There is conjecture in some circles that when Holden eventually stops building big rear-drive, six-cylinder Commodores and finally moves into the smaller, more efficient front-drive cars that people are actually buying, the Malibu will provide the template. I hope not.
I got out of an Australian-made Commodore and straight into a Malibu, which is made in Korea, and the drop-off in fit and finish was obvious and painful. When I hit the road, things got worse.
As far as build quality, perceived structural integrity and driving comfort are concerned, this car seems like a step back in time. The diesel motor is noisy, the manual mode of the automatic gearbox is clumsy, and the car lacks that reassuring feeling of strength and solidity that you get with the Commodore and many other cars these days. Hyundais and Kias have it, but the third Korean manufacturer, Daewoo – the one that built this car – still lags.
I kept finding things I didn’t like. The parcel shelf kicks up high as it meets the back window, reducing rear vision. The spare is full sized yet it’s a temporary tyre speed-limited to 80km/h, a really sad exercise in penny-pinching. The road noise over coarse bitumen is high. The steering is vague with little real feel. The switchgear looks cheap, and so do the plastic interior surfaces.
I did like the idea of the little secret storage space behind the centre LCD screen, but there’s a very obvious latch on it so it’s not much of a secret.
Apart from its price, which is razor sharp given the equipment level, this car is almost unique in having no other strong points I could pin down. In everything else I could think of, the Malibu is indifferent to poor.
Twisty roads reveal some body roll and vague, unsteady handling. This isn’t paid back by good ride quality; the ride is rather unsettled. I disliked the seating intensely – it took me a long time to find a position I could live with and even then I kept making adjustments, trying to make things just a little better. I never did get it right.
The diesel motor has lots of torque, but it’s rather harsh and not brilliantly economical. The boot has plenty of depth but not a lot of height.
My most disappointing car this year.
