2013 Chevy Malibu Eco Review

Mr. Eighty MPH Mom was kind enough to give us his thoughts of the 2013 Chevy Malibu Eco. He ended up driving it more than I did, as he drove it down to our vacation home (where I already had been for a few days).

But first, my thoughts. I took the car out a few times while we were at our 2nd home. The Chevy Malibu Eco is a handsome car with a sleek look and even sporty (my favorite kind of car). It had all of the creature comforts, including a back up screen when the car is in reverse. This is one of my very favorite features, as so often it is hard to see what is behind you. Next, the seats were very comfortable, and they were easy to adjust to my liking. Everything was in easy reach, which is appreciated by a short person like myself.

How about the power? The Chevy Malibu Eco isn’t the fastest car I have ever driven, but it certainly provides enough “oomph” to satisfy me. The car felt solid and safe – I think this would be a perfect car for someone who does a lot of running around town, and would be ideal for a new driver or a child going off to college.

It took a little while to get used to the vents for the air conditioner – they are horizontal and long! They really looked neat, and their positioning kept me comfortable.

Now onto the mister’s review!

When the Chevy Malibu Eco arrived, I went out and took a look at it.

Not a bad looking car I found myself saying. The lines of the car flow pretty well. The interior
and exterior color combination was well thought out.

I sat inside and looked around the interior.

The instrument cluster is nicely laid out, the six speed automatic shifts via a floor mounted
shifter and it even has one of those buttons which allows you to manually control the shift point can make driving the car a little more fun. The center of the dash contains the climate controls, audio options on a screen which doubles as the back-up camera monitor. Me being me, I had to start playing with stuff.

As you can see, there is a lot of stuff to play with. I must admit that it took me a minute to figure out that the emergency brake is set and released via a button by the shifter. That was a little strange, but once I got used to it was fine.

The Audio system is very nice. When you touch the screen you get options for satellite radio, Pandora as well as AM/FM and Compact Disc. This is also the menu you access On-Star, hands free cellular phone usage and other on-line options. The climate control was organized nicely and it was easy to select the desired temperature.

One of my pet peeves is air bags. Not their existence, I understand the safety value of them, but the fact
that many manufactures don’t blend them into the interior very well. The Chevy Malibu Eco has 10 airbags, but I appreciated that they are artfully blended into the interior so that when you look at the steering wheel, side pillars and the passenger side dashboard filling you with a sense of safety without the look of a red “remove before flight” ribbon hanging on it.

The first day we received the Malibu, I had a trip to take. I drove the car almost 300 miles that day. While this cars performance is not going to inspire you to go take a few hot laps around the track at Daytona it is very reasonable for a vehicle of this size that gets almost 40 miles to the gallon. The vehicle drove exceptionally well and I was impressed with the ride and handling. One of the thoughts that kept running through my mind was this is a really nice car, for a vehicle that is built on the premise of gas mileage.

My overall impressions of the Chevrolet Malibu Eco were favorable. While I find myself drawn to more performance related vehicles, the Malibu is much better suited for a long drive or running errands around town.

The combination of comfort, style and gas economy certainly make this car a winner.

*No compensation was received for this review.