“What do I gotta do to get you to drive out of here in a brand-new 2016 Chevrolet Malibu today?”
That, Ford and Google are moving to the country, Hyundai halts in China and Volvo’s wagon spied in some guy’s garage … after the break!
Chevrolet needs to move these sedans, folks
Automotive News reported that under a new deal between Chevrolet and its dealers, selling more Cruze, Malibu and Silverado models would net higher bonuses from the manufacturer.
The proposed contract would also include a minor penalty for dealers that sell cars with unfinished open recall repair work.
But basically, just get out of the way of all these Equinoxes that are coming in.
Ford, Google deal includes North Carolina robot car ranch
According to The Detroit Bureau (via Yahoo Autos), the pending partnership between Ford and Google could include a 1,000-acre proving ground in North Carolina where robot cars can run free — the way God intended them to be.
The campus in North Carolina would be roughly 10 times larger than the University of Michigan facility that Ford uses, and could be used for testing and research for the companies, who are allegedly beginning a joint venture to build cars.
The report also details some in-car technology that the partnership could provide, such as geo-targeted advertisements and ad serving (OnStar does that) for drivers.
China weighs heavy on Hyundai, Kia
So far, 2016 hasn’t been a banner year for the Chinese economy (and ours) but the Wall Street Journal reports that Hyundai and Kia are bracing for another difficult year after the automaker missed its annual target for 2015.
On Monday, the South Korean automaker predicted a meager 1.6-percent increase in 2016, well below the double-digit gains posted only five years ago.
The automaker reported that the slowdown in China, flip-flopping currency values and increased competition was affecting its bottom line.
Volvo V90 breaks cover a little early
AutoGuide has some nifty shots of the wagon based on Volvo’s fancy sedan and, for the most part, it looks like we thought it would.
The wagon will make its bow at the Geneva Auto Show this March, but the better news is that it’ll definitely make its way to the States.
Wagons ho!
Gas is cheap, getting cheaper
According to AAA, gas was cheaper in 2015 than it had been since 2009, and will continue its slide for 2016.
The organization said that, on average, gas was cheaper by about $1 in 2015 than it was the previous year, and most gas stations in the U.S. are hovering around $2 per gallon for the cheap stuff.
AAA estimates that the average price per gallon for 2016 will be between $2.25 and $2.40, lower than the 2015 average of $2.40.
The 2016 Malibu is spacious, reasonably price, and very attractive. Very similar to a new Sonata. Love Car Play.
It gets the Bigtruckseriesreview endorsement.
This is what the VOLT needs to be.
Spacious for a family of 4-5.
Haven’t driven new Malibu, but all reviews point out that 1.5L turbo and 6 speed auto is just adequate. I wonder about driving in hilly areas with a couple of passengers and the air on. New size may be great, but 160hp isn’t.
You would have loved my grandmother’s ’79 Malibu with a 94hp V6! I recall driving in “hilly areas” (Appalachian Mountains) with six passengers and a full trunk. It wasn’t fast but it worked.
I had a 79 Malibu wagon with the V8 – around 150HP.
Gotta love the 305V8 4 barrel carb model. 5.0l and ~150hp (but God’s own torque: if you dropped into “passing gear”, you were headed to warp drive).
[note: I’m pretty sure the malibu [classic – I suspect that checked the engine box] was a
’79, but wiki seems to disagree.]
I had a 78 Malibu coupe with 305 4bbl, 4-speed, sport suspension. Loved that car, great handling, great looks. This was the malaise-era so it had a 2.72 axle to save gas, made starting out with the 4-speed a chore, and laughable 0-60 times. I should have put 3.73 ratio in it.
@BTSR:
“Spacious for a family of 4-5.”
Families don’t drive sedans anymore.
With car-like CUVs having car-like MPGs, car-like handling, car-like ride heights, and car-like prices, and all of the utility of a wagon/SUV (for most people), there’s no advantage to a sedan.
Sedans are for the childless, or maybe empty nesters. Everyone else drives CUVs. A few of us drive minivans, and even fewer drive off-road capable SUVs.
Source: Walt Disney World parking lot.
Sedans are still a viable car for Dad in a 4-5 person family. It can carry the family if needed, but isn’t regularly used for that purpose, as the CUV/SUV in the other garage stall normally fills that purpose.
I’d say the families I know with more than one car are about evenly divided between 1 CUV/SUV + 1 sedan and 2 CUV/SUV. In the city so not a lot of pickups.
We have one CUV which always carries the kid and is usually driven by my wife, and two sedans, one driven only by me and one driven about equally between me and a nearby-living relative.
Beware, most of the Disney parking lot is full of rentals unless you observed out of state plates in the vehicles you are referring to.
Sedans were ruined to create CUVs which always cost a bit more even though they are the same platform/drivetrain most of the time. No one who builds both has the balls to imply in marketing what the CUV who it is intended for and why its marketing works.
CUVs are essentially 1940s sedans in terms of dimensions. Today’s sedans are just so damn low, they’re hard to get in and out of and heaven forbid you try to drive on a washed out road or clip a curb.
That being said, the goose isn’t fried yet. In lots of families mom drives a van/suv/cuv and dad has a sedan. It can still take everyone on an irregular basis, but isn’t the primary family hauler.
“Today’s sedans are just so damn low”
I own one of the lowest slung sedans available in the past twenty years, I have no issues entering or exiting it. Sedans have been made to suck on on purpose, they have become small coupes with four doors and no true full size option. Somehow with the magic addition of a fifth door rear passenger room -including rear door length and headroom- improves. Its a miracle, praise Jeebus. Take a previous Avalon, delete some trunk room while extending the rear cabin length even further, and you’ve got the ideal transportation medium for Mom, Dad, and the 2.2.
BTSR basically nails it, its about women, their poor choices, and the complacency of men (and society) to enable their poor choices.
I don’t think sedans have gotten lower; quite the opposite.
I have two sedans, one built in 1995 and one built in 2008.
The 1995 sedan (an Acura Legend) is notable for its lowness, and really feels startlingly low if you get into it after driving any vehicle made in the last decade or so.
The 2008 sedan is lower than a CUV, but feels normal.
Agree, RE: sedan height. They’re just getting taller all the time. Look how tall the Camry has become. Or the Maxima. And the difference between the past LaCrosse and the current one. Compare an early 90’s Deville to a 2000+ model.
Taller things, all of them.
CUV’s are basically wagons on stilts – that look like “SUVS” to give young women a feeling of power and entitlement when they drive back and forth between picking up their underachieving children and getting their nails and hair done to please their man – who is most likely on Ashley Madison.
They offer ground clearance with their AWD units while robbing us of leg room. I say NO THANK YOU.
It’s probably okay if their man is on Ashley Madison, because there are no women there.
http://gizmodo.com/almost-none-of-the-women-in-the-ashley-madison-database-1725558944
Hahah, that’s hilarious. Almost no “women users” had even checked their mailbox.
I had a 2004 Malibu Maxx. The concept was brilliant, the build quality and materials completley hopeless. Fisher Price would have made this car better than Fisher Body. But, a brilliant idea that GM will never touch again because the first time it didn’t sell (GM is the king of self-fulfilling prophecy, of course it didn’t sell when people saw how badly it was made).
I’d guess that a fair chunk of the cars there are sourced from the rental lots at the Orlando airports.
Liking that V90 wagon…
Beautiful V90. I will even take that white one! Although it must have the parchment/brown interior, please.
When my 97 V90 finally wears out I’ll look for a used new-style V90…which unfortunately won’t be nearly as durable as the old tank. Good looking car though.
Is your V90 white or silver? I may have seen you!
In case you were wondering where Volvo got design ideas for the V90:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/1996-1998_Mitsubishi_Legnum_rear.jpg
Also, the lower valance on that Hyundai CUV is atrocious, and I hope it’s aftermarket.
Personally, I think Volvo should have saved the rackish D pillar for the V60, and make the V90 big and boxy. But hey, at least it exists.
The XC90 is big and boxy, so I guess they expect to sell the V90 to a more daring crowd.
The fairly significant rake on the back to me is a pretty big design flaw. It makes that last foot of floor space somewhat useless. As a guy who’s looking to upgrade his V50 but loves the boxiness of it, to me that’s pretty disappointing to see.
I hate this trend of sloped rears. I want a boxy wagon because it can fit boxes dammit!
It not only restricts the use of that floor space, it puts the rear window at risk when closing the hatch. I’ve learned to carefully test the closure on my Sable wagon after almost busting out the window.
Yep, I can’t stand that rear hatch rake. Oh Volvo, how far you have fallen!
Gas is now priced at a level where the taxes built into the price really start to matter. Taxes will ultimately govern how low the price can go.
Here in Pennsylvania, we pay the highest gas tax in the nation, at 73.7c per gallon. With gas around $2.15/gallon in the Pittsburgh area, 34% of our gas cost is taxes.
With gas prices this low, 2016 should be a great year to buy a hybrid or EV.
I expect gas prices to spike pretty soon given the open hostilities currently developing between Saudi Arabia/Sunnis and Iran/Shiites, with sectarian lines being drawn ever deeper. They’ve been using proxies so far, but SA executing a Shiite cleric and Iran allowing the SA embassy to be sacked is bringing the conflict a lot closer to the primary actors.
Time to start thinking about leaving. I do not believe state leadership has the will or ability to dismantle its welfare state and education boondoggles in order to survive the pension crisis its created thirty years ago. The current governor certainly has zero workable ideas as his only idea (tax the frackers!) was cut off when oil collapsed. Really, he should resign in lieu of someone with workable ideas. Issuing bonds is a band aid which eventually leads to being Illinois if not stopped quickly. Since i believe this bond process will only accelerate, Pennsylvania has been put on the road to bankruptcy. Thank you pension crisis, PennDOT, and Obamacare… the latter of which is the main culprit for the budget issues.
Paid $1.67 yesterday. Its great that I get change back after prepaying $20 and squeezing every drop I can into the tank.
I never thought it would go down significantly again, but Im happy I was wrong!
C’mon, Ford, put a V-6 back in the Fusion, lets enjoy this while it lasts. (Is it weird that I prefer a Honda Accord with an I-4, but a V-6 in the Fusion? If so, Im okay with that.)
Paid $1.62 in SC, kept seeing $1.59 on my gas app but they were just too far away, meanwhile back in NC I feel like I’m being ripped off paying the $1.76 it’s been at for the past month or two.
Try $2.23 when you’re hearing about being ripped off at $1.76.
In all honestly since NCs gas tax is about $0.20 higher than SC, I was technically being ripped off in SC; though for a lower tax rate, I must say, the roads in SC really aren’t that bad.
Don’t ever come to my neck of the woods in NC, where all the gas stations have colluded to keep prices at 1.99. I’m really not joking.
(Also, I’m disagreeing on road quality, there’s a 20 mile-ish stretch of I-95 that barely felt paved in an Integra. That’s okay for a state highway, but 95?)
I was trying to ignore 95 since that gets federal money, but yea there were sections that really sucked, but that’s true from Virginia to Georgia in my experience.
I’m southeast of Raleigh but I’ve noticed certain areas of the state are higher.
You’ll get a V6 in the Fusion, but it isn’t going to be the 3.5/3.7.
Meanwhile, on the West Coast… $2.69 for 87, $3.19 for 92 (which all three of my cars require). And only about 35 cents of that dollar difference is taxes. Thanks, oil oligopoly.
http://www.perisoft.org/gasprices.jpg
Guess the year!
I’ll say ninety one.
Come to think of it, the majority of vehicles among friends and family are vans, suv cuv or trucks. I am the only one with a compact sedan
Automotive News reported that under a new deal between Chevrolet and its dealers, selling more Cruze, Malibu and Silverado models would net higher bonuses from the manufacturer.
Come on, add Impalas to that list and you might have a deal.
Too bad Malibu wasn’t made as a 5 door hatchback. Looks like one. Would have been more useful.
They could call it the “Malibu Maxx”.
So, if the new Malibu is “all that, and a bag of chips” what purpose does the Impala serve? :-)
It’s bigger inside, and serves as a refuge for turbophobes.
Impala – 5 inches more rear seat legroom than a Camry. That’s what I’m talkin’ about!!!!
The Impalas problem is the price, which is only there to help the Malibu compete competently in the midsize battle arena, I guarantee if you put the impala as it is in place of the Malibu no one would ever say a word and it would sell just as well as the accord.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest they are both overpriced.
What happened to the subscribe feature?
You click the notify thing as per usual when you comment, and it will send you a separate email asking you to confirm subscription to the article. I wish they’d explain things like this via a housekeeping article.
So if I forget to click it when posting the comment I have to post an additional comment?
Edit: And why does it only have one story (this one) in my subscribed list?
That is correct.