ponchoman49

Seeing how the new, bigger 08 Malibu with a longer wheelbase, greater length and width actually has LESS rear seat headroom, legroom and front/rear shoulder room compared to the old antiquated 04-07 style, I wouldn't count on any miracles for trunk space from the current cars 15.4 cu.ft.

The entire Lexus sedan lineup looks like half baked warmed over versions of there former selves with the bodyside trim decontented or stupidly moved to the bottom of the doors where they do no good whatsoever. Can we say plain, boring and generic!

The generic plain side styling and total mis placement of the chrome door strip at the bottom of the door were both directly copied from the Lexus! The new 08 Malibu looks like every other generic new sedan such as the VW Jetta and brings little to the table for originality and is a big dissapointment to me after all the hype on how awesome it was. Now the interior is a different story. It does look nice and distinctive but seems to carry over the lack of rear seat armrest/air vents and overhead assist handles like the current Malibu, Aura and G6.

Disgusting! GM has squandered another good old nameplate and let it wither and die needlessly. If they kept this car up to date and didn't cheapen the hell out of it I think it would have done much better. I know plenty of people that would buy a 2 door coupe if it was a modern interpretation with quality features and interior. The title should read: Another good mid size car and name are being taken away from us again as GM scrambles to try and figure out what they are doing!

How about this: Want a pickup that doesn't lose it's paint in a few weeks of ownership, gets better gas mileage, keeps it's camshafts in the engine, has a rear door window that you can actually see out of, has a normal looking dash designed for humans that costs less and has a better warrenty than the Toyota Tundra? Here is your truck... The all new 2007 Silverado from Chevrolet, a real truck for real work.

Based on a recent test drive of a base 4 cylinder model: Pros: Distinctive styling, decent power for a 4 banger, trunk space, handling Cons: Rock hard seats, too much hard plastic, engine noise, old 4 speed automatic, cramped feeling interior, expensive with options, lack of flexability with engine choices

The 07 Malibu 3.5 V6 actually now has 217 HP!

Too bad GM swallowed there stupid pills for 2008 and killed off the lower priced V8 CXL model and now only offers the 36K starting CXS in a V8. The base CX and V6 CXL are the real joke here with there 197 Hp weakling 3800 and 80's derived 4 speed automatic. Styling aside, at least Kia has a competitive 264 HP 3.8 liter V6 and 5 speed automatic that will spank a V8 Lucerne! I drove the Azrea version of this car with the same 264HP 3.8 and 5 speed automatic and it was light years more modern feeling than any V6 Lucerne I drove. And the Amanti does not start at 30K. The current base price with destination is $26175 compared to the Lucernes $ 26495. The Lucerne also lacks the Amanti's std fog lamps, leather steering wheel with audio controls, heated outside mirrors, lighted visor vanity mirrors, front windshield de-icer, dual exhaust, 8 speaker sound system, one touch up and down windows for driver and passenger, autodimming rear view mirror, overhead sunglasses holder, 8-way power drivers seat vs Lucernes 6-way, 4-way power passenger seat and ESC! The Lucerne does offer Onstar and optional rear parking assist plus that lane change warning system for 2008 but that won't keep many younger buyers coming back. Is the Amanti weird looking and dated? Absolutely. But is it a terrible car that drives horrible and dated and comes to the party under equipped? No way.

What a blah slab sided looking vehicle. It looks like a $15,000 car!

The 3800/4 speed automatic and ultra lazy 2.86:1 gears are the biggest achilles heel to this otherwise nice sedan. It comes to the party with no birthday card and $10.00 short of a 20 dollar bill. The worst part is that Buick did better with the previous LeSabre. It's 3800 had 7 more HP, slighly more torque, optional 3.05:1 gears and several hundred pounds less curbweight which made it feel more sprightly. The LeSabre also had more soft touch dash trim as opposed to the Lucernes all hard plastic dash, finer richer grains and a slightly wider and roomier feel. The Lucerne trumps the LeSabre in rear seat legroom and includes a rear seat srmrest and map pockets which the base LeSabre lacked and the rear air vents of course. Buick needs to liven this model up a bit with the 3.6/6 speed automatic and a few more luxury items should be made standard equipment like lighted visor mirrors, telescoping leather wheel with controls, MP3 player and a more firm base suspension.

Don't forget: Substantialy higher base sticker prices Kidney jarring ride Lower MPG ratings with 4.7 and 5.7 liter V8's A super dash design that puts NAV screen completely out of drivers' reach and looks like 2 dashes blended into one with hard to read guages A gas cap cover that feels like it's going to break off in your hand 4 door models with a near half sized window for that awesome rear visibilty Cheaper interior materials than the top competitors Ugly pudgy Atomic tadpole styling Oh and that awesome 5.7 liter V8 that everyone is raving about, you know the one they have to replace under warrenty everytime you go 6500RPM's

Tinsel strength is a great way to describe Toyotas new Cam in the 5.7 liter V8.

This BMW cloning is getting tiresome. Can't they find something a bit more exciting to copy?

I would buy neither. My money would go to an Aura XR in Sport red paint and moonroof. The Malibu with it's plain generic sides(that looks so much like a VW Jetta), a rather gaudy front end, Korean like taillights etc does very little for me. The Sebring is the opposite with it's silly ribby hood, overdone sides and pug hunchback rear end. The Malibu's interior wins by a mile though.

Judging by most other China made junk that gets thrown out before it's even a year old, I would wholeheartedly have to disagree with both of you.

I kind of liked this concept until I read this part: Chrysler will shortly announce that it is going ahead with the launch of its Dodge Hornet supermini, which it will develop in collaboration with Chinese company Chery. That was a total deal breaker for me.

I agree, especially with GM taking the bean counter knife once again to the lower end Impalas and charging MORE for LESS. The 2008 Impalas I saw lacked bodyside moldings that are now $100.00 more and used to be std, only one rear seat map pocket where there used to be 2, a manual driver's seat recliner where there used to be power, still no floor shift indicators on bucket seat equipped cars, no glove box lights, no trunk lock cylinder, no split folding rear seats or center armrest on base models etc. Oh but we now have std XM radio which makes no sence as a std equipment item in my book! GM had better be real carefull with these old W-bodies and the pricing. Increasing prices any more than the high prices charged now will see drastically reduced sales when people start comparing Camry's, Accords, Sonotas etc which all have these features on the most basic of models for less money.

Hopefully this hasn't already been posted but here are the prices for the 2008 Impala and GP models including destination charge: 2008: Impala LS $21940 Impala LT 3500 22550 Impala LT3900 25225 Impala LTZ 27515 Impala SS 28920 2008: Grand Prix $22500 Grand Prix GXP 29500

The terrible Jeep Compass should also be included on this list. The Avenger looks ok but it's interior needs work and the seats are way to hard. I will give Chrysler credit for making something different. It gets so tiresome looking at so many of the latest designs which all have the same bland generic slab sided look. The Avenger and Charger win in my book as being bold and distinctive looking and the interiors will shortly be getting makeovers it looks like. Chrysler needs to trim down on the trucks/SUV's and Crossovers and start making smaller more fuel efficient cars.

They still need to add some flair to the plain sides of the doors.

Thats true of most newly introduced cars. They all have the same plain slab sided look. They are all copying each other with grille designs and interiors. It's getting hard to tell what i'm looking at with all these new boring Asian cars.

Toyota- moving to GM's 90's parts bin What the hell is with the single reverse light? That along with the steering wheel in the new Tundra with it's one side only controls has to rank with the dumbest design gaffes in recent history. No wait the original xBox takes that honor.

I spent 5 days with a rental 2007 Malibu with the VVT 3500 V6 and was quite surprised! It sounded a lot more refined than any other Chevy 60 degree V6 I have ever driven. Most of the thrash and exhaust noise were gone, it revved it's heart out when the go pedal was to the floor, obtained 29.3 combined mpg overall and was a hoot to drive. I have seen people with 2006 Impala fleet cars with the 3500 VVT that have over 60K and no issues of any kind with the engine so that is a good sign. I'm thinking of getting a 06-07 Monte with this engine and at least the LT2 package. I like the newer 06-07 Grand Prix and the 08 LaCrosse with it's updates grille too. For my budget, the Monte is the most affordable of the bunch with the GP a close second.

They are really shooting themselves in the foot because the 2007 models are more trouble prone with more recalls, transmission hesitation, squeaks and rattles and so forth judging by all the complaints I hear from friends and on forums.

I'm with you totally.