Chevrolet Malibu Diesel

Oberkanone

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http://www.egmcartech.com/2011/08/25/gm-announces-malibu-diesel-for-euro-spec-malibu/

Despite the lack of promising news for the Malibu diesel, the absence of an oil burning Malibu means that Chevrolet doesn’t have a truly direct competitor to the Passat TDI, which is said to be capable of going 800 miles on one tank and is being launched very soon. To make the discussion more interesting, the observable decrease in build quality with VW’s latest efforts—i.e. the US specified Jetta and even the Passat—along with the buzz of GM pushing to make the Malibu a world-class leader in its segment makes the Malibu seem very promising. That said, the Malibu has the potential of being a segment leader. Let us hope that they change their mind about a Malibu diesel.
Is the Passat the game changer that will drive competitors to offer diesel cars?
 

MrMopar

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Mar 1, 2003
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Bloomington, IL
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none
I mentioned this in the Cruze diesel discussion.

The bread and butter of the GM car lineup is the Malibu and Impala, and the Impala is an embarrassment that is getting exceptionally long on a bland and uninspiring design.

Most customers won't be looking at the Cruze - they want mid-size cars with good fuel economy like the Accord and Camry offer. Chevy had better get a diesel Malibu in place if they expect to compete.
 

BadMonKey

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Nov 27, 2007
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Colorado
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I mentioned this in the Cruze diesel discussion.

The bread and butter of the GM car lineup is the Malibu and Impala, and the Impala is an embarrassment that is getting exceptionally long on a bland and uninspiring design.

Most customers won't be looking at the Cruze - they want mid-size cars with good fuel economy like the Accord and Camry offer. Chevy had better get a diesel Malibu in place if they expect to compete.
The cruze is dong pretty good even for its small size in the land where bigger is better.

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/06/top-10-best-selling-cars-may-2011.html

That big gold bow-tie is just awful on any car, why they feel the need to make it so big dating every car they stick it on is beyond me. The only GM car i would currently buy would be the Volt and the gold bow-tie would come off before i got it in the garage.
 

kjclow

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The Volt is the same body as the Cruze just with a big battery pack and smaller engine. I had a Cruze for a rental last week and thought it was nice, not very exciting but nice. Better riding than the Ford Focus. Cruze had a lot more engine and road noise than the Focus and also had more power. Compared to my JSW, they were both extremely noisey.

As far as the diesel options in any of them, I'll believe it when I can put my hands on one.
 

BadMonKey

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Nov 27, 2007
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Colorado
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2013 Focus ST
The Volt is the same body as the Cruze just with a big battery pack and smaller engine. I had a Cruze for a rental last week and thought it was nice, not very exciting but nice. Better riding than the Ford Focus. Cruze had a lot more engine and road noise than the Focus and also had more power. Compared to my JSW, they were both extremely noisey.

As far as the diesel options in any of them, I'll believe it when I can put my hands on one.
Just because two cars share the same chassis does not make them similar. The Volt looks 100% better both inside and out IMO and after driving both cars they are nothing alike in handling, performance, or ride. I didn't get to drive the Volt past its battery range so I'm not sure about the interior noise after the gas engine comes on?
 

kjclow

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Charlotte, NC
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2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
Volt, to me, looks like a Prius. A little nicer but same basic style. Same with the new Hoda Insight.
 

jbright

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Sep 10, 2009
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Indianapolis
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There's a Volt in the lot at the park where I run everyday. It's a nice looking car, and seems very solid and well built. Personally, I like it's design much better than the Prius or Insight, although there is some resemblance (probably a matter of form follows function). The owners love it.
 

ChasSidwa

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I've had a Volt for 7 months and almost 10K miles. I've used 104 gallons of gas, all on long trips the rest is all electric. So far I love it.
 

kjclow

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Charlotte, NC
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2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
I've had a Volt for 7 months and almost 10K miles. I've used 104 gallons of gas, all on long trips the rest is all electric. So far I love it.
How much of your driving is highway versus city? How long can you really go before the gas engine kicks in?
 

ChasSidwa

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NJ
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Jetta, 2006.5, Silver Diesel Edition
How much of your driving is highway versus city? How long can you really go before the gas engine kicks in?
I've done about 4k on gas at about an average of 38mpg and the other 6k is on electric. With moderate temperatures and no hypermiling I'm getting about 40 miles per charge. My best was 55 and when I first got it in February I was getting 20-30 depending on how cold it was out, electric heat kills range. Pre warming the cabin while plugged in helped. I went most of the summer never buying gas, that's fun.
 

kjclow

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Charlotte, NC
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2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
Don't forget the smaller cars to compete against the Fit, such as the Polo and possibly the Up with diesel engines of course. It would be nice if VW finally brought over the Bluemotion technology. I always say that the Bluemotion technology/models would be the hybrid killers. High mileage without the batteries.
 

kjclow

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Charlotte, NC
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2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
I wouldn't go that far. GM builds some pretty good things to haul your horse from one pasture to another.
 

Pat Dolan

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Apr 19, 2002
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Martensville, SK
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2003 A4 Variant, 2015 Q7
Don't forget the smaller cars to compete against the Fit, such as the Polo and possibly the Up with diesel engines of course. It would be nice if VW finally brought over the Bluemotion technology. I always say that the Bluemotion technology/models would be the hybrid killers. High mileage without the batteries.
Please dont bring up polo and lupo. It hurts enough to not have cars I cant afford.
 
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