What Makes the 2011 Chevrolet Malibu LS a Great Family Car

The 2011 Chevrolet Malibu LS four door, has a lot of fine attributes, and they are very solid, and the look and feel of this car is quite luxurious for the money. Family sedans have become the mainstay of certain automobile manufacturing companies, and GM is exploiting that desire for their own good as well.

You may be surprised at the small things which are lacking, like there is no arm rest in the front seat. The back seat is cramped unless the driver is tiny, and their seat is pushed forward. The Wheels look sharp, but maybe should be toned back since this is really more of a sedate family car than it is a sporty ride. There is no option for any of the more advanced on board toys like the touch screen computing devices you see in other models, as this is more of a no frills kind of Family Sedan offering.

Chevrolet Malibu has not changed significantly over the past few model years, but if their formula is working for them and their customers, then I say leave it alone! It does have some minor improvements, but if a 2010 and 2011 were side by side it would be hard to get all the nuances of the minor differences. Of course the front and rear plastic is almost constantly being updated since this is an easy "face lift" kind of update that keeps a certain model fresh over time. Expect a more complete revision of the Malibu coming for the 2012 model year.

Some basic mechanical specifications are that it has Front Wheel Drive, and MSRP is around $21,975 right now. This "Mid Sized" model seats five adults, and probably 8 kids for baseball practice! It is a sedate riding smooth family sedan with a long heritage in the family sedan market. First Malibu was actually a Chevelle, and they offered this back in 1964. The models available then were varied to cover a lot of different market sectors!
GM offered a two seat station wagon, 4 door hard top, 2 door SS in both hard top and convertible options. The latest model offerings are pretty much summed up as the four door sedan.

The 2011 Malibu comes standard with the reliable GM four cylinder 169 horsepower 2.4 Liter engine which gets about 30 mpg city, and 43 mpg highway. With its large 16 gallon fuel tank you can go about 352 miles in the city, and about 528 miles on the highway. One of the main reasons the efficiency is climbing with these small GM engines is due to the implementation of "Variable Valve Timing" a feature which has been utilized in more and more fuel efficient cars over the past few years. This one engine feature is responsible for more fuel efficiency improvements in our modern engines than any single improvement over the last 30 years.

If you opt for the 3.6 Liter V6 engine you will see a gain of horsepower up to 252 that is 83 hp more than the 4 cylinder base model, and your fuel economy goes down proportionately. Expect to get around 23 mpg in the city, and 36 on the highway with the more powerful V6.

Many Malibu owners are returning customers, and some have owned at least two other Malibu models over the years, seeing as this is generation seven on this model, it is interesting to see the changes that have been made over time. As for accessories, it is like a lot of the newer cars now, if you have the extra cash they can build almost anything into your car! Family sedans have become the mainstay of certain automobile manufacturing companies, and GM is exploiting that desire for their own good as well.

Overall this mid priced and mid sized GM model is giving their customers exactly what we expect from a Chevrolet Malibu, smooth ride, decent comforts, not a lot of gimmicks, and a reliable drive train that yields fairly good fuel economy. This model is set to be updated for the 2012 model year, so if you are interested in getting the latest and greatest model, then you should probably visit your dealer in about 3 months when they begin to introduce the 2012 models. Meet me at the 2011 Cleveland Auto show this winter and we can check it out together!

Personal experience from going to car shows, and many visits to local auto dealerships helps me stay focused on automobile trends. This is more than a hobby since I really love cars and really all things mechanical.

Thank you for reading my articles here on AC-Yahoo!