Malibu replacement
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 5:31 pm
I had an interesting revelation recently. I always perceived that people wrongly got rid of cars as a result of failure events. My argument was always "well you can fix it much cheaper than replacing it." Yup. And that applies to the Malibu, too. But here's what I realized:
1) We were already considering replacing the car anyway
2) It is developing rust on parts of the body (mainly in front of the rear wheel wells at the bottom but also under the door frames)
3) I don't much care for the car, so I never really considered it anything more than an appliance. I have no attachment to it and there's nothing at all interesting or redeeming about it. It doesn't totally suck in objective measures (mpg is ok, performance is ok, it has enough room, etc.) at least. But that's the best I can say.
4) So I never invested the kind of maintenance dollars that I have in, say, my Caprice (and thus feel less compelled to hang onto it). On the other hand, it hasn't needed a lot. But unlike my Caprice, I never had any interest in improving the performance above the stock baseline. Which is another reason I feel less compelled to hang onto it (see #3).
5) As the wife's car, I have less interest in tinkering with it, though maybe I would feel differently if it were an interesting car.
So there's my rationale. I think the Maxima is a pretty good example of a car I am willing to spend some time on (with nearly twice the miles and a lot more rust, even). I liked working on my Fleetwood, my Caprice. The CTS-V is less rewarding as everything takes longer and is more expensive (plus the stakes are higher since it's actually worth money).
With that out of the way, I was thinking the 06-07 Malibu Maxx would be good for her. Maybe not this particular car but something like this:
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale ... 9319&Log=0
For $10k I can get an LTZ with well under 100k, so that means all the options (leather seats/wheel, heated seats, heated mirrors, climate control, DVD entertainment, power pedals, remote start, homelink, dual moonroof, auto dimming rearview, telescoping steering wheel, etc.). These are very practical with good rear storage (easily accessible via the hatch) and the sliding rear seat means Fleetwood levels of rear seat legroom is available if necessary - the Maxx was built on the long wheel base Epsilon, unlike the sedan. These are homely (the 06-07 refresh, as this one is, isn't too bad, IMO) but exceedingly practical. And other redeeming features include the trusty 60° 3.5L V6 (good for about 200hp in 04-06 and 211 hp with VVT in 2007) which has great response and overall performance, and gets very impressive MPG (well into the 30s is possible on the highway). The SS variant had the 3900 which had 240hp (with a fuel economy penalty). Plus the chassis actually doesn't suck, since this is first gen Epsilon. It was the beginning of GM's non-sucky FWD platforms. I'd like to drive one.
Here's an 07 which has higher miles but seems nicer:
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale ... 9314&Log=0
1) We were already considering replacing the car anyway
2) It is developing rust on parts of the body (mainly in front of the rear wheel wells at the bottom but also under the door frames)
3) I don't much care for the car, so I never really considered it anything more than an appliance. I have no attachment to it and there's nothing at all interesting or redeeming about it. It doesn't totally suck in objective measures (mpg is ok, performance is ok, it has enough room, etc.) at least. But that's the best I can say.
4) So I never invested the kind of maintenance dollars that I have in, say, my Caprice (and thus feel less compelled to hang onto it). On the other hand, it hasn't needed a lot. But unlike my Caprice, I never had any interest in improving the performance above the stock baseline. Which is another reason I feel less compelled to hang onto it (see #3).
5) As the wife's car, I have less interest in tinkering with it, though maybe I would feel differently if it were an interesting car.
So there's my rationale. I think the Maxima is a pretty good example of a car I am willing to spend some time on (with nearly twice the miles and a lot more rust, even). I liked working on my Fleetwood, my Caprice. The CTS-V is less rewarding as everything takes longer and is more expensive (plus the stakes are higher since it's actually worth money).
With that out of the way, I was thinking the 06-07 Malibu Maxx would be good for her. Maybe not this particular car but something like this:
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale ... 9319&Log=0
For $10k I can get an LTZ with well under 100k, so that means all the options (leather seats/wheel, heated seats, heated mirrors, climate control, DVD entertainment, power pedals, remote start, homelink, dual moonroof, auto dimming rearview, telescoping steering wheel, etc.). These are very practical with good rear storage (easily accessible via the hatch) and the sliding rear seat means Fleetwood levels of rear seat legroom is available if necessary - the Maxx was built on the long wheel base Epsilon, unlike the sedan. These are homely (the 06-07 refresh, as this one is, isn't too bad, IMO) but exceedingly practical. And other redeeming features include the trusty 60° 3.5L V6 (good for about 200hp in 04-06 and 211 hp with VVT in 2007) which has great response and overall performance, and gets very impressive MPG (well into the 30s is possible on the highway). The SS variant had the 3900 which had 240hp (with a fuel economy penalty). Plus the chassis actually doesn't suck, since this is first gen Epsilon. It was the beginning of GM's non-sucky FWD platforms. I'd like to drive one.
Here's an 07 which has higher miles but seems nicer:
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale ... 9314&Log=0