The Chevrolet Malibu of recent years has been a little bland. You probably don’t even remember what, say, a 1990’s Malibu looked like. And the last generation – known in 2016 as the Malibu Limited – borrowed a little too much from the Toyota Camry and severely lacked a personality of its own.
Good cars though? Certainly. But there are three areas in which the 2016 and 2017 Malibus have made some big strides.
ONE: STYLING
There’s an ad you may have seen on TV where a focus group is hosted to review a Chevy Malibu that’s had its bowtie badges removed. The reviewers don’t know what brand the car is, but are asked to guess. “Audi!” says one. Bingo.
The body contours and fast-back silhouette of the 2017 Malibu borrow a lot from European imports. Until you get to the front, where the grill and headlight configuration becomes a little more inventive on Chevy’s part. I like it because the rounded look with bulging fog lamp bays reminds me of the nose of an A-10 “Warthog” air-to-surface fighter jet.
Overall – inside and out – its a very sleek, sporty look. Add the 19” Euro-styled wheels and you’ve got a mid-size sedan that will turn some heads.
TWO: TECHNOLOGY
Malibu comes with the same Chevrolet MyLink infotainment system that’s found on nearly every other 2017 model. It features apps for audio, navigation, weather, phone pairing, and all the rest. It even has “teen driver mode” that allows you to disable audio until the seat belts are buckled, and gives an after-action report to parents on their son or daughter’s driving behavior.
A fully-loaded Malibu has all the available advanced safety features found on other Chevrolet models: blind spot alert, adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, lane assist, lane departure warning, back-up camera, cross-traffic alert and a ton of airbags to protect you from every angle. Safety systems like lane-keep assist, parking assist, and forward collision mitigation involve autonomous driving capabilities as the car steers and brakes itself gently out of trouble.
THREE: PERFORMANCE
The Malibu is available with a 1.5L or 2.0L turbocharged 4 cylinder engines, or a 1.8L naturally-aspirated hybrid model. The first and last ones are what you want to save your gas money, but if you want more pep, go for the Ecotech 2.0L DOHC I-4 turbocharged version that puts out a respectable 250 horsepower.
The ride is solid with a stiff, adaptive suspension and electric-assisted steering. There’s also a “manual” mode where you can shift through hard accelerations and slick conditions yourself without having to worry about a clutch… or stalling out, for that matter.
CONCLUSION
The 2017 Chevrolet Malibu brings the brand’s mid-size sedan offering up to par with its comparably-priced competitors, and then some. And I consider it the flagship model of Chevrolet’s recent launch into automotive excellence.
