Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Pros:
- Decent mileage
- Acceleration is reasonable at speed
- Pretty stylish looking
- Looks roomy
- XM® Satellite Radio
- OnStar (Standard for ONE YEAR)
Cons:
- Not a lot of storage in the main cabin
- Battery takes up too much room when the seats are folded down for trunk over-spill
- Little noise reduction (despite what’s advertised)
- The switch from gas engine to battery mode and back again is not seamless
- The mileage was decent, but not what I’d expect from a hybrid (some non-hybrid cars get better mileage)
Introduction:
The 2008 Malibu Hybrid is a really sharp-looking sedan. The car’s lines are really nice and it actually looks like it has a decent amount of room. I was excited to drive it, and compare it to the only other hybrid I’ve driven - a Prius. Plus, the Malibu was voted the 2008 North American Car of the Year.
Driving Impressions:
I didn’t expect the vehicle to have much in the way of “bling” or horsepower. But I honestly thought that it was a decent ride. Definitely not plush, but not a rough ride either. It was somewhere in the middle. The most impressive thing about the ride was its stability. I’ve driven a Prius in the wind and rain, and was absolutely terrified. I’d give the Malibu a much-higher rating for stability at any speed. I felt very safe, and very stable in this car.
Build:
The seats and trunk seemed a bit flimsy. I had to be extra firm when closing the trunk, else it didn’t latch. Even though I felt the seats were a bit flimsy, they made up for it with the fact that they were reasonably comfortable. The doors seemed very light and wispy, but I didn’t have any issues in closing them. The windows rolled up and down easily, but the soundproofing was sub-par. It was noisy in there! Bottles rattled in the bottle holders, as the holders seemed a bit big for a standard water bottle.
Interior Comfort and Ergonomics:
The good:
The drivers seat had a good range of adjustments. I was able to get the seat into a comfortable position with a minimum amount of messing about. Visibility is good as well. I had no issues with blind spots and the mirrors were very sufficient in that I could see wherever I needed to. Also, some of the compartments were well-thought out. I was a big fan of the little hidden compartment on the dashboard, and my cell phone fit snugly into a small compartment at the bottom of the center stack. It fit so well that I didn’t notice it on several occasions and left it in the car! I have to say that the instrument panel was really easy to read, and quite visible. It’s very simple, which is the best way to have it. Less to worry about, just show the necessary items. The Malibu did this very well.
The bad:
Space. While the car looks roomy from the outside, it is anything BUT inside. It felt really small when I first got in. I was barely able to fit my bike in the back seat. I thought if I folded the seat down that I could make that work, but I found that the battery took up a considerable amount of space, height-wise, in the trunk area, only leaving a gap of maybe 10 inches between the top of the battery, and the top of the opening. You could stick skis through it, or a snowboard, or some 2×4’s. Maybe some golf clubs. The trunk space was pretty small, but you could make it work. While I got a bike, my spare wheels, a small cooler and a backpack in it, I was unable to carpool to a race, as I couldn’t fit much else in the car! Big bummer with the gas prices.
The ugly:
With the sun-visor down, it obscured a significant portion of the rear-view mirror. Not only is this ugly, but it’s dangerous. The visor should be re-designed to allow for this due to the small size of the cabin. The other “ugly” point, albeit not dangerous, is the lack of room for personal items in the cabin. For instance, there is a small bottle holder in the door pocket. Yet, I couldn’t get a bottle to stay IN the holder (the space was too short, and the holder lip too small). Nor was the pocket wide enough for me to put my CD case in. So I tried to put it in the center console. It wouldn’t fit, not even when I put it in at an angle. Only when I pushed down HARD, did it latch (probably not the best thing to do). There was no other place in the car I could store my CD case, unless it would fit under the seat. To me, the lack of thought into the standard conveniences that a lot of other car manufacturers build in, is a huge oversight. It wouldn’t cost Chevrolet more to make the door pocket a bit wider. Or the center console a bit deeper, or slightly taller. Sure, you could expand the size of the center console, but it was rather flimsy at best, and even then it only expanded the size lengthwise, not depth-wise, where you really needed the expansion.
Performance:
I’m not sure if “performance” and “hybrid” really should go together in the same sentence. Honestly, I didn’t have high expectations for the performance of this car, and it didn’t let me down… I will give it high marks for accelerating while AT SPEED, as this seemed to be easy for the car. Acceleration from 0 to 40 is not so great. Steep hills presented a special challenge, as one would expect. Even with the gas pedal floored, I was losing steam pretty rapidly on a nasty grade, but a quick pop into the low gear got me up the hill. If one was interested in performance in a Malibu package, it seems that the Malibu LTZ would be what you wanted. But again, most hybrid purchasers realize that performance is going to take a back seat when considering fuel economy.
When the car switches from gas engine to battery power, it’s pretty rough. The first few times this happened to me, I honestly thought that the engine had died. The entire car actually shuddered. The same thing happened when the gas engine kicked back in. It may have done it while I was driving, but the times I noticed it was when I stopped. As soon as my foot hit the brake, the whole car shuddered and the battery engine kicked in. As soon as I took my foot off the brake at a stop sign or traffic light, same thing. While I couldn’t prevent it from being so rough at the times I stopped, I learned to let my foot off the brake gently as I anticipated having to go again, then when I’d put my foot on the accelerator, it was a significantly smoother start. Chevrolet needs to work on this transition, making it seamless, because it’s anything but!
Most of the “dinging” in the performance section is coming from the switch from battery to gas mode. I cannot, in good faith, fault the car for not having a lot of power.
Handling:
While the turning radius wasn’t superb, everything else about the Malibu was fine. It handled itself well at 35 mph, 65 mph and pretty much anything in between. I wouldn’t classify it as nimble, but I also wouldn’t classify it as a bus. It’s snugly in between. As I noted earlier, I felt the car would be able to handle itself fine in rain, wind, etc. I don’t know about SNOW, but it felt like it could take the elements and still continue handling as well as it does on dry pavement.
Styling:
The Malibu is simple, yet sharp. Clean lines, a nice grill, sleek lines. It looked nice from every angle. I really couldn’t find any flaws in the exterior of the car. Everything blended nicely into the next section. The headlamps FIT the car. The bumpers blended nicely. The wheels even fit the overall look of the automobile. I remember the Malibu of days long gone, and while it was a sweet-looking muscle car, it later morphed into some pretty ugly incarnations. This latest version reflects the sedans of today, looking very similar to the Saturn Aura (or the Aura looks similar to the Malibu). Consider them distant cousins as they are both built upon the same chassis (this also includes the Pontiac G6).
Value:
Overall, the car is a decent value for the money. $25k buys you a stable vehicle, which gets decent mileage, looks good, and is a hybrid. You can feel good about your purchase! As for safety, the Malibu I tested has a 5-star frontal and side-impact crash rating, six standard air bags, standard four-wheel anti-lock brakes and traction control. Additionally, the “Driver Information Center” offers 34 vehicle function messages (such as oil life, tire pressure, fuel range, with the addition of 10 additional personalization settings) all viewable in the main dashboard area (along with current mileage, odometer, etc.).
Conclusion:
While there were some things I really liked about this car, there were a lot more things I didn’t like. If American auto makers really want to compete, they need to start building in some of the conveniences offered by their competition. It wouldn’t cost more to create a bit more storage space in the cabin, or a bit smaller visor so the driver’s vision wasn’t impaired. It’s the small things that sell a car, and Chevrolet has a bit of catching up to do, even though they truly are on the right track. A few more years of development work and they can have something that works really well AND offers all the conveniences that a buyer demands. Let’s hope they listen…
Who should buy one?
Someone who is interested in buying an American hybrid, and interested in saving money, since the Malibu is a better deal (savings of about $2,000) over both the Toyota Camry Hybrid and the Nissan Altima Hybrid. Not to mention the Malibu is really easy on the eyes.
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| Build | Interior | Performance | Handling | Styling | Value | Overall |
| Rating | 2.75 | 2.0 | 2.75 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.25/C- |
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