an effort to provide better customer support and head off problems before they get out of control, General Motors has created a new "task force" aimed at monitoring social media sites for complaints about GM vehicles and looking to find solutions.
A report in the Detroit Free Press highlights the story of one woman, Melissa Walker, whose complaints about her 2001 Cadillac DeVille on Twitter were picked up by GM's new team of customer service agents. GM wasn't able to solve the problem, but Walker was left with a positive feeling about the experience, and Tweeted to say as much – exactly what GM is looking for.
Last July GM set up a team of 50 customer service agents to chat online with people about sales incentives and vehicle options. In November, five social media agents were added to hunt out complaints online and that team is set to be doubled in April.
Now if GM's task force is doing its job, someone from the team will likely be reading this story. If they are, might be suggest they not only scour Facebook and Twitter, but the comments sections of news blogs, like our own. As an example, see the link below on a story we ran about an investigation into Chevy Cobalt steering issues, which got tremendous response before GM officially announced a recall.
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