- #3 of 12
-
Re: Many seemingly 'bogus' reviews on the site [hackd]
by marclar
-
Dec 06, 2007 (7:31 pm)
-
|
|
Replying to: hackd (Dec 06, 2007 5:29 pm)
Hello Hackd,
let me answer your questions.
1. The Malibu I received from Enterprise is the '08 model on the sticker (manufactured after 11/07), however, it is not the new body style that will be debuted in early 2008....so after some research it is not the same car....just marked as '08 model on the sticker
2. I certainly do not want to disagree with other reviewers because I don't like the car. I just want to give it a trustworthy evaluation without any prejudice.
You cannot just go ahead and give a vehicle all 10's around and say it beats every car..it is simply incorrect especially for a thorough review. Even the tightest BMW cannot score all 10's....there are simply always pro's and con's
But after doing some research and especially after owning a shop and having professionaly worked on many cars I can say that the Malibu as well as many other American sedans greatly lack in development and it is only to be expected with billion dollar losses and the car that is built to be consumed not built to perform that is why I disagree with reviewers that overstate its performance and handling properties.
My mane concern is that the car I drove was not entirely safe being brand new with a traction control and steering that can get an avarage driver in trouble.
Another thing I noticed is that most reviews aimed to say that this vehicle is superior to the Accord and Camry (that are currently one of the best sellers and frankly are quite well built vehicles with Accord being better than Camry) which makes me think that some GE folks would want to influence people into buying GE cars over Toyota or Honda....i just might be wrong.
|
- #4 of 12
-
Re: Many seemingly 'bogus' reviews on the site [marclar]
by hackd
-
Dec 06, 2007 (7:53 pm)
-
|
|
Replying to: marclar (Dec 06, 2007 7:31 pm)
Now I am confused...if it was not the new body style wouldn't that mean it was the 07 body style...was it the body style in the Malibu ad all over Edmonds? As for people giving their ratings all 10's...your point is valid. This is why I think the comments are more important. If I see a review that give all 10's and under comments has one sentence I really don't pay much attention...same thing if it gives all crappy scores. To your conspiracy theory I guess it could be true but I just don't think GM employees would be the only manufacturer trying to provide phony reviews. A good indicator would be their join date and post history.
|
- #5 of 12
-
Re: Many seemingly 'bogus' reviews on the site [hackd]
by uplanderguy
-
Dec 07, 2007 (3:01 am)
-
|
|
Replying to: hackd (Dec 06, 2007 7:53 pm)
I think it's pretty easy to see what happened. I have to wonder if Chevy is still building an old-style "Malibu Classic" for fleet sales, as they did when the last all-new Malibu came out, and have also done when the new full-size pickups were introduced last year or so.
I think this guy doesn't even know what vehicle he reviewed! A simple walk-around the vehicle would show the average person it's not the new Malibu, especially with all the pre-introduction photos and ads out there. I think my 80-year old mother who never had a driver's license would know the difference!
By the way, the guy should know that "main" is spelled just like that, not "mane".
Bill P.
|
- #6 of 12
-
Re: Many seemingly 'bogus' reviews on the site [marclar]
by pao
-
Dec 07, 2007 (4:27 am)
-
|
|
Replying to: marclar (Dec 06, 2007 7:31 pm)
My mane concern is that the car I drove was not entirely safe being brand new with a traction control and steering that can get an avarage driver in trouble.
and his statement here is very confusing.....what about the car made him feel it wasnt entirely safe because it was brand new with TC and steering that would get the average driver in trouble...????? Makes no sense
|
- #7 of 12
-
Re: Many seemingly 'bogus' reviews on the site [pao]
by hackd
-
Dec 07, 2007 (9:03 am)
-
|
|
Replying to: pao (Dec 07, 2007 4:27 am)
Isn't it ironic that the person complaining about bogus reviews seems to have left one?
|
- #8 of 12
-
Re: Many seemingly 'bogus' reviews on the site [hackd]
by marclar
-
Dec 07, 2007 (10:53 am)
-
|
|
Replying to: hackd (Dec 07, 2007 9:03 am)
Hackd,
again, I was trying to be as honest in my review as possible. I did not overstate anything and only left it here because I am concerned about today's US vehicle safety and craftsmanship and just could not keep my mouth shut after driving a new vehicle of such terrifying quality.
And as others stated this particular Malibu was the same as '07 model only marked '08 because it was manufactured November 2007.
Five days ago i took this rental back to exchange for something else and all they had was a bunch of Malibu's in the class that insurance is paying for....so I went ahead and downgraded to a Kia Sportage (also '08 model) with a 4 cyl engine.
This was my first time driving a Kia and it was a much better car in every respect.
Its tiptrinic gear box had much closer and more suitable gear ratios, the cabin was ergonomic and the handling was by far better than the Malibu. And frankly I was never a fan of Kia's - any good driver would recognize it as a superior vehicle to Malibu.
|
- #9 of 12
-
Re: Many seemingly 'bogus' reviews on the site [marclar]
by hackd
-
Dec 07, 2007 (11:39 am)
-
|
|
Replying to: marclar (Dec 07, 2007 10:53 am)
It was a joke as you obviously were being honest but unfortunately made a mistake in the car classification. I was actually looking at Yahoo car reviews and have to agree with your original statement. Most of those reviews were complete BS...most positive and a couple negative. It is a shame when it is obvious that people don't even test drive a car and leave ratings and ramblings about American vs foreign quality ratings. I actually find less of that on this forum.
|
- #10 of 12
-
Re: Many seemingly 'bogus' reviews on the site [marclar]
by pao
-
Dec 10, 2007 (4:37 am)
-
|
|
Replying to: marclar (Dec 07, 2007 10:53 am)
being an owner of an 03 KIA..dont let initial impressions fool you...the scheduled maintenance intervals and costs associated with keeping up their 10/100k drive train warranty is both time consuming and $$$ if the dealership does it...and changing the time belt every 60K is a pain as well......
|
- #11 of 12
-
Re: Many seemingly 'bogus' reviews on the site [pao]
by csandste
-
Dec 10, 2007 (10:39 pm)
-
|
|
Replying to: pao (Dec 10, 2007 4:37 am)
My new 4 cyl. Optima doesn't have a timing belt, but my 01 Elantra did and the 60,000 inspection and belt change ran me $800 if memory serves me right. I do change oil every 3000 miles and the OLM in my Malibu Maxx indicates 7000 mile changes. You're right about HyunKia's (and probably Japanese cars) having higher maintenance costs. With that 100,000 warranty, it keeps you doing unnecessary service on your car just to keep the warranty up. GM has refreshingly low service costs. On the other hand both my Korean cars were/are flawless and my Maxx went through a steering column for $1000. That pretty well paid for the sixty thousand service, so I guess things are pretty even right now.
|
- #12 of 12
-
Re: Many seemingly 'bogus' reviews on the site [csandste]
by tir
-
Dec 11, 2007 (1:40 pm)
-
|
|
Replying to: csandste (Dec 10, 2007 10:39 pm)
I don't know, heck I wrote a review of the 2008 Malibu since I went across the street and wanted to see what my competition was doing. I sell Toyota by the way, and so I know the dealers around me and the various sales staffs will check out the other makes so that we can sell against it. The Chevy store next door is owned by the same auto group and I was honest about what I was doing. I was treated very well by them and offered them the same courtesy and have been taken up on it with some of the new models we have coming out. I wrote up the review and that was where things got pretty ugly pretty fast. Now mind you I was writing in the Malibu forum about the Malibu and I didn't compare it against its competitors. I got my head taken off by some guy posting hate mail against anyone that wasn't writing something positive about Toyota. Don't get me wrong I like the brand or I wouldn't sell it. However I did write and I am convinced that that Malibu is going to be a player in the mid-sized segment. Is it perfect, no its overweight and the MPG needs a boost, the rear seat room leave a bit to be desired but still the nicest interior in the price point segement. I didn't go all that far but I found it rather irritating that an honest review got flamed pretty quickly and with a nasty twist.
|
![[F]](http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/townhall/webxicons/site.gif){kind=small}
Forums
Sedans 
