2016 Chevy Malibu to debut in New York

Eunos_Cosmo · Apr 1, 2015

The front end is an absolute mess.

CSMDuty11 · Apr 1, 2015

Omnis
Hot damn, this thing actually looks really good. It's like they finally got that Chevy corporate BS grill right.

Unfortunately, they still don't know the right spot(the upper grille) to put a badge :lol:

Legro · Apr 1, 2015

Looks like the designer didn't know what portions the car was going to be and designed a low front for it then got fired for designing an incorrect front and the job of finishing the front was given to a blind accountant.

YSSMAN · Apr 1, 2015

It steals enough of the Impala, mixes it with the new Volt, and it comes together to make a pretty nice looking car - inside and out. Assuming that they didn't drop the ball on dynamics, again, it may even be halfway decent to drive given the bones its based on.

I'm a little surprised that they dropped the V6 option, though. Although the 2.0T is a halfway decent powertrain, it still lacks a lot of the refinement that competitors have. The 1.5T has my curiosity, however. The Fusion is pulling a similar trick, and I suppose Chevrolet thinks they can too, but I'm more interested in that one going into the smaller cars - the Sonic and Cruze, specifically.

Oh, and a real hybrid? Finally?

CodeRedR51 · Apr 1, 2015

YSSMAN
I'm a little surprised that they dropped the V6 option, though.

Unfortunately this is the direction most, if not all, mid-size cars will go.

Omnis · Apr 1, 2015

Eunos_Cosmo
The front end is an absolute mess.

Like your face! Oooh!

Don't hate on this car. It looks like a Nascar, and it has a great shape. This is the best Malibu (It's a freaking MALIBU!) since its revival.

SlipZtrEm · Apr 1, 2015

Omnis
Hot damn, this thing actually looks really good. It's like they finally got that Chevy corporate BS grill right.

****. Tree'd.

edit: Did anyone see the powertrains on this thing? They snipped the balls right off of it. What balls it had, anyway. What was wrong with the NA 2.5L that they had to drop it and cut 50hp and torque for a measly 1.5L that gets only one or two mpg better?

That was the first thing I noticed when the specs were announced too. I get adding the 1.5L, sure, but dropping the 2.5L outright seems silly. Of course this new engine has very slightly better economy: it's so much weaker. The 2.0L turbo losing a bunch of torque is also strange.

There's a lot going on with the front end, and I wonder if this is now too big - or at least, too close in size to the Impala - but it's a much better looking car than the one it replaces. It's shocking to think of how many well-designed cars there are in this bread-and-butter category, really.

Omnis · Apr 2, 2015

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/04/01/2016-chevy-malibu-hybrid-new-york-2015/

The 2016 Malibu Hybrid's powertrain consists of a 1.8-liter four-cylinder and a two-motor hybrid system with a 1.5-kilowatt hour lithium ion battery. Chevy's engineers are aiming for EPA fuel economy ratings of 48 miles per gallon city, 45 mpg highway and 47 mpg combined. The setup puts out a total of 182 horsepower, and it can accelerate the sedan to 60 miles per hour in a claimed 7.8 seconds. Also, speeds of up to 55 miles per hour can even be reached under fully electric power. Some of this efficient tech is shared with the latest Volt, including the regenerative braking.

Did I miss something? Because this doesn't even beat last year's Honda Accord hybrid, despite much lower horsepower and a smaller turbocharged engine.

YSSMAN · Apr 2, 2015

SlipZtrEm
That was the first thing I noticed when the specs were announced too. I get adding the 1.5L, sure, but dropping the 2.5L outright seems silly. Of course this new engine has very slightly better economy: it's so much weaker. The 2.0L turbo losing a bunch of torque is also strange.

I believe that with the car losing 300lbs, the performance losses would be negligible compared to the outgoing car.

Paulie · Apr 2, 2015

It looks pretty good, if I was in the market for a 4cyl sedan I'd probably consider buying the hybrid.

Tornado · Apr 2, 2015

If they are going to completely neuter the power output so they can throw in a less powerful turbo four with negligible actual economy improvement, they at least need a clever and memorable name like Ford has so people can pretend they aren't getting shafted.

YSSMAN
I believe that with the car losing 300lbs, the performance losses would be negligible compared to the outgoing car.

Wasn't that Nissan's party line for the new Sentra? The old Malibu was nearly that much heavier than most of its competition anyway and was already down on power to them.