The Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cruze finished in the middle of Consumer Reports magazine's compact car top picks, but an official said testing was done before tweaks were done.
David Champion, director of automotive testing, said the Cruze is much better than the car it replaced, the Chevrolet Cobalt, in terms of quietness, comfort, ride and feel.
"It's a competitive car," he said.
But he said the car is a bit heavy, hurting its fuel economy. Another issue was the transmission, which Champion said was slow to respond when accelerating. But he acknowledged Chevrolet adjusted the transmission.
The Cruze ranked above the Volkswagen Jetta, Ford Focus and Honda Civic. The Suburu Impreza topped the small car list, edging out the Hyundai Elantra.
The Mazda 3, Nissan Sentra, Kia Forte and Toyota Corolla finished above the Cruze.