even with the chrome unibrow and gappy grille?

 

Car styling is subjective.

 

It does not matter if they are competitive. They cannot charge as much. The Camry and accord completely paste the competition in sales while still being more expensive. At the same price, it would be an even greater embarrassment.

 

You also liked the Etch-A-Sketch infotainment screen?

 

Yes. This would be the case. Doesn't matter how good the Malibu, Fusion, or Sonata are. They are not able to charge as much.

 

I arrived in a snowstorm last December in Montréal. It was late, I wanted to check in and grab me some smoked meat sandwiches, and it must have already been like 22:30 EST....I looked at my choices for rental cars, and it came down to a Chrysler 300 with NY tags, or a Malibu. I grabbed the Malibu feeling very dejected (in my mind I would have liked an Impala which I recently turned down for a Santa Fe Sport), but I figured the 4 snow tires at this point meant more than choosing the Chrysler. I actually was pleasantly surprised with the Malibu, and could not help but wonder. The steering is not bad at all, how come every BMW made since 2012 has f'd up steering, Audi too? Can't help but feel GM was an early adopter dating back to the Chevy Cruze....

 

I hear all this crying about the BMW steering, but are people still buying BMWs? Are they buying them for more money?

 

Can Chevy command Toyota Camry or Honda Accord prices for their Malibu?

 

rhetorical: How many people do you know who have the iPhone X in their hands? Are they concerned about the facial recognition? How much it cost them? Or are they more concerned that they have the iPhone X and got them days after the release?

(I know 5, I should find better friends, less vain)

 

Sure they can. Suddenly the Camry and Accord are on a pedestal? imho undeserved. Old powertrains, new bodies = not great (on the former)

 

iPhone X has nothing to do with this.

 

The Camry and Accord have been on an (imaginary) pedestal for probably the last 10-12 years. During that period, much of the competition has clearly caught up.

 

My analogy is that the typical BMW buyer today who has $65k to spend, isn't concerned with performance in the least bit. The 3 hasn't been on the 10 Best list (again it used to be the 8 best with the 3 and Accord being permanent members) for how many years now? When you put a 2007-10 335i on a lift, what do you see? First of all holy c***, a true dual exhaust on an inline 6? The engineers went buck wild, that cost a fortune. Lift a newer 335 or new (unless it changed again) 340 and what do you see? A single exhaust, with a muffler turned sideways like a Pontiac G6. The bean counters went buck wild.

For me, it is a fact--a brand new Chevy Malibu, has better steering, than a brand new BMW 340i. I've driven both. I've even autocrossed the F series 540, steering is not good. My hunch is that the younger generation is being taught that one presses a button for Sport +, and you are told this is better, you don't have any opinion on this nor are you allowed to have one.

 

This happens all the time. Things change. Sometimes they get better. The vast majority of people don't care that past BMW's had a true dual exhaust. They don't care that it might of been a 6 cylinder in the but now is a 4 turbo.

 

I believe the above. And if you follow the forums, teenage kids who have been given their parents' old 2006-2012 3 series, actually think the steering is broken and are looking for advice on how to fix it. Most likely with texting/surfing/maps/tinder all the additional activities that have taken over driving (except in Ontario), the third pedal has been removed from 93%+ of all vehicles in addition to adding pinkie light steering that great grandpa used to enjoy....

And for whatever reasons, the Malibu designers nailed it. I drove a newer (2013) Mazda 3, and the steering was also pinkie light, awful. 2016 Pathfinder, it was actually a bit too heavy (likely the motor could not do the job at 0 mph). Malibu, just right.