A buddy of mine that is a salesman at the local dealer called and let me know they got a new Bu in. It was a base mode in bluel (wheel covers, 4 cyl, just over $20k price tag). So wifey and I took it for a spin...
Here's some of my thoughts
Very quiet interior, good sound deadening of the motor (wife has '00 ALero 2.4 4 cyl... noticable difference in noise)
Nice stable roll in corners, very good for a family sedan
Power of the base 4 cyl was as to be expected
Back end looked better in person
Love the use of the chrome around the license plate
Very nicely desinged dash
Has a few blind spots... 'A' piller is even kinda big?? Also gotta be cautious while backing up!
door ajar notice came up after we were driving... all doors were shut tight?
The door sill plate, while looks nice and trims it off well... didn't get pressed down very well in the factory (on this particular car).
Interior dash/panel joints nice and tight... but some don't line up very well (just being nit picky)
While the hard interior plastics should ware well with age, it does put a bit of a "cheapness" in the look/feel of the interior (same goes for the GMT900's)
Opinions...
Front door panels kinda plain, look as if they could be finished of more. Dash was designed nicely but door panels were forgetten?
Needs an "extending steering wheel" option!!! I ran into this same problem in the G6's also. I'm 6'-4", with the seat all the way back I am really reaching for the steering wheel. This is not a problem in the wifes ALero. Why are they makind the new steering columns so short?
While we were there, my buddy was just sending off a guy he sold a new Impala to. The guy has test drove the Malibu and Impala back to back and said "it's a no brainer" and picked the Impala. But this is just one person and don't know the specifics of what he was looking for in a vehicle.
Would really like to do a side by side comparison with a camry for kicks. Guess I'll do that at NAIAS in a couple months.