Video: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze

Now we've seen this for more than a year, Chevy tends to talk a lot about cars before they're out. They've talked it up, they built it up. They say it's as good as the other stuff in the compact-car class. Let's take a look and see if it is. Now I think the car looks okay. I don't think the styling is gonna sell it really to anyone in particular. The battleground these days in cars, especially in smaller, lower priced cars is the interior. Now Chevy has said this thing will compete with some of the best sellers like the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla and the Civic is a premium car. They want to go toe to toe in terms of interior quality. In the show car here, it looks like they've got a shot. I'm not a big fan of silver plastic. The texture on this one, the design actually makes it look pretty good. Now this is something we haven't seen a lot of, this textured material on the dashboard. It's like a woven actually almost like a seat material. Some people will like it, some people won't. I actually think in the black like this, it looks not that bad. Another car this year at the show has a tan leather so you don't have to go with this woven material if you're not into it. Now another important thing when you're competing in the small-car class is how much room you have and that's actually a kind of an ace in the hole for the Cruze. Larger than cobalt that it's replacing and larger than a lot of other stuff. It has a tilt-telescoping steering wheel, which is good to have and man, this seat goes back so far. I can't even reach the pedals and I'm six feet tall. Backseat, same story. With a small car you want to be able to accommodate people. Now I have the driver's seat, basically, where I would have it to drive very comfortably. I could push it forward more if I want it, not bad, again, I'm six feet tall. My knees are kind of poking into the back rest here, raised a bit, but there is enough headroom. You know, interior space does matter in a compact car. Same story with cargo, small car you want to have enough space. The trunk in the Cruze is 15 cubic feet. That's really big for a compact that's well into mid-sized car territory and obviously the seats fold down. Now Chevy says the interior and the trunk are more like a larger car. They say the mileage is more like a smaller car subcompact with highway mileage in the high thirties, even as high as 40 in a special version. They also say it's fun to drive. Those last two things we're gonna have to test for ourselves and when we do, we'll let you know. <v Narrator>For more car related news, go to cars.com or our blog kickingtires.net.