Spy Photos: 2013 Chevy Cruze Diesel Testing With a Jetta TDI in the Desert

Interesting. Chevy is towing, and it doesn't even have a spare tire.

My GM Card earnings may finally be useful. Was saving them for the 1/2 ton duramax truck, darn shame that program bit the dust in bankruptcy.
If there is any engine that would create momentum for GM truck business to counter the Ecoboost the 4.5L Duramax is it.

A compact diesel without VW gremlins: this will be a hit in Canada.

"Interesting. Chevy is towing, and it doesn't even have a spare tire."

Spare tire is an option.

^ Should be standard.

I agree. This is not a trend I'm happy with.
-mm

It's really weighed down by that uHaul trailer! What's in the trailer--Billions of taxpayer dollars?

(rimshot)

@yellowperil

It can't be billions of taxpayer dollars. It appears to weigh too much to be nothing but thin air.

It's nice they are using a large powerful diesel but it has me worried about mileage. The big selling point with diesel is mileage and I have hunch this won't get the numbers people expect.

My advice to GM would have been to use a 1.6 turbodiesel as it's eco model (and a 2.0 turbo gas engine as it's premium model).

And GM rents a UHaul! Hah! Car guys vs. bean counters.

From IL's test of the Australian market diesel Cruze, bigger and more powerful than the TDI translated into slower and thirstier than the VW. Hoping the General can do better on both.

Quite the bunch of comedians here amongst the commenters. Hint: don't quit your day jobs (if you actually have one).

Sounds like quite the package GM has come up with.

Mike why are you not happy without a spare tire?

Is a space saver not enough, should it be full size in every car? Why not carry two? How much is enough?

I don't know if the statistics have been done on this, but I am not so sure that the tire blowout is the most common ailment that renders a car undriveable. I say blowout because a flat is covered by the air compressor/goop package they replace the tire with.

I realize that certain conditions dictate a spare, but those conditons usually call for a full size so one wouldn't rely on a temp spare, and that would not describe the most common motoring scenario.

Personally I'd rather toss the spare and have a compressor/goop thing, a tire plug kit, small tool kit, spare belts, or any number of things that all fit in the same space and weigh no more than a temp spare.

Of course the above would make me the outlier, which I fully realize. The average person who would not think the pick up a wrench and use it on a car, will not pick up a lug nut wrench and use it to change a tire. They call roadside assistance. They can get the car to a place for a new tire, or plug the tire on the side of the road, which is ultimately what is needed with a temp spare.

There are precious few who don't touch their own cars for maintenance, but are savvy enough to change a tire on the side of the road. And all of those people are old, non-car people know nothing about cars these days, they will not change a tire. And those who do know well enough, would choose to carry more useful stuff than a big heavy tire that is only good for one very specific problem.

I might well be wrong, I just don't think a flat tire is the most likely scenario on a well maintained modern car, enough to warrant carrying a whole extra tire along.

1. "Testing" (in front of cameras, of course) a car that has been on sale in Europe for months means Government Motors desperately seeks free press attention.

2. This model gets pathetic combined 32 mpg. This value comes from owners logging the mileage on some sort of mpg tracking website.

3. Jetta TDI will destroy this Chevrolet on MPG since VW diesels are years ahead of every engine GM comes up with.

4. These is nothing "whopping" in 265 pound feet of diesel torque, dear Mr Magrath. This engine barely revs above 4000 rpm, hence the high torque value. It obviously doesn't translate into any more usable power.

5. The last picture shows how much better designed car the Jetta is. The VW is handsome and clean looking, the Cruze is mundane, bulbous and terribly plain.

I work for U-Haul. Those are Bosch employees. Could this be fuel or emissions related testing?

mattman953 says:

> Could this be fuel or emissions related testing?

This is PR related testing.

If it's PR-related, then there should be an accompanying press release, like Mercedes or BMW do when they release spy footage of future cars. Not the case here.

This vehicle needs testing because it's got a different powertrain than what's offered in Europe. According to that window tag, it uses SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction = AdBlue in the trunk), something needed over here to meet Tier 2 Bin 5 requirements. The 2012 Passat TDI uses SCR, giving it higher MPG than the lighter Jetta TDI, which has to burn off excess NOx every so often.

This is likely to be a more refined and efficient diesel than what's offered elsewhere. GM wouldn't sell a Cruze diesel in the US that has higher fuel consumption than their existing 42 MPG highway Eco. Duh.

If it's PR-related, then there should be an accompanying press release, like Mercedes or BMW do when they release spy footage of future cars. Not the case here.

This vehicle needs testing because it's got a different powertrain than what's offered in Europe. According to that window tag, it uses SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction = AdBlue in the trunk), something needed over here to meet Tier 2 Bin 5 requirements. The 2012 Passat TDI uses SCR, giving it higher MPG than the lighter Jetta TDI, which has to burn off excess NOx every so often.

This is likely to be a more refined and efficient diesel than what's offered elsewhere. GM wouldn't sell a Cruze diesel in the US that has higher fuel consumption than their existing 42 MPG highway Eco. Duh.

^^"Spare is optional" usually means that no more than 33% of buyers can, in fact, opt for it. Any option installed in more than 33% of cars must be included in the weight calculation for the EPA dyno test for fuel economy. Since the whole point of eliminating the spare to get into the next-lowest weight class to improve window sticker, its availability must be limited to no more than 33% of sales.

torsen, you wouldn't happen to be a VW fanboy would you?

BTW the Mk6 Jetta is FUGLY.

Torsen is just terrified that GM is going to steal tons of potential customers. The Jetta is a joke in design, I'd rather have a car that supposedly looks "mundane, bulbous and terribly plain" then something that has no soul or identity.

Perhaps the trailer is to put a load on the pwrtain in the desert to help make sure there's no heating issues.

As for spares. Cars should have at least a donut. It's not just blowouts or rapid deflation but also sidewall punctures that are all too common. Even with goop it's not safe to drive on sidewall punctured tire. For slower deflations, it is true that with TPMS there is less likelihood of a tire shred as it will warn u before it gets that deflated... assuming the driver is paying attention and understands what TPMS warning light is.

I like the way the Cruze and Jetta look in person. Both cars look better in person for some reason. I think it will be good to finally have some competition in this segment and it's good that they are benchmarking the Jetta TDI since this will likely include real world mpg. We'll see if the US version is any good when it debuts.

AT FWD sedan. awesome! (yes, yes... dead horse i know)

"The last picture shows how much better designed car the Jetta is. The VW is handsome and clean looking, the Cruze is mundane, bulbous and terribly plain."

LOL are you kiddint? The Jetta makes the Camry look exciting and stylish! The Cruze is actually quite handsome. The Jetta TDI in the LT fleet is the most dreary machine, inside and out.....

Is this the same diesel engine as in the Cobalt I was forced to rent a few years ago..or was that actually a gas engine? :P

The Cruze is dull, but parked next to the Jetta it looks less so. I doubt GM will have much trouble moving these given what VW has done to the Jetta.

Although if Sky-D makes its way into a future Mazda3, I wouldn't look twice at either of the alternatives.

The jury is still out on the Cruze... with the right tweaking, it could be a major player in the U.S.

Wow the great spare tire debate! Aloty of manufacturers are changing out spare tires or the way they do spare tires. I hate the trend towards run flats they are costly to replace and you really can't repair them in most situation if you have driven 100 miles on them. The deflated spares with the airpump is a nice switch, but I can not see how adding an airpump in the trunk to pump the tire up would help save space which was the whole point of having donuts and space savers. One thing I never will understand, I know aluminum is more expensive than steel, but considering how heave the steel rims are on spare tires, why haven't manufacturers switched to plain cheap aluminum rims for spares. The last time I changed a tire the itty bitty spare felt like it weighed more than the real tire mounted on the real rim. Aren't they cutting weight from everywhere else on cars now?

"The deflated spares "

Welcome to the world of 70's Firebirds!

Lets wait and see the fuel econ numbers with this engine. You wont see it in the showroom for over a year or two from now.

@blueprint1

Not sure about your experiences, but I've owned several VW TDIs of different generations and never had a problem with any of them. I found them to as tough as tanks and reliable as a good farm tractor (sounded and pulled like one, too).

Glad to see someone bringing an affordable diesel to North America though, even if the mileage isn't as good as a TDI. Choice is usually a good thing. I don't know if a Cruze Diesel will be able to compete on price, though.