Originally Posted by
LandQuail
I've also driven a current Malibu. It feels better than a Cavalier, but I use the term "better" in the same spirit I'd say Cathy Bates is more do-able than Nancy Reagan.
It's light years behind Honda's Accord or Toyota's Camry, and much worse than Hyundai's better-equipped, cheaper mini-luxury-barge who's alphabet soup name escapes me.
Anyway, Matt, you're from Kansas (properly pronounced Kan-saw), which makes you almost as American as me. (kidding) I do love me some Chevies, as I'm sure you do, but I would never, never give any company a pat on the back sticking with the same basic formula they've used since 19-****ing-84 with the soulless, tasteless, K-cars.
That formula is: front wheel drive, transverse I-4 or V-6, bland styling, (and from here on I'm taking educated guesses, I admit) numb steering, understeer aplenty, and if GM doesn't let the new Malibu roll off the showroom floor with plastic wheel covers, I'll eat my hat.
GM doesn't have a reputation for midsized cars anymore. Tell me how the Chevy Lumina was noticably better or worse than the current Malibu, or current Impala? How was a 2003 Cavalier better than a 1985 Cavalier?
Admittedly, the Cobalt is a breath of fresh air, but that makes one-in-a-row for GM. That isn't the sign of in impending winning streak, in this quail's book.
Again, I'd ask you to look at the success DaimlerChrysler has had with their cars. They've even won contracts to put the Charger into police cruiser service. People look at a car with dynamic, bold styling; powerful engines (including a line of V-8's, which is what drives so many Americans to purchase SUV's, I think) rear-wheel-drive, and, well, character.
Who ever drove a Malibu and felt like they had any special connection to it? Yes, the heftier women and the elderly seem to like them, but that's about it. The Malibu seems to have been concieved as a monument to mediocrity. I personally find it to be trite, top-heavy, and pedestrian. And overly pedantic.
Sorry. I just hate those cars. I hope Holden's fiddling can do for GM what Mercedes did for Chrysler (which used to make cars even worse than GM), but I haven't seen it yet, though GM threatens to bring the Commodore to America.
Anyway, cheers.