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Glorious rental car! I'm really hoping this wasn't factory Not too bad all things considered Decent amount of adjustments and you can get an 80% or so driving position There is a theme of this cloth covering on surfaces and speakers etc, it presents well for the class but I would be concerned about long term durability. Really questionable tires.....standard brake system that works well enough High output 1.5L engine, has the typical 50% throttle 90% power programing though. Makes it feel like there is a lot more there than actually is, if you finish pinning the throttle nothing more happens and it's not linear at all. Already low on coolant, oil was fine though surprisingly enough.
Driving review to follow
Floormats and seat controls are an option on this side, the manual controls did feature height adjust so that's nice Finish and fit reflects the class Start stop has a disable, it's needed as the engine is not smooth coming back online Screen quality is worse than putting your phone up in selfie mode but it's workable. Headunit responds well, no real delay and menus make sense. CarPlay etc is present, audio quality is shockingly good for what it is. Not offensive and has good enough response across the board to be listenable
Driving is not bad, overall a busy ride but nothing really "sticks out" vs everything else and the overall noise floor is acceptable. You obviously won't be noticing a small creak or panel popping as you would on a quieter car but it's not bad in here.
I noticed the turbo has a very very noticeable engagement, if you try and drive with very low rpm (think subdivision or parking lot) where you combine idling with some very minor power application the engine tries I bring the turbo in quickly.....resulting in what almost feels like a shift bump every time. I quickly learned to just drive it like what it is and not try and be smooth/elegant, 2300 rpm with a throttle stab vs a slow roll on
Steering is overboosted at all speeds IMO, doesn't have any feedback but that's typical. Brakes are fine, doesn't have feedback but they work well enough and are completely adequate. Not confidence inspiring but adequate....body dynamics are top heavy with TQ steer and push under WOT from a stop and understeer to the max when "pushed"
All in all though it's very "okay", really nothing offensive and even the engine tone is not bad for a 4 cyl. Power is also okay, if pinned it can merge into 55 traffic well enough you aren't waiting ages. The engine being turbo doesn't require excessive revs and I'm certain there is sound being piped it or damn it's loud at WOT. Doesn't sound bad though and I again suspect it's using fake sounds to hide rasp. Wheel HP is probably around 110? Something? Says 168 crank and that seems to check out.
Bleh, I had that as a rental in December. A soul sucking car. My rental had smaller wheels than yours did with Goodyear fuelmax tires, the tires on my rental seemed to generate quite a bit of noise in otherwise quiet car. And for some reason the HVAC kept making intermittent farting and buzzing sounds. Very annoying!
That interior is appalling with all the cheap plastics and weird mold cut lines. I actually had a Camry SE rental a few more days after this. Found it to be a much more enjoyable car.
Wow that Chevy is from 2022? I was guessing early 2000's.
The early 2000s Malibu looked like this and was built on the N-platform alongside the Pontiac grand am and Oldsmobile Alero.
GM actually built this thing from 1996-2005. The last two years they sold it as the Malibu “classic” to rental car companies. After the new equally bland epsilon based Malibu came out in 2003.
Bleh, I had that as a rental in December. A soul sucking car.
Agree, the Malibu is one of the worst rental cars I've had in the past few years. The one I had in Austin (just pre-covid, so probably summer/fall of 2019) was the absolute worst. My favorite feature was it would turn the navigation voice volume all the way up, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. So it would destroy your ears letting you know to exit in a half mile, and you'd scramble to crank it down while it was talking. Then 20 seconds later "exit now" at max volume. My reaction time got pretty quick since I had to crank the volume down 200+ times over the course of a few days, but it was still maddening.
I think I still have PTSD from that pile of crap. I have had one more recently than that and it thankfully didn't share that particular feature, but was still not a good car.
At the dealer. They took it right down and looked at it, “definitely leaking from somewhere, not anywhere super easy to get to” so they are putting me in a loaner. Gonna park the loaner and go into the dealer and see what kind of deal I can work out. They have a car here that is optioned like the car in KY but it doesn’t have the AMG package which is a must for me. Going to drive that though and see how I feel about either exclusive interior and the color.
Agree, the Malibu is one of the worst rental cars I've had in the past few years. The one I had in Austin (just pre-covid, so probably summer/fall of 2019) was the absolute worst. My favorite feature was it would turn the navigation voice volume all the way up, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. So it would destroy your ears letting you know to exit in a half mile, and you'd scramble to crank it down while it was talking. Then 20 seconds later "exit now" at max volume. My reaction time got pretty quick since I had to crank the volume down 200+ times over the course of a few days, but it was still maddening.
I think I still have PTSD from that pile of crap. I have had one more recently than that and it thankfully didn't share that particular feature, but was still not a good car.
There is a setting for that actually lol! It did it once for me when I was checking phone integration and I said "oh hell no" lol!
Man you guys are lighting it up lol! It's not THAT bad, it's at least fairly soild feeling in terms of tapping interior panels and not getting that empty plastic box noise.
Agree, the Malibu is one of the worst rental cars I've had in the past few years. The one I had in Austin (just pre-covid, so probably summer/fall of 2019) was the absolute worst. My favorite feature was it would turn the navigation voice volume all the way up, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. So it would destroy your ears letting you know to exit in a half mile, and you'd scramble to crank it down while it was talking. Then 20 seconds later "exit now" at max volume. My reaction time got pretty quick since I had to crank the volume down 200+ times over the course of a few days, but it was still maddening.
Oh but you see. That’s a very useful feature because the Malibu is so boring, the loud voice keeps you awake!
06-24-24, 07:55 AM
