I have just read your road test of the Chevy Cruze LT AT and stand amazed at how motor manufacturers could shoot themselves in the foot.
Your test, which I believe is an objective and fair evaluation of what is in essence a fine car, will spell the death knell for this particular model in the South African market.
You need quite a hefty engine to pull 49 km/h per 1 000 r/min. It is a very tall order for an 1 800 cm³ engine. Here on the Highveld you will have to lock that gearbox in fifth to make any progress, thus negating the purpose of the automatic transmission.
According to my calculations, based on your geared speed tables, fifth gear will give you about 36,6 km/h per 1 000 r/min.
This should result in quite a comfortable cruising gait for a car like this and suggests that GM could have dropped the sixth gear altogether. Another suggestion, perhaps cheaper and more feasible, would be to change the final drive to 3,94:1.
This would bring the overall gearing down to about 40 km/h per 1 000 r/min, which is still fairly high but would provide a more feasible overdrive for cruising and should improve acceleration through the gears.
I don’t think that any of these changes would have an adverse effect on fuel consumption because you won’t need to push it so hard to keep it moving.
ANDRIES S J VAN VUUREN – Lyttelton
The beauty of a six-speed transmission is the fact that you have a bigger choice of ratios to cope with different conditions.
The automatic gear change will be set up to ensure that you’re always in the most economical ratio and if this means a gear change as soon as you demand more power, than you have to live with it for the sake of greater choice and efficiency.
