Quote:
Originally Posted by razor02097
The Chevette is 33 years old with 70's technology... Saying the new 2014 Cruise is a better car isn't saying much. With all of the new car standards and the EPA sticking their head up the OEM's butt the best they could do is match a 33 year old car's fuel economy...
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While the diesel Chevette/Kadet/Gemini was a wonderful little car, you're comparing apples to watermelons.
The Cruze is around nine inches wider and nine inches longer in the wheelbase. Meaning you get much more cabin space than in the Chevette. And there's nearly twenty inches more length, giving you a nice big trunk (which the Chevette doesn't have). You could go for the Kadet/Gemini sedan variant, which gives you a nice little trunk, but I've sat in that, and there's absolutely no contest in which is more comfortable or more spacious. Your current Indian supermini has more space than one of those suckers, and more crash safety. A Chevette would score zero stars or less on any modern crash test.
A modern equivalent to the Chevette would be European/Asian market superminis, which can and do get better economy than the old 1.8/1.9 diesels, are faster, drive better, have more interior space and better safety. And they don't pollute nearly as much.
A 1984 equivalent to the Cruze would be the Citation, though it was somewhat smaller. The Citation was around 300-400 pounds lighter, still not as safe, and only capable of 31 MPG on the highway, in its best year, with the manual and the Iron Duke... which was a lot slower than what's in the Cruze today.