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Opinion Summary
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Is Chevy coming back?
by mkaresh | Sep 17 '03
Pros: Interior quality, power, comfort, shifter, value
Cons: Steering feel, torque steer?, LS sedan tires, headrests, not designed for aggressive drivers
Return to opinion
OVERALL RATING
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Date Written |
Excellent! (Reply to this comment)
by vara,  in Cars & Motorsports
"Not finding bricks very attractive, I’m having a hard time warming to the new Malibu’s styling"
Hilarious quote... and I agree: just glancing at the Malibu in no way convinces me GM has made a committed step to tackling the domestic (much less world) market.
Guess I should stop holding my breath... think I should hold out another four decades?
A very well-written review, Michael... better than most, even. You must have had a muse on your shoulder today. You're on a roll!
-Daniel
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Sep 17 '03
11:28 am PDT
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Re: Re: Excellent! (Reply to this comment)
by mkaresh,  in Cars & Motorsports
The Contour's styling was too bland, but that hasn't stopped any number of even blander Japanese cars from succeeding.
What really stopped it was Ford's strategy. Ford wanted to sell too many here too soon. As Mazda is once again learning, the number of true enthusiasts really isn't all that large. Yet Ford developed a car whose high manufacturing costs could only be recovered by selling it to people who truly enjoy driving. And then dedicated an entire plant in Kansas City and at least part of a second plant in Mexico to manufacturing the cars. We're talking 300,000 units here. True enthusiasts might buy that many cars a year, but Ford could hardly expect to have a 100% share of this market.
How to get at the actual number? Maybe by looking at the subscription numbers for the major car magazines. I think Car & Driver has about 1.2 million subscribers. Add in the others, take away a percentage for people like me who subscribe to multiple magazines, and maybe you have three million people who are interested enough in cars to spend $12 a year on a subscription. Then deduct those who for reasons of age, financial resources, or a belief that used cars are a better value do not buy new cars. This probably leaves at most 1.5 million. Assume they buy a car every three years, and you get maybe, maybe half a million cars a year (out of 17 million) that are bought primarily because their handling is excellent. Heck, most car magazine readers judging from letters to the editor care mostly about acceleration, so I'm no doubt being generous here.
The Contour's main asset was excellent handling. The numbers to make it a success on Ford's terms just weren't there.
Sure, BMW is now selling about 200,000 cars a year, and VW 300,000. But many people buy the former for cachet and the latter (not the best handlers, in fact) for style and premium interiors.
The Contour had to overcome a negative brand image, so cachet wasn't going to move any of those units. The interior in my car is actually much nicer than the American norm, but the people Ford was able to take a look at the car were not the sort to pay for premium interiors.
It also didn't help that Ford's marketing was it's usual syrupy pap that could not hope to connect with the buyers the car needed.
If Ford had been willing to start the car at low volume, market it correctly to a narrower audience, and then build sales over time I believe it could have succeeded. But Detroit doesn't work this way. It wants immediate results, and when these don't happen it prefers to start over from scratch.
As for recognizing that many Americans don't want bland cars, many Detroit executives have believed this for years. They just don't see a whole lot of evidence for their beliefs. They have created more stylish cars, only to see ever more people buying Camrys and Accords. Or the even more bland Highlanders and Pilots in the SUV realm.
Part of the problem is that people want reliability first, and only after that do they want style. This realization is what is increasingly pushing even the Accord and Camry in a more stylish direction. Toyota and Honda realize that the Americans (and especially GM) are catching up to them in quality, and eventually consumer perceptions will catch up with this reality.
There is still a gap, but if the gap had been this small in the 1970s and 1980s it would not have been sufficient to give Detroit the bad reputation it has today.
As for unconventional, Cadillac's CTS is as bold as anything else in its segment, and Pontiac's G6 will have very striking styling. The CTS does not drive quite as well as a BMW 5-Series, but it's close enough that I cannot imagine more than five percent of buyers in the segment could indicate which is technically the better handling car. Sadly, it feels less distinctive for 2004 owing to modifications that make it feel more luxurious. With the G6 I just hope it handles like it looks.
Heck, I don't personally care for the Pontiac Grand Prix, but I will grant that it has a very distinctive character and much better handling than the new Maxima.
So what does all of this have to do with the Malibu? Well, GM has many brands, and I believe that it makes sense for one of them to go after the many consumers who simply want an appliance. This would be Chevrolet.
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Sep 17 '03
3:51 pm PDT
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Comparison with Mazda6 (Reply to this comment)
by liuelson
Thanks for all of your excellent reviews! I had narrowed my choices to the 03 Mazda6s and the 04 Malibu LS, and was hoping you would include the Mazda when comparing the Malibu to the competition. You've done detailed reviews of both - how do you think they stack up?
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Sep 17 '03
4:56 pm PDT
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Excellent! (Reply to this comment)
by mkaresh, in Cars & Motorsports
GM's manufacturing and supply chain efficiency has increased far more than I ever expected it could over the past few years. That's really coming together.
They are still spotty on panel gaps. Actually, I don't notice these nearly as much as I used to unless they are truly awful (as on GM's midsize SUVs). I wonder how many people notice them at all. I'd guess less than 15% of the market.
On engine technology they're already there. The new 3.6-liter V6 in the CTS is technically as good or better than any six I've sampled (though I do wish it was not so quiet). The only engine that I feel has a technical edge over it is BMW's 4.4-liter throttleless V8.
The 3.5-liter V6 in the Malibu is a pushrod engine, but soundly trumps the Japanese in fuel economy. And it must be very inexpensive to produce, which comes through on the window sticker.
Where GM does lag is in chassis development. The CTS does fairly well here, and the new Grand Prix does better than other large front-drive cars, but GM's steering systems often come up short. The electrically assisted ones are awful in terms of feel. Overall dynamic refinement also tends to be lacking. Too often its cars don't feel "all of a piece." These are subtle details, and GM has problems with those.
GM has also lagged in interior material quality, but I suspect this will be changing over the next couple of years. Nissan is certainly worse in this area.
In the end, the main things holding GM back are continuing difficulties integrating all of the pieces to form a coherent whole, lingering consumer perceptions that its cars suck, and huge pension/health care costs.
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Sep 17 '03
9:50 pm PDT
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Re: Comparison with Mazda6 (Reply to this comment)
by mkaresh, in Cars & Motorsports
The Mazda 6 handles much better (with vastly superior steering) but is not quite as roomy and I think it will cost you a few thousand dollars more (at least 2004 to 2004). It's not as energetic off the line, but about as swift once up to speed, and the chassis handles engine torque much better. Overall I'd much rather have the Mazda.
I've added pricing on the Mazda to my review. Mazda's inane requirement that you pretty much buy all the options or none of them continues. it appears that leather is not available withtout the sport package, etc.
I hope to finally test drive a Mazda with a V6 and manual transmission in the near future. Review to follow.
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Sep 17 '03
10:06 pm PDT
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Re: Re: Comparison with Mazda6 (Reply to this comment)
by KnightRT
I wanted to like the Mazda6. In specs alone, it's quite the impressive piece of machinery. Unfortunately, when I actually had the opportunity to drive one at Mazda's 'Rev-it-up' autocross event, I was let down in a big way.
I can't fault the chassis dynamics. Good, not stellar. Defaults to understeer like everything else powered by the front end. Overly heavy, but quite decent steering.
... but the engine. Oh, the engine. I've written a few thousand unpublished words on this already, but the essence is that Mazda coupled a motor with throttle delays and no low-end torque to an unpredictable manumatic transmission with major shifting lag.
Exactly what I could do without on an autoX course. I honestly believe I could have lapped faster with my 3.4L Chevy Impala, despite a power deficit in the double digits. I may not like the sound of this particular pushrod mill, but when I ask for go, it moves.
Food for thought,
DI
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Sep 25 '03
12:33 am PDT
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Re: Re: Re: Comparison with Mazda6 (Reply to this comment)
by mkaresh, in Cars & Motorsports
Well, throttle response in the Malibu is quite quick. I don't expect to see it Autocrossed, though.
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Sep 25 '03
3:41 am PDT
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Styling (Reply to this comment)
by flykool
I dont know what the designers were thinking when they designed this car. The front end is really ugly and wierd. The rear is actually not that bad . I cant believe you still think the Camry styling is Bland, at the same time you seem to favour the accord styling. Well people who like acords usually will try to find faults in the camry. Well As far as styling goes( My opinion) the accord is ugly , and the rear is worse. The chevy malibu just toppled the accord in being uglier. I must say I like the altima styling the best and the camry styling comes in a close second. These two cars cant be compared to accord or malibu styling. The camry and altima are in different leagues when it comes to exterior design. Hate to say it but the exterior design is a big factor when it comes to cars. I still think the best overall car is the Camry and everyone knows it, thats why it is the benchmark for comparison.
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Nov 15 '03
10:26 pm PST
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Re: Styling (Reply to this comment)
by mkaresh, in Cars & Motorsports
The Camry is no one's styling benchmark, with the obvious exception of Chevrolet.
In my last Camry review I think I admitted the Camry looks okay in SE trim. But it's still no beauty.
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Nov 16 '03
6:42 am PST
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You don't own this car do you? (Reply to this comment)
by demonf16
While I appreciate your thorough review, I'd wish that you focus your reviews on the things that you "own". To write a vehicle review on something that you test drove really doesn't bode well for the shoppers out there. People looking to buy something look to epinions to get honest reviews of people who already own the product/vehicle being considered for purchase. I know that you'll probably flame me, but the other reviewer of this vehicle actually bought it and can give potential buyers a more honest opinion of what the car is really like. Can you add anything about reliability or features you like or dislike in your short test drive? I didn't think so.
Lets leave the non-owner opinions to the magazines, and focus our energies around here on things that really matter "owner opinions".
Nick
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Oct 04 '04
11:17 am PDT
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Transmission correction (Reply to this comment)
by growe58
Just wanted to make a quick correction on your description of the transmission as a “manumatic”. In fact, while in the “L” position, it operates like a conventional automatic in an intermediate gear in that upshifts past the selected gear are suppressed, but lower gears operate normally. I’m probably not explaining this very well, but as an example, if you select ׁ”, the car will start in first, shift at it’s normal time into second and then third, but it will not shift into fourth. If you choose ׀”, it starts in first, shifts into second at it’s normal time, but won’t shift into third. In other words, you can force downshifts by selecting a lower gear, but not upshifts by choosing an higher. You have no control over the upshift except the ability to delay it. In your case, when you thought that the shift appeared to unresponsive, it was probably because you were calling for an upshift, but the transmission didn’t “think” it was time yet. Basically it operates just like the old-time automatics with D, 3, 2, 1 positions except now it’s two steps - you have to shift into “L” first and then thumb into the desired gear. Doesn’t sound like progress to me, just a gimmick for the sake of a gimmick. Dumb, IMO.
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Oct 04 '04
5:50 pm PDT
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Re: You don't own this car do you? (Reply to this comment)
by mkaresh, in Cars & Motorsports
I've been through this a few times already, but one more won't hurt...
Let's be clear about one thing: "you" find reviewers by owners more valuable. No problem, I'm not forcing you to read my reviews. Just don't pretend that you have the right to speak for all of humanity (a common approach by people making this criticism).
My experience over the last five years has been that thousands of people find much value in my reviews based on test drives. If you'd like I can send you dozens of positive comments, including at least one person who said I noticed as much in my test drive as he did in months of ownership.
For reliability info, you want CR or JD Power. A single vehicle, even a thousand non-randomly-selected vehicles, is an insufficient sample size. Of course, you can try to determine reliability by reading a handful of owner reviews. That's just not a reliable method.
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Oct 05 '04
11:54 am PDT
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