2012 Chevrolet Cruze Sedan

Well, we’d call it one update that car nuts would love to have instead of the now mundane bits like a new grille and assorted cosmetic bits. General Motors India will give their flagship sedan, the Cruze, a brand new Z-Series two liter turbo diesel engine and the engine is where all the action really is. The existing Chevrolet Cruze, which incidentally is available only in diesel engine guise for India, is one fast sedan with power and torque figures being at the very top of its class, the D-segment. Now, the 2012 Cruze with the new Z-Series diesel heart will only get much faster than ever before.

2012 Chevrolet Cruze Sedan

So, what is that the new turbo diesel engine offers. For starters, how about some more responsive-ness. The new Z-Series engine has a square bore-stroke layout instead of the long stroke design on the older VCDi engine. This means that the Cruze  could get more rev happy and become smoother too as square engine layouts are usually the smoothest operators in the engine world. The bore and stroke on the DOHC Z-Series engine now measure 86 mm each, as opposed to the 83 mm and 92 mm measurements that the previous engine had.

2012 Chevrolet Cruze Profile

Response apart, another gremlin in the older engine was the pronounced turbo lag it had. While the whoosh of the turbo brought along with it copious torque, the time until the turbo spooled up made driving the Cruze in bumper-to-bumper traffic a bit of a bother. The new Z-Series engine, with a lower compression ratio of 16.5:1( the older engine has a 17.5:1 ratio) and with the turbo boost raised to 2.2 BAR from the older engine’s 2.0 BAR boost, aims to reduce turbo lag and make the Cruze much more drivable. These changes result in significantly more power and torque.

2012 Chevrolet Cruze Rear

How does 164 Bhp and 380 Nm sound? Now, that is a full 16 Bhp-53 Nm more than the outgoing engine, which is quite significant, especially if indeed the turbo lag gets minimized. The Z-Series engine now features a timing chain instead of a timing belt, a key feature that will ensure that the timing chain lasts for the lifetime of the engine unlike the belt that required periodic replacement. Transmission options will remain the same 6 speed manual and automatic gearboxes. The rest of the 2012 Cruze remains unchanged. Even so, this is one mid career that car nuts will appreciate in good measure.