Car and Driver Reviews Malibu LTZ

[american_driver]

The highs: high fashion looks, no-excuses interior details, agile moves on the road, adult size seating in back

The lows: no cancel button on the cruise, (dah, hit the set and resume buttons at the same time)

Nice articleQ

[Satty]

Having a dedicated cancel button makes more sense than some obscure combination of buttons that the owner would have to dig through the owner's manual to find. Remember, this is a midsize car, the buyers aren't car buffs and aren't brilliant.

[american_driver]

Having a dedicated cancel button makes more sense than some obscure combination of buttons that the owner would have to dig through the owner's manual to find. Remember, this is a midsize car, the buyers aren't car buffs and aren't brilliant.

A button for this a button for that, pretty soon somebody will what to add i-drive or mmi. Have you seen a Mercedes or audi manual lately?

[Drew Dowdell]

Cruise cancel button:

dumbasses.

[Satty]

Ugggg...I hate it when people tap their brakes on the highway.

[vonVeezelsnider]

Or even better, they can just switch the cruise off... and turn it back on when they need it

[siegen]

Cruise in my car works like this.

Cruise button on dash turns cruise indicator light on. Set accl on wheel to actually engage cruise (accl/dccl buttons on wheel). To turn it off press button on dash again. Is this how the Malibu works?

[pow]

Here's their test of the LT 4-cylinder model from November...

http://www.caranddriver.com/shortroadtests...-malibu-lt.html

[2005 EquinoxLS]

Cool beans. I may look at one of these when the lease is up on the Equinox. And just maybe the 4- cylinder one may be enough. Though the V6 does offer excellent performance.

[bowtie_dude]

I always tap the break to cancel cruise...

[SoCalCTS]

Ugggg...I hate it when people tap their brakes on the highway.

I hate it when people use cruise control on the highway.

[Satty]

I hate it when people set their cruise at the posted speed limit on the highway, then occupy the left lane. Almost as much as I hate it when people going eastbound slam on their brakes because their is a cop heading westbound.

[PurdueGuy]

I hate it when people use cruise control on the highway.

I hate it when people don't use cruise control on the highway. Pick a freaking speed. I do 5 over generally. I don't want to have to slow down for someone, get around them, then have them fly past me three minutes later. The only place I see cruise as annoying on the highway is when someone is creeping by a semi at 1mph faster than the semi.

Then again, maybe the whole dynamic is different in Cali vs Idaho. Here we can just get out & go, it's not very congested.

Edited December 18, 2007 by PurdueGuy

[Robert Hall]

I hate it when people don't use cruise control on the highway. Pick a freaking speed. I do 5 over generally. I don't want to have to slow down for someone, get around them, then have them fly past me three minutes later. The only place I see cruise as annoying on the highway is when someone is creeping by a semi at 1mph faster than the semi.

Then again, maybe the whole dynamic is different in Cali vs Idaho. Here we can just get out & go, it's not very congested.

About the only place I use cruise control is when I'm on a freeway outside of a metro area, with no mountains... an environment in which I'm very rarely in, so I end up using CC only a few times a year at most.

[siegen]

I hate it when people use brakes.

[Cory Wolfe]

It doesn't have a cancel button? Hell, even my 13 year old Millenia has one.

[Robert Hall]

It doesn't have a cancel button? Hell, even my 13 year old Millenia has one.

IIRC, my 20 yr old Mustang has one..that's a pretty basic CC feature from decades past.

[pow]

Or even better, they can just switch the cruise off... and turn it back on when they need it

But once you've done that, you can't "resume."

[Drew Dowdell]

But once you've done that, you can't "resume."

oh geez, the nit picking never ends does it?

[Windy-57]

Wow, that's a lot of discussion over the cruise control. A couple of thoughts:

This is something that probably should have been included, but honestly how often do you really use the cancel button on your cruise? More importantly, if they had to go to this to find stuff wrong, then the new bu is doing alright.

[Drew Dowdell]

seriously folks... just tap the brakes, hold the coast button, or turn cruise off.

[Z-06]

seriously folks... just tap the brakes, hold the coast button, or turn cruise off.

If only the average customer was as industrious and as intelligent as you are.

Edited December 19, 2007 by smallchevy

[Cory Wolfe]

Or... stop making excuses. It's a viable idea.

[Joelill2]

but honestly how often do you really use the cancel button on your cruise?

Actually I wish I had one. I just got back from school in NC to upstate NY and my VUE doesn't have a cancel button like the malibu. If I drove average speed (5 mph over) like most people it probably wouldn't be as much of an issue, but when you're dealing with VA and NC drivers who think that they deserve the left lane 24/7, and I drive 10-15mph over on long trips (It saves hours on a normally 12+ hour trip), I constantly have to tap the brakes to cancel cruise because. It gets kinda tiresome.

-Joe

[Drew Dowdell]

Actually I wish I had one. I just got back from school in NC to upstate NY and my VUE doesn't have a cancel button like the malibu. If I drove average speed (5 mph over) like most people it probably wouldn't be as much of an issue, but when you're dealing with VA and NC drivers who think that they deserve the left lane 24/7, and I drive 10-15mph over on long trips (It saves hours on a normally 12+ hour trip), I constantly have to tap the brakes to cancel cruise because. It gets kinda tiresome.

-Joe

Press and hold coast till you drop to the new speed of traffic.

[z28luvr01]

To everyone that's complaining about the lack of a cancel button: fear not, help is on the way.

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[Cory Wolfe]

To dissenters: Is not having a cancel button a novel idea? Is not having one more convenient? If your answer is anything other than yes, stfu, tools.

Edited December 19, 2007 by blackviper8891

[regfootball]

OMG i suppose it doesn't have 'flash to pass', either.....

[siegen]

Are there vehicles still being made that require you to tap the brakes to disengage cruise control?

Edited December 19, 2007 by siegen

[Z-06]

Adding a another waste button that reduces burning of calories and increases obesity of the Americans.

I just gave a topic for a class action law suit.

[2005 EquinoxLS]

I dont have a cancel button on any of my cruise controls and dont miss it. I manage just fine with a tap on the brake.

[regfootball]

Are there vehicles still being made that require you to tap the brakes to disengage cruise control?

sure, but at least they have enough torque to maintain constant cruising speed......at least 4k on the tach.

[The O.C.]

Cruise cancel button:

dumbasses.

A dedicated "cancel" button keeps you from having to tap the brakes....which lights up the brakes lights.....

GM is doing many things right these days.....but they still hang onto lame-brained culturally-stagnent ideals in product-planning.....continuing to convince themselves they are doing it right and everyone else is doing it wrong.....

[The O.C.]

Or... stop making excuses. It's a viable idea.

Thanks BV.....

All the excuse-making that goes on in C&G for GM's lapse in product-planning just cracks me up.....

[Satty]

Finally, someone sees why I hate people tapping their brakes on the highway. Brake lights when they light up for no reason, such as canceling cruise control or trying to maintain speed downhill. That last one pisses me off a lot, because we do have some hills around here, one of which is heavily traveled and decently steep, all the time people ride their brakes going down, the reality is that if you coast from the speed limit at the top, at the bottom you pick up less than 5mph, in light traffic thats no biggie, in heavy traffic, brakes are even worse because there is always that idiot who will then slam on their brakes and the next thing you know one lane is backed up.

[Drew Dowdell]

A dedicated "cancel" button keeps you from having to tap the brakes....which lights up the brakes lights.....

GM is doing many things right these days.....but they still hang onto lame-brained culturally-stagnent ideals in product-planning.....continuing to convince themselves they are doing it right and everyone else is doing it wrong.....

Then press and hold the set button to slow down. If you really do need to slow down more than just coast, you'll be on the brakes anyway.

Hit the resume button to resume your speed.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Uh, to cancel the cruise control on the corporate GM three-spoke, you just simply press the button that turns it on. Ya' know? The one with the little amber light?

Yeah.

[C.H.U.D.]

Uh, to cancel the cruise control on the corporate GM three-spoke, you just simply press the button that turns it on. Ya' know? The one with the little amber light?

Yeah.

Thread Win-did!

[Drew Dowdell]

Uh, to cancel the cruise control on the corporate GM three-spoke, you just simply press the button that turns it on. Ya' know? The one with the little amber light?

Yeah.

Thread pwned. Thank you YJ

[bowtie_dude]

I honestly don't understand what the big deal with tapping the brakes is. Just a quick depression of the pedal and BOOM! Cruise is off. Hit resume and you're back to cruising speed.

Why are you canceling cruise anyway? Most likely because traffic ahead is slower and you're having to brake. If you just need to slow your cruise setting down, hold coast until you reach the desired speed.

[bobo]

I don't use cruise much because I like to have full control at all times, but I completely understand the logic of having a cancel button. Brake lights alert cops and cause vehicles behind you to unnecessarily react. Turning the cruise off or using coast will necessitate you to reset to the proper speed when you want to engage it again. It's not a lot of work, but when others have this convenient feature, what justification is there not to have it?

[bowtie_dude]

Why would you slow from cruise and not inform people following you that you're slowing? What situation would call for needing to cancel cruise via a designated button and not via the brake?

[Drew Dowdell]

Regardless of the way you use cruise, as YJ has already pointed out, there is in fact a cancel button on the corp. 3 spoke.

The new 4-spoke on the G-bodies, GMT-900s, and W-bodies appear to have a cancel button as well.

[biff]

Malibu LTZ...just bought one in red jewel. It's pretty well loaded. The interior with the wood grain really set it apart from the Saturn. Pick it up Friday

[The O.C.]

Then press and hold the set button to slow down. If you really do need to slow down more than just coast, you'll be on the brakes anyway.

Hit the resume button to resume your speed.

Uh....because holding the "set" button....DOESN'T CANCEL THE CRUISE CONTROL...which is the whole purpose behind a proper "cancel" button. THEN, down the road, when traffic opens up again, my original speed setting is still active and all I have to do is hit "resume."

Lord why is it SO difficult for people to grasp this concept?

(Gawd....even my 1994....14 years old.....E320 has a "cancel" function on it's cruise control.)

Edited January 5, 2008 by The O.C.

[The O.C.]

Uh, to cancel the cruise control on the corporate GM three-spoke, you just simply press the button that turns it on. Ya' know? The one with the little amber light?

Yeah.

Gee....that works great for my 2007 CTS that DOESN'T have a "corporate three-spoke wheel." My GM luxury car has an old turn-signal-operated cruise control......

WTF?

[Drew Dowdell]

Gee....that works great for my 2007 CTS that DOESN'T have a "corporate three-spoke wheel." My GM luxury car has an old turn-signal-operated cruise control......

WTF?

Since the subject of this thread is the Malibu LTZ, I suggest you trade your CTS for one of those if the cancel button is that big a deal.

*strangely the first CTSes did have their cruise on the wheel, then it was later removed.

[Drew Dowdell]

Uh....because holding the "set" button....DOESN'T CANCEL THE CRUISE CONTROL...which is the whole purpose behind a proper "cancel" button. THEN, down the road, when traffic opens up again, my original speed setting is still active and all I have to do is hit "resume."

Lord why is it SO difficult for people to grasp this concept?

(Gawd....even my 1994....14 years old.....E320 has a "cancel" function on it's cruise control.)

because it has never in my life been an issue to not have a cancel button.

[The O.C.]

because it has never in my life been an issue to not have a cancel button.

Maybe you need to expand your horizons just a bit......

[Drew Dowdell]

Maybe you need to expand your horizons just a bit......

I can drive my car not having a cancel button without having a stroke... and I'm the one who needs to expand his horizons?