A quiet, agile, competent sedan
Pseudo hybrid not as fuel frugal as claimed
Let’s put aside any pretence that someone is going to lust after the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu on looks alone. Sure, there’s a hint of Camaro in the tail lights, a rather sturdy snout and a silhouette that more than one mother could love. But put aside all the hyperbole, and the Malibu is essentially about as vanilla as they come.
Making its appearance in early 2012, the Malibu — a nameplate that’s been around since 1964 — ought to be measured therefore on how it functions and drives as an everyday mid-size sedan, competing in a segment that is flourishing with rivals, whether it be such new arrivals as the new Honda Accord, the Nissan Altima, the Ford Fusion or the coming Mazda6.
Our Malibu test car wasn’t just an off-the-rack model, but rather the 2013 Malibu Eco — a pseudo hybrid because it cannot move on electricity alone. The Eco gets its designation because it has a mild, electrically assisted drivetrain that provides the equivalent of about 15 horsepower under acceleration from a 120-volt lithium-ion battery, using energy from the brakes to recharge it. It also deploys other fuel-saving measures that cover everything from aerodynamics to fuel management. (I’m not sure why GM didn’t just make available its efficient 2.0-litre diesel sold in Europe with its 258 lb.-ft. of torque.) But according to GM, the Eco avoids the higher cost of a full hybrid while allowing this particular Malibu to be amazingly good on gas.
And maybe it is good on gas in some climate-controlled laboratory used by Transport Canada where the Malibu Eco officially got rated to return 8.1 L/100 km in city driving and 5.3 highway. But the Eco we drove, employing a 182-h.p. 2.4-litre four-cylinder direct-injected engine, never saw figures much below 11L/100 km in a week of urban-only driving — and I promise I wasn’t being a hooligan. Other colleagues have found a similar misalignment from real world driving to actual ratings — though GM is far from being the only manufacturer to suffer the malady.
So, ignoring the economy issue, how does the Malibu Eco drive?
Surprisingly well, to be honest. Aside from a little engine coarseness at startup, the Malibu Eco is impressively quiet on the road. The seats are comfortable and visibility is about average. Handling, derived from Europe’s Opel Insignia, is less American than expected, with a ride that falls into a welcome neutral zone of being neither too soft nor too firm. Steering and braking aren’t exactly BMW-like, but there’s nothing disagreeable here either. Essentially, the Malibu feels like a solid, hard-working sedan.
The start/stop technology, which shuts down the engine any time idling lasts longer than a few seconds, is nearly seamless thanks in part to the battery power, with almost imperceptible stops and gentle starts as soon as the brake pedal is released. After a while, I rarely gave it a second thought. It was less noticeable than the stop/start system in BMW’s 328i.
Acceleration, while feeling nimble enough, requires nine seconds to reach 96 km/h, and the six-speed transmission is not as lightning quick as many of the eight-speed automatics on the market. But it still felt better than the many of the CVTs seen in the competition.
Our $33,465 test car included heated leather seats, sunroof and a premium sound system that seemed worth the $965 expense, though the tuner displayed pictures that changed with the station and were not to my taste. Thankfully, the pictures can be shut off. The price of the Eco is still higher than the top-line Altima, and $3,000 more than the up-level, four-cylinder Accord Touring with leather.
The rest of the interior — enlarged by some 110 litres— is designed to look upscale, but there’s a noticeable amount of plastic and faux chrome, and not enough sophistication to the instrument cluster to rival those in the Accord, Altima or Sonata. Buttons and knobs are easy to see and use, but storage space is below average, even with a secret cubby hidden behind the seveninch centre display. The ice–blue ambient lighting is interesting, and Bluetooth and satellite radio are standard. The trunk is shockingly small due to the presence of the battery, with just a small passthrough for hockey sticks or skis.
As a mid-size sedan, the Malibu Eco provides a comfortable, ultraquiet ride while making an ambi- tious effort to limit fuel consumption.
While it may not exceed everyone’s expectations, especially on the fuel front, it’s still a genuinely likable, everyday car. Not everyone craves chocolate.