2013 Malibu Rental Edition

[thesameguy]

I spent the last two days and 400 miles in a rental Malibu going back and forth to Tahoe. The only cars everything I needed would fit would have been the Suburban or the Saab, and the Suburban is No Fun and the Saab about two months overdue for an oil change, I used up some Hertz rewards points, got me a Malibu.

I've actually not driven these "new" Malibus, and I gotta say even the stripped rental car is pretty nice. I imagine people getting into the first Malibus thought the same thing - then everything went wrong. The '13 has nice fit & finish, quality-feeling materials, doors that open and close solidly. They look good on the outside, the inside seems to have taken cues from other GM cars, notably the wheel/cluster from the Camaro. Not exactly to my taste, but regardless nice looking. My parents have a '13 Fusion, and frankly I like it better - the Malibu is definitely flashier with a weird vent feature wrapping around the dashboard and various silver-painted plastics, but the Fusion feels more European - slightly understated and muted. I had no problem getting comfortable, and honestly the Malibu might be the more comfortable car - I felt the seats/wheel/pedals were impossibly spot-on for a big American sedan, which I've never quite felt in the Fusion. The Fusion is definitely more to my Mom's taste and sense of comfort, though, so I guess that's what counts! The seats themselves were comfortable even on two hour hustles and had just the right amount of lateral support - I wasn't going anywhere, but I could feel there was still room for a big lazy American. That said, they certainly felt a lot smaller than the seats in a Malibu of ten years ago. The cabin is whisper quiet, which seems to be a recent GM hallmark. Just the slightest tire noise and a little engine noise when pushed, but pretty darned quiet.

The 2.5l Ecotec is definitely peppier than the 2.3 Duratec, but maybe not in any sort of practical way. Neither car is fast, both are adequate. Throttle response was quite good for what I'm sure is a DBW configuration - possibly better than the Solstice was, although that might be related to the turbo. I had no problem passing on uphill grades with a little planning, but the giant heavy car and little motor were not a good combo for last minute decisions. The 6-speed auto is pretty badass, though, doing not only a good job of learning my driving quickly but also having a crazy-low 6th hear. 75mph is about 2k - 65mph is like 1700rpm! Driving through the mountains I was almost never in 6th, but getting to the mountains almost entirely. Seems fair! The manual mode is a joke - hugely delayed shifts and ergonomic issue (which I'll touch on it a second). As is common, I found about zero reason to use it anyway.

I was pretty impressed with the handling of the thing - acceptable understeer, very flat cornering (and I was frequenrtly pushing it), and surprising grip from whatever all-seasons+38psi were on the car. On a couple of the more "abrupt" corners (35mph-warned turns immediately at the end of a downhill passing lane...) I initially felt I was probably going into too fast, but no complaints or worry whatsoever. The ride was just the right amount of firm - broadly comfortable, and never wallowy. Overall, I'd say the Malibu compared pretty favorably to my friend's '11 528xi in the ride & handling department. Of course it's FWD and that must be accounted for, but I can't see anyone shopping this class of car being disappointed in it. Driving on the freeway - even not the smoothest freeway - felt a lot like driving on glass. Just smooth and quiet. Of course, the downside of that is there isn't much sensation to warn you you're going 90 and not 70. Heh.

I know 50 pretty well at this point so there really wasn't much opportunity to really hammer on the brakes. I was driving quickly, but not recklessly. The grades aren't steep enough where you really need brakes to control you, and even those abrupt turns I previously mentioned aren't that bad. As I used them, they slowed me down when I needed them to, so whatever.

Overall, I was impressed by the thing - but as always there are some areas were I feel GM just totally screwed the pooch. I'll mention my car was defective - the "Service Stabilitrak" warning kept popping up and disappearing, the speedometer flaked out a few times, at least four times I either lost power or the brakes applied momentarily... I *think* probably the brakes, as that would make sense in combination with the stability control and speedometer issue, but who knows? That stuff aside -

The park brake is electronic, like in many recent European cars. Except rather than tie the thing to the Park position, it's a button you push down or lift up. The button has shitty response, you can hear the brake apply and release, and it is not fast. I found the shift to drive, push the button, and wait for release to be very annoying. Nobody wants to wait for release. The shift position indicator is not spaced the same the as shifter - in indicated low, you're in neutral. I found that very distracting. The center console narrows and they ran out of room to make the indicator move in step, but they could have made the indicator narrower or removed it altogether and put a digital readout in the cluster. The solution is dumb. The ignition switch is impossibly close to the steering wheel for no good reason. The transmission manumatic mode is ridiculous - the shifter goes all the way back and then buttons on the top are up and down gears. There is no way any human could grasp the shifter and use his thumb for shifting because it's so far back and the center console is in the way. The only way to shift the thing is to poke the buttons with your index finger. This is easily Top 5 Dumbest Ergonomic Mistakes Ever. And, finally, the high beam switch is just a contact switch rather than a position switch and while it's push forward to engage, you can push or pull to clear. I imagine it's something you get used to, but I've always enjoyed in German cars you can immediately tell whether the high beams are on or off simply by feeling the position of the switch - but otherwise the push forward is annoying and awkward. Making the Malibu's switch an annoying push forward and then eliminating the fact that it's position has changed is a failure of logic. Derp.

All that said, I actually think I like the '13 Malibu better than the '13 Fusion. Kind of no surprise as the '13 Fusion is a much older car. However, the '13 Malibu is no comparison to the '14 Fusion which - IMHO - trumps it in every regard. Family sedan leapfrog at its finest!