Chevrolet Cruze Diesel Captures All the MPGs, on the Highway at Least

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

General Motors’ PR team and ad writers basically have their taglines and talking points written for them now that the Environmental Protection Agency has released fuel economy ratings for the 2017 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel.

Rumblings from inside the Renaissance Center late last year caused much speculation as to the oil-sipping model’s thriftiness, and we were told GM was shooting for a 50 mile-per-gallon highway rating.

As it turns out, the Cruze crested that bar with room to spare.

Announced by a jubilant GM Monday morning, the EPA has estimated the Cruze’s highway mileage at 52 mpg — when equipped with a six-speed manual transmission, anyway. City economy for that model is a far less exciting 30 mpg, or the same as a gas-powered, automatic transmission model. Combined, it works out to 37 mpg in mixed driving.

When compared to the previous-generation model, the new diesel sees an 8 mpg jump on the highway, and a 5 mpg increase in combined fuel economy. Estimated range, according to GM, is 702 miles.

The nine-speed automatic that gives the gasoline Cruze its marketable 40 mpg highway rating doesn’t work the same magic for the Cruze Diesel, however. EPA estimates for that model ring in at 47 mph highway, 31 mpg city, and the same combined figure as stick shift units. If you’re prone to long road trips, the transmission choice is clear.

While class-leading economy is great, what’s more important to GM — especially in this day and age — is an EPA seal of approval for the Cruze Diesel’s tailpipe emissions. The 1.6-liter turbodiesel apparently passed with flying, or at least satisfactory, colors. As such, the engine’s Tier 3 compliance keeps the engine viable through 2025.

Making 137 horsepower and 240 lb-ft of torque in the Cruze, GM’s new oil burner is also found in the downsized 2018 Equinox. Fuel economy figures for the diesel ‘Nox have not been released.

[Image: General Motors]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

More by Steph Willems

Comments
Join the conversation
5 of 59 comments
  • Syncro87 Syncro87 on Feb 13, 2017

    We've owned a number of VW diesels. Turbo and non. The earliest one was, if I recall, a 1981 model, and the last was a 2009. Golfs, Beetles, Rabbits, Jettas. Despite a diesel vehicle being the norm in our driveway for quite a while, the shine has worn off the idea, for us, to a large extent. It's not one single thing, but rather a few factors, for me. Diesel emission systems have become more complex, perhaps a tad more fragile/maintenance intensive/costly. Diesel MPG advances don't seem to have kept pace with the same from gasoline powered cars. 15 years ago, my wife's manual TDI New Beetle delivered far better fuel economy than the same car with a gas engine. It felt faster than the car with the gas engine. There was no DPF or such to worry about. Fuel, back then, had plenty of sulfur in it, so no worries about the fuel pump randomly turning into a grenade due to lack of fuel lubricity. Also, you couldn't walk down the street to the Toyota dealer and get an excellent Prius with even better MPG for reasonable money. I get it, diesel has torque, the power delivery characteristics, etc. Still, I think the case for owning a small diesel passenger car is weaker today than it was a decade and a half ago. A turbo Civic gets you 40+ MPG, is probably quicker than a Cruze diesel, probably more reliable, and likely has better resale. If speed is of no concern and maximum economy is, a Prius will do better on gas and probably outlast a Cruze, despite being aesthetically challenged. I don't know. I'm still a little bit tempted by the Cruze due to the weird factor and the hatch body style, not to mention the MT. But I think it's a relatively hard buy to justify these days when there are a lot of really good, very economical small cars to choose from that probably involve less hassle and less potential downside risk.

    • See 2 previous
    • Krhodes1 Krhodes1 on Feb 14, 2017

      I agree with you very much. I have owned a good number of diesels, and really like the way they drive, but at this point a small gas turbo is the way to go unless you are driving a zillion miles a year (maybe not even then). The VW 1.4TSI is a great example, pretty much the same performance envelope and fuel economy as the 2.0TDI, for thousands less. Even my 2.0TSI GTI is getting 30mpg around town and 35 on the highway, well into diminishing returns above those numbers.

  • Brandloyalty Brandloyalty on Feb 13, 2017

    Interesting discussion, refreshingly free of idiology. I don't think anyone mentioned the higher energy density of diesel, which should be factored into mileage comparisons.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
Next