Looks more aggressive, I like it better. Engine tweaks are nice too.
2014 Chevrolet Malibu gets more torque, more room and inspiration from the Impala - Autoblog

I love the phone holders near the cup holders.

 

I think I'm kinda disappointed.

I was hoping it was going to look more like this:



And I was hoping they'd tone down the tailights a bit.

 

It's ok to me, though I am not a fan of the front end, it looks like it has three grill sections from that top picture. It's sad that after only a year it has to undergo an MCE to try and keep up. The rest of the updates are nice incremental improvements.

 

That was a quick update, did people hate the previous design that much?

 

Honda did the same thing with the Civic a few years back. Sometimes all the market research ang good ideas just miss the mark a bit. Those other companies are kinda secretive about what they have coming as well. I rather the make in improvement early than let it languish.

 

Now the Malibu becomes another car that has a large octagon-shaped grille set right in the middle of the bumper, like Hyundais and Fords.

And now Chevy has multiple faces. The split twin grille (Malibu, Cruze, etc), the long, horizontal grille (Impala, Traverse), the SS, and the Camaro.

Wonder why Chevy is hesitant to put the new nose on everything.

 

Needs more grills

 

Not sure about the cupholders in and around the gear stick/hand brake.

 

All that and they didn't touch the tailights/rear end??? IMO, that area needed the most attention...

 

When looking at regular pictures of an actual car, I think I like the new front end LESS than the outgoing one. The new one is too busy.

 

Hopefully the chrome around the grill is an LTZ only option.

 

This doesn't seem to be a big enough change to warrant spending time and money on altering the 2013 nose. I still don't see why it had the bar across the grill. Why not move this car in line with the successful style the new Impala and Traverse have??

I just don't understand what the styling team on this generation Malibu was thinking while other vehicle in Chevy's lineup were moving to a different brand styling.

The only thing I can think is they wanted the Malibu and cheaper more sporty Chevy's to have the older bar across grill styling while the more premium Impala, Traverse and some extent Camaro move forward. But that doesn't hold true for the new Chevy SS as the top of the lineup. Confusing.

 

I don't get it either (see post #6).

I actually think Malibu looks worse in the front end now.

 

I just want my hood to be one large grill. Like just start from the bottom of the front bumper and make the grill end at the windshield then put a GIANT bow tie emblem in the middle because they can never be big enough for Chevy. Matter of fact I want the grill to be in the shape of a giant bow tie. Let's kill two birds with one stone!

 

I don't see how it's inspired by Impala. Top grille from camaro and main grille from SS. They lowered the top 2 grilles so it lost the big nose look. To further lower it they did not completely encircle the first grille in chrome. Overall it looks ok, though they shouldn't have had the grille so high up in the 2013.
The rear bumper and bangle butt could use a revision.