Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/22 for details.
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/22 for details.
Options
General Motors discussions
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Funny how a few days back some here were talking about how the Impala was way too large to be compared with the midsize cars in this class and was out of step with what mainstream buyers wanted. Now we have an Accord that is a large car and is only 6" shorter than the Impala and just as heavy. So much for the Impala being way too big to be considered a competitor.
Paddle shifter = nice when a desired down shift into and thru a turn is coming up. Could be a good thing. On curvy roads, with the Accord you shift into 3rd to use lower gears. I tried the Aura XR and the paddle shifter seemed like a good idea during the test run.
18" rims = Extra cost for tires, and little advantage I could think of.
Remote Start = I don't live in sub 40* weather, so I see no advantage here, but perhaps elsewhere USA.
LED lights = Tail lights? All cars have those. The dash looks like a computer screen and very easy to read.
Trip Computer = What is that? To figure gas mileage? I have a $3 calculator or can use a pencil, thank you.
Larger Trunk = My Accord trunk is so large now, I can see no use for anything larger unless I was in the Mafia.
Rear Sunshade = Wow, never ride in back, but it sounds cool. Are these all stock items on the base New Malibu V6 ?
Household 3 prong outlet to charge phones. = How long is that cord?
OnStar = additional cost, and I do take my cell phone along with me.
Better Styling = I don't know, have you seen the two side by side? All cars are looking like blended designs of each other these days, with too tall doors the common theme. Style is something you see in auto shows now or museums. Perhaps a Jaguar.
Better Warranty = Hey, good deal, an extra 15K miles for those driving 15K per year. If warranty is an issue, then Hyundai is the game. The lack of resale value negates any savings in the warranty differences. Real saving could be in parts costs, though 6 sp. tranny is gonna cost money no matter the make of car.
Which is better = who knows, let's see the two cars, drive the two, and do the math. Then there is the comfort, the looks inside and out. The New Malibu should have a cooler looking interior than the Aura. I say look at the car the way you see it, as in what is important, read up on tests, drive the thing, and decide for yourself. There is no right or wrong in respect to buying a car which best suites the individual. So what do you all think about using the name Malibu? After they made the Classic for rental cars and such, has the name been tarnished?
L
Back to size. The current Accord is big enough inside and plenty large to wheel around. The Aura Epsilon could be a couple inches wider as it is a bit narrow to me. In both cases, I am talking as a four passenger car. These are not made for five. As for weight, why in heavens name would they add weight. It is like Japan makes are trying to become Oldsmobiles. Oh wait a minute...... I said this before, the Camry is todays Cutlass / Delt88. Somebody had to do it ! Will the Accord beat the New Malibu in car tests? Who knows. Is it heading into the too big and flabby, as in let's diet days, possibly.
The Epsilons needed to shed a few pounds, not the Japan makes gaining a few so everyone can join the fat club -- jeepers, what on earth is going on here?
L
L
I found some interior volume specs at www.fueleconomy.gov. The Aura is rated at 98 cubic feet of interior, 15 cubic feet of trunk, for a combined total of 113 cubic feet. That's at the low end of the midsized car spectrum, which they define as 110-119 cubic feet. Or, because they round to the nearest whole number, ~109.5-119.49 cubic feet.
The G6 is actually considered a compact, at 95 cubic feet for the interior, 14 cubic feet for the trunk. The '07 Malibu comes in at 101/15, while the Impala is 105/19.
The Accord is 103/14. The Camry actually shrunk up a bit for 2007. It's now at 101/15. I remember the '02-06 style was 102/17. I'm guessing that tapered, chiseled-off rump took out a lot of trunk space, but I'm not sure where the interior space went. But really, I guess it's hard to notice a "missing" cubic foot of interior space. Unless they took it out of some area so suddenly you bump your head, shoulder, or knee!
The '07+ Altima is rated at 101/18. Pretty big trunk for that class. I think the '02-06 was 103/16, so it seems to have given up two feet of passenger cabin for two feet of trunk.
Loren
Agreed. The current one is a great size.
The styling is completely mundane and I can honestly say the Camry is more attractive for the first time.
If there's one thing I've learned it's that pictures are one thing, seeing in person is another. That's why i'm reserving comment on the new CTS, and also why I'd wait to see the Accord in person before ruling on its attractiveness.
Funny how a few days back some here were talking about how the Impala was way too large to be compared with the midsize cars in this class and was out of step with what mainstream buyers wanted. Now we have an Accord that is a large car and is only 6" shorter than the Impala and just as heavy. So much for the Impala being way too big to be considered a competitor.
Six inches is a HUGE difference. I don't see how you can imply that the Accord is now as big as a car that's six inches longer!
The Honda diesel is supposedly very quiet. I like the 40-50 MPG on the highway. Diesel cars are just so much nicer to drive out on the highway. I hate the whiney gas engine sound. Plus the torque that does not exist until you get to 4000 RPM. I will never buy another new gas vehicle.
I see a new Challenger is coming out soon. Then it is Camaro, a year later..... or more. Gosh darn it, why is this happening? The original Camaro was late to the party too. What's up with that? Now the Corvette was an early bird, back in '53. Very cool looking car indeed. And speaking of size, the latest Vette got a trim in size, not that the C5 era is not a very fine looking car. I like those C5 Vettes. The C6 as a shorter sports car though, is a good thing. Finally some cars not getting super sized.
L
As for interior volume, I don't know how they actually calculate it, but I discovered ages ago that if you multiply front legroom * front headroom * front shoulder room, which are given in inches, and divide by 1728 (how many cubic inches there are in a cubic foot), and then do the same for the back seat, and add them together, you get a number that's awfully close to the published specs. I tried that calculation on my 2000 Intrepid, and got an interior volume of 104.35 cubic feet. The EPA, which rounds to the nearest foot, lists it at 104. But a few years back, the Dodge website had a comparison where you could pull up specs for one of their cars and competing cars, and I remember it showed the Intrepid at 104.4 for the passenger cabin.
I'm sure it's not an exact science, but doing that calculation would probably get you within a cubic foot or two of the actual interior volume.
The solstice uses HUGE 245/45-18 tires. Miata uses pretty skinny 205/45 17's which really surprizes me. But the sidewall is close to the same (Miata is about 8 mm shorter)
I guess the Mazda is more like the old roadsters of European type descent while the Solstice is more like the muscle cars of old (and today). I mean 205's are really skinny in todays world. At least on performance vehicles.
Remote start would come in very handy in about 75% of the country. Unfortunately we all not all blessed with mild weather year round like CA. Temps here range from 20s to 90s so I could use some remote start.
"Better Warranty = Hey, good deal, an extra 15K miles for those driving 15K per year. If warranty is an issue, then Hyundai is the game. The lack of resale value negates any savings in the warranty differences. Real saving could be in parts costs, though 6 sp. tranny is gonna cost money no matter the make of car. "
Um, no. Hyundai doesnt make a car that I want so to say anyone looking for a nice warranty should shop Hyundai only is silly. As for resale- unless you are psychic you dont know the Malibu's resale. As I noted before, resale is a myth perpetuated by import fans and the media. If the Malibu costs less and has lower financing costs you will come out about even in the end. Besides, residuals are based on MSRPs and we all know you can get a GM product closer to invoice than a Honda in most cases. My car has about 40% of its REAL value after 6 years and that isnt to far off a comparable Honda or Toyota. When you factor in my 2.9% APR rate and the fact that my loan was smaller to begin with you begin to see that I really didnt lose any money contrary to what Honda-files will tell you.
BTW, the GM warranty is more than just 100k miles or 5 years- it also includes loaner cars and roadside assistance. Honda offers neither last time I checked.
Actually I keep my car in a somewhat warm garage so it never hits freezing. I actually use the remote start more in the summer. As I walk up to my car in 90+ degree weather I start the car. In the time I take to walk to it, get the door open and belted, the HVAC is shooting ice cold air at my face instead of the hot air you get when starting in the seat.
LED lights = Tail lights? All cars have those. The dash looks like a computer screen and very easy to read.
Actually LED taillights are a pretty big safety item. LED's light much faster than the heat up the filament time. In that time at 65 mph the difference for the guy behind you stopping could be (I cannot remember the actual number, but) 15 feet. Quite a distance if you are in lock up mode.
Larger Trunk = My Accord trunk is so large now,
Perhaps, but the new Accord has a smaller trunk than the current one.
YOu are cutting it down for a lot of features that are becoming standard today. I am surprized the Accord does not have a 110 v outlet. Lots of kids toys can use it. OnStar is a lot more than a glorified phone.
But here we go again. Two sides to the companies and whatever it takes to make the other look deficient.
do what you must. 90% of the time the pics are enough to make a decision. I saw the Malibu in pics and it looked good and in person it looked great. The Accord isnt ugly but it surely isnt more attractive than its key competitors. Plus a new 6 is coming out that promises to be a looker. Based on styling the Accord is at the back of the class.
"Six inches is a HUGE difference. I don't see how you can imply that the Accord is now as big as a car that's six inches longer! "
Not when driving. First of all most you people live in the burbs where parallel parking isnt an issue. For the average suburbanite 6" of lenght means NOTHING. All you have to do is pull into driveways and park in strip mall parking lots. The Accord is almost as big as an Impala and is longer than the Epsilon cars. The Accord about about 2" shorter than the Lacrosse and weighs about the same. Hondanews.com has all the specs and weights- the top V6 model weighs almost 3600lbs- only about 80 lbs less than Aura XR.
Honda has completely Americanized the Accord and I suspect that handling will suffer due to this focus on hp and size. Honda and Toyota are determined to appeal to an ever aging base of buyers. I dont get it.
All Honda/Acura cars resemble somewhat, Honda has never been one to innovate when it comes to design. That's probably one of the reasons the RL has been such a flop- it looks like an Accord.
The Accord is as safe a design you will see these days. I bet you dont like the Impala but you will tell us the Accord is a looker. They are two peas in a pod if you ask me.
One of the main issues with the Accord is the overhangs- the Malibu is 6" shorter with a 2" longer wheelbase which gives it nice proportions for a FWD car while the Accord has overhangs like GM's W cars which are on a 19 year old platform. Not a step in the right direction if you ask me.
(though 90%+ of people would consider any of these cars to be serious machines)
The base Boxster with a sport package just eeks in at under 50K. Though, I've seen them with 4-5K off at the local dealer. Seems as if nobody wants to pay MSRP for a baby Porsche -
The Exige is kind of overkill at $60K, but the Elise is beautiful. One of the few cases where more power isn't an improvement. Plus, $13K for a supercharger that only gives you 30 more HP?
Oh - I also forgot - if you live in the U.K., you can drive an Ariel Atom on the roads. Well under $50K and basically a 1/2 size F1 racecar with tail lights and blinkers. Fast is an understatement - it's essentially a 4 wheel 600CC racebike. It's my wallpaper on my PC at work - I want to own one someday
http://www.arielmotor.co.uk/
The U.S. "version" uses a much worse motor and cuts a lot of corners, IMO. 0-100-0 test in 11.35 seconds. It does 0-60 in 2.7 seconds, 0-100 in 6.85. Quarter mile in 9.5 seconds. Under $50K. Now if they could just make a U.S. street-legal version.
Ywah I have seen the faux metal in the indside of the Avalon and it wasn;t very appetizing to look at.
Can you please stop slamming Honda out of sarcasm I thought Honda did a nice job in styling the 01 Acura MDX and 04 TL but I don;t care for the new MDX's styling though.
A 5-door hatch versus a mini CUV? I don't think so.
I was comparing the regular HHR to the Si, since you said they were in the same price range. Also, you forgot to denigrate the SRT-4.
Wait a minute...the current Accord only has like a 14 cubic foot trunk, which I'd consider right on the fringe between compact and midsize. How'd the 2008 Accord end up with a SMALLER trunk on a BIGGER car?! That just seems odd to me, but I guess it can happen. The '07 Camry lost about two cubic feet of trunk space over the '02-06 model, most likely because of the way the rear-end is tapered and sloped a bit. And I think the Sebring/Avenger sedans, while larger than the Sebring/Stratus they replaced, saw trunk volume go down from 16 cubic feet to 13.
Will it be unveiled in Detroit in January, or will we see the Riviera?
The Pilot introduced in 2003 is still newer than the Trailblazer, which was introduced in 2002 and will be produced until 2010, and will be replaced in 2009.
No, I would have to disagree with you thats its labeled unhip to drive a Caddy nowadays unless you are living in 2001. As far as Mercury is concerned what car do they have to offer thats so good over their Ford counterparts? I don;t see one I mean I think Ford has everything that Mercury has. As far as Pontiac is concerned its not un-hip to drive a G6 or a Solstice especially.
"Forgetting the logic that GM/Ford/Chrylser have or are bringing out decent products, that is a big issue in these coastal cities, which is why GM's market share is about 15% and dropping there too."
What product does Chrysler have thats worth looking at except for the 300 or the Wrangler? As far as Ford goes they even redesigned the Focus in 8 years. I mean the Fusions been a decent seller ok but it doesn;t outsell the Accord, Camry, or Altima.
"And yes, Audis and Jaguars and Mercedes and BMWs are overpriced and have big maintenance and other issues but for many people, they don't care- they have the image, they have the cachet, they want them! Not logical, but reality."
Man, Jagaur sales in the US are dropping like a rock where have you been? As far as Audi goes they don;t sell as many cars as much as BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, or even Acura. I'll agree with you on Mercedes and BMW selling on name chachet though.
I think the last Cavilier was around spanning the 1996-2003 model year. As far as the next Cobalt redesign goes its supposed to be redesigned for the 2009 model year I believe.
Toyota is trying to get younger with the 07 Camry yeah but Honda I don't get it even though I am a Honda fan the styling looks blah to me on the 08 Accord. As far as handling goes on the Accord you know it'll be one of the class leaders in its segement like it always is I'm sure but I just don;t care for this Accord. I thought Honda would rebound fromn the 03 Accord styling setback but now even the 03-07 Accord looks better than the new one! The best looking was Accord was the 96-97 Accord and its been going downhill from there.
The Accord has just gotten too big to be sporty, but I can understand why as it negates the reason to build an Avalon type car. It can go up against the Camry and the Avalon saving a lot of resources. But at the rate the Camry is selling I don't think even the new Accord can overtake regain the top spot. Camry owners are a fickle bunch, Toyota understood their intended market and put forth yet another reason for those owners to continue buying them.
It was that way on both that I had so don't tell me that I just got a bad one.
And this:
These two are harder to tell apart:
dont know what you mean about the SRT-4. I dont have a problem with the vehicle, it seems like a good value to me.
The HHR is not a crossover, its just a wagon styled to look like an old Chevy truck. It doesnt offer AWD, has low ground clearance and has a low roofline. Its a wagon just like the 3 and it weighs about the same, which is really all that matters. Like I said, its not overpriced for what it offers.
Paddle Shifters are cool, but I'm not sure they are useful or better, I have them in my A3, and I wanted them, but if it wasn't for the advanced state of the art DSG tranny, the paddle shifters would be "dumb," to me at least.
18" rims are only better or useful if they improve handling over the 17" rims on the Accord. Slalom times will help judge which is the better handler (Accord vs. Malibu).
Remote start (gimmick)
LED lights; I thought Accord already had this for like 3 years now?
Trip computer: only useful to the mathematically challenged
Larger trunk: buy a larger car?
Rear sunshade: can't you just tint the windows?
6 speed auto: only better if you get better acceleration and/or fuel economy out of it.... something tells me the Accord will win both tests against the Malibu.
3 prong outlet: all my phones have come with car chargers....
Onstar: useless and costly
Better styling: go back to subjective; definitely not a fact.
Better warranty: for the average user, you'll get 15,000 more miles out of it, but will probably have to use it much more often!
I hate to state the obvious but I will yet again. The Lumina and Impala are not contemporaries and even if they were they are both CHEVYS and they both represent midsize/fullsize sedans in the $20k-$30k price range. The Accord and RL (which do look alike) are contemporaries and represent different brands and are separated by about $20k in price. Not a good thing.
I remember one magazine, either C&D or MT, paying a compliment to the Cavalier when they were talking about the redesigned Saturn S-series. They made a comment along the lines of how when the first S-series came out it was a milestone, but the second one, having to go up against a whole slew of ever-improving Japanese cars and a much-improved Cavalier, just wasn't cutting it anymore.
Now the 1988 Cavalier was just a very heavy restyle of the 1982 body style. A lot of effort went into making the coupe and convertible look all-new, but with the sedan and wagon, the greenhouse was a tipoff that it was just the same old car underneath. The dashboard was also carried over for 1988, although I think they redesigned the dash for 1991.
The 1995 Cavalier probably was fairly competent for a brief moment, but then a new Civic came out in 1997. I forget when the Sentra was redone...1996? And they tell me the 1998-02 Corolla was all new, but I'll be damned if I can tell it apart from a 1993-97.
Then, there was the Focus for 2000 and a 2000 Neon that, even if it wasn't much of an improvement, was at least something different. GM probably should have replaced the Cavalier by 2000, 2001 at the latest. At least they did upgrade it with the Ecotech engine at some point though. 2002 maybe?
trailblazer is going to die so GM is letting it soldier on with few upgrades. People are still buying it so GM might as well make it. If it was going to be replaced a new model would probably be out next year.
L
Personally, I think aspects of a car such as blind spots, visibility of the corners, etc, come into play more than size. Also, some cars are more tapered/rounded at the corners than others. You could have two cars that are the same length and width. Just for grins, say 72" wide, and 193" long. But if one car is shaped like a brick, when looking down on it, and the other one is shaped more like an egg, the egg-shaped one will be more manageable. You won't notice it so much out on the open road, but in congested traffic, tight parking spaces, etc, it'll really come into play.
Also, some things like wheelbase and turning circle will affect how maneuverable a car is, moreso than overall length. I'd imagine that tacking 3" onto an Accord's overall length won't make much difference to the car's driving experience, but tacking that 2.3" or whatever it is to the wheelbase sure might.
The Impala and '08 Accord are on similar wheelbases. 110.8" for the Impala, and something like 110.2" for the Accord. So that extra 6" of overhang the Impala has might only come into play when it comes to parking.
L
No it wasnt. Speak for yourself. If you looked at the car inside or out or drove it you would know its not a cavalier. The car was very competitive when it came out. Check the 2005 civic and corolla to see what was offered back then. The Cobalt had about double the features of the last gen civic and was much faster.
When you moan and groan about the car's mileage you dont mention the fact that a civic auto needs about 9.5 secs to get to 60. Cobalt gives you less mileage and more power.
exactly right.
cuteugly little car for people to use to pick up groceries in town.L
So what's the date for the G6 RWD car, as yet another run is shortlived? And will the give it a name. Please, it will need a name instead of the G6GPX. Or is that the GMG6GPX or the V8 version is the GMG6GPXV8.
L
just trying to clear things up here,
Loren