3 weeks, 2900 miles in my Malibu

[TX WJ]

I took delivery of my 2005 Chevy Malibu three weeks ago. I have already put 2900 miles on it since then. I am impressed with the car so far, the mileage has been great. The car rides pretty well, although it is a little softly sprung. I do wish that it had better tires, the factory Bridgestone’s are not that great in the rain. The only other complaint I have is that the center console door does not latch all the time. I guess I will have the dealer look at it.



Because I will be in the car all the time I knew that I would need to have Satellite Radio installed in my car. I have both Sirius and XM in my truck, and I wanted to have Sirius in my car. I prefer the music and talk on Sirius, but XM does have MLB. I went with the Sirius Starbase in my Malibu. It has 30 presets, and a 20 song memory. The blue display is easy to read, and the small display looks great.



I also installed a cell phone holder from www.proclipusa.com



It is a great piece and it holds my Sprint 6601 right where I need it. I would highly recommend Pro Clip USA. You also can see my Garmin 2610 GPS, this is my 4th GPS from Garmin. I must say that this is the best one yet. Can’t go wrong with a Garmin.

[GMFreak8]

Nice install TX WJ, and definitely a nice car. So how are those vanity mirrors you were complaining about? :p

[Will75]

Yeah, I'm loving my Garmin c330 - great for my 3 weeks per month of travelling and rental cars!

[Carver]

Congrats on the purchase.

Have you used the manual shifting much? I ask because the initial reviews of this car (in Car and Driver etc.) stated that you could only manually shift through the first 3 gears. But later reports seem to indiacte that you can shift through all 4. I certainly hope the latter is true.

[TX WJ]

I use the shifter to slow down from highway speeds. 8000 miles and counting.

[onstar]

2900 miles in 3 weeks! where do you go?

and can you explain how you use the shifter to slow down. correct if im wrong, but i dont think the malibu has the +/- shifting thingy.

[TX WJ]

I work as a sales rep in the Carolinas so I drive all the time.

There is an auto shift mode on the Malibu, the button is on the left side you use your thumb to select a gear.

[wpbharry]

The two things I've hardly ever used in my '04 Maxx are the +/- on the shifter, and the remote start. The latter is more of an appropriate feature on cold-weather vehicles. In the heat, without the ability to lower a window, you're just killing the A/C compressor prematurely.

The +/- is idiotic, IMO. A lame alternative to a stick (as are all the other manumatics), which I wouldn't want anyway.

[[Corporal Dan]]

XMSR>>>>>>> sirius

[GMFreak8]

XM is definitely better than sirius.

[[Corporal Dan]]

Where's chester?

hoo hoo i invented satellites.

tell 'em fred

[[Corporal Dan]]

Originally Posted by wpbharry

The two things I've hardly ever used in my '04 Maxx are the +/- on the shifter, and the remote start. The latter is more of an appropriate feature on cold-weather vehicles. In the heat, without the ability to lower a window, you're just killing the A/C compressor prematurely.

The +/- is idiotic, IMO. A lame alternative to a stick (as are all the other manumatics), which I wouldn't want anyway.

Depends how you drive.

In the ole protege i make frequent use of the od/off button to force a downshift if im anticipating a pass (as opposed to flooring it when i need to pass, waiting for the downshift, and then trying to pass 4-5 seconds after i wanted to). Not good for the clutches but meh.

Also good if you just need to slow down a bit around town or whenever but don't want to always control the shifting.

Assiming the shifts are fast enough and with no drama, it's a feature i'd want to have.

[GMFreak8]

Originally Posted by [Corporal Dan]

Where's chester?

hoo hoo i invented satellites.

tell 'em fred

That's great....

[TX WJ]

Originally Posted by GMFreak8

XM is definitely better than sirius.

That's your opinion, I have both and prefer Sirius. You would say AM is better than Sirius and XM combined if GM owned AM radio.

GM Fan Boy

[GMFreak8]

Originally Posted by TX WJ

That's your opinion, I have both and prefer Sirius. You would say AM is better than Sirius and XM combined if GM owned AM radio.

GM Fan Boy

I've expierenced both thank you. I don't like shallow playlist on the music channels, and I could care less about talk, that's why I don't like Sirius. I also don't like bricks on my dashboard. Oh and for your information honda also has a large stake in XM, but I'm not cheering for them, nor do I like the company. I like XM for what it offers, not because of who owns it. Go listen to your Sirius radio and sit in your Chryslers before they fall apart.

I'm still waiting for proof of all those complaints you were throwing at me about your Malibu, such as the "rough" edges on the vanity mirrors. Which, btw, I can't seem to find on my aunts Malibu or any of the other Malibus I've looked at.