Faults:

The paint job on this car leaves something to be desired. I take good care of my cars, but no matter what, I seem to find a small new ding in the paint every couple weeks.

No other problems to report so far!

General Comments:

Great gas mileage! I get about 28/30 MPG in the city and 40 MPG on the highway.

Haven't owned it that long, but so far this car is exactly how it should be. The interior is very well equipped and surprisingly quiet. Even with the RS package, this car rides smooth and is very comfortable.

The engine has plenty of power, but sometimes when driving along, if you have to step on it, it can take a little bit longer than it should to accelerate. The turbo works great and can throw you back in your seat!

Overall, I'm very happy with this car.

Faults:

Nothing, but too soon to say. Though probably too simple for much to go wrong.

General Comments:

This is just a rotten car. I am currently on a three week driving holiday in South Africa, and I am stuck with the Chevrolet (Holden) Cruze.

I paid more for the 1.8 so that I would have a car with decent power (I normally drive a V6 Camry at home), but gutless doesn't begin to describe this POS. Honestly, the Hyundai Accent I hired in the US a couple of years ago had more power and was more comfortable into the bargain. This thing screams at the slightest incline, yet nothing much seems to happen, forward-propulsion-wise.

The driver's seat has NO lumbar support - the seat back is absolutely flat and I have to have a cushion behind my back, or else I am in serious pain after an hour.

The air conditioning is useless - you still need to have the windows down, even with the climate control down as low as it goes and the fan turned up to 5.

The steering is dangerously light - one slight twitch and your headed in a completely different direction. It's really tiring driving this car for hours on end, trying to keep it on a smooth course.

The centre stack has far too many buttons - you need to take your eyes off the road just to make sure you hit the correct function.

Take my word for it - save yourself the trouble of trying out this car and head straight to the Hyundai dealer instead. When I hired the Accent in the US, I swapped it after a couple of days for an Elantra (wanted more power). The Elantra has its faults, but honestly it runs rings around the Cruze - it was comfortable, felt secure at high speed and actually sped up when you put your foot down. Oh and the air con worked too - bear in mind that was during an American summer. This Cruze's air con can't cope with a South African winter!

I love South Africa, but I can't wait to get home to Australia and drive my Camry again! Given that the Camry is the most boring car in the world, I think that's a pretty strong statement about the Cruze!