JHnguyen93

Hi there! Long time reader, first time poster. Hopefully my time here will be enjoyable.

Due to receiving 2 days off work back to back (I work for a major retailer), a friend from New York visiting for a few weeks and 119 degree heat in Phoenix, we decided to take a weekend road trip north to Sedona, Arizona. And since my personal car (2012 Honda Civic) is a lease, I needed to rent a car for the trip. My first rental car. Since a full size car and a compact car had the same rate, I decided to go big.

While at the PHX car rental center, Hertz first assigned me a Chevrolet Impala that I could not find in the parking lot. I walked to the Gold Choice section, and all they had were non-2014 Impalas (why call it Gold Choice then?), an Elantra, a 2012 Escape and a Mustang V6 with 200 miles. I took the Mustang first, which the nice people at the exit told me was put there by mistake. Despite my best pleas, I could not keep the car, and they assigned me another Impala. I did not want one, so I walked to the Gold counter and asked for whatever else was available. The nice lady mentioned Passats, Camrys, Altimas, followed by a Malibu after my failed attempt to get a 2013 Fusion (all were reserved, apparently). Out of curiosity, I took the Malibu.

http://www.chevrolet.com/malibu-mid-size-sedan.html

Car Description: 13 SIR MALIBU 2.5 LSN
Class: YF


Contrary to the description, the Malibu I actually received was a Taupe Gray Metallic 1LTZ equipped with the Electronics and Entertainment package, priced at $30,075.


Powertrain: With the 2013 redesign, Chevrolet dropped the V6 engine option in favor of an all 4-cylinder lineup. Unsurprisingly, this Malibu came with the base 2.5L Ecotec 4-cylinder motor, with 197 horsepower and 191 foot-pounds of torque. I don't know if any of the rental car agencies carry the 2.4L eAssist Eco model or the 2.0L Turbo, either of which I would have preferred. You would think that with more power than a Camry, Altima, or Accord, this would be quicker, but with a curb weight of 3547 pounds, the Malibu felt like it was running out of steam in the mountains north of Phoenix. While the 8.4 second 0-60 time is par for the course (http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...ord_specs.html), but the 6 speed automatic transmission always seemed to be taking its time thinking about what to do next. The Malibu didn't always feel responsive when needed, even when the accelerator pedal was floored.

There is an option to manually shift the gears yourself, but instead of paddle shifters on the steering wheel or a shift gate, there's a toggle switch on the handle itself. It felt awkward to use, and it made the car sound like there was a CVT under the hood as the transmission held on to revs.

Fuel economy was decent. It's rated at 22 city/34 highway, but with needing a heavy leadfoot to get anywhere, I averaged 26 miles per gallon. Not bad, but the prior car I owned, a 2007 Honda CR-V AWD, did the same. It cost $55 to completely fill the tank (with gas being $3.31/gallon). That may not seem like much, but after being used to paying under $30 to fill up my Civic, it's a bit of a shock.

Ride/Handling: The ride quality is miles ahead of my Civic, calmer and quite a bit smoother, but the 18-inch wheels and tires on the LTZ made the ride a bit harsh on some of the worn-out roads leading in and out of Sedona. Then again, those kinds of roads would make any car ride harsher.

As for the steering? It felt light, with a little bit of feedback. But the light weight of the steering didn't inspire much confidence in the twists and turns of the mountains as you had to almost guess where and what the wheels were doing.

Braking felt confident, with a firm pedal feel. However, stops were longer than I expected. I wasn't going to crash into anything, thank goodness, but I was closer to the car in front of me than I thought.

Interior: One of my favorite car reviewers out there is Brian Cooley, who reviews cars for Cnet. Why is that? His irreverent attitude when reviewing cars makes it a good watch and laugh. Why do I mention this?

Last October, he reviewed the very same car I'm reviewing here. At first, I didn't quite get some of his comments about the new Malibu's interior. (0:55 to 1:20) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeWQM6gtYMQ


Now that I've rented one, I have to agree with Mr. Cooley's quotes. Let's start from the beginning.


This is a very architectural interior. There's plenty of textures and gestures that vie for your attention, starting with a two-level dashboard that sweeps into the door panels, divided by air vents that suggest designers did not know where to start and stop them. They start at the door panel, next to the crudely implemented door handle frame, and end at the HVAC center stack, which is shaped to me like a sandal. The gauges are circles set in a square frame, meant to evoke the Camaro with mixed results. At least there's stitching atop them, a nice touch. The overall look inside is busy, and not all the materials have the same graining or even color, as seen below. There's nicely grained soft touch materials right next to hard, shiny black plastic that tries to match, but is still a completely different texture.


I'm not saying the materials are bad, far from it. There are more squishy, soft touch surfaces inside than in a 2012 Camry I almost bought, but the fit worries me. There were squeaks, misaligned panels and wide gaps throughout the interior. Not even the cutout for the turn signal lights in the instrument panel was cut correctly. Had I bought this Malibu instead of renting it, this would annoy me a bit.


By "that," Brian was referring to the chrome trim surrounding the shifter. The chrome isn't just excessive, it's dangerous. When it's sunny outside, which it almost always is in Arizona, the sun hits the chrome on the shifter. The sunlight is then reflected in the eyes of anyone who looks at it, making for a distracting driving hazard.


I don't know if I'd go that far in describing the inside of a Malibu, but the abundance of materials, coupled with the soft blue lighting, chrome and accents gives it a funky Las Vegas club theme. It is certainly not for everyone, but I kinda think it's cool. Except for the obviously fake wood. It looks more like a darker shade of Tony the Tiger than actual wood. That's not Grrrreeeaaatttt!!!

Moving past the theme and styling of the interior, there's a really good audio system in the Malibu. Chevrolet puts their myLink touchscreen audio system in all but the base LS model. It's a responsive, intuitive interface that also hides a storage cubby behind it. It features Bluetooth, Pandora and Stitcher app support standard, but both navigation (a separate option not included in this car) and backup camera (included with the Electronics and Entertainment package) are optional, which I find strange. Then again, the Camry has a similar setup. Pandora worked... for the most part. The most annoying thing about it is that it would sometimes refuse to work, even after disconnecting and reconnecting both the cable and app. Bluetooth was seamless after initial pairing. It was quick to download my contacts and the voice command worked just fine.

It also featured XM radio, which was still active, and did not cost me extra. I was pleasantly surprised by that! The same goes for the Pioneer audio system included in the Electronics and Entertainment package. It was clear, nicely detailed for the price and worth it.


Room inside is adequate, but one of the major criticisms auto journalists stated about this generation of Malibu is a lack of rear seat room. The good news was, it was just me and my friend in the car, and that friend was in the front passenger seat. That way, we did not need the cramped back seat. I'm not a tall person, but even in this car, I can't sit behind myself comfortably. There's just not enough foot room and leg room, even though it was a quick test of the backseat. Families with children and car seats, test it out first before leaving the lot. As for comfort, the seats were nice and supportive, with a good range of adjustments.

Visibility is ok. There's good glass area all around, but all of the roof pillars are thick, blocking some of the view out. The rising beltline doesn't help, nor does the tall trunk. On the other hand, the backup camera helped when reversing. If Honda and Mazda can make it standard on their Accords and 6's, why can't anyone else? Especially when some of them need it.


As for that trunk, it's deep, with a big opening for hauling big luggage. Or in our case, two small duffel bags and shoes.
The back seat split folds down for more cargo room, but we didn't need to use it. Inside, there's adequate storage. I didn't even notice the slim pockets on both sides of the cupholders. That was handy for storing my phone.

Exterior/Design: I prefer the previous generation Malibu's exterior styling to this one. The older one had a sleek, simple, elegant aesthetic that seemed less likely to age over time. This newer generation, while sportier looking, suffers the same problem as the interior: it's a little too busy and tries too hard. The front end looks nice, but is too similar to the previous generation. The sides seem a bit like a Camry done by GM, with a rising beltline that bows upward, while the tail uses Camaro-inspired tailights and a flat trunklid. Put it all together, and to me, it has the presence of a boat. The 18" wheels/tires, chrome and silver grille and accents of the LTZ do make it look more expensive, however. I've seen the lower end trims with a black grille insert, and it looks cleaner, but a bit cheaper. The overall styling is closer to the Camry/Accord/Passat ethos compared to the Fusion/Optima/Sonata aesthetic. That is to say, nice and conservative as opposed to sleek and swoopy.


Features: The Malibu 1LTZ comes nicely equipped, with the aforementioned Bluetooth, Pandora radio, XM radio, touchscreen audio system, along with power and heated driver and passenger leather seats (didn't need the heated part, we're in Arizona!), 10 airbags (also not needed, thank goodness), power locks/mirrors/windows, cruise control (activated via a toggle switch on the steering wheel that seemed like it could fall off), a color information display between the Camaro-esque gauges, OnStar, auto-dimming rearview mirror, fog lights and 18" wheels and tires. The Electronics and Entertainment package our Malibu came with adds that nice 9-speaker Pioneer audio system, sunroof (perfect for driving through the mountains with), garage door opener, backup camera (which should be standard on all trims like the Accord does), and a 120-volt house electrical outlet (a nice touch that came in handy several times).

Value: For the $12.27/day I paid, which is the same price I would have paid for a smaller car, this is a steal. At the end, I paid $30.96 for the rental; quite good for the amount of car I got.


Summary:

• Ecotec 2.5L I-4 engine (197 HP, 191 lb-ft)
• 6-speed automatic transmission w/ manual mode
• 22/34 MPG (Regular fuel, 18.5 gallon tank)
• LTZ trim (top-level trim) w/ 1LTZ

PROS:

• Great value for the money
• Nice audio/infotainment system
• Comfortable seats
• Lots of features, at least in this 1LTZ trim

CONS:

• Occasionally unresponsive drivetrain/engine/transmission
• Light steering, occasionally harsh ride
• Busy interior and exterior designs and materials
• Small back seat

Final Verdict: It's not perfect by a long shot, but the Malibu is a decent FCAR to rent. It's certainly better than the other classes of cars that were available for the same price, but I can see why Chevrolet had to quickly update the Malibu for the 2014 model year. It's class competitive, but not leading. The biggest gripes come from the overall drivability of the car, from powertrain to chasis.

For the price I paid, it's hard to complain, especially when there were also stripped down Altima S's, Camry LE's and Impalas that were NOT the 2014 available. I look forward to seeing if the changes Chevy did for 2014 help the Malibu improve its rankings.

My next trip is to San Diego in a few weeks for a few weeks; I hope to rent a 2013 Fusion to compare to the Malibu.

Red Scorpion

A very detailed review, and one which I enjoyed reading. Thank you for taking the time to write it.

Last time I was in the US the few new Fusions that they had were all reserved for other supposedly more important customers than me, so I still await my chance to sample it.

My suspicion is that a car that the driver will enjoy, it is the pick of this class, with one exception. That car would be the new Mazda 6, which has had very good reviews on both sides of the Atlantic.

Of the others in the class, I liked the Passat 2.5SE (the S is a bit basic), and the latest Altima, and Sonata. I was less impressed by the Legacy 9just a bit bland these days, lost most of its Subaru-ness), but all of these are milkes better than the utterly dull Camry and the now acceptable but no better than that Avenger and Chrysler 200. I've not yet tried the latest Optima (which I like) and the Malibu (which I suspect isw way below average and your review does nothing to persuade me otherwise).

BigJC

Outstanding first post! Welcome to FlyerTalk, JHnguyen93! I had a similar vehicle at PHX over Spring Break and had to log in and look up my receipt to compare license plate numbers - wasn't the same one though. I did a little better on gas averaging a touch over 32 MPG - mostly driving the Loop 101. I didn't care for the touchscreen audio control - on the Malibu I had it came heavily pre-marked with someone else's greasy digits and was hard to clean.

JHnguyen93

Thanks for the feedback!

I was thinking the same thing about the 2013 Fusions they had on the lot. Perhaps another time, I hope.

I've driven the new Altima before, which I can say I prefer over the Malibu as it drives better, but all PHX had were base S models. I preferred to have the extra features the Malibu LTZ had, plus I was curious to see what it was like. It's not a fair comparison. I've also driven the Camry before too, and found the steering to have the same problem as the Malibu: it's too light and there's no feedback. I will agree with you and say the car is just boring overall, and they only had LE's and base SE's. Due to reliability, I would however take the Camry as my personal car; but to rent, I might pick the Malibu.

I've yet to drive the Passat, Fusion, Sonata, Legacy, Optima and 6. What I'd like to know, though, is why is everyone gushing over the Passat? To me, it seems like a German Camry, but then again I've yet to drive one. Even if the Malibu is, I'll say slightly below average in class, it's still much better than the Avenger and 200, in my opinion. I'm not trying to change anyone's opinions on certain cars, but I do want to let people know what they're getting themselves into. The Malibu is a FCAR I would not complain about getting (especially for what I paid), but it's far from my first choice.

JHnguyen93

Thank you! And thank you!

My own Civic seems to get 32 MPG on average, so I wasn't expecting the Malibu to be as efficient with gas. I know I could have gotten something smaller, but for the same price, why not get a larger car?

If you see the picture of the interior that I took, you'll see a lot of fingerprints on the screen. That is something else I didn't like about myLink; then again any touch screen audio system would get fingerprints after frequent use. Also, why did Chevrolet surround the screen with glossy black plastic? It just extends the fingerprints even further. The fact that it doubles as a door for the storage cubby behind also made it move inwards when touched. Someone at GM clearly didn't think this through.

My Malibu had some sticky spots inside, and a big scratch on the rear bumper, but nothing too major.

Red Scorpion

Just this morning, I finally got my Road Test of the US Passat published.... it joins the review of the Sonata and Altima (I had them one after another in PHX/LA area on my last US trip).

You can find my conclusions if you go to http://themotor.net

LonghornDXB

Thanks for a review that surpasses 90% of car magazine reviews for the Malibu that I have read, most of which seem to focus to much on 0-60 times.

I am choosing a new midsize sedan for my 160 mile round trip commute, and so far the Mazda6 and Malibu (gasp!) are at the top of my list.
The Malibu definitely seems to be the best midsize "cruiser" while the Mazda6 has unique looks.