The kids these days, they have it so damn easy with their iPhones and Ubers and Pokemon and Cruzes. We had to drive s—boxes like the Ford Escort, Dodge Shadow and Chevy Cavalier. Now every car is “good” and every car will last 100,000-plus miles, as long as you take care of it. Which brings me to the Cruze, it’s honestly nicer than any car I’ve ever owned except the new Mustang I bought at age 35.

I do like the old, more angular look better. The Cruze now has the same shape as the Dodge Dart and Ford Focus, just a jelly bean of wind cheating. The front end is stylish I suppose, and there’s nothing really offensive about it. It’s just kinda blah. But hey, for 20,000 bucks, you can’t complain.

The 1.4-liter turbo is powerful enough to move this sedan around without complaint, and I do love that it’s offered with a six-speed — there may be hope for the young’uns yet. But this gearbox was a little chewed up — I hope — or second gear is just really hard to hit when shifting fast. I ground it a few times when trying to get up to speed. It’s probably just our tester. But it feels fine at expressway speeds, if you need to pass just drop a gear and you’ll be fine.

Steering is rather numb, but that’s fine in a car of this class. The suspension is plenty compliant, but maybe a little noisy. Again though, it’s completely acceptable for a car in this class.

It feels like there’s a good amount of space inside. I couldn’t reach the passenger side door from the driver’s seat without leaning over, which is my general test. And there’s more than enough room in back for a bunch of college kids, who I think will be the main market. There are a handful of different materials on the dash, which bothers me a little bit, but at least they were all black. The radio setup was clean and worked well, and the seats were relatively comfy.

I think I still like the Ford Focus in the American corner of this segment, but the Cruze is right there, too. Both are a good value. I think the base Focus might be a little more fun to drive, better steering feel, but still, it’s a solid, inexpensive cruiser, and you might even get to the 40s in mpg.

— Jake Lingeman, road test editor