That’s the white part; now for the black part.
Inside, the Cruze stands heads and shoulders above the Jetta, which really shows its Mexican-built roots on both the stylistic and build quality fronts. Jonathan probably put it best: “The Jetta’s interior is like a black hole, with dark grey accent trim doing nothing to relieve the monotony of this sombre interior.”
He’s dead-on; I mean, if you’re going to add brushed aluminum trim to the doors, make it pop, as opposed to tinting it to a slightly lighter colour than the rest of the interior. And why do the climate control dials look like they’re from the same parts bin as those found in my dad’s 2003 Passat?
Have a seat in the Cruze, and all sorts of colourful screens and lights welcome you – just look at the gorgeous blue halos around the main gauges, or the way the faux-aluminum trim stands out from the dark background that forms the rest of the interior. Instead of inserting boring grey panels on the doors and dash upper in front of the passenger, Chevy has done a one-eighty and gone the cloth route, textured and padded cloth panels. I rather like it, and it also serves to absorb noise emanating from the engine bay.
   2013 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. Click image to enlarge |
I suppose there is the question of durability – I’d keep Velcro away from it – but Chevrolet has been selling the Cruze in North American markets since the 2008 model year, and they’ve been doing the cloth dash thing since then so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
As far as interior measurements go, both cars are pretty much equal; there’s a little more headroom up front in the Cruze, and a little more legroom for rear seat passengers in the Jetta but the only place where you’ll find a marked difference is in the trunk, where the Cruze gives up 62 L – that’s about 15 4L water jugs – to the Jetta.
Even though the cars are so closely matched size-wise, the Cruze is the more comfortable car to sit in up front thanks to more supportive seats, more rounded edges that help make way for stray elbows and knees and the aforementioned lumbar support for the driver.
Rear-seat passengers, however, will be a little more comfortable in the Jetta; although the Cruze technically has more headroom, the Jetta’s increased legroom makes up for this, allowing passengers to sit a little lower in the seat.
   2014 Chevrolet Cruze Clean Diesel. Click image to enlarge |
Ride and handling
Along with the better seats, the Cruze is also the softer-riding car overall.
For a long-distance journey like ours, this was a definite plus but if you want a little more sharpness from your car, a little more pizazz in the corners, the Jetta has the Cruze beat. Exit ramps that had our Cruze’s tires squealing caused nary a chirp from the Jetta – the Cruze’s low-level Goodyear Assurance tires may have had something to do with this – and the Jetta’ steering is a little more on-point.
What we both found with the Jetta, however, was that while we could accept a little firmness on bump, it was the rebound of the suspension that had us wondering; we’d pass over a set of ruts, only to have the Jetta’s rear-end hopping like a ‘65 Impala in a rap video. It was as if VW had over-engineered the suspension, making it too anxious to haul the body back down to the road after a bump. Strange.
Also strange were the Jetta’s brakes. Yes, they’re four-wheel discs all around, but we both found the pedal feel to be mushy to the point of being disconcerting, even at low speeds around town. It reminded me of how a performance car’s brakes can fade after an hour’s lapping on a track, which is not something you want from a car like this. Chalk it up to some cheap materials being used for the brake pads – there’s no way they should need replacing on a car with less than 10,000 km clocked.
