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2000-2011 Chevrolet Malibu
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Comments
On the battery. Yes, I just don't want to get stranded (I think most people have been stranded at one point or another by a dead battery) and would like to avoid this scenario.
Magnus
http://jdpower.com/news/releases/pressrelease.asp?ID=2003028
RE: Camry: Warped brakes on any car that Motor Trend tests does not surprise me. they really beat up some of the cars they test. But I do agree with you tamu that they did give the Camry a pass on this.
As regards the initial quality, I try not to get too excited about it. It's measured on # of defects per 100 cars. The difference between brands we're looking at is really very small in my opinion. And if you look up the data on older cars, some cars with worse initial quality actually has better mid and long-term reliability. So far our Malibu is holding up pretty well, and that's all I care.
BTW, the cars with the most horrible initial quality ratings are...Mini Cooper and Hummer H2 (aside from Kia and Hyndai, of course)
I-Spy
http://www.familycar.com/RoadTests/ChevroletMalibu/Photos.htm
The car looks sharp compared to the current model, except, IMHO:
1. The front doesn't look as pretty (the new rear is way, way better)
2. The steering wheel is not very attractive in the middle - a big yellow bowtie inside a black circle? Puhlease
3. The knobs and buttons look just tiny, could be a problem while driving
4. The antenna on the roof up front is out of place - would've looked much more natural in the back
Small things! Otherwise, looks like a very fine vehicle, probably the best GM has to offer vis-a-vis competition, except, maybe, Corvette. Too bad for GM I love my 99 Bu way too much, and won't be buying the new Bu any time soon :-)
..other than that, I have the same shoddy build, leaky head, brake (new pads needed already) and squeaky/rattley front end issues as everyone else; 20K on my '02.
About the rattling, one rep at dealer initially said 'never heard of that', they lubed front end parts and re and re'd the sway bar, started doing it again as soon as I drove away. Shop foreman said, oh yeah, it's common, GM tells us to replace strut bushings only if first the lube doesn't work..fine now after 2nd trip. Whatta waste of time and $$..I don't know who they talk to about this initial quality stuff!
After owning used Hondas as a student, with this car I've now taken a new, trade-rag-recommended ride with each of the Big 3 and this is the last time. Forget doing the right thing; vote with your wallet people, and for now just buy the best darn japanese label cars you can afford, preferrably built here. It's the only way these giants will make the cars they're capable of making; they haven't learned yet. Talk to your fellow domestic-label (non-truck) owners and you know it's true.
I'm a single college student so i didn't have the family factor, but i did have the friend factor. I picked up some friends of mine, three, and we went around town, drove a total of a little over 100 miles today. We noticed it didn't have any rear cup holders, took us all by surprise. We all liked the sound systems, it was really nice, esp. for a factory system. We all felt comfortable and could talk with each other easily, but we did think it had a little bit more wind noise than it shoulda of had. We all agreed that it must have just been the test car we were in, we hoped.
The car was nice, and i would guess dependable. It had about 6800 miles on it. Don't know exactly why a new car would have so many miles on it, but anyway, the sticker price was around $21000.
Like i said earlier, it is a very nice car, but I would not want one. It was very boring to drive, and i look forward to getting my car back. I wish i would have test drive a Buick regal or a Saturn L series.
(I sure hope everyone understood that, that's the longest I've wrote ona public board. Ya see, I'm from Oklahoma and we have our own little language and sometimes spelling).
I'm sooo disappointed, cause i really did like that car, til i drove it.
I have had all of the "normal" "built-in" problems that come on ever Malibu such as warped rotors, squeeking suspension due to warn out bushings, a/c that kicks off, fan switch that does not work in positions 1 & 2, and the absolutely terrible Affinity tires.
Overall, I still like the size and design of the Malibu. I just wish they would pay closer attention to these "little" items that make me a very irriated owner.
I really want to buy something different next time, but it is hard to find a better value (price vs what you get) on any other vehicle in the marketplace. Then they make it difficult for me to consider anything other than a GM product because of the huge discount I can get from using my GM Mastercard.
It really bothers me that this vehicle can get such a high initial owners rating, because my experience says the quality of parts used are cheap, cheap, cheap. For a few pennys more per part, they could really have something nice here. To bad they will never do it!!!
Good luck with your horn.
I've recently noticed that my 'Bu sometimes (quite rarely) but does hesitate for a fraction of a second when switching from 1st to 2nd gear after very hard accelerations. It feels like it switches to neutral for that fraction of a second. Do you have the same thing? No such hesitation after slow starts. What I think it could be - the transmission fluid is due for a change. I've got 40.5K, and GM recommends changing the fluid at 50K, if you drive in a hilly terrain (my terrain is quite hilly). Plus, I almost always, situation permitting, accelerate very fast, even when going uphill. But if the tranny dies, it would suck big, big time!!! Though I doubt it would die, but you never know
The EGR valve allows the unburned fuel to return to the manifold tank. If that valve becomes inoperable, it causes the unburned fuel to heat up to the point it becomes sludge. Teh sludge backs up and causes the engine to stall. I had it happen to my 1989 Tempo (despite the bad reviews, it was a great car for me). The valve itself was $70-$80 but they had to cleanout all the sludge. My Tempo stalled while I was waiting at a stop light on a highway. I had already driven over 150 miles (all highway) without incident when this happened. I pressed on the gas pedal and the car sputtered and stalled. Luckily I kept my cool, shifted to neutral and re-started the car within a few seconds and drove off. It was fine until I reached my destination. Later that day I took it over to Sears (big mistake), they changed the fuel filter. And I drove back home the nxt day (175 miles) without a problem. Then i had some sputtering the next day and took it to my Ford dealership. It cost me somewhere around $180 (1992 dollars).
Here's a link on EGR valves: http://www.innerauto.com/innerauto/text/exha04.html
Good luck.
Now the gadget that plugs into the cigarette lighter will hold the radio memory when the battery is disconnected. Does anyone know just how to put this little cheater together ??
I must confess, I think resetting the radio code is misinformation. Sooner or later, every car is going to have a dead battery, and if a person had to take the car back to the dealer, and spend $50 and kill half a day to get the radio reset, there would be a lot of highly PO'd car owners. Double check your owners manual and see if it says the same thing as my '03.
There is no reference to loss of battery power. I checked under Battery in the Manual and there is no reference to the radio.Your Manual made reference to the battery?
What I was told by the dealer and they showed me a service print out from GM while I was there, if the battery is disconnected on 02 the radio will go to LOCK. The only way to unlock the radio is to obtain the code from GM by phoning 1234567890 this is from there service print out. that's the reason why the boys have the cheater plug as they don't want the hassle calling GM.every time they disconnect a battery.
I know it does'nt make much sense, but perhaps in 03 they changed the setup so the radio will hold the code and when the battery is reconnected away it goes.
While my Manual makes refernce to VIN it seems your manual also mentions the battery, is this correct??. Finally the dealer even quoted the price to UNLOCK the radio min. labour $ 45.00
I guess it is possible that you could have needed both struts and lower control arms esp. considering your car is 6 years old. From where you are standing, I hope this is the case. Right now youhave 3 mechanics and you don't know which one to trust. Personally, I would go back to the independent and tell them the squeaking is worst. Obviously they did not fix your original complaint. See what they do. You can always fall back on the dealership.
I am still wondering, is it normal for the a/c compressor to come on when you hit the recirculation button? (a/c button OFF)..my friend's 02 does it too, his dealer told him it's normal..I haven't asked mine about it yet; if you mention too much in one trip, not everything gets done!
AVIS is the french translation of Notice.
Hahaha
And I agree that buying a rental is a bad idea, unless it's a rock-bottom price and YOUR mechanic examines it and tells you it's a good car