Originally posted by skip0110
I am intruiged, however, by your high ranking of the Malibu LT. Sure it's a great value, but it has a poor 2-valve engine and is not special in any particular regard (Malibu Maxx excepted, it is unique in this class).
At my job, as a company we produce lists of our favourite cars every four or five months. We all contribute, and my personal lists take into account value above anything else (strange since I drive one of the worst-value non-supercars ever). For the midsize sedan class, I took at look at the features buyers said were most important to them (6-CD changer, sunroof, leather, heated seats, side airbags, antilock brakes), plus fuel economy, cargo room, and rear leg room, as well as, most importantly, horsepower and price.
The Malibu LT is a major contender here - standard is heated leather, side airbags, and antlock brakes, and $725 buys a sunroof; $300 a 6-CD player. That means that you can have the six features most commonly desired buy midsize sedan buyers for just $23900. Its engine may be dated, but at an EPA average 27.5mpg, it has the best fuel economy of any V6 family sedan, and gets better fuel economy than most four-cylinders. It doesn't sacrifice much in acceleration, either, doing 0-60 in about 7.8secs, quicker than Subaru's 3.0L boxer-6 and Toyota's 3.0 V6. Cargo volume is slightly above class average, though, but rear leg room is another high point - 0.1" more than the longer Impala, 1.7" more than Accord, 2" more than 6, and 0.7" more than Camry. In fact, the Malibu's rear leg room is second in the class (to the Taurus/Sable) yet it's actually only 188.3" long - 2" shorter than Galant, 0.9" shorter than Camry, and 3.2" shorter than Altima.
In the past, Malibu should've sold on reliability, but couldn't break the stereotype American buyers have that Japanese cars are the ones with the reliability. Fortunately, Malibu can now bank on great features-for-money, good fuel economy, and roominess - it's a great car.
Why that and not the Mazda 6 or new Legacy (which, considering it has AWD, tops the class in my opinion)?
I'm slightly underwhelmed by the 6 as I look closer and closer at it. The 6s ranks tenth on my list, placing it out of the top ten percent, meaning I don't recommend it - the 6i places 51st. The problem I have with the 6, particularly the 6i, is that to get any sort of options, Mazda requires a twisty maze of required packages that cost well into the thousands. This is Mazda-exclusive to the 6, probably because it's projected to be supremely popular. Here's an example: for a Bose 6-disc CD player on a 6i, it's just $635. But that requires 17" alloy wheels ($550) and the Sport Package ($710). So we're up to $1895. But it doesn't stop there. The sport package requires the luxury package ($1500) and a power sunroof ($700). That's $4095. Still not finished, though: the 6i 5-speed further requires the Security Package, adding $950 more to the price of a Bose 6-CD player, bringing the total to $5045. From the $4095, the automatic requires an 8-way power driver seat ($300), bringing the total to $4395. It's completely absurd, similar for every option and similar on the 6s, which only adds traction control, ABS, automatic climate control, 17" tyres and alloy wheels (plus the V6) to the 6i's dismal spec list.
I haven't seen pricing on the new Legacy, but the old Legacy is trash. Reliable but extremely high on price even for the decent power (165bhp beats all its rivals' four-cylinder engines). Still, you can't compete in this segment without a six, particularly when you're trying to charge $27100 - more than an Accord EX-L - for a four. Outback's got a six but its pricing is even more absurd. Until they lower the prices or add a lot of spec, the Legacy isn't moving up.
that he said no to the RX-8 over the accord and also he said no to the RX-8 because not realiable enough i was like screw the realiability. But still its a nice buy since the camrys interior is too "plain" as the exterior.
