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Malibu on the chopping blick


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I bought an Impala the year before they dropped it and the Malibu was supposed to replace the Impala.  It did, but it wasn't near as nice a car. 

 

 

I think they will go the way of the Studebaker before long

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Don't mourn the Malibu too much - the version they are killing off bears no resemblance to the ones of our younger days.

Painted Lady was looking at a new vehicle to replace her current SUV - not finding an SUV in her price range that she liked;  she decided she might look at actual cars.

 

Being a GM guy most of my life - we headed to the Chevy dealer.

The current Malibu is a front wheel drive 4 cyl - turbo charged engine with CV transmission (continuously variable).

 

Meaning a small, high revving, highly stressed engine with a transmission design that I simply detest.

Maybe they are reliable - maybe they're not - but no.

And Chevy offers no other car excepting Corvette.

 

We looked at Ford - nothing beyond Mustang if you want a "car" and a Mustang does not suit Painted Lady's use.

 

Honda and Toyota; while great cars, are a bit too proud of their wares.

 

Other makes?

I wouldn't own a Nissan (or {current Subaru}, Mitsubishi or Volkswagen) if you gave it to me.

 

Can't afford the hi end Germans and their subsequent maintenance costs.

 

Hyundai/ Kia still have the stigma of their recent theft issues (and the accompanying insurance challenges as well).

 

So I bit the inside of my cheek and we went to the Dodge dealer.

Painted Lady immediately fell in love with a Dodge Charger.

After drooling on the Hellcat - we got serious and settled on a car that is the last of its kind (and throwback to cars of yore).

A "full size" rear wheel drive car with a real trunk.

A low revving V6 lump of iron under the hood.

And even tho - I am not a Chrysler (Fiat, Stellantis) guy; the car held some attractions for me.

 

The Charger/ Challenger/ 300 triplets date back to when Daimler Benz owned Chrysler - the underpinnings are basically Mercedes C class from the 90's.

Not the newest or sexiest - but over the last 20 years; they have worked out any bugs.

That 3.5 liter V6 lump has been in production for even longer - meaning it's both proven AND parts are cheap and plentiful.

Other than some of the "questionable" Fiat electronics and infotainment parts - I have been pretty impressed with it the last couple months.

Big test coming next month when it gets its first road trip of consequence (Las Vegas to Pampa Texas and back {couple thousand miles} for the shootout at Adobe Walls).

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My granddaughter had a 2006 Malibu , nice car no problems at all. My neighbor has a 2010 with 100k and hardly any problems. 

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I'll try to keep my Impala running until I die.  It has some issues, but I've learned to deal with them and it had the largest trunk on the market (My Sicilian friend called a Mafia certified nine body trunk.) except for one MB sedan, has some blind spots where a semi can hide, and gets a whopping 23 MPG average.

 

The little window on the dash that keeps giving me totally stupid messages is annoying and it's very often unreadable because some idiot designed it so glare at any time of the day or night washes everything out.  That includes my rear view camera.

 

The front doors are very heavy and my busted up old body has to remember not to park on any slope that forces me to open the driver's side door up even the slightest bit.

 

I can't disable the passenger front window button (I can shut down both rear windows) and my dog can open it and try to get out at eighty miles and hour so I have to be vigilant.

 

The radio controls are so automated I can't work them without parking to change stations.

 

I'll keep iy though because I paid cash for it and it has had very few problems and there are only 39,000 miles on it.

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4 hours ago, sassnetguy50 said:

@Creeker, SASS #43022 did you buy a used Charger?

Yes, brand new Chargers ran about mid 30's - a little less after rebates and such.

But add taxes and all the made up dealer fees - and we were back to 30's.

 

Painted Lady wanted to buy her next car entirely out of her monies - so budget was an important component of the process.

 

I found her a Charger (I was leaning toward the Challenger - but as her car gets used fairly regularly for grandsons school pickup - she wanted the 4 door), anyways, a '22 Charger SXT with a fairly thorough option package - under 20k miles.

Took it home for $24k out the door.

 

 

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20240329_191408_HDR.jpg

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@Creeker, SASS #43022 Congratulations, well bought.  Hate to burst your bubble but hope to save you money, you were misinformed.   That is a second generation 3.6 Pentastar (aluminum block and heads, DOHC, 24v, VVT, MPFI).  Don't buy any of those plentiful 3.5 SOHC parts because it is an entirely different engine.  The good news is that the 3.6 has been around long enough that it is sorted out.  

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14 minutes ago, sassnetguy50 said:

@Creeker, SASS #43022 Congratulations, well bought.  Hate to burst your bubble but hope to save you money, you were misinformed.   That is a second generation 3.6 Pentastar (aluminum block and heads, DOHC, 24v, VVT, MPFI).  Don't buy any of those plentiful 3.5 SOHC parts because it is an entirely different engine.  The good news is that the 3.6 has been around long enough that it is sorted out.  

Thank you - See, I told you I'm a GM guy.

 

And I knew it was a 3.6; I think I just conflated it with the old 3.5 liter (at least that's my story and IM STICKING TO IT); but like you said - even the "new" 3.6 has been around for quite a while.

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