Chevy Malibu's Quantum Leap

by Thane Peterson

Editor's Rating:

The Good: Price, handling, good looks, classy interior

The Bad: Short supplies, fuel economy of 6-cylinder and hybrid models

The Bottom Line: A vastly improved and impressive Malibu still faces stiff competition

Reader Reviews

Is the new Chevy Malibu good enough to take sales away from the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, the nation's top-selling cars this year? Car and Driver, the bible of driving enthusiasts, seems to think so. The magazine just put the Malibu on its latest Top Ten Cars list, and Editor-in-Chief Csaba Csere has said Chevy's new sedan is better than the Camry?and close to a match for the newly redesigned '08 Accord.

My reaction to this is, whoa! The Malibu is the best Chevy I've ever driven that wasn't a Corvette, and much better than the kind of cars we had come to expect from General Motors (GM) until recently. But better than a Camry? I don't think so. Yes, I know Consumer Reports recently removed the 6-cylinder engine version of the Camry from its recommended list because of quality glitches. But there's a reason the Camry is America's top-selling model. It's still a great car, and its average selling price is considerably lower than the new Malibu's (details on that later).

What you can say about the Malibu?and this is high praise?is that it's a credible competitor that can hold its own with the Camry and Accord for the first time. If you want to support a domestic manufacturer, you can buy one with little fear of being disappointed, which wasn't the case before. However, for my money the class act in the segment is the '08 Accord. And the Malibu still has to prove it can match the reliability and resale value of the Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC), to say nothing of Nissan's (NSANY) Altima and Ford Motor's (F) Fusion.

That said, the '08 Chevy Malibu represents a quantum leap for Chevy. Like the new Saturn Aura, which is built on the same platform, the '08 Malibu is a good-looking, solidly put-together car with a classy interior at a reasonable price. Chevy has also stiffened up the car's frame and given it an independent rear suspension and hydraulic power-assisted steering (on the V6 powered version), so the new Malibu is surprisingly sporty to drive. In fact, the big problem right now is finding one to buy: GM says the '08 Malibus sell within a week of hitting a dealer's lot.

The new Malibu comes in three styles: the basic LS, starting at $19,995, the LT, starting at $20,955, and the LTZ, starting at $26,995. The LS only comes with a 169-horsepower, 4-cylinder engine paired with a 4-speed automatic transmission. A 3.6-liter, 252-horsepower V-6 engine paired with a smoother 6-speed automatic is available as an option on the LT and comes standard on the LTZ. You can also get the LTZ with a 4-cylinder engine paired with the 6-speed automatic.

A 164-horsepower "mild" hybrid Malibu, in which the 4-cylinder is aided part-time by an electric motor (the engine also shuts off at idle, and regenerative brakes capture the energy normally lost during braking), is also available. The hybrid's base price is $22,790, and the car qualifies for a $1,300 federal tax credit.

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