2017 Chevy Malibu: A standout sedan in an age of SUVs
Cars
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It's a difficult time to be a family sedan, with SUVs climbing the sales charts, the humble four doors being relegated to second tier status in the eyes of many.
If the sedan wants to stand out from the crowd, it has to be really really good.
And today, we're going to find out if the Chevy Malibu Has enough tech and family friendly features to survive the coming SUV apocalypse.
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2017 marks the second model year for the redesigned Malibu, which made its debut back in 2015, introducing a striking new look that turned plenty of heads.
This, on one of the most affordable big sedans on the market.
The Malibu has traditionally been a pretty humble-looking car.
But the styling of this new one is anything but.
The car looks especially good in this, the 2LZ Premier trim, with 18-inch wheels, chrome exhaust tips, and LED running lights.
You'll have to drop an extra 400 bucks if you want that Cajun Red paint, though.
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The interior is a little bit darker, black being the overwhelming color of choice in this car, though there are other colors available.
but it's a very comfortable place to be, the seats are flat but they're soft enough to make highway crawls bearable, and they're heated for cold days and ventilated for warmer days.
For as little as $22,000.
Though our as configured $34,454 car does offer a number of tasty upgrades, including the larger 2 liter turbocharged engine making a healthy 250 horsepower, and 260 pound-feet of torque.
That's almost 100 more of each than the base Malibu, yet this car makes a respectable 26 miles per gallon combined and up to 33 on the highway officially.
In our mixed testing, we actually did better than that, coming in at just over 30 miles per gallon.
During long stretches on the highway, we actually averaged as high as 36 miles per gallon.
Our car also has $2,000 in upgrades for adaptive safety and convenience systems, including automatic high beams, forward collision and rear cross-traffic alerts, and front auto-braking The adapter [UNKNOWN] works well and will take the car down to a complete stop, though the lane keep assist is definitely of the more simple variety that will see you ping-ponging back and forth if left to its own devices.
This is just an assistant, not an auto-pilot.
But one of the coolest features of this car if you're a parent, and certainly the least cool feature of this car if you're borrowing it from your parents, is Teen Driver mode.
You can program one of the keys to enable the mode, and when this key is used, you can't turn on the stereo until you buckle your safety belt.
It reduces the maximum volume, you can't turn off any of the safety features, And even drops your maximum speed to just 85 miles an hour.
How am I suppose to impress my friends now?
Mom.
The car also keeps track of the driving habit of anyone who is using the car, in team car driving mode.
Presenting a report card, of just how well your kid did Or perhaps didn't do.
Whether you're a parent or a child of a parent, you will be happy to know that the Malibu uses Chevy's latest miling system, meaning an active LTE connection shared via WiFi, it's important for both Apple Car Play and Android Auto.
It even has a solid Bose sound system.
The Chevy Malibu is a standout in its segment with classy styling, a refined ride, plus all those tech and safety features.
It's starting at just over $22,000, it's a proper bargain too.
Optioned up to the mid-30s like our car is here, it's a little bit less of a value proposition, but it's still far more economical than a big old SUV.
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