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Got to take an 08 for a quick spin today (put about 5 miles on it rd trip). Anyways G/F got one as a loaner after someone rearended her car and we went out for some ice cream this evening and I took it for a spin.

My review of the car
* lacked some get up n' go
* not sure what motor it had but did have the iFCD!! (Man I wish my car had this)
and of course what you all want to know the gas mileage was ok. G/F has been
driving it for three days and avg. mpg readout was 23.8, I thought this was a joke so
I had to give it a try..on the return trip in 2.5 miles I had it up to 28.9 with in town driving and some coasting. I'm sure this car could do 35 mpg in the hands of anyone here in more extended driving, so must say I was surprised for such a big car.

Even though it was a short stint in the car I can't say I was that impressed though, there was lots of cheap plastic and even my mazda had a better thought out steering wheel and cupholder cover for $5-10g less!! Car was quiet though and had a better feel than gms of the past, don't know how long it will hold up in the long run though

People are scouring the internet for old civics and geo metros. I don't think many new cars (especially large sedans) that aren't rated over 30mpg on the highway will even get a look these days. Unfortunately a lot of the older civic and crx's are riced out if you do find them so the pickings have become very slim.

Your experience with the Malibu seemed to go well though. I'm glad to see they have upped their quality a bit.

G/F actually drives an 03 civic and has been complaining about the mileage in this car :D

I saw this posted over on Bitog and was going to post it here. But since you brought up the 08 Malibu I'll add it to your thread.

From BITOG,

I'll admit up front, that I'm not a 4 cylinder kind of guy.

However, the Chevy dealer gave me a bare bones Malibu LS as a loaner, with the 2.4 liter Ecotech engine in it, and I could easily learn to like this car and engine. They had run out of "service loaner" cars, so I scored this demo unit. They did have a Caddy SRX loaner (which I would have easily taken), but it is reserved exclusively for Caddy owners.

Sure, the 2.4 has to work at it pretty hard with my right foot, but it is claiming 35.6 mpg on about 150 miles of driving today. A good portion of that was interstate driving today, and while drafting some semis at 62 mph (using cruise control and the A/C off), it was reporting a solid 40 mpg. The rest of it was at 55, with the A/C off as well. The engine is peppy, has good pull going up through the gears, and the car has excellent road manners. It appears that the only two options that this car has is the body side moldings and floor mats.

I'll be taking it to Indy tomorrow (that'll be another 250 miles on it), and I'll have a really good idea if I like this car this time tomorrow. I'll be running the A/C tomorrow, and will see what kind of penalty that is as well.

I'm skeptical about these mpg numbers, that they are too good to be true, but I'll find out for sure when I have to fill it up before returning it on Friday.

update:

Drove it about 10 miles today mostly speeds between 45-55 mph and avg. 35.6 MPG / AVG. SPEED was 33 MPH.

Oh yeah it does have the ecotec 4 banger.

Here is the second half of the guy over at Bitog experience with the rental Malibu.:)

I was able to squeeze 451 miles out of a tank of gas on the Malibu. It was $53.00 to fill it back up. Come to find out, the mpg display on the dash is about 5 percent optimistic. The dash states 34.5 mpg, the fill up with gas calculates to 33 mpg. The vast majority of this tank was highway miles.

I ran the A/C all day today, and didn't draft any semis. Ran it mostly right at 70 mph. Did do quite a bit of city driving within Indianapolis. From what the DIC was displaying (correcting for the 5% error), it is getting a solid 35 mpg on the interstate @ 70 mpg with the A/C on. I can't complain about that, considering this car is not a tiny little car.

Would I buy one? I think I could. After 450 miles, I don't have any major complaints. The driver's seat could use a little more lumbar support, which I only noticed after about 2 1/2 hours in the seat. There are some blind spots in the rearward visibility which took a little to get used to. The brakes are spot on and are predictable. A faint bit of torque steer on hard acceleration. However, someone used to a front driver may not even notice it (I've never owned a front wheel drive car). The steering at low speeds seems a little numb to me, but improves greatly when the speed picks up. Cornering is tight, solid, and predictable (and this is the base model).

The ride is good, although it does start getting choppy and noisy on less than perfect pavement. My folks' Park Avenue does lots better, but comparing this car and a P.A. isn't a fair comparision.

That all said, being 6 foot 3, I'd be more at home in an Impala. There's plenty of well equipped 1 year old Impalas out there with less than 10,000 miles on them, that could probably be bought cheaper than this base Malibu. Mainly because one is a brand new model, and the other is a few years old. My experience with rentals, the mileage on the Impala pretty much tops out at 30, where this Malibu tops out at 35.

I'll return the Malibu tomorrow with a smile on my face, but I'll be just as glad to get my Silverado back.

I like the new Bu, but most like most cars it gets iffy mileage. The six speed auto is supposed to fix that however. I currently drive a chevy prizm (http://www.ecobeater.com/wheels/chevrolet-prizm) and although it is old and smells like socks, it gets great mileage and I will keep it until it dies.

I agree that it is just a big car the mileage would be very iffy. Yes, it is capable of mid 30s and beyond but only under mostly ideal conditions. I could see stop and go pulling it down to mid to high 20s quickly.

I could see it being a great family car though with a consicentious driver :)

I like the new Bu, but most like most cars it gets iffy mileage. The six speed auto is supposed to fix that however. I currently drive a chevy prizm (http://www.ecobeater.com/wheels/chevrolet-prizm) and although it is old and smells like socks, it gets great mileage and I will keep it until it dies.

The mileage may be iffy to most of us, but bear in mind that if the BU can get some people out of 14 mpg Tahoe into 26 mpg Malibus we are on the road to recovery.