Personally, I like the looks of the Malibu inside and out. And from the overwhelmingly positive reviews, the Malibu is now a player in this segment. I hope Chevy doesn’t allow it to grow stale and that they make constant improvements each year based on all the information available to them on boards like these. Nav would be nice.

The last few Opels brought to the states were a disaster. The Cadillac Catera was made in Germany and was only lightly made over from it’s Opel sedan origins. The Saturn L was basically an Opel built in Delaware. Both were sales flops.

You have to go all the way back to the Opel GT to find a moderately successful Opel-to-the-US effort, and it was clearly a niche vehicle, not a mainline product.

2nd opinion:

Well its then just a matter of opinion.

No, it's a matter of fact. And neither Michael nor I (nor Healey I'm sure) torture-tested the car.

2nd opinion:

Oh, I think Healey’s review is an anomaly among alot of really good ones.

I disagree. Both Mr. Karesh and I found the production Malibu's gearbox lacking. It's also a problem that's bedeviled buyers of the Saturn Aura.

The really scary part is the fact that GM shares your desire to dismiss these issues as "anomalies."

Impressions were colored, however, by some glitches. They are problems that no others have reported, says Malibu chief engineer Mike Meloeny.

As stated above, that's simply not true.

GMs got a fighting chance if the dealers don’t behave badly. Will current Camry and Accord owners even consider a Malibu? Some will, but most gave it up long ago.

Oh, I think Healey’s review is an anomaly among alot of really good ones.

True, but most of us are not jurnos and don’t need to refrain from rooting for the home team to win (or at least not embarass themselves)

The exceptional thing here is that Toyohondissan have set the new average, and GM actually made something on par. It’s as if the design team went out and rented a Camcord so they actually knew what their competition was like. Then they built a car that is almost as good as Accord and a bit better than a Camry.

Of course there’s long term reliability to consider, and GM just doesn’t have a good rep in that department. I hope the tranny clunks are not a portent of serious failure.

Or maybe you mean “treated like a rental bound for hell press car?” You know they don’t figure out the performance numbers and handling limits by babying them. But you may well be right. Maybe he got a fresh one, and if so, that’s not good for Chevy.

We’ve all had the experience that the boss, or the rich guy down the street who never otherwise talks to us, or somebody else we never otherwise hear from, calls once a year to ask car-buying advice. (Hell, it just happened to be this morning.) We’re “the car guy” who must know which car to buy, so they turn to us. And the manufacturers used to turn to us as “influencers.”

But it’s been a long time since they seriously built cars to be bought by enthusiasts in the mass market. And don’t tell me about Vipers and Corvettes and R8s and the like. These are halo cars, not rational products.

Which will not matter to Toyota as a business. The era of I-want-a-faster-car pistonheads having a dominating influence in the car selling business is drawing to a close.

Is this the same transmissions in two different cars?

And one more question remains: did Mr. Healey lose press car perks and NAIAS credentials?

JD Power just released their survey for three year old cars – 2004 model year vehicles. Go to their website and check it out if interested.

Let’s be honest — if the Malibu was identical to what it is, except that it was called a Mitsubishi Galant, it would not generate anywhere near the hype and hopefulness that it garners as a Chevy. From what I’ve seen of the Malibu, it appears utterly mundane and would not have caught my attention if I wasn’t a car guy and hadn’t been told how obliged I am to pay attention to it. I hope that we don’t confuse the average with the exceptional.

JD Power claims that IQS and long-term reliability correlate. They’re probably partially correct — I seriously doubt that a car with poor initial quality is likely to go the distance. But in contrast, I’ve seen plenty of examples of vehicles with good initial quality that don’t endure well over time.

For me, a 3 year reliability measurement isn’t enough.

JD Power’s paying customers are the automakers. The three-year mark matters to them, because their warranties tend to run for 3-4 years. You can get longer-term survey results from Consumer Reports.

For me, a 3 year reliability measurement isn’t enough. I want to see 5 year surveys, especially since lease returns come in at year 3, and the 2nd owner can better rate reliability from 36,000 – 60,000 miles. If we see transmission/water pump/interior trim/etc. failures, we know the car’s likely to be a lemon.

Well the Fusion really should be a good running reliable car… It’s really a Mazda just remade and rebadged as for GM

Obviously you have not checked the initial quality and long term ( 3 year) survey results for Mazda or for that matter many other imports (Hyundai, Kia, Benz). The juxtaposition of the Ford, Lincoln, Mercury brands shows them to be much better and more reliable than Mazda ever was.( or Nissan, or VW or Benz, or Audi). In fact at the JD power site you can see that poor picked on Mercury beats all the Aisians except Lexus in the latest 3 year reliability survey…..the survey that counts!

Blunozer: I agree—it is how GM responds that is important. Let hope GM matches the “car you can’t ignore” to “problems that aren’t ignored”.

It’s gonna be GM’s response that will make or break this thing. If they blow it off, its worth a deathwatch article at least. If they take it seriously, and fix it not only for future ‘bus, but current ones, a la’Toyota, they might be on to something.

RF- You had none of these issues with your Malibu test—did you ?

As I wrote under Mr. Karesh’s review…

5. Gearbox. Definitely this car’s weak spot. The six didn’t respond to throttle inputs quickly, the paddles are useless and I even managed to make it CLUNK once (unintentionally I swear).

RF

Beneath the sheet metal of the Malibu lies the spirit of the Citation.

Meanwhile, the forgotten Ford Fusion keeps perking along with steady sales and excellent reliability. and a navigation system, and all wheel drive. and better resale value…

While I was not overly impressed with the Fusion when it came out, it’s starting to look better and better. I sure hope that the 3.5 liter V-6 turns out to be a decent engine and that they get it in the Fusion soon.