Yes the petrol auto is very gutless and makes a lot of noise without going anywhere, the petrol engine is from the astra but is detuned to allow better fuel economy. However the manual diesel model is a great car to drive. They have a nice modern interior, the exterior looks modern and stylish.
They arent as bad as some people point out, theres just a few bad stories that get taken out of context and exaggerated a fair bit which happens with all cars.
Agree. We test drove both petrol and diesel. The mrs only wanted auto so the diesel was def the way to go. The auto diesel is a nice combo. Yes the Cruze is priced slightly higher than some other rivals but when you compare the features of all the price is comparable if not better (eg some "Standard" cars in that range they advertise don't come standard with all the airbags/saftey pack which was neceassry for us)