GM HOLDEN has plenty of healing to do over the next few years, but the JG Cruze small car is not the cynical Band-Aid application that the odorous JF Viva was. As good as that car was bad, the South Korean-built but German Opel-engineered Cruze is likely to impress with its class-leading value, safety, cabin design and standard specification. And while some rivals might be better in other ways, this Holden, incredibly, is often not too far behind. Sadly, it kills off the underrated AH Astra for now, and no hatch is forthcoming for the time being, but Australian small-car buyers now have yet another compelling option to consider, while Holden at last seems to have found at least one remedy for its slow sales blues.