2008 Chevrolet Malibu

Conversation 21 comments

1. More stylish than Aura interior, but I’m not sure about the color choices. Maybe it’ll look nicer in more neutral color combination.

   And certainly it doesn’t look that high quality to me, at least in the photo.

   But it’s definitely step in a right direction, but not there yet.

2. I gotta admit, Vince, this DOES look very good. Sure beats the Sebring’s interior by a country mile!
   Now, Chrysler needs to do some homework, because Fusion, now this interior? What’s Chrysler’s excuse gonna be?

   Just when I was ready to dislike more Chevy products, ya show us this!

   Maybe if they have the rest of the car up to Sonata level….. I will seriously look in a few years.

3. Very nice! It’s pretty unreal how far GM’s interiors have surpassed the other mainstream brands… with the exception of VW’s maybe. The interiors in the newest GM cars and trucks don’t resemble anything they produced from just a few years ago. I don’t know if its because of an improved work ethic, or a commitment to good design. But whatever it is, it is working.

4. The color choices: as “739pm” mentioned: I saw this “scheme” in a 50K car(forgot which one, sorry) at the Columbus, Ohio autoshow this past March 2006.
   Today, I got a brochure of the 07 Sentra: Guess what? They have simialr leather color. Forgot what they called it? Think it was “rawhide”?
   Seems to be the “next big thing” in “color schemes” for itneriors.
   I think it is cool. Something different( I remember seeing some cars with Red interiors, waaay back when…).
   This is a little easier on the eyes.

5. If this is close to production, then this is an awesome interior. Great job GM. Keep it up. Lets all keep in mind that this interior will be in a car that probably no one will pay more than high $20k’s for. Of course this may be an SS interior. Even at that you’ll probably get everything but the different colors on a less than SS model. Now…if they could just get rid of those pushrod v-6’s and remaining 4spd auto’s.

6. But why the doo doo brown color?

7. I’m looking at the pic and trying to work out why this is meant to be a particularly awesome interior.

   I mean, it’s neat enough, but the plastics on the dash look pretty shiny from here. And the 2-tone look really doesn’t do much for me.

   Otherwise – is it innovative? Novel? In any way an advance on what you’ll find in many other cars? Nup. Just another car interior as far as I can see.

   Its predecessors may have been craptastic, but that’s hardly a good reason to start salivating.

8. Vince – This new Malibu certainly does looks better than the current model, though I would like to see a nav system in the dash (and not that tacky system that the Aura has). This Malibu makes the Aura interior look dated in comparison. Let’s hope that the exterior is just as impressive as this interior. I really would like to give GM a try but all their cars seem to be of ‘Rental Fleet’ quality.

   BTW, take a look at the new Austrailian Holden models – namely the Statesman and Caprice; they are stunning! To bad that these models couldn’t be our next Impala. It amazes me that we can’t be as creative here in the states. (IMO) The Holden model makes our Impala look like a K-mart reject.

9. This interior looks pretty good to me, and if recent developments prove to be correct then it should continue to improve on some of the small details that are minor miss-steps in the Aura’s interior.

   With that said, if the Aura is running approximately $20-28K, then it will be hard to think that the new Malibu won’t be in the same neighborhood. The styling seen on mules looks to be as good as the Aura, and as a ‘lesser’ brand Chevrolet will almost certainly use the HV OHV 3.5 V6 along with an Ecotec base four cylinder and perhaps a HF OHC 3.6 V6. Which begs the question – will this car be able to truly compete with the new Camry and the upcoming Accord redesign, or will it cannibalize Aura sales? The Astra will almost certainly be a ‘better’ car than Cobalt; what if the Malibu is a better Aura? Where does that leave Saturn? And as someone else mentioned, are the four speed transmissions going to come back on lesser models when the Accord and Camry have five speed units? And lastly, wouldn’t the HF 2.8 OHC V6 (as seen in the CTS) be a good base V6 in cars like the Malibu and Aura?
   The newest HV V6’s are certainly decent motors, but with competition fierce in this segment, the customers (even the less informed or non-car savvy) seem to notice things like overhead cams.

   This is going to be interesting, for sure. Can’t wait for Detroit.

10. In typical GM fashion, too little too late.

    Why does GM hate America so much?

11. “And certainly it doesn’t look that high quality to me, at least in the photo.”

    How in God’s name can anyone deduce this from this one photo? I think some people simply cannot give credit where credit is due – the Malibu’s interior looks great (funky color scheme notwithstanding), and rivals anything the competition has, even from – gasp! – Toyota and Honda.

12. Hey 9:48, 8:03 here. I thought the same thing. I was wondering if you had a similar equiped Aura and Malibu, which would people buy more of? I think they are going to buy more Malibu’s, because you can negotiate down the price of a Chevy, you can’t with a Saturn. And although you get great customer service with Saturn, if you can get the Chevy for $2000 to $4000 depending on negotiating skills and incentives in addition to being able to bring your Malibu into any GM dealership for repair( alot of which have decent to great customer service), then other then some styling changes, where is Saturns advantage? Yes, the Malibu is the Aura’s greatest competitor. I hope this doesn’t hurt Saturn, especially after their just turning things around.

13. The problem with Saturn is the pricing. You can’t have a “good deal”.
    Everything is MSRP

    Being a Chevy, the Malibu will be a bit cheaper to start with, then you’ll be able to negotiate a better price. Just like on almost any car out there.
    So the actual transaction difference might be a few thousands.

14. With an interior like this and hopefully an exterior to match, reviews and sales should be good. Imagine this interior in different colors, red/black, cream/brown etc. Vince you should post a comparison photo of the current gray malibu interior for comparison.

15. Thanks for the high-resolution picture.

    I think this is an extremely handsome interior design. It makes me hopeful for the new exterior.

16. hmmm all i see is a 2004 mustang interior and all of a sudden GM can walk on water ?????

17. That is one Excellent interior.Wonder if the price will be exhuberant?
    Hope Not(I know the Maxx, last year, was 25K loaded up, before sales, and it was nowhere near as nice as this).

18. Hoping prices stay close to current levels. If Kia and Hyundai can up the quality, and keep prices (somewhat) reasonable on their Optima and Sonata( they share same engines, slightly tweaked or whatever, but Optima has it’s own platform now)…GM should be able to , also( hey, they could get stuff from China to save $$$. They do it for the V6 Equinox…why not this car, too?).

19. GMs problem has been that in the balance between the Engineers/Designers and the bean counters, the bean counters always held sway.

    That started to change when Bob Lutz was hired.

    Now the pendulum has shifted to the engineers and designers. I’m sure the bean counters hold plenty of say on product, but Bob Lutz is the final word and he is squarely in the corner of the engineers and designers.

    The interior looks fantastic 🙂

20. Anonymous said…

    hmmm all i see is a 2004 mustang interior and all of a sudden GM can walk on water ?????

    The 1959 Corvette had a twin cowl design, too, if that’s what you’re talking about.

21. There is a high resolution picture. Seems more red to me than “doo doo brown”.