It’s a handsome car this Chevrolet Malibu LTZ. From the front three-quarter view at least. The shoulders on the front fenders and above the headlights give the car a bit of forward interest and focus one’s attention on the large grille. The front bar looks aggressive and the chrome grille trim looks up-market. The extra opening above the Chevrolet logo is a little awkward to me but that’s a nitpick.
There is a lot of metal on display down the sides, and the five-spoke alloys are elegant and interesting at the same time. The character lines down the body are subtle but work well, though the tick-up at the rear makes the greenhouse seem much smaller than it is and the C pillar is not conducive to rearward visibility.
At the rear the bootlid tapers out to form a functional, drag-reducing spoiler and the taillights carry over a familiar GM twin-square motif with plenty of stylish LED pin pricks – but the back shoulders and the exaggerated rear bumper bar are a little dorky looking. Underneath the set on the left though, you’re reminded of one of the best parts of this car by a little red badge that says “Turbo”.
The 2.0L turbocharged four cylinder shoves a healthy 259 horses and 295 lb-ft – at 5,300 rpm and 3,000 rpm respectively – through a six-speed automatic with overdrive and a manual mode. That manual mode is a little odd though. To get to it, you slide the shifter down to M, and use the buttons on the top of the shifter to shift gears at will. The setup is like most manual modes; backwards. The button at the front shifts up, the one at the back shifts down.
I was denied some pretty reasonable shifts by the system too, so it really is a case of “why bother?” Ultimately I think I’d prefer an automatic with no manual mode than one that doesn’t allow me to use it when and how I want to and isn’t intuitive to use. But to be fair, we’re talking about a system that will almost never be used in the real world, it is there just to show that it is there – and that’s okay.
Silly pseudo-manual mode aside, the gearbox is a decent unit. It shifts quickly enough on kick down, and in regular driving it is not intrusive. Power delivery is strong and linear, with a decent engine note without too much of it coming through the cabin.
In fact, the Malibu was a lot more quiet than I expected. Maybe it was the large amounts of leather soaking up sound in the cabin, but the Malibu was calm on the inside.
I did expect better fuel economy than I got though. Despite managing to do a trip from Detroit to Toronto at 7.1 L/100 km, I finished the week at 11.1 L/100 km. The EPA says I should have scored 7.8 L/100 km on the highway and 11.2 L/100 km in the city, so I actually did better than expected on our road trip. Still, my 11.1 L/100 km combined is a way off the 9.8 the EPA says the Malibu is worth. If fuel economy bothers you, the 2.5L non-turbo engine available in lower trims returns 9.4/6.5/8.1 L/100 km city/highway/combined. Probably because you can get automatic stop-start on the 2.5L but not on the 2.0T. There is also a 111 kg difference in curb weights between the base Malibu (1,571 kg) and the loaded LTZ with the 2.0L turbo which weighs in at 1,682 kg.
That was a very cold week with a lot of heavy traffic and snow, but still it’s obvious the LTZ doesn’t enjoy the city. What it does enjoy is long drives. We took the Malibu down to Detroit and back, and enjoyed the comfortable seats, which are wide and flat but supportive and eight-way power adjustable. We also enjoyed the very, very clever spacing of cupholders and mobile phone holders in the centre console – my wife referred to it as “one of the cleverest cupholder layouts I’ve ever seen”.
Those clever touches are nestled into a lacquered, fake wood grain console that is best described as “polarizing”. I’m never a fan of wood grain anyway, so no prizes for guessing where I sit. Between the seats is a raised console bin with auxiliary and USB inputs for your phone. The best part of the console bin? The 120V power supply at the back; perfect for a long drive to Detroit, especially if you’re using music from your phone..
We weren’t though. We prefer Sirius XM (Backspin baby!) and the LTZ naturally has it, along with OnStar and Bluetooth and all the other MyLink goodness. The more I use MyLink, the more I enjoy it, and I love the way Chevrolet adorn their centre stack with a good mix of hard buttons and knobs, plus expansive touchscreen functions. Even the steering wheel controls are good though I wish like all heck I could use them to tune, and not just to bounce around presets. Presets suck..
That mix of actual control and touchscreen carries over to the automatic climate controls too. It’s extremely easy to set temperature, change temperature and the results of your inputs are displayed clearly on the seven-inch touchscreen. As a bonus party trick, that screen flips up to reveal a nice deep storage bin for knick knacks and doo dads. I used it for my wallet, my phone and a bag of Sour Patch Kids, which I ate on the QEW between the Erin Mills Parkway and Winston Churchill Boulevard – I like Sour Patch Kids a lot..
The seven-inch touchscreen is complemented by a smaller, rectangular screen mounted vertically between the two square gauge bins. Those two bins tie in with the taillights aesthetically, and display an analogue tach and temperature display on the left, and a speedo and fuel gauge on the right..
The screen between them will display audio, trip and maintenance information and even navigation information. I used it exclusively for GPS guidance when I needed it, leaving the centre-stack screen to handle audio information. When I wasn’t being told where to go by the car, I used the screen to monitor my fuel consumption.
The steering of the Malibu is electric and varies according to speed. It is overboosted slightly around the city but on the highway is well-weighted. Conversely, slack right on centre seems negligible in the city but seems worse on the highway where the large profile makes the Malibu a little vulnerable to cross winds.
With all four wheels sprung independently it’s not a surprise that the ride quality is good, and that handling is unfussy. The four-link independent setup at the rear and MacPherson strut front both get a hollow stabilizer bar to keep the body flat, and hydraulic ride bushings soak up nasty USA-size potholes with aplomb.
What else is there? Oh yeah, cargo space. It has that; 462 litres worth of it behind a wide and tall boot opening; with more if you want to fold the 60/40 rear seats flat. The cargo-space is compromised slightly by the idiot-proof “no-crush” boot struts – a feature I understand is useful to some, but one that just makes me grumpy as I’ve been robbed of 1) a couple of extra inches of space, and 2) a way to wedge my suitcase shut en route.
Other useful features included in the LTZ are lane-departure warning, blind-spot detection and a back-up camera with cross-traffic alert. There is also a full-function traction control that uses braking power to limit slip from all four wheels and torque reduction to control the fronts under acceleration.
The true test of any car is whether or not you could live with it, and your wife (or vice-versa) over a long drive. And we did. The Malibu didn’t intrude on our enjoyment of each other’s company, nor on the drive itself. It swallowed miles without fuss or excessive thirst and had us both feeling comfortable even as we pulled up to the hotel. The Chevrolet Malibu LTZ performed its carriageway duties admirably, and looked half good doing it – what more do you need?
Pricing: 2013 Chevrolet Malibu LTZ
Base Price (LTZ): $34,715
Options: All-weather floormats – $160, Seven-inch colour Touch Navigation – $795.
A/C Tax: $100
Freight & PDI: $1,600
Price as tested: $37,370
Competitors:
Hyundai Sonata Turbo
Honda Accord EX-L Navi
Kia Optima SX 2.0
Mazda6 GT
Ford Fusion Titanium
Toyota Camry XLE V6
Volkswagen Passat Highline V6