Bought it for the engine now crying for the spares. Review on Chevrolet Cruze 2012

I  was overwhelmed when Cruze launched in India and after I compared the spec sheet to that of Laura it seemed quite a straight forward decision to make the car had a good engine and killer looks.

That along with Chevy promise made me book the car the test drive came later it was impressive and I congratulated myself for a bargain deal since the LTZ has a lot of features that entry Laura does not have.

After taking delivery we took a trip to Dharamshala and and had a place booked in Mcleodganj, the starting from Delhi was good enough no real problems since it was hot I voted to open the sun roof and it was open until we reached Chandigarh. We reached late in the day and it was starting to get nippy so I tried to close the sunroof but to my horror it did not close. My family members started to feel the cold and soon I was forced to make a unscheduled stop in Chandigarh and cancel my booking in Shimla.

The next day I tried forcing the sun roof shut tried to disconnect and reconnect the battery not to no avail finally took the car to the Chevy A.S.S in Chandigarh. They opened up the assembly and said that the motor has gone bad, I told them to replace it thinking it will be covered under the Chevy promise but I was wrong they billed me an insane amount and after some fierce words they told me that its a consumable item and not covered under so I had to pay up and that was that.

We left straight for Dharamshala the next day early around 8 AM but as we reached Karsoog it started to rain heavily and to my dismay the dam sunroof started to leak:( I was angry at the A.S.S people so angry that I called them up an gave them a piece of my mind.They told me to wrap a towel around the screen and then close it again I did exactly that since the rain drops were cold as ice and the car started to smell even with the heater up high.

The towel did the trick initially it was good for the around 30mins but then again it stared to drip I changed the towel and again it worked for around 30mins what I did not realize at the time was that I had damaged the net that comes up when the sunroof is opened. The whole car started to get moist and damp I could not do anything else but drive on till I reached some shelter. We reached a hotel after about two hours and I parked my sweety under a roof opened up the sunroof got the towel out and kept the engine and heater running for about 20mins with the sunrof open after which I took the keys out and went to my room.

The next day the car did not open up at all using the remote I had to use the physical key after I was in the car I tried to start the engine but to my horror the low battery sign came on I tried getting the car pushed but it did not start at all so Mr Rakesh the owner of the lodge gave my battery a jump using his Innova and at last my car sprang back to life after I was certain the battery was charged up we left for Dharamshalaon the way we stopped for lunch and after which I again could not get my car to open up with the remote again had to use the physical key but at least the battery was ok and did not die like the last time.

We reached Dharamshala  late and the very next day I took the car to be looked at it turned out that a rubber sleeve in the sunroof was damaged and needed to be replaced I told him to put a hot patch or something in there so it does not leak but it was as easy the patch was put but when ever I closed the sunroof the patch cameoff desperate I told him to stop the leakage so what he did was shut the sunroof and apply a coat of liquid silicon on all sides of the sun roof as long as the sunroof was shut water would not come in.

The next few days were spent happily until I came back to Delhi, I was told that a parts of the sunroof had to be changed because it was damaged. These parts included the rubber seal brace, rubber seal and also the net. The sensor in the car that detects the key was also said to be dead and because it was my fault "moisture in car" the sensor will not be replaced for free.

Chevy should really step up their A.S.S and not just blame the user for everything how was I suppose to stop moisture from building up in the car without a fully sealed sunroof. I am just to cashless to get all the problems fixed and I have only asked the sunroof to be fixed in closed because it was the cheapest option available.

I hope you can understand where the A.S.S stand and how they work not to mention the super high cost of their spares. If you are interested in the Cruze I will not tell you its worthless but know where you stand with A.S.S and cost of ownership. I will have to fix up the car in the future but right now I am just angry that all these added repairs cost more than they would for a Skoda Laura, one of the reasons why I bought the car was VFM and its distorted at this time.

UPDATE: Ok let me update you all on what has happened since I wrote the review. I had a chat with a high rank PR person from Chevy HQ India he tell me that its not a problem with the car but in how I am using the sun screen. He says that the sun screen should not be left open for such a long period of time and they cant help me in terms of coverage.

I also have asked about the PEPS sensor and got a similar response. The sensor was water damaged  and thus is not covered.

UPDATE 2: Found a PEPS assembly on ebay international but its very expensive still a lot cheaper than the local A.S.S rate.

UPDATE 3: Ordered the sensor of ebay gave money to a worker from the A.S.S who will install it in my home. Also the sunroof is now sealed for good took the car to 3M and they suggested a epoxy fiber based paste to seal the rubber sleeves. The epoxy is so strong that even if I try and open the sunroof the roof did not budge at all still I got motor disconnected.