2005 Holden Cruze 1.5 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

After three years I am extremely pleased to own this car

Faults:

Gearbox bearings wore out at approx 75000 km, this is considered normal for this model and was rectified under the new car warranty.

General Comments:

This car is so much more capable than it is given credit for.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 5th June, 2008

27th Jul 2011, 08:26

These cars have a critical gearbox fault.

I own one, and would suggest not owning one of these.

Parts are hard to get, and expensive when you find them.

2003 Holden Cruze AWD from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Great car for 2nd car use

Faults:

Clutch is quite fierce.

Paint fading on hatchback door.

No other issues.

General Comments:

Car bought new in Sydney 2003 traveled over 45,000km up until 2005 then moved to New Zealand and car has now covered 64,000km.

Great car around town and up local hills despite small motor. Does about 6.8L per 100km around town.

Biggest irritation is clutch which is fierce and its easy to stall car. Has been adjusted twice but no better.

Hard to get into reverse - found clutch needs to be all the way to the floor to achieve, even then it needs to be let in and out sometimes to get into gear.

Love the 4WD up hills in New Zealand where it really shines, despite small motor.

Open road traveling. Happy to cruise at about 105 to 110km. (Sydney to Coffs Harbour or Wellington to Auckland. Short wheelbase makes car "feel" a little unstable at these speeds but its purely a mental thing as have never had any issues with losing control.

Has been exceptionally reliable. Only repairs in 64,000km and 5 years, have been rear brake bulb, tyres (2), windscreen wiper blades, and general servicing. Used daily, generally driven 50-60kms each day. 1 set of brake pads so far.

None of the other problems experienced by other reports such as brakes, gearbox, steering. etc.

Biggest gripe is Holden will not transfer warranty to N.Z. so we have been on our own since bringing it over in 2005.

Paint is generally very good except numberplate light surround and top of tailgate are fading (Colour Yellow) may have been repainted at factory.

Brake light: quite hard to replace bulb. Needed to put on car hoist to find and get at.

Luggage boot cover is a flimsy useless thing that has been discarded. Boot is small but with seats down flat there is plenty of room. Have picked up and transported large appliances such as TV and Oven in it easily.

Upholstery - no signs of wear or bits falling off. Lots of storage space. Seat covers fitted since new.

Highly recommend this as there is virtually nothing else in its class ie: small, compact 4wd shopping basket. Nothing like it being made any more. I would buy another if I could.

Also known as Suzuki Ignis and Chevrolet Cruise.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 27th April, 2008

3rd Oct 2014, 10:24

Owned mine for 3 years. The biggest engineering disaster to come out of the Holden showroom. Trust Holden to screw up a perfectly good Suzuki! $800-$1200 for a genuine CV joint that is poorly designed, and ignore liability. Go down in flames Holden... good riddance... see how all these poor buggers go with the 5 year warranties you're handing out to clear your Korean screw ups!

2002 Holden Cruze from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Love the Cruze, but worried about its reliability

Faults:

Hard to get into reverse and rough through the gears (selector) at approx 15500 km.

Had a replacement gearbox at 18000 km.

Needed a new steering rack at 19000 km.

New gearbox is developing the same fault as before at 31500 km.

Clicking noise detected (like bad universal joint). Having it checked out now.

Hard on the first set of tyres!!!

General Comments:

Nice car to drive.

All faults have been fixed under warranty (3 year 100,000 km).

Worried a little as same faults are re-appearing.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 7th March, 2005

10th Feb 2006, 04:06

Have a Holden Cruze bought in September last year. Has been back to the dealership twice due to a funny grinding noise in the front. They state they do not know what the problem is, but that the car is safe to drive. Sounds sus to me. How many of us out there with the same noise problems?