<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Anything with &amp;quot;Eco&amp;quot; in its name has to be at least mildly disappointing from a driver&amp;#039;s perspective, right? Well, Chevy&amp;#039;s Cruze was a pleasant surprise, owing a lot to its direct-injected turbocharged 1.4-liter engine. While its 138 bhp isn&amp;#039;t overwhelming, it&amp;#039;s delivered in a smooth, torquey fashion with an eagerness to rev. The shift action of its 6-speed manual is solid\u2014you&amp;#039;re never at a loss for finding a gate\u2014but the somewhat nebulous clutch take-up does sully the driving experience a little, as the hard-to-find friction point results in either a bog or too many revs away from a stop. Get it just right, keep your foot in it and you&amp;#039;ll see an 8.1-sec. dash to 60 mph, a time smack in the middle of the pack here. If there&amp;#039;s another area to be singled out for dynamic improvement, it&amp;#039;s the brake feel, too soft on initial application for our tastes.        2012 Chevrolet Cruze Eco    The Cruze feels solid overall, its steering feel above average, and its chassis transitions with far more nimbleness than its comfortable ride would suggest. It&amp;#039;s the decathlete in this group of fuel-efficient funsters, showing brilliance in no particular area but strength across the board. Exterior styling breaks no new ground; it&amp;#039;s a clean contemporary shape that neither inspires nor polarizes. Inside, it&amp;#039;s obvious GM has redoubled it efforts on interior design, as the Cruze has appealing plastics, a two-tone treatment with inserts on the dash and door panels whose tapered edges give the impression that they&amp;#039;re wrapped, upholstered pieces. Gauges are sporty and bathed in a soothing blue light, and simple HVAC switches and knobs are clearly marked and intuitive to use. Only the plain cloth of the comfortable seats seems a little down-market compared to the rest of the interior.        2012 Chevrolet Cruze Eco    Fittingly, the Cruze is good at cruising, with a laudable 35.7 mpg on our Ortega loop, with impressive isolation from both road and wind noise. The tall overdrive 6th gear (&amp;quot;6&amp;quot; is within a green circle on the knob itself) drops engine speed to a very subdued 2400 rpm at 80 mph. Again, it&amp;#039;s hard to get overly excited about any one aspect of the Cruze, but the all-around competence and appeal of the turbo Chevy wins us over.      Up Next:    "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/a18268/fun-frugal-and-relatively-fast-2012-chevrolet-cruze-eco/?src=global_footer>