Posted on 09/28/2007 6:17:37 AM PDT by vietvet67
I've driven the 2008 Accord EX sedan (powered by the new 190 bhp I-4 engine) and it is quiet, powerful and very refined.
It looks like it was created by a committee of designers afraid to make any bold moves.
The vast majority of car buyers prefer dull cars.
You know, I'm sure everything you've said is true, but the real reason the Malibu can't catch the Accord or Camry is that the majority of the folks GM is targeting (Camry and Accord owners) wouldn't be caught dead in a Malibu - it would just be too embarassing to go into the office and tell folks you're buying a Malibu.
If GM really wants to sell this car they need to change the name.
"GM has not allowed critics who have driven the Malibu to publish their thoughts yet, but the car received mostly positive coverage at the Detroit auto show this year."
That doesn't bode well - if the reviews were glowing, you'd think they'd let them leak...
More pictures of the car in question:
Not a bad try, but not as good as the Camry's design.
If GM really wants to compete, they need an edge and offer a 5 year/60,000 bumper to bumper warranty like Hyundai and Kia does. Otherwise, they’re no match for Honda or Toyota or the Koreans.
GM better get their service departments at their dealers up to snuff if they are going to make a dent. My local dealer crows on and on about their service department. I could list a page worth of problems concerning my vehicle and my wife’s in reference to service. It’s a joke.
LOL.
I think most of the problems with the union workers putting pop cans in the doors and just leaving parts out are in the past. The typical line worker doesn't care whether he's bolting in a part that will last 3 years or 20 years, so I blame the quality problems on management.
Call me in 2017 and tell me how the 2007 Malibu has held up. Then I'll look at the 2017 model.
Simply put, the car is uninspiring.
Yet, on this very thread the ultra boring Accord is lauded. Hundreds of thousands that car and the downright homely Camry are bought by eager Americans every year. The fact is people LIKE land and boring, and it’s been ever thus since the days of the Chrysler Airflow.
From what I've read about the Saturn Aura, the 3.5 is an older engine design paired, in the Aura XE, with an older four-speed tranny. The Aura XR comes with a newer design 3.6 engine and the new six-speed tranny.
If that is at all wrong then I'll surely be corrected.
The vast majority of car buyers prefer fuel efficient, reliable, and functional cars. Relatively conservative styling is simply coincidental to that.
Bingo!
The new Malibu is a great car. It will do better than you think. The venom some here have for the big three is unbelievable, and sad...
Mike
But, unlike Japanese carmakers, GM executives want to make less make less money by selling less cars.
Takes aim at Toyota, hits own foot.
With all due respect, the Camry is one of the ugliest cars out there and has always been designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. I have to conclude that so many people are so biased against the American manufacturers that NOTHING they do would ever be enough.
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