Rode in a Cruze diesel yesterday. At $26,000, I'd say it's a rip-off. But then, I think all new cars are rip-offs. Sticker was 46 mpg hwy but the salesman said it could achieve 56 hwy without being babied. Then again, when I arrived there was a ginormous diesel pickup idling in front of the stealership and after the entire sales schpiel for that Cruze, including the test drive, it was still there idling. The salesman said Oh, it doesn't cost anything to idle a diesel- it costs more to shut it down then start it up. But during the ride he said the new diesels are not like the old ones in that they start right up and run well in extreme cold. Erm... right, nothing like completely contradicting yourself.
I also made the mistake of wandering into a Ford salesroom recently. The salesguy noticed I came in my F150 so we wandered over to a new F150, where he proceeded to gush about the free introductory period for Syrius radio and the bluetooth connectivity feature.
I remarked that, at 6'4" I could barely reach over the box sides and what's up with that? He said well that's why the tailgates have these fancy built-in ladders now. You know what, they could build in a GD escalator for all I care, I still can't walk up to the truck and grab stuff outta the box.
The whole experience made me want to puke my guts out on the showroom floor.
