I will give my complete review soon but I am BLOWN away by this vehicle. I'm going to drive it again b/c I am shocked actually.

Can you say 30MPG highway!

 

I had a base Malibu with the 4cyl for a rental last week. I drove from the Philadelphia airport to southern NJ the first night, and the gas gauge was still full well into the next day. I actually thought it might have been broken

 

Not to be sarcastic but...

30MPG isn't really that impressive, even if it was the V6 model. The 3.5L in the Camry is easily capable of 31 or 32mpg on the highway, and the 4cylinder is a bit better than that/

Other than that, the new Malibu is certainly a nice car.

 

I was literally blown away at the quality, fit, and finish of the Malibu's interior. Would you believe, even better than Camry or Accord? Yep!

 

+1, I've driven the LS460 and I was able to muster up 30-31mpg on the freeway.

 

This is one of a few American cars I wouldn't mind buying. I really like both interior and exterior.

 

On the highway, I regularly get 30-32 mpg, depending on my mph, in the ES 350.

I agree, the new Malibu is nice looking inside and out. They always catch my eye when I see them in traffic.

 

Here's my old review of the 2008 Malibu 1LT model with the 4-cylinder (back then, I wasn't posting pictures like I do now...didn't know how). The LTZ model at that time wasn't available yet. It will be interesting to see how your LTZ will compare with the 1LT. (All Malibus now, including the 4 cylinder, now have the 6-speed automatic)

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ew+2008+malibu

If possible, cross-check a Malibu Hybrid on a quick test-drive....but they are hard to get, like many hybrids today.

 

In the case of the Camry that's not hard. I've no doubt the Camry fits together well, but it looks like it came out of a cracker jack box.

The Malibu looks GREAT inside.

 

Really looking forward to your review.

 

If you are blown away but the Chevy Malibu...then you will ***** your pants when you drive the Genesis 4.6

 

It was just like this


I am PISSED that I forgot to take pics. The only pics I have are of other idiots who can't park around the Malibu and I took pics to share here. The Malibu is partially in the pic.

Like many people, my family was one that bought a GM product in the past. My dads had a new 92 Pontiac Grand Am as a company car and decided to buy it.

New, nice car. Good space, hard plastics that cut children but for a coupe roomy. The engine was harsh and loud and the car handled like it wanted to kill you. However it was pretty reliable outside of literally falling apart as the years went by. Paint turned to crap, plastic and chrome started to wear off and we take care of our cars. A month after he bought it, the engine blew at 140k miles, so he bought a new engine for it. It soon feel to pieces.

Having moved on in life a GM product hasn't crossed their minds or mine, as I was a kid/teen watching this car turn to crap. And if you are like me, you have VIVID memories of the first cars you drove. Therefore GM can kiss our money goodbye. So as you can see, GM is nowhere on the radar for them or me.

I've had rentals in the past and I've had the last gen Malibu and the previous gen Malibu as a rental. I wanted to cry driving both. Lets start with the last gen. It was ugly as sin for one so I don't even want to drive it. You sit on the seats and realize some guy named "Mongo" designed the interior. I remember thinking to myself
1. How can GM tell us they are making better cars
2. Who in their right mind would pick this over an Accord/Camry?

It handled like you shouldn't be in the car. It was loud and rough. I couldn't wait to give it back. Oh the trunk was big.

That was the LAST generation, thus the PREVIOUS generation was worse, outside of having a better dash layout and being of some design influence to the G35. Bland but not ugly. Harsh auto, harsh engine, loud, panel pieces made of twinkies and utterly revolting.

Now we have read and heard about this new Malibu. MMarshall did a great review on it. We have read and heard GM made a SERIOUS attempt here and it is simply one of the best GM products around.

Now to me, saying X-car is one of the best GM products around is telling me that "my 4 foot stripper performs better than my 3 foot stripper". So while I liked how it looks in pictures and read about this car, I was expected to be turned off after a drive.

Boy was I wrong.

 

First off the car looks fantastic. Now I am not entirely sure if its because the Altima/Accord/Camry all are goofy or ugly and the Malibu looks less ugly but I honestly think this is by FAR the best looking sedan in class. It has the usual influenced by an SUV grill all cars today seem to have but its not menacing and fits the Chevy family. The sides are sleek with nice chrome and chrome on the bottom door sill. The rear is done well if not very vertical at the end.

I was shocked at the paint job. As MMarshall stated, it was superb. I mean, this could pass for a luxury car. It was this odd blueish tint with nice flakes. With some good detailing, it would look superb. I do have to say it was IMO obvious from some angles the paint on the bumpers and metal did not match. Then you look at the chrome details, it is NOT overdone like on so many vehicles today. Its just in the right spots.

You then notice the fit and finish on this product. You would never figure this is a Malibu if you had prior experience. It was SUPERB again! Headlights, trunk, everything lined up. The only gap I saw was the front doors had a slightly larger gap to them where the fender connects. Otherwise, wow!

Stepping inside, you pull the door and "oh crap" the handle is pulling away from the door "oh, I knew it". I then touch the headliner and its loose IMO. "Great". The Dash layout is so pleasing to the eye and simple yet elegant and different.

None of the usual GM gray crap or even the competitions usual gray/beige you to death interior syndrome.

This car had a rust/black/silver dash that belonged in a BMW, down to red piping on the seats. It sure felt sporty and interesting. In driving it, I never got bored LOOKING inside.

There is tons of space up front. The plastics are first rate, PERIOD. Beating the Camry, on par with the Accord if not better. It felt like the G35/G37 plastic. Moving down to the console, there is plastic colored to match the dash and a nice leather shift ****. You then notice they put some effort into it and have a cupholder cover that moves back to reveal to cupholders.

You then notice this same material is covering behind the steering wheel column! Awesome work. Trim and fit and finish again was first rate!!

You start her up and shes pretty quiet. The needles do the Lexus IS dance when you start the car The gauges are Lexus electroluminescent so it looks great, with a nice aqua hue.

It has a cool info center, telling you mileage you are getting, oil life, even current tire pressures!! The radio was okay, average at best with different equilizer settings. My rap music ironically played best on the country setting

The dash is simple, 3 major *****, no single **** for noobs crap. Just enough buttons. Perfect. Great job GM.

 

As soon as I back her out my first thought was "that is perfect brake feel"!! I mean these brakes were awesome, no matter initial drive or after my drive to Athens and back in 3 hours THey were grippy and the pedal feel was very very in tuned with my feelings. Amazing to be on a Malibu.

This car has a 6 speed transmission (yes Acura, another blow to you) with manuamtic. You know I used both. The tranny left in auto was superb, shifted well and downshifted when I wanted. I did notice some 5/6 gear hunting around town. Otherwise it shifted harder than a Toyota but it wasn't too bad.

The Mailbu LTZ has the paddles on the steering wheel (Hello Lexus, can u put on the GS!!). To downshift you slap the paddles behind the wheel towards you. TO upshift, there are 2 small buttons to push down. It did take me some time to get used to. Also, my fingers would hit the OTHER buttons on the steering wheel when driving and using the shifters, interrupting the radio. This happened quite often to me.

I didn't really like the manuamtic b/c its not totally manual. If you are driving under a limit the computer thinks is too slow, you cannot go into the higher gears. For example if going 30mph, you cannot go into 5th or 6th gears. I felt the car shifted quickly but its amazing how fast the IS-F shifts in comparison. To most, its fine.

The car had Goodyear Eagle LS tires, they were great. Quiet, grippy and I was impressed.

The steering was odd. First off the steering wheel is SUPERB, great size and nice upscale leather on it. I really liked holding the wheel and it didn't look weird or ugly like so many steering wheels today. The steering around town was as MMarshall stated, BMWish, heavy and responsive. I liked driving the Malibu hard in corners under 50mph, it was very composed and drove like a slightly smaller car. Under 50mph, it was really good in handling. I felt I knew where the car was going and the short hood gave me a good feel for the road. Quite amazing compared to the last Malibu which handled like a shopping cart.

As speeds increased though, the steering play got lighter to the usual GM feel and like a last generation ES 330. Over 50mph, this car drove LIKE you would THINK a Malibu drives. Plush, quiet and not confidence inspiring. Perfect for the family though. I took her up to 90mph and she was quiet and the engine pulled enough.

But never MORE than enough. This is CLEARLY where GM got beat. The engine is a 3.6 with 252hp but it felt like 200hp. It fits clearly under the hood (look Acura TSX, it has a hood strut) and is nice and neat. It simply was not my favorite part. If you have driven an Accord/Camry V-6 or ES 350, or the last TL 3.2, the engine shines when you hit the gas and you never feel short on power. In this car, it felt short on power. Maybe the DI from the Caddy CTS would help (304hp). Around town with the manumatic, I had to ensure the car was in the right gear to get her moving, otherwise I could back cars up behind me. It was involving but not good involving.

 

Trunk size is really good and the design is great and the carpet felt expensive. The gas door filler wasn't locked, you pushed it in and it popped open. I liked it actually. Even the gas cap and opening had a quality feel to it.
I liked the OEM wheels as well.

At night when you unlock the car, the rear reverse lights and headlights come on so you can see the car and where you are. Really nice.

Rear seat room was very good, tons of room and appropriate for this cars size.

Final thoughts?

I couldn't stop raving about the car. I had a Acura owning bud drive it around and he was shocked as well. I didn't feel like a rental at all but it was a car GM workers could be proud to build. It clearly had advantages over the competition, its main issue was the V-6's lack of power compared to them.

It also looks rather classy and not the monstrosities or blandness of the competition.

GM's biggest issue is getting past customers to try it as I am sure loyal GM customers are just blown away by this Malibu. Can they get people like myself and my family to give it serious consideration? Can they get the usual Camry/Accord/Altima sheep to give it a serious thought?

Sales are strong for this car. Amazing how far its come! Great work GM!!!