I haven't driven one yet, but the Epsilon based Malibu should be a pretty decent piece. It has a solid chassis and improved fit and finish. But the ones I've seen on the street are pretty homely....

A Malibu SS is expected shortly. It should have a substantial power increase over the 200 horse 3.5L V6 in the "civilian" version and also have some trim, wheels and other stuff. It won't have a manual trans however.

Will the Malibu SS be embraced by enthusiasts?

 

At 1st glance, I don't think it will.

But then again, look at the Mitsubishi or Subaru sedans that form the basis of the EVO and WRX or even the Neon that becomes the SRT-4. Add alot of performance, and enthusiasts will fall over themselves praising it.

Even without heaps of performance, just create a little mystique and that works as well. Caprice went from a bloated joke with enthusiasts to the much wanted Impala SS. Never mind the car was basically a police car with Buick Roadmaster seats, and the identical engine was available in base Caprices.

So if Chevy either heaps on alot of performance or creates a good looking package with slightly more performance I think it will do pretty well as long as the same person who set the price on the Silverado SS stays the h*ll away from it.

 

Not likely.

 

If it has enough HP, people will like it.

Manual trans will help too.

 

I don't think a Malbu SS needs to be an "enthusiast's car" to be successful. The current formula of upgrading the existing base car will work fine for the Malibu. Chevy doesn't need it to be a 350hp street burner.

"Enthusiast's" aren't likely to flock to a car like this anyway... that's not what it is. It's a mid-sized family car.

 

Exactly. Enthusiasts don't go crazy over family sedans. The 240hp accord with an available 6spd and sport-tuned suspension doesn't even get my heart beating any faster.

The SS won't be a tuners car, nor will it be welcomed by the tuner or hotrod crowd. It will however be welcomed by people looking for a family sedan or a nice daily driver. 200hp is nice, but it's barely cutting it by todays standard. The styling isn't anything to go crazy over either. But that's just fine since it's a relativily cheap/attainable mid-sized family sedan. the threads i've seen here hint at quality improvements, and that'll be a nice selling point.

 

That is very true. Especially the thing about the pricing...

Like Rice Eatting 5.0 said, it'll most likely not become a tuner car (not a 4-cylinder) nor a muscle car enthusiasts car (not a V8) but just another slightly souped up mid-size family transportation.

TS

 

Sell it as a serious AWD performance machine with 280-some horsepower for under $30K, and I think it'll gather some interest.

On the other hand, I think that as a FWD vehicle with ho-hum styling, it's got limited appeal. Why? There simply won't be much room for improvement with the limitations of FWD (unlike the old Impala SS), and it's also going to need stronger styling to attract the attention of enthusiasts.

To do well nowadays, you need a good combination of performance and styling right out-of-the-box, and a significant amount of "headroom" available for mods. The folks that love their F- and B-bodies get all of that from their rides.

 

I don't know...I think that there is a market for performance sedans. I have one, 'cause I need to have one. If you have a family,there are times that you absolutely, positively, no doubt about it, need 4 doors a 5 seats....and when you are not using all those doors and seats, it's nice if you have good performing car.

If you look at BMW, Nissan, Acura, and many, many others.....you'll see they've done quite well at capturing performance enthusiasts with their sedans.


At the very least.....GM should certify the Malibu SS with a manual trans.

 

I won't argue that, in fact, I agree... however, these people are, IMO , more likely to go with an Impala SS, a Grand Prix GTP, or the like...

 

I think the Malibu SS could compete against the Cobalt SS for sales. As the Cobalt wont be out for another year, the Malibu SS can make up the difference until an SS version of the Cobalt is launched. (2005?)

However pricing will be the key. IMO, the target for the Cobalt SS will be the Dodge SRT-4, so it will need to be priced in the same range and perform on par. The Malibu SS should chime in for not much more than this. (i.e. under $23000?) The main reason being if the price of a Malibu SS creaps up near Monte Carlo SS or Impala SS price ranges, more than likely it'll lose out. Keeping it close to the magic $20k window, could make or break the package.

 

I don't know that this would happen either, though....

Cavalier (and you'd assume Cobalt when it comes out) has at least a youth-cool vibe to a point... Malibu has none of that. It's your mom's car... and I don't think the Cavalier/Neon/Civic crowd would even give it a second look.

 

I highly doubt the Cobalt SS will rival the SRT-4 in performance, especially considering what we've all agreed was the "SS" marketing strategy/purpose in Chevy anyway. You'll see upgraded power over the run-of-the-mill Ecotec but you won't see these cars running sub-14 second 1/4 miles out of the box either.

 

You are correct, and i should have made that point clear. There are plenty of good performing sedans out in the market (most are very expensive mind you).

You own an SVT contour, which is different than this malibue. Your Svt contour was sold as an enthusiast derived sedan with good performance charecteristics (especially for its time). SVT really made it different than the regular contours. The same with the Acura's and BMW's (premium cars). The Malibue is different though. I just don't see it as an enthusiasts sedan just by looking at the styling and N/A sub-200hp 3.5L . It looks to be where the 3.8L Imp left off, and that doesn't come off as sport enough. The Pontiac GTP is a real performance sedan since the performance is said to be really good and class leading. I view them in 2 different ways.

 

True. However I thought the same thing about Hondas when I was a teenager, and look who's embracing them today. The Malibu is just as sporty as an Accord... at least it is IMO.

I think the key here is price and available aftermarket performance parts. If Chevrolet were to create their own aftermarket accessories gear exclusively towards the Malibu, especially an SS performance model priced around the price of the Malibu LT (~$24K MSRP), it might just catch on, especially if they offer a first-time buyers discount program.