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- Accord LX I4 AT, $21,795 including destination charge.
I don't know about you, but $1800 is a significant chunk of change to me.
It's a joy to drive. I usually go out during my lunch break just to sit in it and play. I never knew I could drive to Disneyworld from St. Louis without using any freeways until now.
Would the Chrysler Sebring be comfortable all the way to Los Angeles from St.Louis?
I like the new '08 Bu from Chevrolet, as far as looks go anyways. I was looking at it on the net back at the beginning of this year but was turned off when Chevy announced that they would not sell any with manual tranny's.
Then I bought a 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS with a CVT automatic anyway! Really, the '08 Bu is a tad big for my tastes. The Lancer GTS is just right for my wife and I.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
We are here to discuss midsize sedans and that's all.
Every one of you who has had a post removed just now knows those things so let's stop and think a minute before making an inappropriate post. If you feel like a post is out of line, you have two choices - ignore it or email me and ask me to look at it. Jumping on the poster is not one of your options.
And we are not talking long term ownership costs here, right?
If you require stability control on a car to consider it a good value, how about this:
Malibu LT I4 AT with moonroof: $21,755
Accord EX I4 AT (least expensive Accord with a moonroof): $24,495
Until early next year, the Accord has one more cog in its AT that comes with the I4. But then the Malibu will take the lead there with its 6AT.
Oh, I think you already knew that was just one of many examples of the entertaining things it can do. Besides, it was DisneyWORLD.
I had a choice of vehicles to take to work today. There was Scarlett the red Sebring, Shirley the blue/black Trek bicycle (I ride a lot) and Elvira the black Viper. I know many people would not give up a chance to drive a Viper around but Scarlett the Sebring got the call. She's just so much darn fun in her own way.
I don't know about you, but I have seen this as a cyclical process. The debate pops up every five years. Malibu started with a bang ten years ago, even louder five years ago. And now, there is yet another.
The way you see value is not the way everybody else does. If I were to bet on value, my pick would on Accord LX/LX-P over Malibu LS/LT. There is a whole lot to cars than trying to find a feature or two that might be missing in one. One of the points you have made is with the assumption that Malibu will have 6AT (if I asked you, what advantage it afforded, we will be going back to a discussion that you couldn't digest earlier). So, why are you ignoring that it has 4AT right now? And if GM is indeed planning to put 6AT in couple of months which will drastically transform the car, as you seem to believe, then shouldn't we pity anybody who buys the Malibu today?
The only thing we could agree upon, perhaps, is that you can't prove anything until tested against time. Give them 2-3 years, and we might be discussion "upgrades" necessary with next generation.
So how do you like Sebring?Good mileage?
And didn't think challenging another's was the point but that what one sees as value isn't that for another.
I didn't ignore that the Malibu has a 4AT on the I4 right now--I was very clear that it has one, and actually mentioned it more than once in this discussion. And I never said that a 6AT will "drastically transform the car." We can have a much better dialogue about these cars if we don't put words on each other's fingers and not take (inaccruate) stabs at what other people say. Agreed?
If you can make a case for value based on initial price versus features with one trim, you should be able to do so without having to change the argument.
Well, you can see from my replies to Backy how much I like it.
The mileage is a little low but it's within tolerable limits. The two times I've actually checked it I calculated 20.7 and 20.8 mpg combined city/highway. The in-dash display shows it to be about 1 mpg less than that but I like to figure it the old fashioned way.
I'm looking forward to testing it on a long highway cruise someday. Maybe I'll drive down to DisneyWORLD, although I only know how to get there by not taking the freeway.
Based on my experience, average mph is a big factor in determining observed fuel economy. My previous experience with Chrysler 3.5/V6 was in 2007 300, that I had as a rental in Arizona. It got a decent 26-27 mpg (90% highway) in that car.
Uh, you were the one who asked to change the comparison. You noted that the Malibu LS doesn't have stability control and the Accord LX does. Even though the Malibu has features the Accord doesn't, I went ahead and took your suggestion to compare a Malibu with stability control to the Accord. But I noticed the Malibu LT has 17" wheels, which is what the Accord EX has. So to make the price comparison more fair to the Accord, I added a moonroof to the Malibu. So, what is the big deal with that?
If you want to be a car snob, at least buy a pre-owned BMW or something comparable.
Fact is: family sedans are appliances. For those who are unbiased and willing to test drive all of them, you will find very little difference between Brand X and Brand Y.
“Yes, I agree. Unless... they do one of those "what can you get for $XXk" comparos again and it happens to be a Malibu LT I4 with the 6-speed AT vs. the Accord LX. That could get interesting.”
To which I responded:
“I don't see a major price advantage on Malibu actually. It is priced in the same price range as the Accord.”
This is where hell broke loose. You had started with LT, went back to LS to quote the lowest price possible then went back to LT w/moon roof option added to ensure you weren’t getting left behind in feature list. Regardless of where you go, my point still stands... Malibu is pretty close in pricing to Accord.
To be more realistic, let us leave it to the market to decide “value”, shall we?
PS. It is interesting that you put greater value to 17” rims. Give me 16” rims, unless it happens to be a sport tuned model that demands a lower profile tire. Otherwise, those things are not only going to add to the cost of tires during every replacement but also add about 40 lb to the unsprung weight of the car. I have argued about this endlessly in some Accord related forums. I've went far enough to say that Honda has gone overboard with wheel sizes even in Civic LX which uses the same size wheels as the much more heavier, performance oriented and powerful BMW 3-series. Now one can get a Civic Si with rim size that is larger than was ever offered in Acura NSX.
There are a lot more ways to appreciate “value” than the initial price tag.
Your comments, Autokritiker, are sure to rankle some posters on this thread but I for one happen to agree with you. My wife and I enjoy our 2007 SEL AWD Ford Fusion immensely but it is, after all, a four-door sedan, albeit it a very nice one.
The four-door sedan has come a long way in the last half century but mostly all manufacturers these days offer competitive products: There is not a great deal of difference between Brand X and Brand Y, in my book.
First, I compared the price of the base trim Malibu with AT to the base trim Accord with AT. You objected because the base Malibu doesn't have stability control and the base Accord does. So to accomodate your complaint, I compared the up-level Malibu LT, which has stability control, to the up-level Accord EX. And I added a moonroof to the Malibu since that is something the Accord EX has. I guess you didn't like that either. Is it that you don't like the fact that the new Malibu is significantly less expensive than the Accord? If you want to think of a difference of $1800-$2800 as "close to", that's fine with me. We'll just have to disagree on that. As we do on the value of larger rims/tires. Or the value of a 60/40 split rear seat, which is standard on the Malibu but not available on the Accord. Or the value of OnStar, which is standard on the Malibu but not available on the Accord.
You define value the way you want, but others may disagree.
You stole my words from a previous post.
I don't know why you seem to be so upset at my attempts to compare prices of like-trim Malibus and Accords, in reply to your statement, "It is priced in the same price range as the Accord."
I don't know about you, but when someone responds to my post, as long as it doesn't include "you" in it (addressed to me), I see no reason for anything personal but a discussion around the topic on hand. A response isn't an indicator of being upset with someone.
If you want to think of a difference of $1800-$2800 as "close to", that's fine with me.
Ok... :confuse:
When I got my Accord, I was able to negotiate the price to about $1800 below MSRP, basically getting a $23K Accord for a little over $21K while having a $25K budget. Would that be possible if $1800 weren't "close"? If automakers are capable of giving up to $4K-5K off MSRP, you're questioning "closeness" of about half that amount here!
$4K-5K off MSRP,
Wow. We've come a long way from the 03 Accord era when some people 'informed' :sick: me that Honda never had to have discounts, incentives, rebates, etc.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
With Toyota flooding the market with incentive-laden Camrys (Camries?), Honda had to do something to keep its share of the market from its closest competitor, what is quickly beomcing the McDonald's of the car industry, Toyota.
Since people will be buying 2008 models as new cars now, I think it's appropriate to focus on those when comparing prices of the mid-sized sedans, not models from 10 years ago.
I think we've established the MSRP price difference between the Accord and Malibu is roughly $2000-3000, at least for the I4 models. I haven't looked at the V6 pricing yet; I'll leave that to you or someone else to do the comparison. Personally, I think the Malibu is priced right where it needs to be--still near the lower end of the market, but more than the old Malibu--now called the "Malibu Classic". Want a burger and fries with that?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
http://forums.subdriven.com/zerothread?id=3522630&page=2
http://forums.subdriven.com/zerothread?id=3522630&page=1
http://www.hyundai-motor.com/index.html
As for the interior, MUCH better IMO. But only with the nav. The non-nav interior pick has something that looks out of place under the main CP where the radio is however. Anyone know what that is and why they put it in such a place? I don't like things that look tacked on like that at all.
That being said, the exterior alone would probably keep me from buying one now. Add the tacked on looking thing under the CP, because I wouldn't want a nav system, and Hyundai would have a hard time selling me one of these. I'll reserve final judgement until I see one though.
40+ mpg? Very impressive!
Being that we're now an SUV/CUV family I'd really like to see what Honda puts in their's for 2009 as that's when we'll need a new one.
I agree on the exterior - not as clean as the original. Give me the current exterior, and the new interior.
The interior is fantastic; the exterior will take a bit of time to get used to but concurring with Backy, let's see if we'd get a different one for the NA spec.
This perhaps is a better angle:
Thumbs up on the interior:
BTW, got a '07 Sonata SE rental tonight--silver with those slick 5-spoke alloys. Very tasteful. And a toasty heater--needed that tonight, with flurries in the air and a 40 mph north wind. Car was very stable and quiet in those conditions though.