All generations and engines together · 4,322 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 82k
One of the worst family hatchbacks per mile driven. Watch emissions/leaks and suspension. A risky used buy. Check the MOT history for repeating emissions/leaks advisories before you go.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press, with how well each report stands up. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
On 1.8-litre petrol Cruzes from around 2011, road splash could corrode the right front axle shaft badly enough that it fractured; one separate case of a driveshaft snapping outright was also logged. GM acknowledged the problem and issued technical service bulletin 11225B, offering free replacement shafts to affected owners. If a car of this age and engine hasn't got paperwork for the fix, have the shaft checked for pitting or rust scale near the joint.
On automatics, the brake pedal switch has been reported failing or working loose, which can leave the gear selector jammed in Park until it's replaced. Separately, a full automatic transmission failure was logged on a 2013 1.8 automatic. Owners of the same-generation Cruze sold in the US log the automatic gearbox as their single biggest complaint area, with rough or delayed shifts appearing from as little as 15,000 miles and full failures averaging around 65,000 miles. Doesn't apply to manual cars.
Coolant escaping into the cabin, usually blamed on the heater matrix or its pipework, was reported often enough on the same-generation US-built Cruze to draw class-action attention, with around 50 separate cooling-system complaints logged on the 2011 model year alone and a sweet antifreeze smell as the giveaway. UK reports are thinner, but the measured MOT data for this segment already flags the Cruze's signature fault as emissions and leaks, so a car that's lost fluid somewhere fits the pattern rather than breaking it. Worth a proper coolant system check, hoses, matrix and water pump, on any car past 60,000 miles regardless of engine.
Road testers have noted the 2.0-litre diesel pulls poorly under 2,000rpm until it's fully warm, with fuel metering that feels less polished than rival VAG or PSA-sourced units, sometimes showing as a flat spot or hesitation under part-throttle. Owners haven't widely flagged it as a breakdown risk, more a since-new annoyance, but it's worth asking if a car has had any injector or ECU work done to chase driveability complaints. No TSB or recall found for it.
Chevrolet's UK passenger-car range was wound down through the mid-2010s, with Honest John's own sale record showing different Cruze variants dropping out between 2011 and 2017, and the brand's official UK dealer and servicing network has since gone. Parts shared with the Vauxhall Astra J on the same platform are easy enough to find; anything Cruze-specific can take longer and cost more than the car's value suggests. Owners disagree on how much this bites day to day, some report no trouble sourcing parts through GM's channels or breakers, others say it has got harder over time.
Ranked from this model’s own MOT record, then from what owners report.
Saveable checklistThe physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
Drawn from the reports above rather than the MOT data. These are the model-specific ones.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 4,306 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Same segment (Family hatchbacks), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.