Despite its storied nameplate, the Malibu won’t be missed by many.   It’s not a very good car.

This trip has exposed its shortcomings far more than last time I rented one.    Last time, my driving was far more local.   This time I will have done around 500 miles by the time I hand the keys back.   This involved a lot of interstate driving.   In most states, Americans don’t really go for draconian enforcement of reasonable speeds, so the traffic flows much faster.    At 85mph (130km/h) this car is terrible.

The engine is willing enough, and even has more to give if required to get around another car.   The issue is NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness).   Generally newer cars do a decent job of this overall.   However this car does not.   I question if there is any sound deadening at all in the vehicle.   I’m travelling with two co-workers and it is hard to maintain a conversation at regular interstate speeds.    This isn’t so much wind noise as noise and vibration coming from the wheels & tyres up into the car.   The ride is also terrible and you feel every expansion joint and crack in the road.   The tires are from Firestone, so are not a brand I have not heard of.   They are not light truck tyres either.

The sound system is no help here.   I’ve driven cars with two tiny speakers that sound better.   There is just strange sound coming out of strange places in the car.    It felt so tinny and grating, that I could only listen to it by going into the settings and turning the treble down while boosting bass and mid range.   That didn’t make it sound good, but at least it was no longer grating.

On the plus side, the infotainment system is so simple that I was able to connect my phone in seconds and play music.   I’ve rented cars with the apple car play system and it just complains about Siri and never works.

Power and fuel economy are adequate, although the engine is coarse if pushed.   Apparently its equipped with a CVT, but its set up to feel more like a regular automatic transmission.   It mostly does, and while it goes not bogged down at low speeds like a lot of CVTs, its not inspiring either.    Comfort is also adequate, and the boot is quite large.   Turning circle is only average.

The 2024 model is equipped with a very strange collision warning system.   There is an alarm and light on the dashboard that goes off when the car wants to warn you of an impending collision.   However, it warns at the most inopportune time.   I was almost rear ended the first time it went off, and I stood on the brakes thinking there was a major issue.   This feature makes the car less safe.

I assume the main buyer of this car has been fleet buyers.  I can’t imagine anyone getting excited by it.   The drab colour of the one I rented is pretty appropriate.

Rating 2/5.

Update 22/6/25:  I rented another 2024 Malibu this month.   I also drove this car extensively and came to the same conclusion.  This car had Continental tyres, and yet the road noise at interstate speeds was unbearable.   Turning the tinny infotainment system up wasn’t much of a help.   This time the colour was more attractive, the car I rented being dark blue.

The collision warning system was even worse in the wet, going off at random times that startled me.   The one time I did have to panic stop, the system didn’t activate.   The brakes were very effective but the rudimentary suspension wasn’t.

On this trip, I picked the car up in Newark, NJ.   I drove around NJ for a few days, before then driving to Philadelphia, then Washington DC.   There was a good mix of freeway and local driving.    I found the blue car as bad as the silver one.   I also discovered another feature.   When I first picked the car up, it tried to steer for me at times when it thought I wasn’t in my lane properly.   This was really disconcerting.   I quickly worked out how to turn this feature off.

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I normally rent smaller cars, but Hertz were out of them.  I was first offered a Minivan, then an Escalade, but declined both.   Many will think me nuts for declining the Escalade, but I had not desire to pilot that leviathan around Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky.

The best thing about the 2018 Chevy Malibu I rented was the colour.   It was a lovely deep red – so much better than the shades of monochrome most new cars are sporting.   The Malibu has a fastback style but is actually a regular sedan.   It’s not bad looking, but a bit boring at the same time.    The styling does have some unfortunately drawbacks however – the visibility is quite poor.   The rear window is so raked that when it rains it is pretty much impossible to see out, and the A pillars also obscure traffic when pulling out into traffic.     I also had to put the seat into its lowest setting so I could see out of the front and even then visibility was not great.

The driving experience isn’t too bad, but is let down by the 1.5 liter turbo four cylinder.    The car has no torque to speak of down low and when pushed the powerplant is rather coarse in its operation.    Keeping the car in boost meant the performance was quite reasonable, but at the expense of poor fuel mileage.   This really is a car crying out for a V6!    The suspension and steering are not too bad, and it has a proper transmission rather than a horrible CVT.    The engine is also equipped with a start/stop feature but there is no button on the dash to disable it.  I found this rather annoying.    I even looked through all the menus available from the steering wheel buttons.

The interior suffers from acres of cheap plastics.  The seats are reasonably comfortable and at least the car I drove came equipped with XM radio.    On the dash are the usual idiot lights, but buried in the menu you can find readouts for temperature, oil pressure and the like.    I was the only person riding in the car, but it did appear I could have easily carried another three adults, or even four at a pinch.   The boot is quite big, but the opening is quite small owing to the design of the rear end of the car.       I also found the positioning of the USB port for charging cumbersome, as it was tucked up under the center console.

Overall the 2018 Chevy Malibu is a much better option than many of the SUVs on the market today in the same price range.    Its not a car anyone is going to fall in love with, but it does the job well enough.    It really does need a V6 to be a car that anyone would want to own vs rent for a couple of days.     The Buick and the Holden based on the same platform both have a V6 option and I suspect they are much better.

Rating: 2.5/5

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