Repair-It

The Malibu’s had some rough years, but like a band on the reunion tour, it’s finally cleaned up its act and put out a surprisingly good new album. Like Muscle Shoals, though, it isn’t making a big screaming deal about things. FAME has a modern mixing board in the original studio, embracing its history and keeping up with the times, but it isn’t trying to be anything it’s not. That’s sorta the same story with this Malibu Hybrid. It’s got Volt technology and claims second-best-in-class fuel economy, it’s a rolling 4G LTE hotspot, it’ll play nice with your Apple and Android phones, and it can be equipped with semi-autonomous driving technology. None of its competitors can say all that.

What’s most striking about the Malibu Hybrid, though, is what it isn’t. Chevrolet has resisted the urge to mess with the Malibu’s handsome lines for the hybrid model, something that’s gotten the competition into trouble in more than one instance. No silly looking wheels or oddball grille inserts or any of the other “LOOK AT ME, I’M A HYBRID” gimmickry that too often afflicts hybridized sedans.

The most important place you won’t find typical hybrid weirdness is in the brake pedal. Regenerative braking and mechanical braking being entirely different technologies, they feel quite different in the pedal, and the handoff from one to the other is often awkward. Not so here. Like Honda, Chevrolet has switched to a brake-by-wire system, which blends regenerative and mechanical braking automatically to maximize the energy captured by the battery. A side bonus is that brake pedal feel is generated artificially, so the engineers could tune it to feel like the mechanical brakes in every non-hybrid car out there. As a result, you get firm, linear, and consistent response from the brake pedal at all times, and it’s matched with linear, predictable stopping power.

Thanks to the EV motors’ instantaneous torque, the Malibu Hybrid feels strong and confident leaving a stop and accelerates nicely onto the freeway. Passing requires a lead foot, but convince the computer you really do want to throw fuel economy to the wind temporarily, and it will supply ample power to overtake the slowpoke ahead. An instrumented test of an early prototype revealed the Malibu Hybrid will hit 60 mph in 7.4 seconds, which makes it quicker than most four-cylinder midsize sedans and one of the quickest midsize hybrids on the market.

Not only is it quick, but it’ll corner, too. Calling the Malibu Hybrid “sporty” would be too generous, as it clearly wasn’t designed to be a demon in the curves. But while it doesn’t beg for visits to the race track, it does handle quite well when the situation calls for it. The steering is precise, and the response is linear. Pushed harder than any buyer is likely to, the Hybrid manages its body movements well and avoids the usual family car tendency to understeer immediately. The fuel-economy-optimized tires offer an impressive amount of grip without making any untoward noises.

It’s also pretty comfortable in there. The Malibu is well-damped and handles bumps and holes nicely, blunting impacts and mitigating their jolts and noises like a car of a higher-priced class. The new cabin is spacious and airy, with a back seat finally worthy of taller adults.

Tire noise is about the only exterior sound to penetrate the Hybrid’s cocoon, and even if it’s a fair amount of tire noise, it’s still damn impressive given how hard it is to make a car’s interior quiet when there’s no engine noise to mask outside sounds. There are more than a few luxury cars on the road that aren’t as quiet inside as this Malibu.

the Malibu is finally enjoying a much-needed renaissance, and the Hybrid model is without question the Malibu to buy. Put another way, if the Malibu only came as a hybrid, it would’ve been a Car of the Year finalist last year rather than a contender. Pretty impressive when you consider the last generation car routinely hung out in the bottom of the class. It’s not perfect, but it’s finally worth talking about.

mopar_srt

I'm driving a 2016 Malibu LT rental right now in the DC-Maryland area for this entire week. What I can tell you: It is a DAMN impressive car. Comfort. Decent performance(there is no need for huge acceleration needs here in this area). And yes, this thing is vault-like in it's structure(think if Cadillac did a FWD Alpha) as well as in it's quietness, as in luxury car quiet. I agree, the only detracting noise from the serenity was the slap of the tires and rumble on rough pavement. It buyers would invest in a better set of Michelins or BFGs, they'll likely be more isolated.

The new 1.5 makes the old 2.5 seem like the truck engine that it has become in the Colorado(sorry Impala as well, but it is a very low take rate there). While obviously not the 2.0T, it does what most buyers of this class wants, and that is smooth and predictable performance. The 8spd is a great marriage for this engine. Braking is very strong as well.

I do agree however, that Chevy made too much of an emphasis on clear separation from LS/LT to LTZ trims in terms of interiors. I can say with a straight face that the LTZ's interior looks better and is assembled better than many near-lux cars costing thousands more. But the LT I am in is behind something like a Mazda 6, 200, and possibly the Fusion in crucial areas such as dash design and touchpoints. It is on par with an Accord and several football fields ahead of the tinny looking/sounding dreaded Camry.

I can see why Chevy moved nearly 25k of these(75% of those sales being retail as GM has cut fleets substantially). They put the money where it was most lacking on the 2015: Refinement. Can't wait to try out this Hybrid.

kevm14 wrote: Bob, have you rented one of these yet?