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Car Forum / Chevrolet / Chevrolet Malibu / May 200503, 04 Malibu ?
I'm retired and looking at getting one of these cars and I'd like to know how the reliability of the 4 and 6 cylnder compare. I'm looking for the lowest maintenace cost. Also I like to know if buying the GM extended warranty is worthwhile. Will either of these cars go 200,000 miles with normal maintenance or are there bir problems at some milestone like transmission or other big cost item? tnx  Signature73 Hank WD5JFR I do not know if the 03 and 04 are any better than my 2000. I have just over 50000 miles and have spent almost $2000 in repairs. Now I think I have at least one front wheel bearing going out!!! Pure GM junk!!! Ron > I'm retired and looking at getting one of these cars and I'd like to know > how the reliability of the 4 and 6 cylnder compare. I'm looking for the [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > transmission or other big cost item? > tnx Sorry to hear that. Consumer Reports gives a black X to all Malibus except the 03 and it looks like the X for the is a mistke. Signature73 Hank WD5JFR >I do not know if the 03 and 04 are any better than my 2000. I have just >over 50000 miles and have spent almost $2000 in repairs. Now I think I [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >> transmission or other big cost item? >> tnx I agree with Ron. I have a '97 Malibu, my only GM product in 44 years of driving, and truly the only one I'd call "junk" Ray > I do not know if the 03 and 04 are any better than my 2000. I have just > over 50000 miles and have spent almost $2000 in repairs. Now I think I [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > transmission or other big cost item? > > tnx I know the 3.1L V6 has some problems with gaskets going bad but after you replace them with good aftermarket gaskets there don't seem to be problems, with the Orange coolant it sometimes gums up in the hoses for the coolant system and switching to the regular green coolant seems to fix this. I have a 2.2L Ecotec which is the four cyl and it is a 2004 Classic and I havn't had any problems with it and have 36k on it now, also my car was a owned by a rental company before I bought it so I'm sure it was abused by the rental ppl and still no problems, all in all I like everything about it, except for the appearance ;p but a body kit can fix that lol. > I'm retired and looking at getting one of these cars and I'd like to know > how the reliability of the 4 and 6 cylnder compare. I'm looking for the [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > transmission or other big cost item? > tnx >>I know the 3.1L V6 has some problems with gaskets going bad but after you >>replace them with good aftermarket gaskets there don't seem to be problems, >>with the Orange coolant it sometimes gums up in the hoses for the coolant >>system and switching to the regular green coolant seems to fix this. The 3.1L V6 also has piston slap problems, that can reduce the life of the engine (no matter if GM says it doesn't). I have a 2003 Malibu with the V6. Mine only has 41,000 kms on it, but it is not what I would call a reliable car. My base model 98 Cavalier was far more reliable than the Malibu. We have a 1998, its poorly made and has been trouble prone. If you really want to buy one get a used one, they have zip residual value. Too many troubles to bother listing. GM stock is Junk so is their vehicles. The new Malibu's and GM cars have problems with the electric steering, very expensive to repair. You want a car to go over 200,000 miles get a Honda or a Toyota. My son has a Honda Civic with over 300,000 miles and still running. I'm retired and looking at getting one of these cars and I'd like to know how the reliability of the 4 and 6 cylnder compare. I'm looking for the lowest maintenace cost. Also I like to know if buying the GM extended warranty is worthwhile. Will either of these cars go 200,000 miles with normal maintenance or are there bir problems at some milestone like transmission or other big cost item? tnx Signature73 Hank WD5JFR I'm the head wrench for a '01 & '02, both with mileage in the 80k range. One car is a piston slapping sounds like a diesel in morning car that just had the ignition cylinder and intake gaskets done. The other car is all OEM and fine. Go figure. It depends on the car, every brand, which now is a assembly of global parts with varying quality. Toyota, oil sludged motors that blow seals n' gaskets. Been there with a 2.2 Camry Hondas that pop trannys and various other electrical things. They all have weak models, etc. . Myself, no more foreign cars for me, I've had my fill and it's GM or Ford for now on. If you can get one cheap and do your own work they are basic modern cars. > We have a 1998, its poorly made and has been trouble prone. If you really > want to buy one get a used one, they have zip residual value. Too many [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > a Toyota. > My son has a Honda Civic with over 300,000 miles and still running. >>I'm retired and looking at getting one of these cars and I'd like to know >>how the reliability of the 4 and 6 cylnder compare. I'm looking for the >>lowest maintenace cost. Also I like to know if buying the GM extended >>warranty is worthwhile. Will either of these cars go 200,000 miles with >>normal maintenance or are there bir problems at some milestone like >>transmission or other big cost item? If you want reliabiliy, avoid the V6 like the plague. Interesting that so many people complain about the 3.1 in the Malibu, but I hardly see any gripes about the same engine in the multitude of other vehicles that GM dropped it in. Perception? Reality? Hard to believe that the pistons only slap and the manifolds only leak when it gets into a Malibu > >>I'm retired and looking at getting one of these cars and I'd like to know > >>how the reliability of the 4 and 6 cylnder compare. I'm looking for the [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >>transmission or other big cost item? > If you want reliabiliy, avoid the V6 like the plague. >>Interesting that so many people complain about the 3.1 in the Malibu, but I >>hardly see any gripes about the same engine in the multitude of other >>vehicles that GM dropped it in. Perception? Reality? Hard to believe that >>the pistons only slap and the manifolds only leak when it gets into a Malibu According to the resident expert in alt.autos.gm, piston slap affects the 3.1L V6 more than the 3.4L V6 for some reason. The 3.4L V6 is deployed in a lot more vehicles than the 3.1 is, and they also suffer from intake manifold gasket leaks. > I'm retired and looking at getting one of these cars and I'd like to know > how the reliability of the 4 and 6 cylnder compare. I'm looking for the [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > transmission or other big cost item? > tnx Bought a 2003 Malibu LS brand new in September 2002. Dumped it 9-months later. Replaced it with a Chrysler Sebring...which going on 2-years now hasn't been in the shop yet for anything but oil changes and tire rotations...not a single warranty item so far. GM has some good cars. The Malibu just does not seem to be one of them. Perhaps the Pontiac G6 or the Buick LaCrosse would be better choices. Of course, one couldn't beat the old 80-vintage rear-drive Buick LeSabres. Those puppies would routinely go 200K-300K miles easily! > > I'm retired and looking at getting one of these cars and I'd > like to know [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > routinely go > 200K-300K miles easily! whoa! like I said I haven’t had a problem maybe I truly got the reversed lemon, from all I hear i am grateful. Is your warranty covering your repairs? (i hope) :) > whoa! like I said I haven’t had a problem maybe I truly got the > reversed lemon, from all I hear i am grateful. Is your warranty > covering your repairs? (i hope) :) Yea, warranty covered repairs. I would estimate that the car spend about 1-2 weeks in the shop for repairs during those 9-months. Compared to the Sebring I have now that has spent ")" days in the shop in 2-years. The biggest problem is that the car's body seals weren't sealed at the factory...it leaked like a sieve when it rained. And the car was one of the noisier cars I've ever owned...maybe had something to do with the sealing of the seams as well. The car was simply not very well put together. It was the worst car I had ever purchased (and that goes back 30+ years!) I personally wouldn't buy another Malibu. |
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