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Sedans Chevrolet Malibu Chevrolet Malibu vs. Toyota Camry vs. Honda Accord
639 messages, Last post on Nov 26, 2009 at 9:14 AM
You are in the Chevrolet Malibu Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Replying to: domosoyo (Jan 05, 2008 6:38 am) |
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Replying to: aaronfitz (Jan 04, 2008 10:25 pm) By most accounts the Accord is still the better car but it wouldn't surprise me if the Malibu won the North American Car of the Year because to me it's graded on a curve. The Accord is expected to be the top car. Welcome to the forum. |
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They decide arbitrarily to rule out the Altima and the Sonata, and then declare the Accord the best ever. Yet in ruling out those vehicles they are ruling out very real motivations for buying a family mid-size vehicle: Sportiness for the soccer daddy car guy (i.e., people who read insideline): Altima wins the day. Budget-mindedness: A HUGE factor in this segment, and increasingly so when credit and jobs are getting zinged. Sonata is a tremendous value. Without considering these motivations in buyers for this segment, artificially limiting the comparo to these three vehicles means the test is an interesting intellectual exercised, but ultimately flawed, and lacking in real info for buyers of this segment.
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Replying to: unkownuser (Jan 05, 2008 12:38 pm) |
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The reason the Altima wasn't in this comparo was because they wanted to test the two top sellers(Accord,Camry) and the newbie (Malibu). I can tell you that Motor Trend just did a comparison between the Altima, Malibu, Accord and the Camry. These were all fully loaded vehicles with the V-6's. The Altima was the budget leader in this particular test but received fourth place. Motor Trend summed it up with the Altima saying..."winner on track and twisties comes up short for lack of polish and refinement..." The Accord placed third with MT saying "Vast room, attention to detail, and advanced technology can't overcome a few obvious faults" Malibu placing second with MT saying.."Great combination of sport and luxury bettered only by Camry. America's best and segment's best looking" Leaving the Camry taking first and MT said "Finest all-around mix of power, handling, room, and bells and whistles-no wonder it was our 2007 Car of the Year" Pick up a copy of MT if you want to read more. I would still buy a new Malibu just on the looks alone. When it comes to the interior, the Malibu is right up there I think. Not quite up to Accord with the fit and finish, but I don't think that it sticks out like a sore thumb when put side by side. And from what I've read in different magazines, the new Camry has been suffering from jagged mold lines and squeaks and rattles in the interior. Toyota is starting to pump out so many vehicles now they are starting to lose their grip. All they car about right now is overtaking GM, even though they didn't in 07. That's just my personal opionion. Aaron
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Replying to: aaronfitz (Jan 05, 2008 5:59 pm) 
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Replying to: aaronfitz (Jan 05, 2008 5:59 pm) |
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| Malibu needs a new name, also looks better on tv than in person gas mileage and resale value like Hundai won't cut today. Accords are noisy, but thes are are capable vehicles Toyota seems to lead in durability, reliability. I had a 97 Mailibu just ok no problems lousy trade in valu at Toyota and Honda lots. | |
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Unlike the V6 version of this test, I think this comparison of the Chevy Malibu/Honda Accord/Toyota Camry is right on. As a '07 Camry SE owner, purchased last April ... I think edmunds is right at least about the LE trim of the vehicle. As "Erin" said earlier, "The LE is the quintessential Camry, the one most people buy..." I completely agree. I personally didn't care for the basic styling of the LE trim, and it was the little things that SE added (such as alloy wheels - what a concept, and sharp IMHO body kit) that made me pull for it. The fact that alloy wheels are not standard on the Camry LE's still baffle me. $20,000 for a vehicle and no alloy wheels, give me a break Toyota. I'm actually surprised the little 2.4L - 158-hp was proved so quick in Edmund's tests, compared to the more potent engines in the Malibu and Accord -- I didn't think it would even compete. Good review, although I'm certainly not the typical Camry buyer at 23 when I purchased, if the SE trim model didn't exist I wouldn't even have considered it. Now, almost a year later - the playing field has changed dramatically and the Accord and Malibu look to be excellent cars. I can't argue about the Malibu's interior -- definately better than my Camrys and Accord -- too bad the value of the car will drop like a rock. But the interior of the Malibu does certainly deserve some praise. |
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While others might complain that the SE was missing from these comparisons, I'm not going to argue the point. It's just not worth it at all. I personally think that the LE option was the best choice for this particular comparison between the Malibu and Accord, as it is Toyota's best selling option. After reading that in Edmunds' 2008 V6 Comparison test that was published about three weeks ago and seeing the car put in last place (which I felt it didn't deserve and needed to test drive the SE version instead of the XLE version) ... I picked up Motor Trend's February 2008 issue to find a comparison test between the Malibu/Accord/Camry/Altima. To my surprise, especially considering just a few months ago (Oct. 2007 issue) the magazine praised the Accord as the better vehicle over the Camry. However, the Camry won the comparison between the three other cars, with the Malibu, Accord, and Altima coming in at 2,3, and 4 - respectively. The Camry is not perfect, nor is the Altima, Accord, or Malibu. But it's good to see better competition from the U.S. Like I said in the earlier post, the Malibu's interior looks excellent. Unfortunately, as Edmunds doesn't point out the models that start out around $20,000 or (19,9xx) is rather plain looking with plastic wheel covers, and a pretty generic looking interior. One thing this review and especially the comparison of V6 family sedans made me realize is that the best thing to do is take them with a grain of salt. Test drive all the cars, and make a decision for yourself. With all four (or three in this case) -- I think either one is a fine choice. Each one has an advantage/disadvantage -- and look through Consumer Reports for any trouble reports and messageboards and you should be fine. Certain things that have been brought up in this message board is a major consideration for many new buyers is resale value - which the Chevrolet would drop pretty bad, with Honda leading the pack and Toyota coming in second. The entire talk of "if GM keeps making cars like the Malibu, then the resale value will come up..." while true, is non-sense.... people don't purchase a vehicle and take into consideration what the resale value "might" be, if the manufacturer makes better vehicles. Take the Hyundai brand for instance, I personally think they make terrific looking vehicles and with their warranty and great bargain for those on a budget, especially when you look at what they used to make. However, resale value is still pretty poor, despite great reviews for the Sonata and other vehicles (Santa Fe, Veracruz) -- it still loses a lot of money once it comes to sell it. Still, all in all -- aside from Consumer Reports which tends to be a no nonsense "here are the facts" review --- take other review with a grain of salt and test drive all the cars in the segment until you find one you're really comfortable with.
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