stocker2000

Bass, could it be that there are just a greater number of domestic cars on the road, therefore you see more of them broken down? I mean, if you took a tally of broken-down-cars-of-a-given-make vs. number-of-cars-on-the-road-for-that-same-make, would you see a greater percentage of domestic breakdowns than import breakdowns? Reliability predictions would seem to say so, but just counting breakdowns on the side of the road tells you nothing since you don't know how many of each make of car are on the road working. It's jsut not scientific. Neither are cheesy acronyms...

duugk

How come there is no Chevy Malibu web site?

Bass Mechanic

yea that could be true and i dont know for sure the ratio of imports verses domestic but i would say that ratio can't be more then 60/40 at the most.

even if the ratio was higher than that it still wouldnt explain the huge significance of stranded fords.

as a matter of fact i have a funny story:

about 3 years ago i was on my way home from work when i passed by a ford tarus stranded on the side of the road with the hood open and a guy working under the hood.
i then noticed that he was a safety oriented person as he had the mind to place 3 orange cones around the back and side of his car while working on it.
i thought to myself "hmm that is really nice of him to have some safety cones around his car" then i realised,
WHO THE HELL CARRIES 3 ORANGE CONES IN THEIR TRUNK?
i guess unless you expect to make roadside repairs why would you carry safety cones in your car?
probly has a mechanics tool set and spare parts back there as well! lol

majormojo

I carry all that kind of stuff in an emergency toolbox in each of our vehicles. I don't expect to have to make roadside repairs, but I'll be prepared if I do. It's not an indication of a lack of confidence in the reliability car, it's a simple safety precaution. It makes sense no matter what kind of car you drive. The only cars in the world that never break down are Rolls-Royce, though they have been known to "fail to proceed" on occasion.

1SICKLEX

Malibu was an okay rental.

STL

More dis-information from Gilbo. Man everyone (with at least half a brain) know JD Powers is nothing marketing crap. If you have the cash they will create an award for you to win. Even former employees have admited it is nothing but a sham. I'm sorry but GM is not in the same league as Honda and Toyota when it comes to reliability.

zircon

sorry stl, but some of their cars are rated very highly. Not just by JD Powers either. A number of studies have shown tha the Buick Century is very reliable (though I would never buy one), as is the Chevy Impala. The plant where both cars are made has the highest quality of any plant - foreign or domestic - in North America. I also think that the new Malibu will compete well in its class, unlike virtually any car GM has produced over the past 20 years (Corvette excepted). Some very demanding reviewers have praised the new Malibu as better riding that an Accord etc. So, it takes the general a decade or two to turn the battleship around, but turning she is.

The big problem for the general IMO is that they still have too many divisions. As a result, they make the saturns and chevys plain jane's, so as not to cut into sales of Pontiac's and Buick's etc. The Saturn LS sedans are based on a really attractive Opel design, especially the wagon, yet they look like shi_ here. Why? They also watered down the V6 in it so as not to steal sales from cars upstream. Too bad - it doesn't work - people buy Toyo or Honda instead.

Iceman

The Malibu is the third GM car to be based on GM's Epsilon platform. The first two cars were the Saab 9-3 and the Opel Vectra. I am glad to see that GM is finally building its American cars on a European platform.

http://www.edmunds.com/news/autoshow...2/page038.html

gilboman

whatever, if you like living in your dream world then so be it. just don't look at any other reliability reports from any other mags because they are spreading disinformation too...