Poor Throttle Response

[ddw]

2011 Mal. I have poor throttle response.

Take off from stop lite. shifts into 2nd gear too quick then boogs till it gets some rpm. Most of the time you push on the throttle more and then it shifts down and your bouncing back and forth in your seat. Its pathetic.
Or you push the throttle. Big delay. Then you start spinning. Its really something else. Ive owned several other brands and as soon as you touch the throttle its shifting down and ready to get up and go. The malibu 2.4 just seems to be a big pig just because the throttle doesnt respond the way it should. Is there a fix for this. I did have the tranny update once. Didnt seem to do much. This could really be a nice car if it had good throttle response with no delays. Give me your thoughts guys.

[snowleopard]

Personally, I only experience this in certain situations. If I'm slowing down and it shifts into 1st and then I mash the gas pedal immediately after, then it might bog for a second. If I'm in D and not manual and mash the gas all the way to the floor, then it might bog.

However, if you take a little time to learn it, it's actually no slouch.

One thing I've found that really seems to make the car pull very nicely ... if you're sitting at a light, put it in manual, shift to 2nd, roll up from red to green and when it's green press on the gas. The roll will give you enough momentum and it won't bog.


In D, mashing the throttle full to the floor is rarely a good idea and it's not going to get you the effect you want in these types of cars. If you look on google it's not just the Malibu ... MANY cars bog for a second if you just stomp on the throttle from a start with 0 revving (this is different from stomping while holding the brake and letting it rev like in a drag).

[ddw]

Thanks for your time in response.
Maybe I misstated something. Im not mashing the throttle. It just seems to take a lot of throttle travel to get it to shift down. Im sure there is nothing I can do about it. I remember on the older chev pick up and cars alls you had to do is tighten up the kick down linkage for the tranny. No adjusting on this electronic throttle stuff though. Wish you could just program it. It will run so nice when I use manual mode.

[SeaRay245se]

You could look into getting a programmer,not sure if they have one for the Malibu or not but some of the nicer ones let you mess with the shift points.

[ddw]

Thats a good idea. I ll start looking. If I could get it to stay in 1st gear a little longer on lite throttle would make all the difference in the world.

[GolfTango]

Welcome to drive by wire.

[Seadog69]

Try pressing the gas pedal with your right foot before letting your left foot off the brake. I had a car that did that and it worked for me.

[ddw]

All good ideas. Keep them coming. Was hoping somebody was going to say try a new throttle position sensor.