2008 Chevrolet Malibu Review

Attention Malibu faithful, you are about to be greatly rewarded for your loyalty. The new 2008 Malibu is the most competitive model yet to hit dealers’ lots. For import buyers, Chevrolet would like to disrupt your normal buying habits and encourage you to test drive its new pride and joy. Please do not rob any banks along the way.

It’s good, quite good. That’s what I’d tell you about the Malibu. For example, noise attenuation on the Malibu is excellent. Like Buick’s “Quiet Tuning” the Malibu uses liquid spay-on sound deadener, laminated “quiet glass,” composite wheel liners and improved trunk sound deadening to create an impressively quiet cocoon. It’s not just a lot of marketing speak, I think the Malibu “owns quiet” in this segment. Lining that cocoon are much upgraded interior materials and an attractive instrument panel. The two-tone interiors really highlight the new design and I would definitely choose one of the available two tone schemes over the monochromatic treatments. There are some elements of the interior that are amiss. There is slightly less rear legroom in the new Malibu, but it’s still passable in my opinion. If you get the sunroof, then there is a ridge to house the motor that works its way towards the back seat. The passenger in the middle may graze their heads now and then on this. Also in the back seat is a power point and an optional 120V inverter. I didn’t see any way to deactivate the 120V outlet and that had me very worried about what little ones might do. Granted it’s a low amperage circuit, but little Jonny should learn about the effects of a/c power in the classroom and not in the back of a Malibu. Making matters was, the cover over the 120V outlet is extremely flimsy and could even be broken by a ham handed adult, let alone a child. There is no center armrest in the back seat on any trim level. I was told this was due mainly to the cost of redesigning the seat to allow for an armrest. It’s an unfortunate omission.

Moving up to the front of the car, there is an impressive amount of fit and finish to be found. No gaps, runs, drips or errors made an appearance in the models that we tested. The whole car lit up very well at night with ambient lighting in the overhead console and door pull pockets, putting on a show that should bring smiles to most family car drivers faces. The center console armrest is a slider, an important feature, but the effort is very high in order to move it. In fact had I not been told by the engineer that it was a slider, I probably wouldn’t have applied more pressure for fear of breaking something. The effort on the lid was dialed up to prevent the slider from moving forward while braking, but I think it’s a bit too much effort now. Perhaps a slider with a locking/release button would solve the issue and allow the effort to be reduced. With the power window switches on the driver’s door, only the driver’s side is “one touch” and it’s only in one direction. I’d like to see express up/down on ideally all four windows, but at least the front two. I can understand that you have to factor in the cost/benefit of adding such things, but with a car as important as this Malibu is I think you have to pull out all the stops. You’ll also notice that there are no passenger assist handles in the roof, a feature that I wish was there. One final omission, no dual climate control is available on any of the models. Ergonomically speaking, I found the controls to be logically laid out with the exception of the seat heat buttons that were located on the corners of the seats. As for the plastics, you’ll be happy to know that GM as double checked the effects of the sun’s impact on the dash. That means that the plastics should stay uniform in color for as long as you own the car.

Because the Epsilon platform doesn’t feature the latest and greatest GM electrical system, currently no navigation system is available on the car. Don’t look for one to show up either, as no one I spoke with named it as a high priority. GM’s official response is that OnStar features turn by turn navigation and handsfree calling, but I don’t really think it’s a substitute for navigation and Bluetooth. This is once again a decision of customer “take rate” verses the cost of reengineering things.

I didn’t get a chance to audition the sounds systems, but there are several ways in which you can integrate your beloved iPod. The easy way is to simply use the audio jack on the front of the stereo, but for many iPod aficionados, that’s simply not good enough. For those folks, they can have their dealer install an iPod specific connection in the glove box. Why can’t this be factory installed? Chevrolet officials said that was a good question and they’d think about adding it. I’d also add that it would be nice if that connection could be in the center console box, but let’s just be thankful that it’s available at all.

How about the driving? I found the top of the line, LTZ model with the 252/hp 251/lb-ft torque and the six speed 6T70 transmission to have plenty of pickup and very responsive shifting. The automatic was smooth and quickly found the right gears, so I didn’t find much use for the TAPshift manual shift control. The ride was smooth and controlled without a lot of heaving to and fro, certainly much tighter than the Camry. A nice feature is that the tire pressure monitoring system tells you the current pressure of each tire. This is much better than some systems that simply say “left front tire pressure low.” I bring this feature up now because a great deal of ride comfort depends on the pressure of the tires. The ride quality of the V6, LTZ with tires set at 30/30 was very compliant whereas the hybrid model set to 38/38 really telegraphed the expansion joints. The V6 returns 17mpg in the city and 26mpg on the highway.

Another very competent model was the four cylinder, 169/hp 160/lb-ft torque LTZ model with the six speed 6T40 transmission. Even though the final calibrations had not been dialed in, there wasn’t a lot of hunting or thrumming. I would take this setup over the Nissan Altima’s CVT any day of the week. I thought that the transmission’s calibrations had a very good balance between fuel economy and not being too hyperactive with the shifts. Due to manufacturing constraints, GM will be phasing in the six speed auto / four cylinder combinations, starting first with the high zoot LTZ model. Over time GM will expand the availability of six speed to all four cylinder models. There is no date for a complete phase out of the four speed. Kudos to GM for number one, not releasing the six speed, four cylinder combo until they are absolutely sure it’s right and secondly offering a the high end model with a four cylinder. That’s great news for folks who want to be frugal, yet still have all the creature comforts. No fuel mileage numbers were available yet for this combination.

With the more basic setup of the four cylinder engine mated to the four speed 4T45 transmission the car became, well, “basic” as the wider gear spacing meant that the engine wasn’t always in the optimum range. There was much more engine revving going on and overall the sounds coming from the car were much less refined. That’s not to knock what the basic four speed offers which is a low entry price, adequate shifting for most day to day needs and 22 mpg in the city and 30 mpg on the highway. However, I think you’ll find the six speed setup to much more to your liking when it comes online in spring of 2008.

The mild hybrid failed to impress. For one thing, the car is a bit of a slug. The hybrid system adds approximately 100 pounds of weight, the tire pressures are jacked up, the suspension had to be slightly tweaked to maintain the correct bumper height and the four cylinder engine is robbed of 5hp and produces it’s peak torque 500 RPM higher due mainly to a more restrictive exhaust system. It’s true that the car delivers 2mpg better than the regular four cylinder model, but even after tax subsidies you’re paying $500 more for a lot of added complexity. I’d recommend waiting to see what the EPA numbers are going to be on the four cylinder, six speed automatic transmission before I plunked down the cash on the hybrid model. The hybrid delivers 24 mpg in the city and 32 mpg on the highway.

The four cylinder models have electric power steering and the six cylinder models are hydraulic. I do find some quibbles with both setups. I’m fine with the amount of steering effort, but there is absolutely no “road feel” coming through the system. No matter what the surface, the sensation you get through the wheel is the same. The engineer I rode along with said that this is what customers are looking for and GM took great pains to make it this way. Personally I’d like to know a little bit about what is going on down there on the road’s surface. However, I’m sure that GM has done its market research on this one, so I cannot quibble with their decision. When you are test driving the Malibu and its competitors, you’ll want to make an effort to notice the “road feel” of each car and see which one suits your tastes.

I found the trunk opening to be on the small side. It’s true that you’ll never get your luggage crunched by encroaching trunk lid supports, but the downside is that fitting large, bulky items might prove to be a little bit of a challenge. There is a decent trunk pass through to the cabin with the split rear seats folded down. One nifty feature that has disappeared is the fold flat front seat. The engineer I rode with didn’t know why the flat folder had disappeared but it might be due to the bolstering of the front seats. Not a big deal, just an observation.

Curb weights for the lineup are as follows. The LS checks in at 3415lbs, the LT is 3436lbs and the LTZ with V6 rings in at 3649lbs. Those weight figures are on the higher side for this segment, but there is a reason for it. The Epsilon platform was originally designed to accommodate some planned models that never came to fruition. The engineer I spoke with couldn’t remember what those stillborn models were, as it occurred some time ago, but I’m sure if GM could go back in a time machine and save that weight it would. Given the performance of the vehicle, it’s not a huge deal but it is an interesting side note.

There is a lot of designer speak about how the Malibu’s styling draws its inspiration from the Corvette. I don’t know about all of that, but I do find the Malibu to be a pleasant design. I have to raise a red flag on all the bowtie emblems. I counted 12 on the outside of the car: one large bowtie front and rear, one bowtie on each wheel’s center cap, plus there were bowties set in the headlamps, side marker lights and rear tail lamps. It’s simply too much, with the side markers being the worst offenders. I can handle the front headlights having the bowties, but it should end there. I get the idea that it’s attention to “the little things” but it’s a little too much. I wouldn’t say that the Malibu will send ripples through the business of designing cars, but it is certainly more attractive than all recent Chevrolet sedans and gives up nothing to its main three competitors. I wouldn’t hide the car in the back of the employee parking lot.

You can’t argue with the base pricing which starts at $19,995 for the four cylinder LS model. There is an impressive level of standard equipment on that entry level model. The range works itself up to the high end, V6 LTZ model which starts out at $26,995 and then you’re only a power package ($250), block heater ($75), and sunroof ($800) away from having it all.

For the Chevrolet faithful the new Malibu is really like a homecoming parade. Your home team won the game and now it’s time for a little partying. For import buyers, I think you can honestly put this car back on your lists. It’s not an absolute slam dunk, but the Malibu is no slouch and doesn’t need a lot of excuses. If a Honda Accord has treated you well and you’re very happy with what you have, I don’t imagine that you’ll be too tempted to look elsewhere. But, if you have any doubts or are interested in trying something new then I think you should check out the Malibu.

BTW: GM wants you to know that they paid my way for this trip.