Holden Cruze JH (2012-2016)

Do not buy this car – Bought this car new from Holden dealership in 2016. Was told there would be free services for 3 years and lifetime of capped services after that. This was a lie and I was charged around the 800 dollar mark for each service. Problems started in the first 6 months of ownership, it needed 2 new coil packs in the first and second year , thermostat… Read more

housing units,transmission issues, engine light was coming on every few months since buying it. Every year I have oil and coolant leaks, every year has cost around 1300 to fix coolant leaks and even after changing everything and buying new parts, the leaks keep happening. If you are thinking of buying this car second hand, please buy anything else. My car is currently broken down again and I'm not even going to see what the issue is this time, it's going to the wreckers. This car has left me stranded more times than I can count. The fixes have been expensive and car was a lemon from the start..I will never ever consider another Holden car again. Absolutely disgusted with this company

Any positive reviews has to be a lie – Do you like cheapness do you like an engine compartment that leaks all types of fluids do you also like a transmission/gearbox that was destined to fail,I was given a 2014 sri z with turbo at 108,000ks only got to 136,000ks and that was it the transmission started clunking it went into limp mode and 4 dashboard lights came on,got it diagnosed and… Read more

surprise surprise the transmission is screwed, would cost $1000's to replace and even mechanic's were sceptical about that,what a piece of absolute garbage don't ever buy one don't ever be given one any still on the road are definitely running on borrowed time (or on it's 2nd transmission) any owners of one might think otherwise but you are wrong it will happen to you unregistered and sold it for $800 in the same day what a disappointing piece of junk GM your "quality" hasn't changed, garbage garbage garbage garbage!

I love my Coco CRUZE!! – Coco Cruze (Named after Coco Peru) is a 2014 SRi-Z Series 6 Speed Manual. This is actually my third Cruze. Funnily enough, when I purchased my Cruze, my mechanic friend stopped talking to me. Coco has been by far, the best car I have ever owned. We do city driving, country driving and everything in-between. Coco has never skipped a beat. I service… Read more

it every 7,500 or 6 months. Coolant gets changed yearly, and I make sure all maintenance is up to scratch. I'm currently at 112,900 km and hope to see many more years out of Coco. Recently I was given a hire car after someone hit my car. It was a brand new VW T-CROSS. I could not wait to get back into Coco. I really do think these 1.6 turbo Cruzes were underrated, In my experience and opinion they are a brilliant little car.

2013-2016 SRi's are criminally underrated – I've owned a 2013 Cruze SRI V for the last 2 years and despite the bad reviews I love it. Currently at 210,000 km and it drives like beauty. Never had any major issue with it (I do service it every 10,000 km). The 1.6 Turbo engine is actually quite fun, and far better than the gutless 1.8 Petrol or the 1.4 Turbo. Got a decent amount of power and… Read more

acceleration for the price too. I only paid $9000 back in 2020 yet it can beat VE SV6's that costs $5000-$10000 more.

Would never recommend a 2009-2012 Cruze, or any 1.8 Petrol Cruze (too gutless and boring) but the 2013-2016 1.6 Turbo SRi's are criminally underrated.

The Holden Cruze is a piece of Crap! – I purchased a Holden Cruze brand new in December 2016 with a five year factory warranty. The car has always been serviced by the book and has in fact had extra oil changes every 6 months. Since new I have only travelled 37700 Km. The check-engine light is on. Holden Dealers have diagnosed it. Replaced many engine parts. Total cost to me nearly… Read more

$3500 and guess what the engine light is still on. I complained to Holden Customer Care but they simply washed their hands off the issue. They just do not care. The car is only out of warranty by about 12 months. Customer Care just do not care. Never buy a Holden vehicle ever again!

Car is a write off before it's even 8 years old and hasn't even hit 90k – This car has been an absolute nightmare since purchasing. Holden lied about free servicing and capped price, as they would add "optional extras" without explaining the option extras. My first free service cost me almost $500.00. This car has cost me a fortune to pay off and then on top of that the services were rarely below $800.00. The turbo has… Read more

been gutless since I got it and it only got worse. I have done less than 90k in this peice of junk, which has had two thermostat housing failures, the last one has now caused the cylinder to crack, leaving the car basically a write off. The coil packs have failed so many times, I lost count after the 8th time. Owning this car has been an absolute nightmare, the fact I will be soon rid of it is the only positive. The amount of money I have spent on this trash, I could have bought something much much nicer. Thank God Holden is gone in Australia, they are a bunch of theives and I hope General Motors is next to go.

First 10 years were ok. Last Year has been a nightmare – Got it new using Salary Sacrifice in Sept 2011. Paid 16K for it when i left that job in 2013. Full service history. 1.8L 6SP Auto Run only on 98ULP its entire life (naively thinking I could make the engine last longer) Only done 89K 50K+ of that was Adelaide - Melbourne return and Adelaide - Sydney return. Worth noting I never had any issues on… Read more

the highways and was a pleasant enough at different times of year. Loved the heated leather seats and

Mar 2013 -November 21

Did require quite a bit of work for the age including: -Brakes replaced 3 times -CV Boot blew - lost power steering on busy main road (massive and expensive job) -Suspension replaced (warranty) -Takata airbag (warranty) -Power Steering Pump replaced in May 20 (1.5K) -globes in headlights replaced ($40)

November 21 Driving over West Gate bridge in peak hour: - the auto trans started flaring (1st time) -Had to tow it home didn't improve -Spent 3.5K getting fixed by dodgiest Auto trans people in Melbourne (Airport West area) -Lasted 4 weeks before flaring started spontaneously on Boxing Day -Too scared to drive too far from home since then -Mid Feb-22, the trans flared again and revved the motor so high, it blew the emission control sensors.

Summary -Was a good car, but it is now at that point where it costs more to repair and the risk so high that other latent or hidden problems are lurking that it is no longer viable, despite being in mint condition.

To be fair, I had no idea these cars were so bad until everything started failing at once and I tried to DYOR some causes. However, for a car too completely crap the bed after 10 years and only 80K with full service history and Kingswood Country level TLC is just unacceptable.

Good riddance Holden. You got what you deserved.

Holden you disappoint me – Any other problem any other Cruze owner has had and then some I bought it in Dec 2014 crossover model 2011 but a 3012 features .. it had 45k on the clock and one previous owner bought it from a Holden dealership. I traded my 2007 be commodore, as I needed a car that used less fuel. I also purchased the extended new car warranty. The car had been… Read more

serviced prior to purchase or so they said. In January 2016 problems started 63k the turbo died. My extended warranty that I paid for was not worth the paper it was written on, they voided all warranty cos it was 1500k out from their schedule (try getting a car serviced at Christmas/new year/ I managed to scrape the funds to get it repaired/replaced. At 65k the front rotors had to be replaced, 75k it started overheating, thermostat housing replaced, 80k water pump 90k resisvior,, loss of power is a common issue esp if aircon on, hoses split often it has been 140k now gearbox is sluggish, the only reason I still have it is due to just paying it off, and not in a financial position to purchase another car. I am a Holden girl but this car has cost me a fortune to buy and the constant repairs.

These cars are lemons and a bottomless money pit!! – Bought the car brand new, Holden insisted all the problems were on the earlier models and had been fixed by the 2014 JH Z series, had the car serviced every 15,000 kilometres & spent half the car price again on repairs. 3 failed thermostats, 1 replaced under warranty, failed oil cooler, cracked head & gasket, faulty coil pack, transmission oil was… Read more

black, cracked water bottle, list goes on & on. All the major problems occur just when the car is out of warranty at 5 years or at around 150,000 kilometres.

Overall good – Ive purchased the Holden Cruze 2012 SRI manual brand new in 2012 from McGrath Liverpool, NSW. overall it ha been good, , ive done nearly 130000 kms and since purchase have had no mechanical issues. its good on fuel and being a manual with turbo it does have good acceleration and can rev out quite a bit. small issues ive had are key fobs falling… Read more

apart which i replaced, paint near side mirrors fading. ive read other reviews stating this car is a lemon, i think their mainly the 1.8 litre automatics.

My 2015 112000 k Australian Assembled turbocharged 1.6 siamese bored engine 6 speed cruze, is still cruzen hard – I’ve owned my 2015 turbocharged 1.6 6 speed Australian assemble cruze for seven years, with a few small modifications, this rocket gets around 6 litres per 100 kilometres, it’s been serviced every 5000 K’s and it’s always had Castrol MagneTec pro 5W 30 put in it. It blows my mind that these cars are meant to be serviced every 15000 K’s. That’s… Read more

what kills cars. The day I picked up My cruze I put a K&N oil filler and a pod filter on it. I removed the two massive rear mufflers that weighed 42 kilos, and being turbocharged it’s still EPA legal noise wise, plus I put Performance drilled and slotted brake rotors and pads on in the first week of owning this cruze, there still on there and about half worn, It’s got 112000 Ks on it, it was used as my RACV patrol car for five years, in Shepparton and all surrounding country town’s including the Bahma Forest, and it pulled out more bogged cars and 4 wheel drives than I could count, it will keep up with any standard V8, so to all the haters of a cruze, it was probably the Korean one, the Australian Version has a siamese bore engine, means there TUFF the only thing I do to this car religiously besides servicing every 5000 k’s is change the coolant overflow bottle every year, there $40, they have a problem leaking. Now that’s a massive problem for any car, and it was a massive problem for the cruze, because when people seen the overflow bottle low they just topped it up, the problem was yes it got topped up but now there’s a massive amount of air in the cooling system, that turns into steam real quick and if the system wasn’t bleed from the bleeding plug on the top off the radiator it’s going to boil in a few days guaranteed game set and match, all because of a poorly made overflow bottle, sorry if this was boring but to those who like there cruze I hope this helps.

Total Lemon, Worst Car Ever Owned – I bought a used Holden Cruze 2013 with 109,000km on the odometer. I’ve owned a few used cars before, but this was by far the worst car I’ve ever had the misfortune to own. Within 3 weeks of purchase the car lost all accelerative power and began “shutting down”. Took it back to the dealership who found one problem after the other, 7 weeks worth… Read more

of repairs thankfully covered under warranty. Then an engine coolant leak, followed by an engine oil leak, then a fan that would rev loudly when idling, faulty temperature gauge and finally a major engine coolant leak that required my car to be towed. So in total about 5 episodes of service for major faults in the space of 7 months. The dealership was so embarrassed they gave me a nearly full refund when I requested they buy it back. Not before it spat out one last load of engine oil on my driveway. I will never buy a Holden again, avoid the Holden Cruze at all costs.

Lemon re badged Daweo – Spent more time in dealer than in driveway but they could never fault it until we caught them out. Slow and gutless looks nice but driving it was garbage . Was a family car that family hated  Show details

Do not buy this car – I would give this 0 stars if possible. Never EVER buy this car. If you see a used Cruze for sale - don’t do it no matter how good a deal it appears to be. We purchased this car brand new in 2013. For the first 2-3 years it was ok with no major issues. Then it just started falling apart. Coolant issues, engine light going on and off, constant oil… Read more

leaks amongst other issues. After years and thousands of dollars we recently discovered the turbo, water pump and cylinders were all falling apart/not working and the car has now been sent to the wreckers where it belongs. Every single mechanic we have seen cringes when would tell them we had a Holden Cruze. Just don’t do it.

Save yourself the headaches and believe all the bad press – I downgraded my car so I could get a home loan. I wanted a cheap run about. I read all the reviews on the Cruze but thought surely they can't all be duds so took a chance and bought a Cruze. I got about 10000ks from it before I started having issues. I had the car for a year and half and in that time needed to replace the thermostat , water pumper… Read more

, turbo , numerous cooling hoses and oil pipes. After fixing all these the turbo started leaking again ! So enough was enough and I sold it. Purchased a Lancer which was made in the same year. I've now had the lancer for three years and not a single issue. Believe the reviews on the this poorly built car and save yourself some money and get something else.

Rubbish – I my opinion the biggest load of rubbish to hit the streets with all the recalls, overheating, transmission problems and various other flaws. Drive one (eject yourself first though) over a cliff.

Built like a tank, a good drive, a little annoying – Car is a daily driver that does a lot of rural driving. The 1.6 turbo petrol is powerful and good fun but the engine gearbox combination is clearly a bit old compared to a new comparable car like a Kia Cerato GT. I’ve had two of these. The first written off after a hail storm. It also crashed into a large kangaroo doing 100kph. The car… Read more

remained composed during the crash and the fact that it was repaired not written off by the roo says a lot. Outstanding road holding. A real pleasure in the curves. Good seats and headroom. On my first one, same model but plastics broke in a few places. Same km on the new one but no broken plastics. Centre display is too bright but it can be turned off and it’s got reasonably poor software.

Holden cruze lemon – Had oil in the sump dish had to repla e coil pack and spark plugs twice oil went through hole water system had every part water goes through replaced had 3 water bottles 2 thermostates the list goes on $6000 in repares Show details

Holden cruze is a piece of junk – Only travelling mostly local from home and work. 90km car yr is 2014 Car service was on time and after that every 4 months. I've had transmission issue's, oil leaks and coolant leaking even after changing tubes multiple time's. Show details

Don't get one... constant electrical issues – We have had a lot of issues with our Holden Cruze. So many sensors needed replacing to the point where we would stop replacing them because the engine light would always come on for something else. Each sensor is a few hundred to replace plus the labour costs. It's been a nightmare. The car doesn't have much power either. Would never buy a Holden again. Show details

Accident Prone – I have a 2015 Holden Cruze Sri and the past 2 weeks my computer screen has been flicking off then coming back on again. It will also cut all of the power to my car and lock the steering wheel for a few secs before coming back on. When i bought the car this was an issue for 2 months. After returning it to dealership it was good with no glitches… Read more

for 2 months until 2 weeks ago when it started up again. I noticed it happens when im connected to my bluetooth, aux, usb, playing radio or even just charging my phone. If i disconnect everything however and turn the screen off, i dont experience this issue. But then i face the Steering Lock Column Issue when u try to turn my car back on zzz. I've asked Aunty Google and Uncle Youtube and they both spit out things about BCM replacement or fuse etc....help me!

Terrible car, stay away, a rip off from holden GM – Bought on 2016, when it was 15000 KM, used for 2 years, towed 6 times from freeway, loss of power, coolant leaks, ignition coil failure, faulty gearbox, changed all cooling system, And it continue, stay away from this car, save your money. Show details

Great Family Car – We have had our Cruze for almost 4yrs now and we still love it like the day we first bought it. Its been used for daily commute to work and up and down dirt roads with no dramas. We have put on well over 70,000km since purchasing and have had no major dramas with it. We get it serviced regularly to the service book recommendation and have had no… Read more

major issues mechanically. One of the best cars I have owned and would happily buy another again if I had to!

Cooling system faults. Continuesly – Have replaced the coolant system completely and some componants several times in two years. Also replaced the coil pack four times during this period. The car has been teken to several mechanics and auto electricians with good reputations and the same problems keep returning. Wouldn't recommend to anyone to ever consider purchasing a cruze. Show details

I am worried – My MY13 Cruze Sriv manual hatch has been a great car! Love the look, love the interior. Great for a young woman. I'm starting to get worried. Car has done almost 120k. Concerns in order - window tint bubbled on rear and side window, plastic side mirror moulds had paint fade (replaced by Holden), recall on front diffuser, steering column lock… Read more

warning 'Fixed' by holden after having my car for 2 days. Warning popped up as I started the car in the parking lot of Holden... so henceforth my doors lock, then auto unlock (apparently they're linked) then, car started spluttering on the way to work at approx 100ks on the odometer. Pulled over on the side of the road - coolant manifold cracked. Got that fixed then not long after, coolant hose cracked - pull over again. Since the coolant issue my car has lacked power and changing gears is a wrestling match, not smooth at all. In the midst of this my a/c wasn't blowing cold air. Had gas charged and filter replaced. Still no ice cold air and a wrotting smell. When I turn a/c on auto or full ball it is the noisiest f*#^ing thing I've ever heard. Most recent.. coolant leaking into engine bay. Just spoke to my mechnic and he's concerned I may have a cracked head gasket as there's no coolant on the ground when I drive off.

I hope there is nothing more sinister to what I've noted. It would be such a shame. Hope I'm just a hypochondriac She's very sluggish these days.

Advice: Be wary of older models that haven't been looked after.

I will never buy holden again! – I loved Holdens when I was younger and after owning many I have found design, construction and customer care of thier products over the past 20 years has declined dramaticly (since the VT models). I recently bought a second hand Cruze and I have all the same problems described by others and with only 75000km's on the odometer. It has been the… Read more

worst life decision I have ever made and I'm glad I haven't thrown any money at it, Holden won't get another cent from me ever again. It is a discrace and the Australian government should make them accountable. A Mcdonalds Ice cream machine on a hot summer day is more reliable than my Holden Cruze. To cap it all off GM Motors took $265 million in subsidies from hard working Australian tax payers and then moved production offshore. It will be the happiest day of my life when General Motors stop selling cars in Australia. Sales have declined so much recently Holden have resorted to trying to offload their lemons through Maven rental cars which is a GM Holden company. A smart person would suggest they are ashamed of their own company name and are trying to hide behind a different name which is unethical and should be illegal. Kinda like when Holden decided to disguise a Korean made car with an Australian badge. SHAME ON YOU HOLDEN, I can't stress enough, do yourself a favour and save a lot of headache and money and NEVER EVER buy Holden!

Worst Car Ever – Worst car ever. That’s not fair... I’ve only owned 10 cars and only driven about 100 so I could be biased? Basically, day 1 of buying it ... needed to have calipers and breaks replaced within a week. Within warranty, I had the transmission changed twice. 1 part goes, go to Holden... and next time a part that sits right next to that part goes.… Read more

Clearly it’s pathetic engineering. What’s awesome is Holden plugs their computer in and says “the ECM is telling us it may be this, or it could also be (insert 50 other things)”. Grreeeaaaattt. Went to sell it, and no car dealership would give me any better than $2k trade in for a car that’s is road worthy and has only 90k on the clock!!! Avoid buying this car... I hope this saves someone a lot of hassles. What do I do now? Nail the bonnet shut and see how long it lasts ...

Expensive repairs – My daughter bought one a year ago 1.6 turbo auto. Originally it drove well , then 10 mths later at 150k it had a few coolant leaks and codes coming up , due to leaks being hard to get to ie removing the turbo and manifold etc water pump leak and timing belt , thermostat code on along with other issues the mechanic bill was quoted at $4300 parts… Read more

and labour. We traded the car in asap as she couldn't afford the repairs. Before the issues it drove well and had plenty of power it was still driving ok when traded but those upcoming repairs blew us away.

Holden Cruze - poorly designed – Pros: - Great breaking, has emergency breaks. - Has a good interior design, comfy seats, buttons on wheel, nice screen, good speakers. - Good boot size Cons: Terrible. Horrible design. - Slow to accelerate, lacks power - Gear Shifting ia horrible! Auto changes gears to the wrong gear, e.g. it jumps from 3rd to 5th when it's meant to be in… Read more

3rd then jumps back. - No back windscreen wiper... Why! - Mine shuts down if it doesn't get logbook serviced on the service kms, e.g. 60,000, and 75,0000 etc. - The wheels rubs against the body when you turn full lock, and they are average sized wheels. - There is a plastic piece below the car that is attached to the fuel line! If a rock hits it, the fuel line will be destroyed and the WHOLE fuel line will need to replaced. They are hard to find and have to be ordered from over seas... what a poor design!

The biggest SHAME of Holden – Purchased second hand in January 2018 $16,500 still with warranty worked OK until 90,000Km came up in September from then until now April 2019 the car has been off the road for more than 10 weeks in total, Holden denied a warranty claim 100,251Km on the clock and was still the same issue "loss of power" and would go into emergency/care mode, the… Read more

computer codes always the same, we replaced the cylinder head in December after going nowhere, the dealer coughed up for the majority but it still cost us and the car had been off the road since October after being supposedly repaired on 3 occasions, its now off the road again because the computer says its overheating and the car stops this has been fixed twice and still happening give it a rest for 5 minutes after travelling 10kms then it goes again and then car could go all day. Have traded in for $4,000, NRMA will be happy after umpteen call-outs. Will never buy another Holden after our experience with their head office couldn't fault the dealership but Holden!!! My advice if they look nice in the dealers yard leave them there don't buy one!!

Absolutely disgusting car! – I purchased my cruze brand new from Barry bourke. Also extended warranty as i do alot of hwy kms. Low and behold 120000kms the turbo and 2 catalytic converters went after arguing with holden with them telling me i dont have extended warranty I have the car repaired... 3 weeks later the new turbo blows!!! Many arguments with the dealer principle… Read more

and the owners son and im no closer to having this piece of crap fixed. 6k on a 2 year old car disgusting customer service. Not to mention still waiting on my takarta airbag to be replaced and my flaring transmission to be fixed. Earth wire not clipped on correctly resulting in the car stalling at high speeds. Coil pack went and rotars and pads replaced at 50000km! Please if anyone wishes to join me in taking holden to court let me know i want my money back for all repairs and the waste of money that is the holden cruze!!!!! Never again will I buy a holden and I wont be purchasing anything off Barry Bourke Warragul or Berwick!!!!