It’s been a bit more than 7 months since I picked up my Chevy Cruze. I just turned over 10,000 miles on it this past week. I’ve spent about 2.5 months of that time in China, so I’m a bit ‘behind’ on what my mileage was expected to be by this time. So far the only work that I’ve had to put into it was to change a bent fuse (weird problem, but easy fix) for the driver’s side headlight, took the car into the dealership to get the shifter assembly replaced because of a defect with second gear, changed the oil, and finally got snow tires put on this week as well.

The snow tires and the cold starts have really eaten into the mileage I get with the car, it seems to have gone down about 15-20% from what I would normally get without those two, but I haven’t put many miles on since then. It’s hard to determine if my driving habits have changed as well since being in China for so long has changed my exposure to traffic and speeds and such. Traffic laws don’t really seem to be inforced there like they are in the US.

Overall I am very happy with the car. I would say the issues I have experienced are far from being dealbreakers for the car and I would definitely make the purchase again in the future if I happen to come to that point. I am excited to see where GM and the other two-thirds of the big three are headed in the high mileage arena in the next 4 years or so when I will be looking to replace the Cruze with a new daily driver.

My highest mileage trip so far was 50.2 mpg traveling across the UP with an average speed somewhere around 63 mph. My lowest so far has not been below 30 mpg, but this next tank, being winter and having the snow tires on the car, may prove to make an exception to that.

I hope my next 10,000 miles are as effortless.