I agree that GM did not cut corners, they put a huge amount of resources into the 8th gen Malibu. They pretty much just made bad fundamental decisions during the car's development. They knew weight has been an issue across the lineup, but didn't save any versus the 7th Gen, while competitors shaved hundreds of pounds. I guess they assumed the new 2.5L engine would make up for that.

Chevy recently had a similar problem with the Cruze when they had to scramble to improve fuel economy after it debuted with a 24/36 mpg rating and fell far behind other new compacts. Luckily, the Cruze is doing much better, and still leads the class with the fun and frugal 42 mpg Eco.

Kind of a fool me once, fool me twice scenario. They should know better. Hopefully they'll tweak the Malibu with equal success.

 

The eco models have not panned out. AUTOTRADER.COM is loaded with used 2013 Malibu/Cruze Eco models for sale.

The eco is about $1500 more than base model cars and Car publications like Motor Trend/Car and Driver indicate that the slight increased MPG does not cover the increased cost of the Eco model.

Chevrolet has been building cars for over 100 years, and wouldn't one believe today they could get it right in all aspects of what people want and what people need in a car?

 

Most people don't even know what they want and need. heh heh heh.

 

I just looked up the differences in the 1LTZ and the ECO 2SA

There is about a $770 difference with the 1LTZ costing more. Here are the differences...

1LTZ
heated leather seats
18" wheels
dual exhaust
turn signals in mirrors
17" compact spare (with stock 18" wheels?)
8-way power front passenger seat adjuster
Driver Express-Up/Down power window
LED taillamps
Chrome door handles
Front grille with silver inserts

ECO 2SA
backup camera
pioneer premium 9 speaker system
Body colored side moldings
Universal home remote

 

Hi,
Sorry to say, you missed a few things. LTZ is placed on the Malibu no matter if you get 1LTZ or the 2LTZ. My point is the ECO label is just bad!
My Malibu also has the Leather Int, heated, 8 way power driver set.
driver Express-Up/Down power window, fog lamps, every thing that is included with your PCN , your list from above, and a bunch of other extras

As I said my main point is that the ECO thing is bad. Chevy has tried the ECO label before and it didn't go over too well. But then eAssist is great.

 

My post was merely comparing the stock 2SA to the stock 1LTZ.
I agree that the word "ECO" turns people off, even me. If I would have had a chance to see and drive a non ECO 13 Malibu I probably wouldn't have given the ECO a chance but since I did I love it.

As I said my main point was to compare the stock 2SA to the stock 1LTZ but yes you can add options to either and make it more like the other if you want. You can even pull your ECO badge off and stick a LTZ badge on the back if that's what you desire.

 

These cars are a tough sell. Even many who have bought the 2013 malibu eco, if you look on autotrader.com you will see hundreds of low mileage EOC'S already for sale by their owners.

After the powertrain warranty runs out, and if you keep the eco longer what does it cost to have the Ion battery replaced when it craps outs and needs replacement? Much like the chevy Volt. The battery in that is over $8,000, who is going to fork out $8,000 after 10 years of service when the car then is worth half the cost of a new battery. The car would be worth only scrap.

A lot of figuring out has to be done, but most people would rather drive and enjoy their cars instead of continually crunching numbers.

just my opinion......

 

You can even pull your ECO badge off and stick a LTZ badge on the back if that's what you desire.

Or trade for an LTZ like I did.

 

Or trade for a Mustang too.

You can do almost anything you want. America rocks!

 

I completely agree that ECO was a poor choice. It means Economy to most people.

The big issue for most prople is MPG. If you can save $150 dollars a month on gas then a $100 dollar increase on your monthly car payment makes sense. The Fusion is close to the same price as the Malibu and kills it in MPG.

 

To be honest, I wanted the EAssist from the beginning.
I really don't like Fords, Toyotas, Nissans, etc. Everyone says they beat the Malibu EAssist etc. But they beat by giving you less power, less performance, or more complex full hybrid technology. And when they make these comparisons, they don’t mention that they are comparing the Malibu Eco against the cost of base models. And we all know that the Malibu Eco in the 2SA version comes with a long list of standard equipment.
Add Leather to the 2SA and you have the 1LTZ with EAssist minus a few things. When I order my car back in August the 2SA with Leather was only $115 more than a 1LTZ with the base engine.
The best thing about EAssist are, that it captures brake energy and then uses that energy to provide; 1) Fuel Shutdown, 2) Auto Stop Start, and 3) Power Boost under various scenarios. EAssist is a simple system, and should be very dependable over the life of the car.
The problem with GM is that they haven’t really lean from their past mistakes. Remember it was just a short time ago that another Malibu was branded with the ECO label. Chevy should make the three engines available across the entire model line and get rid of the ECO label. I plan on in the near future of rippling that ECO label off of my car.

 

Ripping the Eco label off doesn't change what the car is. If you like the car why be embarrassed of the badge?
It reminds me of the foreign bike owners that remove the badges from the tank to try to make others think it's a Harley. Doesn't work.

 

It reminds me of the foreign bike owners that remove the badges from the tank to try to make others think it's a Harley. Doesn't work

I haven't seen that, but have seen them put open pipes, and wear Harley jackets.

Ripping the Eco label off doesn't change what the car is.

Hence the reason I traded my 2SA eco off.

What?, no Oprah comment?

 

Yep, even Oprah knows enough to get what she wants the first time.

 

Funny guy, with an Oprah obsession. Your wife know about your secret?

 

I think your car is sharp looking especially with the 19s. I am glad you like it.

Last week I took out a LTZ2 with the 19 inch wheels. A few months ago I took out a LTZ1 with the standard 18s.

The ride on secondary roads in the LTZ2 was terrible. A constant hard road feel was present until I came back onto a smooth surface. Why would chevrolet build a car that the top of the line vehicle rode worse than the base model LS?

Chevrolet should have put 245/45/19" tires on the LTZ2 instead of 245/40/19s which would have given a half inch taller sidewall for more flexiblity and a more compliant ride.

The ride of the LTZ2 with these tires, would be a deal breaker for me.

 

think your car is sharp looking especially with the 19s. I am glad you like it.

Thanks, I like it.

The ride on secondary roads in the LTZ2 was terrible. A constant hard road feel was present until I came back onto a smooth surface. Why would chevrolet build a car that the top of the line vehicle rode worse than the base model LS?

I agree it needs a taller tire, rides rougher than the Eco I had with the 17s on it.

The ride of the LTZ2 with these tires, would be a deal breaker for me.

It looks good, but I will most likely go to a taller tire when it's time for new ones. I may even go with a 20" rim and a taller tire when the time comes.

 

Thanks, I like it.



I agree it needs a taller tire, rides rougher than the Eco I had with the 17s on it.



It looks good, but I will most likely go to a taller tire when it's time for new ones. I may even go with a 20" rim and a taller tire when the time comes.

You have to be careful, if you look at the wheel wells there is not much clearance space now, and a 20" with a larger circumferance tire might not fit. Also a larger circumferance will operate your speedometer slower than actual speed, and your mileage lower than it should be.

something to check out.

The refresh of this car is going to be interesting. I am sure they are working on it right now. They will probably go through every facet of the car. They have to get it right. Honda went through the same thing with the 2012 civic. If the refresh comes out in November/December I wonder if they will call it a 2014 1/2, because the 2014's go into production in June.

I have read a few reports of the Cadillac ATS. They have one tire wheel combination of 245/35/19" and the the sidewall is very low and the reports indicate the ride very rough. I can't believe Cadillac would put such tires on a car like this.

 

AUTOTRADER.COM is loaded with used 2013 Malibu/Cruze Eco models for sale.

Just for sh!ts and giggles I searched Autotrader, there are 7 13 Malibu's within a 400 mile radius of my location. One of which is the one I traded in, 3 were 2.5 ltr ones.

As I've stated before, I don't see many on the road in my city. There certainly isn't a market full of used ones on Autotrader, at least not in my area.

Tre'

 

I live in a large city in Ontario Canada. The 3 Chevy dealers in our city have loads of them on their lots, but like you said, I haven't seen to many on the road.

Interesting, you said you saw the Eco that you traded in. Did you check to see what they have it listed for?

 

Did you check to see what they have it listed for?

Yep,their asking 28,900 for it.

 

Sorry for my ignorance. What does 20/20 tint mean?

Is that legal in all states? I am just asking.

 

There is no prorating as far as I know.
Here is a 2011 Volt warranty and it makes no mention of pro-rating except for tires.
Let me know if you see otherwise.
http://www.chevrolet.com/content/da...te/en/Home/Ownership/Manuals and Videos/02_pdf/2011_chevrolet_volt_warranty.pdf

I do see this when they are talking about the 8 year 100,000 mile warranty on the battery...

Under warranty, the high voltage
battery will be replaced with either a
new or factory reconditioned high
voltage battery with an energy
capacity (kWh storage) level at or
above that of the original battery
prior to the failure.
Your Volt battery warranty
replacement may not return your
vehicle as an “as new” condition,
but it will make your Volt fully
operational appropriate to its age
and mileage.

Sounds kind of like they could put a less powerful battery than the original in. Like for instance if your car is 7 years old and they expect the battery to be about 50% and the battery dies then they could put a battery with 50% life left in it or something.

I will have to look at the Malibu warranty but I don't remember seeing anything about it being pro-rated either.

 

I just saw that the Malibu ECO battery is but 65lb.

I see here people discussing the price of the Volt battery
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread...um/showthread.php?11237-What-will-a-Chevy-Volt-replacement-battery-cost-in-2020

Someone in January of 2012 said the battery is listed for a bit below $3,000 but can be had for as low as $2,250
Expensive but far from $8,000

Here it is listed as just a little under $3,000
http://www.newgmparts.com/parts/201...leid=1447713&section=HYBRID COMPONENTS&group=HYBRID COMPONENTS&subgroup=BATTERY

I also see someone saying you still need to add a few more battery cell modules that cost about $1400 for some reason (doesn't make much sense to me) so that could add up close to $8,000.

Still not too worried though since I don't have a Volt

 

Hey charts.1, I wasn't calling you out on BS, just stating that within 400 miles of me there isn't many used ones out there. Nothing more nothing less other. This is most likely due to the low sales volume.

 

I'm in a GM family and have honestly been planning on getting a new Malibu for about 3 years. I was holding out as long as I could to save money and then decided to wait until the new 2013 model came out about a year ago. Then I decided to wait until the 2.5L model came out last summer to see how the mainstream model would do.

So, I obviously saw all the negative reviews and I went and checked the car out multiple times. I was most frustrated by the lack of room in the back seat. For our family of 4, I considered it a virtual deal-breaker for a sedan in this class. I didn't care about many of the other complaints (styling, different interior textures, etc.) but I had some other issues which I've mentioned here previously.

And then GM came out and announced they were doing an early model refresh on it (in another year) and that was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I couldn't bring myself to buy the current model knowing that GM was working on fixing some of the issues but not knowing which issues would be address. I question whether it was really beneficial to GM to put that announcement out there when they were already sitting on a 150-day inventory. I can only speak for me and that announcement eliminated the Malibu from consideration. I really perceived their announcement as "yeah, we messed up in some areas but we are working on solutions to some of those things so please go ahead and buy one of these unfixed models."

So, I just bought a new 2013 Equinox. It cost a little more but offers more flexible space for an active family (and a lot of room in the back seat with the sliding rear seat) and still offers respectable fuel economy. The Equinox is in the 4th model year and they sold over 400,000 the last two years (combined) so I hope they've worked most of the bugs out of it by now.

I'm honestly surprised the Malibu isn't selling better as I don't really think it's a bad car. A lot of people don't care much about the back seat room and I think it's a nice car otherwise. I wish it was a little less expensive in leather trim and got a little better fuel economy (and weighed a little less) but I'm surprised that sales of a sleek new widely-appealing model didn't pick up better. I mean, Chevy is a mainstream brand and without Pontiac and Olds to siphon away sales, I thought they would sell a lot "just because".

Hope this model turns out to be a winner. As the GM CEO said, they need to be successful in this segment. Maybe we'll pursue one when we need the next vehicle.

dcsforum

 

Glad you like it.

Chevy installed new front suspension dampers for 2013 on the Equinox. It is suppose to give a more compliant, better ride than the 2010-2012's

 

Well... the Equinox is on the verge of an update too. It's going to get the 2.5L engine, probably at the same time they refresh the Malibu if not sooner.

 

My wife and I test drove the 2013 Honda Accord and then test drove the 2013 Malibu Eco.

The Malibu Eco won hands down and was cheaper by a few thousand given the same amenities.

 

I would believe you could go to a couple chevy dealers that have their lots full of 13' Ecos, tell the salesperson that you are aware of the glut of unsold product in the pipeline, do comparison pricing, and make the deal of a lifetime.

A great opportunity for people who like the Malibu. Remember in about 5 months, the 2014s go into production with basically the same car, and with over 160 days of 13' Malibus sitting unsold, great deals can be made, over and above the deals they offer now.

 

Maybe you drove an AWD model, in which case you'd be absolutely right. I read a performance test where the AWD hit the 1/4 in 15.2 sec, and that's when the engineers told them they broke into the 14s with the lighter FWD model. I think that's plausible given a ~200 lb weight advantage.

Entry level AWD systems are pretty much dead weight, in my opinion, because they only transfer minimal power to the rear wheels when the fronts lose traction.

 

*shrugs*

It'd be funny to see someone lose to a CUV in their "Sports Sedan", like the Regal Turbo haha!