Chevrolet has added a new 125PS diesel engine to its lower medium Cruze model line-up, giving it one of the cheapest lower medium diesels on sale.
While emissions and economy aren’t near the class best at 145g/km and an average 51.4mpg, the price tag is not to be sniffed at. The entry diesel is under £13,750, while the well-specced LS version we sampled is only £14,345 and comes with kit such as rear parking sensors, trip computer, leather steering wheel, aircon and steering wheel-mounted audio controls. That equipment in a similar-engined Ford Focus would see a price ticket over £20,000, and it stacks up well against Budget rivals from Kia and Hyundai.
Unfortunately, some of the cheap plastics leave the driver in no doubt that they are in a budget model, and there’s no attempt to make the Cruze appear more expensive than it is. Unlike the recent Captiva, and to a lesser extent Epica and Spark models, the Cruze betrays its low price tag. But that P11D does lead to a competitive 39.5p per mile costs figure for a car that offers the space of a lower medium model for the price of a volume brand supermini.
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