My Experience

I test-drove a Chevrolet Malibu Maxx LT at a local dealership. My test drive lasted about half an hour and covered city streets, a winding frontage road, and the freeway.


Performance

The 3.5-liter V6 in my test car was a generally pleasant powerplant with one significant handicap: its relative lack of power. There's been a horsepower war heating up in the midsize-sedan segment over the last few years, probably to help banish the "boring family car" image that has convinced so many buyers that they need an SUV to drive to Wal-Mart. As a result, the V6s in new midsize sedans are putting out numbers once reserved for sports cars. The Toyota Camry's V6 puts out 225hp, the Honda Accord's makes 240, and the Nissan Altima's churns out a Mustang-like 245.

However, it seems Chevy wasn't paying attention to this developing trend when they designed the new Malibu--its "high value" V6 puts out a relatively unadventurous 200hp. So you might not be leaving that family-sedan image in a cloud of tire smoke. However, you will have more than enough power for everyday driving duties.

The Malibu's engine makes good low-end torque, so it steps off the line confidently and feels strong and unstressed in around-town driving. The gentle, creamy-smooth throttle tip-in also lends the powertrain a feeling of luxury. When you give it full throttle on freeway on-ramps, you won't be pressed back into your seat, but neither will you be disappointed--the Malibu delivers just enough power to feel reassuring in merging situations.

And while this engine isn't cutting-edge in terms of power, it's very smooth and well-muted, which is perhaps a higher priority for many buyers. On my test drive, the cabin was notably free of engine vibrations, and the engine's baritone hum was pleasantly hushed, even when I revved it up. I'm not sure if it's quite up to the standards of refinement set by Honda and Toyota, but it's getting close enough that most buyers won't even notice the difference.


Transmission/Clutch

The Malibu's automatic transmission continued the gentle, luxurious theme of the engine. In gentle, around-town driving, its shifts were creamy-smooth, to the point that I really had to be paying attention to feel where the shift points were. And when I wanted more power, the transmission downshifted without hesitation. This smoothness and prompt response were really quite remarkable--I'm not a fan of automatics in general, but GM sure knows how to make a good one.

Still, I had a couple of reservations in this department as well, again on the technology front. The biggest one is the fact that the Malibu's transmission only has four speeds. The Accord and Camry both come with five-speed automatics, which helps get the most out of the engine by keeping it in its powerband more of the time. Considering that the Malibu is an all-new design, I hoped that they would have equipped it with this feature before market pressures absolutely required them to--but then American manufacturers are known for cutting initial costs at the expense of future product viability.

My other reservation had to do with the manual-shift buttons on the gear selector. While I liked being able to rest my palm on the shifter and select the gears with my thumb--a far more elegant solution than flappy AutoStick shifters or clunky "3-2-1" gates--it's still not much fun to choose your own gears. There's just enough of a lazy delay after pushing the button, and just enough slurring of shifts, that the tranny seems to be saying, "Hey. You don't drive a stick. Get over it."


Steering/Handling

Your reaction to the Malibu's steering and handling characteristics will have a lot to do with your personal tastes in cars. If you're looking for a taut-handling, buttoned-down sports sedan, this isn't it. There's not a sporting bone in its body, and it doesn't try to be anything it isn't. However, if your tastes fall towards the traditional, luxury-oriented side of the spectrum, you'll probably be thrilled with the Malibu's feel over the road.

The suspension is soft but well-controlled, giving the car a gentle, cloudlike feel on good roads and an unruffled demeanor on rough ones. The body leans noticeably in turns, but doesn't feel excessive in normal driving. When I really hustled the Malibu around tight turns, it revealed fairly low limits, with unexceptional tire grip and massive understeer when the grip ran out. Still, for the kind of driving most people do, it's safe, stable, and more than adequate.

The Malibu's new electrically-assisted steering is a mixed bag. Undemanding drivers will probably be pleased by its medium-light weighting, luxuriously smooth action, and generally accurate responses. But if you're picky about steering feel, as I am, you'll probably be less enthused. Absolutely no road feel makes its way up to the Malibu's wheel, making it feel as numb and inert as a ship's helm. And there's always a millimeter or two of soft mush to steer through before the Malibu changes direction, as if you were riding on jelly.

Still, to the Malibu's credit, that soft mush is consistent through all the controls--the steering wheel, throttle, and transmission shifts. That at least gives the car a cohesive "cloudlike" feeling that's sure to please devotees of traditional American luxury. Admittedly, I even started to enjoy it after a while. But when combined with the modest grip and gently-tuned chassis, it seals the Malibu's fate as a non-enthusiast's car.


Ride

Dynamically, this is where the new Malibu scores the most points. As I mentioned in the previous section, the Malibu's ride feels gentle and serene on most roads, and while this means there's little of that connected-to-the-road feeling to please enthusiasts, I imagine many family-sedan shoppers will appreciate the Malibu's plush ride.

One characteristic that everyone can agree on is the Malibu's commendably tight body structure. The stiff, all-of-a-piece feel of the Malibu's unibody gives it a feeling of quality and substance, and makes it feel just as solid as its Japanese rivals.


Interior

The new Malibu's interior has come in for some pretty harsh criticism from the automotive press, with many magazines citing "boring design" and "cheap materials" as major flaws. Personally, I don't know what they're talking about. The Malibu's somewhat austere, modern-looking interior design may not look terribly classy to some eyes, but I think many buyers will like it as much as I did.

The clean, unpretentious dashboard, aluminum-look trim, and bright sandy colors made the Malibu's cabin feel airy and open, with just enough space-age shapes and textures for it to look fresh without being cheesy. I'll concede that the gauges could look better--the flat white-on-black markings and squared-off numbers aren't particularly interesting to look at--but the overall impression is one of "new-ness" and quality.

I was also very impressed with the feel of the Malibu's secondary controls. For too long, GM products have been plagued with brittle switches and mushy buttons that feel like something made by Fisher-Price. Fortunately, that's not the case in the new Malibu. The buttons now operate with smooth, solid clicks, and the knobs turn through their arcs with precisely-defined detents. In addition, all the controls on the dashboard have a satiny, rubberized texture that makes them pleasant to the touch. This may sound insignificant, but it's such a huge improvement over past GM "efforts," and makes such a difference in perceived quality, that I think it bears mentioning.

The new Malibu also excels in terms of comfort. The leather-and-suede front seats on my LT test car were very comfortable and supportive, and although the lateral bolsters didn't do much to keep me in place in corners, the grippy suede inserts certainly did. There was lots of room in the front of the Malibu's cabin, and equally impressive space in back. There's plenty of leg and headroom in back, and the high-set cushion felt more comfortable than most.

Plus, in the Maxx, the rear seat adjusts fore-and-aft and reclines, just like the front seat. This is a great feature, and one I'd like to see adopted by other manufacturers. Rear-seat passengers in the Maxx also get their own sunroof, although that feature is unavailable up front--perhaps taking the rear-passenger coddling theme a bit too far. Overall, though, I'd say the Malibu Maxx's interior hits a home run in terms of styling honesty, comfort, and versatility.


Practicality

The Malibu Maxx also scores major points in this area. Besides the commendable passenger space and versatile back seat, the Maxx also has a surprisingly roomy and useful cargo hold. The sharp angle of the hatchback limits load capacity a bit--arguably for the sake of better looks--but the Maxx still offers a lot of space for bulky items, with a split-folding rear seat to expand the cargo area when needed.

It's also worth noting that the Maxx's 68 cubic feet of cargo space compares surprisingly well with many larger SUVs--for example, the Toyota 4Runner has 75 cubic feet of cargo space, the Mitsubishi Endeavor has 76, and the Jeep Grand Cherokee only has 72. The liftover and load floor are also very low, so heavy cargo should be much easier to get into the trunk.


Reliability

Consumer Reports has no reliability data on the new Malibu, since it was just released this year. The previous-generation Malibu scored Average in their reliability tests, but since the new model has been extensively redesigned, this isn't necessarily an accurate indicator of how the new one will fare. Try some of the owner's reviews on this website for more information.


Overall

Although midsize family cars aren't usually the kind of machines that pique my interest, I quite enjoyed the new Malibu, and was very impressed by what a professional effort it is on GM's part. Its interior quality has improved leaps and bounds over the previous model, and is now legitimately in line with the imported brands--no excuses required. The soft, cloudlike driving experience and numb electric steering aren't exactly my cup of tea, but the Malibu's driving dynamics are clearly aimed at a different audience--for those who want reassuring comfort without totally sacrificing dynamic competence, the Malibu should be quite pleasing.

But the driving experience wasn't what I liked best about the Malibu Maxx. Nor was it the interior, as impressive and comfortable as it was. What I love the most about the Maxx is that it resurrects a sublimely functional breed of car that was all but extinct just a few years ago--the midsize station wagon. Don't tell Chevy's marketing directors I called it that--half of them would have aneurysms, and the others would bury me alive while shouting about "crossovers," "sport hatches," and "active lifestyles."

But that's what the Maxx is, and I think it's great. Midsize wagons may not offer the "sit-up-high" sensation and accompanying delusions of self-importance that come with an SUV, but 5hey have more passenger room, a large and useful cargo hold, and smoother, more responsive road manners than you'll get from any truck chassis. Plus, there's the advantage of superior fuel economy--in the Malibu Maxx LT's case, that's 23 mpg in the city, and 32 on the highway. And as an added bonus, a wagon like the Maxx carries none of the "overcompensation" stigma of a big SUV. Be comfortable, save gas, achieve self-acceptance. Aren't midsize wagons nice?




Feel free to check out my reviews on some of the Malibu's competitors:
Chrysler Sebring
Pontiac Grand Am


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 24,100