2012 Chevrolet Orlando

Vehicle: 2012 Chevrolet Orlando 2LT
Price as tested: CDN$24895

Performance: When an Orlando isn’t available anywhere in Orlando, here it is Chervolet’s Canadian-exclusive people mover.

Consider Orlando’s competition, it doesn’t come as a surprise that it comes with only one single powertrain. However, it doesn’t share the form of small turbocharged 4-cylinder as its chassis architecture, Cruze. What the Orlando received is GM’s 2.4 liter Ecotec DOHC 16-valve motor from Equinox crossover, which is good for 174 ponies and 171 lb/ft of torque. In a nutshell, this engine is only adequate to move our 2LT tester’s 1616 kg of curb weight around its wrist. While the amount of refinement and smoothness are up to the snuff in this people mover segment, which is currently held the post by Mazda5. This Ecotec is only able to enough to move 5 persons adequately while 7 barely. That’s not to say Orlando is sluggish, its not yet been able to classified as undepowered but adequate seems to be the best description. However, its smooth 6-speed maumatic has done more than enough works to keep Orlando moving toward Disneyland. Thankfully, the 1st and 2nd gears are short enough to keep Orlando launching urgently, while 3rd and 4th would keep its merging with freeway. 5th and 6th would keep it crusiing comfortably on highway. If you just want to get the max out of the Orlando, its manumatic mode would help keep the engine in boiling mode all the time.

Handling: Its hard to fault Orlando’s architecture as it shares with the excellent Cruze compact. That means the chassis is both rigid and solid, with a great foundation for suspension components to hang its hats. When it comes to people mover, Orlando’s dynamic equation is about as good as its benchmarked Mazda5. While Mazda5 certainly provides more driving fun through the twisties, not that you should do that with the whole family inside. Mind you. Its European influence through its chassis tuning has shined through the corners. The electric power steering provides positive yet responsive feel and feedback, its also relatively precise to the point where it reminds me more of a Cruze than an Orlando. There is terminal understeer while body motions are well-controlled. Suspension is well-damped, with provide supple ride quality. That means its comfortably compliant while absorbing all the expansion joints, roughness and washboard pavements where we called Canadian roads. With GM’s excellent Stabiliztrak stability control, its able to eliminate understeer and oversteer, when a good daddy suddently got naughty when pushed Orlando too hot in a corner.

Brakes: With full disc brakes all around and standard ABS, Orlando mananged to stop itself commandably. The stopping distance is short, while pedal feels crisp and alive. In the past, GM brakes tend to feel numb and spongy. Orlando’s brakes always have some lives to its feel and feedback. Add to the standard ABS which doesn’t have any unwanted intervention, it wraps up its sound dynamic package.

Interior: The front of the Orlando has been very well layout. As it got everything else from a nice set of climate control and stereo, which are both ergonomic and initutive. The use of materials and fit-and-finish have been equally well, although we still found quite amount of cheesy plastic on the dashboard. What I am not really fond is the graphics on the dashboard, which look kind of gaudy in a rather clean interior.

The biggest highlight is the spacious 2nd row seats, which provide spacious head and legrooms while seating 3 persons across comfortably. The 3rd row provides decent legroom but headroom is at a premium for my 170cm height.

What makes the Orlando seperates from its major rival is the luggage space. With both the 2nd and 3rd row fold down completely, it has wagon-ized 1594 liters of luggage space, which is very impressive. The more impressive aspect is the whole cargo floor is completely flat, with a single inch above the floor, when all the seats are completely fold-down. The 2nd row is also able to fold down 1/3 or 2/3 when its time to travel with 4 or 3 persons occassionally when its time to go to Ikea for a cupholder. When it comes to versatility, Orlando is very much like a Cruze wagon.

Conclusion: The Orlando would serve 95% of all the consumer’s needs and wants. Although the powertrain is barely adequate to move its heavy curb weight, its the interior layout and luggage space which would appeal to consumers. Add to the fact that its European influenced handling and ride compromise, with attractive feature content to the mix. Perhaps Mazda5 has finally met its true rival…..:)

Those in Orlando will certainly missed the opportunity to purchase such a nice people mover.

Competitions:
Ford Transit Connect
Mazda5
Scion Xb
Kia Rondo
Mitsubishi Outlander

OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2012 Chevrolet Orlando
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Performance: 2/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 4.5/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 4/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 4/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 5/5
Value-for-money: 4.5/5

Overall rating: 4/5