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Newsday Road Test: July 8, 2005 - Chevrolet Malibu Maxx
Wrong car at the right price: Malibu offers value, little else.
Anybody can offer a cut-rate product that looks it. Genius is building something that can sell at a Wal-Mart price but looks expensive.
Some of General Motors' Japanese competitors do that very well.
GM has failed to do that, though, in the Malibu four-door sedan and Malibu Maxx five-door hatchback. So, while the two vehicles are practical and conservatively handsome cars at fair prices, they're not the kind of standouts that GM needs to bring new shoppers into its showrooms.
I can think of no compelling reason except price to recommend them over their targeted competitors like the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Nissan Altima and Mazda 6.
On the other hand, with reasonably quiet cabins, competent handling, some clever people/storage touches in the wagon-like Maxx and an excellent crash-test rating, there are no compelling arguments to be made, either, against the Malibu or Maxx.
I sampled a Malibu sedan late in 2003 when the duo first arrived, and my impressions were in this space Dec. 5 of that year. It was an LT - the middle of three equipment and trim levels - and I was impressed with the look and feel of the interior materials. In contrast, the interior of the five-door Maxx that I sampled recently seemed strictly Wal-Mart, with dreary upholstery and cheap-looking plastic everywhere. Maybe my reaction was prompted partly by the blah beige color and the lower LS trim level.
On the upside, the Malibu and Maxx prices currently are reduced by a $2,000 rebate. Both also are included in GM's employee discount program, which means a saving of about 4 percent off suggested retail, calculated before the rebates are subtracted, according to GM.
My Maxx tester had a sticker price of $24,240 with freight, a V-6, automatic transmission, optional side and curtain air bags, antilock brakes, traction control, a power driver's seat, power-adjustable brake and accelerator pedals and air-conditioning. It also had power windows, locks and mirrors; remote starting; a steering wheel that tilts and telescopes - even a $1,000 rear-seat DVD entertainment system.
That's a lot of value.
If it doesn't shock and awe, the Maxx at least delivers what it promises.
The Maxx has the same adequately energetic 200-hp. V-6 as my test sedan, and the Maxx evidenced the same "torque steer" on hard acceleration - manifested by a tugging on the steering wheel. Its exhaust system produced the same rotten-egg odor - hot catalytic converter I assume - as that of the sedan I drove.
The four-wheel independent suspension and the variable-assist electronic steering are calibrated with a greater emphasis on comfort and ease, respectively, than on enthusiastic driving.
On sale since the 2004 model year, the five-passenger Malibu and Maxx share structural basics with each other and with the 9-3 sold by GM's Saab unit and the G6 sold by Pontiac. The Maxx's wheelbase is 6 inches longer than the Malibu sedan's, though, providing 2.5 inches more rear-seat legroom. The Maxx is, however, a half-inch shorter overall than the sedan.
The Maxx also comes with larger, 16-inch wheels and wider tires, whose bumping and slapping sounds accounted for most of the noise entering the tester's cabin.
The Malibu sedan is available also with a 2.2-liter, 144-hp. four-cylinder.
List prices for Malibu sedans start at $19,825 with freight. The Maxx begins at $22,090 with freight.
Both engines use regular unleaded gas and, by an Environmental Protection Agency estimate, get miles per gallon in the low 20s in the city and about 30 on the highway. Some reviewers have termed the V-6 noisy, but to me the sound was pleasant. Car and Driver magazine said zero to 60 mph took 8.7 seconds in a V-6 Maxx.
If it was weak aesthetically, my Maxx's interior worked well ergonomically, with two exceptions: The gauges were nearly unreadable at times during the day because of sun glare, and the front bucket seats had little lateral support.
Switches, though, are generally well-located and all are self-explanatory. The Maxx's rear seatbacks fold down in a 60-40 arrangement to provide a large flat cargo area. The rear seats can be adjusted fore and aft by almost 7 inches, and their backs can be adjusted for slope - both nice features.
A fixed sun panel is installed over the passenger area, with a split shade.
A panel in the Maxx cargo area can be adjusted to three levels and can be set partly outside the car for tailgate parties. This feature looks clever, but it's in the way when you have tall items to carry. And the tester's shelf rattled annoyingly. I think, if it were my vehicle, I'd be tempted to take the thing out, toss it in the garage and forget about it.
There's also a 12-volt power outlet in the Maxx cargo area.
The front passenger seat's back folds flat to further enable the carrying of long items such as ladders or lumber.
The four-speed automatic transmission can be shifted manually via buttons on the side of the console-mounted shift lever, after the driver pulls the lever backward from drive into low gear.
The Malibu sedan gets a top, five-star rating for frontal crash protection from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (There are no separate ratings for the Maxx.) With the side air bags, which are standard in LT versions, the Malibu gets five stars for the driver and four for a rear-seat passenger in the agency's side-impact test.
Take some advice: Don't buy one of these cars without the side bags. Here's what the safety agency says on its Web site about the side-impact test of a Malibu without them: "Safety concern: During the ... test, the head of the driver dummy struck the upper trim of the top of the window opening, causing a high head acceleration. Head impact events resulting in high accelerations have a higher likelihood of serious head trauma."
The reliability picture is mixed, for now at least. Consumer Reports says in its 2005 new car issue that first-year reliability of the Malibu sedan and Maxx have been "subpar." But market researchers J.D. Power and Associates term overall reliability "among the best." Both organizations base their ratings on owner responses to surveys, so it's not clear why there are differences.
Competitors abound in the midsize sedan category, but few of them have five doors like the Maxx. You might want to compare the Maxx, however, to small wagons such as the Mazda6 and Subaru Impreza and Legacy.