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Sedans Chevrolet Malibu 2008 Chevrolet Malibu
1099 messages, Last post on Oct 09, 2008 at 4:50 PM
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I went to a Honda dealer and a Chevy dealer a few hours ago. I test drove an LX-P and liked it and was thinking about coming back in a few weeks to buy it the week between Christmas and New Years. Very roomy and it felt very tight and solid. The LX-P cloth was softer and better looking than the cloth on the EX models. I am likely to buy a car like this unless insurance is more than I expect. I decided to stop by the Chevy dealer to see the new Malibu just to see if would be worth considering. They only had two 2008 Malibus. An LTZ on the showroom loaded with everything and the black and brick interior. I still don't like it, but didn't look as bad as it does in the photos. Some people may like it. The only other 2008 they had was an LS almost complete stripped. Just mats and bodyside moldings. Sticker slightly over $20K. Since I'm more interested in the 4 cylinder gas mileage, I test drove the LS just to see how it would compare to the Accord. The stripped LS interior actually looked pretty good and lit up really nicely at night with all the ambient lighting touches all over the car including lighted door handles. The 4 cylinder seemed smoother and quieter than the Accord due to being buried behind tons of sound deading material. The ride was smoother and quieter than the 2008 Accord (and the 2008 Accord is smoother than the 2007s were) It had a hydraulic lift for the hood even on the base LS with 4 cylinder (no hood prop needed). This is really rare on 4 cylinder cars. Even a Lincoln MKZ has a hood prop. XM radio and OnStar on the base LS. OK sounding stereo. I think it even had auto on and off headlights. The LS is what you will see at rental lots, so I bet many of those people renting at Avis and Hertz will like the car and then consider buying one. The 4-speed automatic seemed no worse than the 5-speed Honda transmission. You get alot for at $20K MSRP. No stability control though. You need to move up to at least an LT to order Stabilitrak. However, it still was not perfect. The sleek styling made headroom tight front and back. I bumped my head getting in once and the back seat headroom was maginal for 6 footers in the LS. In the LTZ with moonroof, the rear headroom was extremely tight for 6 footers, The rear legroom was adequate due to the cutouts for your knees in the backs of the front seats. The fold down rear seat has a wider opening than the Accord, so it will be easier to fit a bike through the opening into the car interior. However, the trunk lid opening itself is small. The LS seats seemed comfortable on the test drive, but they may have been a bit too soft to be supportive on a long trip. I would have to drive one on a long trip to find out. I like the car. An LT without the moonroof option would be a really nice car. If you get the moonroof, tall people can't sit in back. Even without the moonroof, rear headroom is barely adequate. The Accord also has the folding rear center armrest that the Malibu lacks. The Accord has gooseneck trunk hinges and the Malibu had struts. All around, the Malibu seemed better for front seat passengers and cargo and the Accord is better for the rear passengers. I may still go with the Accord because of the tight rear seat. The Accord has OK headroom even with the moonroof and the LX models are that much roomier since they don't have moonroofs. LX and L-P sedans are full-size. EX sedans are mid-size due to the space lost by the moonroof. The Honda also will have much better resale value and you can get a 100K $0 deductible extended warranty for around $750. A similar GM service contract would be more like $1600 on a new Malibu. If you need a roomy back seat with lots of headroom, the Malibu comes up short, but it was a bit nicer to drive from the front seat. When the 6-speed automatic becomes available on all 4-cylinders, it will be even nicer to drive, but they cannot do anything about the rear seat space until the next redesign. The extra $1000 cost of the GM extended warranty vs Honda warranty kind of wipes out the savings of the Malibu vs Accord. If a $1500-$2000 rebate comes, it will look more attractive to me since I don't think invoices price of similarly trim Malibus and Accords are not that far apart. If they came out with a subsidized lease program, that could be attractive. You would be able to drive it for 3 years without worrying about resale and repair or extended warranty costs. I didn't like the Chevy sales people, they were trying to get me to buy one of them by saying they could replace the LTZ leather or put leather in the LS even after I told them more than once I am going to keep looking at other vehicles and would only get an LT with Stabilitrak if I were going to get a Malibu at all. The Malibu was more comfortable to drive than the Accord, but the Accord is much better for big and tall people to ride in the back seat. The Accord will have much, much better resale value.
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Replying to: jaxs1 (Nov 24, 2007 10:27 pm) 4 speed auto on 4cyl models and then they're are going to put in a 6 speed? Why not start with a 5 speed auto to begin with?. They spent all this money on their attention grabbing commercials yet the cars are nowhere to be found.! Like you said there were two at the dealership you stopped in. I've yet to see one here and I would like to check it out. Not that we get many Chevy buyers looking at Toyotas but I keep up with the competition. Mack 
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Replying to: mackabee (Nov 25, 2007 11:09 am) I have recently read that the lease residuals on the 2008 Malibu are only going to be a couple points less than a Camry, so maybe I could lease one and let GM take the resale risk if there are also good lease money factor rates. I don't use the back seat that much and it is "usable," but tight for tall people. I may go to another dealer and take a look at a 2LT today. I'm not sure how much money I am going to spend on a car yet. I'm looking at everything from the upcoming 2009 Corolla to leasing a Mercedes E350 (there are super aggressive lease deals on the E350 in some areas that make the lease cost comparable to much cheaper cars). The Accord and Malibu are most likely since you get the most for the price. The Corolla is probably going to be too small, and I probably will not be able to get the E350 leased as cheaply as some people in the forums were claiming. The Accord will be the safest bet. An LX-P is a good value, 5 star crash tests all around, standard stability control, good gas mileage, good handling, roomy, reliable and great resale value. The Malibu looks better, has more neat features and drives and rides a bit nicer, but has questionable reliability especially since I heard the similar Saturn Aura has been rated worse than average reliability. However, there is a Chevy dealer on my way to work and the Honda dealers are all out of the way in different directions than my commute route. If I ever had to take the Honda in for warranty service, it would be very inconvenient to drive there to drop off and pick up the car compared to doing the same with the Malibu.
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Replying to: jaxs1 (Nov 25, 2007 11:33 am) Mack
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Replying to: mackabee (Nov 25, 2007 11:56 am) Maybe I will just go with the Accord for now and look at the Malibu again in 3 or 4 years when reliability issues would be sorted out, they will be all 6-speeds and it will probably at least have a folding rear seat armrest.
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Replying to: jaxs1 (Nov 25, 2007 12:09 pm)
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Replying to: sidewinderz (Nov 25, 2007 12:25 pm) The residuals are highest the earlier you start your lease unless they are artificially raised later as an incentive. I'd like to find out what the current lease deal is on the new Malibu before I get something else. Didn't GM have promotion a few years ago where they had a special lease program that let you walk away from your lease at 12K miles if you didn't like the car? I think is was around 2004 or 2005. Maybe they can do that again if they are really confident about the Malibu. This is what shows on leasecompare. You can enter your zipcode and the prices and it will calculate what deal they could get for you through private leasing companies: http://www.leasecompare.com/quick_lease_quotes.php?ModelYear=2008&MakeID=160&Mod- - elID=330&StyleID=110&vehicle=2008+Chevrolet+Malibu Maybe GM will offer a better deal with their in-house lease program. |
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Replying to: shado4 (Dec 22, 2006 7:33 am) |
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Replying to: jaxs1 (Nov 24, 2007 10:27 pm) We didn't opt for the extended at least yet, so I wasn't paying close attention but I want to say he quoted the extended for around $900 to take the bumper to bumper from 36,000 and 3 yrs to 100,000 and five years. One last point unrelated to your post but related to cost that a few might find interesting is the use of credits for the GM Master card. I was quite surprised when the closing agent outlined that only one thousand of my accumulated credits could be used against the purchase of the Malibu. I'd never been limited before and had a good balance accrued as it had been seven years since the last new purchase. After telling the agent that it was a deal breaker, he asked to see my card again and noted that it was a GM World... and offered that a couple of years before he had run into this and the owner of the card had called and was allowed to use all credits. His explanation was, that GM sold the card and the new owners changed the policy to limiting credits but that those who've had the card for a long time are grandfathered to the previous policy for which they subscribed. He made a call and had to go up one tier of reps but soon had the full credit applied to the purchase. So...if someone has had a card for a long time and gets the limiting speech, it might be worth checking into. |
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Their safety features are never an option. If they offer it, its standard, even on the base trim of whatever model it is. A nice trend that others should emulate.
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