[MoJ]

Only 40 miles on my 2009. A few thoughts...

The ride is great. It's quiet. The interior/exterior styling is well beyond what I've observed on past GM products. It's hard to beat the bang for the buck factor.

A few dislikes...
Having to press on a painted surface in order to open the fuel door. With a black car this is bound to lead to a scratched surface over time.

The "Malibu" emblem on the rear of the car is crooked. One of the little GM square emblems at the bottom of the doors is crooked. The silver ring around the outside of the steering wheel emblem is uneven. The alignment is off (dealer fixing next week). The steering wheel orientation is off (dealer fixing next week).

This car will quickly have several thousand miles on it. In two years it will be at 100k. I'll post back after a long road trip next week.

 

[beach]

Ah, yes, your fleet car finally came in!

Is it a V6 or 4-cyl LS? Sounds great, as they all are, except for your few minor foibles you've already found. As we started a thread about this, and for good data, what plant did your Malibu come out of?

 

[Wisconsin Proud]

I agree with the fuel door item. I like the seemless design but they should have had an interior release.

Also, my 1LT interior doors are all plastic. A car with an MSRP of over $23k should have some fabric on the doors.

Heck, my daughter's Cobalt LT even has fabric!!

I, too, drive alot - about 36k per year. I'll try to keep you guys updated with a progress report in the future.

 

[beach]

Also, my 1LT interior doors are all plastic. A car with an MSRP of over $23k should have some fabric on the doors.

I've always agreed on this, even though the design and general feel is nice, some upholstery would make them that much nicer. Especially since my cloth seated G6--generally considered below the class of the Malibu--has very nice cloth door panel inserts. Oh well, not a biggie, and it was a way to save cost where most actually wouldn't care and would like it more.

Great to see some high mileage 'Bu drivers on here! Should be the best long term testers for all of us.

 

[Truitt]

I actually prefer the plastic on the door mostly because of its styling and feel. That and I do not have to worry about cleaning stains out of fabric; wipe off job is easy

I do agree with the fuel door idea, although I like the thinking: To de-magnetize the door and yourself before pumping. Very safe, as the purpose is to also include your de-magnetization for added safety (majority of static fires at the pump are from people, and not the car, after all).

 

[Yury]

I actually prefer the plastic on the door mostly because of its styling and feel. That and I do not have to worry about cleaning stains out of fabric; wipe off job is easy

I do agree with the fuel door idea, although I like the thinking: To de-magnetize the door and yourself before pumping. Very safe, as the purpose is to also include your de-magnetization for added safety (majority of static fires at the pump are from people, and not the car, after all).

Second that about the doors...don't see a big deal, it still looks nice and easy to clean.
Reminds me...I owned a Ranger in the past, it had to be special ordered...I remember the sales guy calling me to verify that I don't want to upgrade the vinyl bench to cloth, it was not too expensive. I specifically didn't want that, the vinyl seats were practical and looked pretty nice too.
Man, I liked that little truck

to OP: sorry about little things on your car, seems to be uncharacteristic of the model. If it makes you feel better the 07 Accord I had before had more misalignments than your car And off center steering wheel was reported by other Accord owners as well
And don't get me started about their service dept....Most of those issues were never fully addressed, not to mention the experience of talking to a wall. My GM dealer across my work assigns customers to a particular writer and, over time, you get to know each other quite well which makes communication easier. With Honda you're greeted with a whole bunch of pretty much anonymous writers, the first available one serving you. Like cashiers in walmart or phone support, you pretty much have to re-tell the entire story in case a job is not done right, so eventually you just give up...In late 90s when I had a civic Honda the dealer I was using was pretty good. Something must have changed since then..


I am sure your dealer will fix it right up.

 

[beach]

Agreed on the doors, too, after some use with my G6 which I forgot to mention.

The cloth adds something, but the Malibu panels feel more solid, look nicer still, and are definitely zero issue to clean, unlike with upholstery.

 

[Truitt]

When my dad gave me his 1990 Ranger I could not stand the cloth bench so much that I went to a junk yard and found a perfectly fine 1994 vinyl bench that only needed another set of holes drilled, and it was well suited for the job and I enjoyed that little truck. I offered a trade to the junk yard and he took it, even trade

The Malibu just may have been at the end, or very beginning, of the construction process when the plants shut down (or started back up) and it may had been rushed incidentally, which is very common among some of the unionized factories that value the workers over the product (Not a bad thing, but does have its problems).

 

[Yury]

When my dad gave me his 1990 Ranger I could not stand the cloth bench so much that I went to a junk yard and found a perfectly fine 1994 vinyl bench that only needed another set of holes drilled, and it was well suited for the job and I enjoyed that little truck. I offered a trade to the junk yard and he took it, even trade

If I had a space to park it I wouldn't mind keeping one of those trucks as a second vehicle...In nothing else just to remind me of a 30 day roadtrip through the US of A I took in it once

But, there's not a square foot of a driveway space I can spare at the moment

(Sorry for off topic)

 

[Gromit]

This car will quickly have several thousand miles on it. In two years it will be at 100k. I'll post back after a long road trip next week.

I'm a high mileage guy, too. All freeway. I've got 11,800 on my LTZ already and should break 35,000 for the year. Still haven't changed the oil as my oil life reads 31%.

Car still runs great (as it should). I'm getting a little rattle from the speakers, but only on occasion and I'll likely swap them out in the future anyway.

Have fun.

 

[Truitt]

Just went over 10,000 yesterday and still no complaints...aside from one:

There seems to be a rattle whenever I hit a bumper or am going slowly on not-so-top-notch pavement. The rattle is behind me, as if in the door panel of the rear door behind my seat. I'll report it to my dealership the next time I go in for oil change (OnStar Diagnostics reported my next one, which is my second, to be at 16,000mi although I have 78% oil life).