2000 Chevrolet Malibu Base review from North America

HVAC Blower resistor fried/no fans speeds except 5.

AC Head unit causing air conditioning to cycle on and off.

Lower Intake Gasket failure at 28,000 miles.

Bought the car used in August of 2004 with 24,000 miles from an elderly man. Car spent the majority of its life under a carport so the paint was pretty much flawless and didn't have the hazed headlights other Malibu's on the road seemed to experience. On the way home the car had a bad vibration and humming sound at speeds above 40mph. I knew from the walk around that it still had the factory Firestone's I'm assuming and they were about shot and that's what was causing the problem so replaced them and the car rode beautifully and smooth.

Air conditioning cycled on and off after being on for about 20 minutes. Seemed to bypass the problem by just pushing the recirculation button without the ac button being on and got cold air so I didn't complain.

At 28,000 miles the low coolant light came on. Family friend is a Chevrolet mechanic so took it to him and figured out it was the lower intake gaskets leaking. Replaced gaskets and serpentine belt which was beginning to squeal for a total of $250 as opposed to the $1400 the dealer wanted.

At about 33,000 miles the ac started to go a bit haywire. The HVAC fan resistor fried causing the fan only to work on speed 5 and the ac would cycle on and off no matter what I did. Took it to same family friend who replaced fan resistor and cleaned contacts on the ac head unit for a total of $50.

At 36,000 miles the theft system light began to flash when I got into the car to leave after work. Car wouldn't start for about 10 minutes. Light turned off on the way home so didn't think much of it. Over the rest of the time I owned the car the light seemed to have a mind of its own going on and off whenever it pleased. Dealership said my vehicle may not be protected by the theft system anymore I told them it's a Malibu no one would steal it. Also noticed around this time that sometimes when filling up the gas tank a bit of fuel seemed to spill down in the wheel well by the fuel door. Only seemed to happen every now and then and was usually dry by the time you paid and were on your way so didn't think much of it. Had I still owned the car with gas at the prices it is now it would have been a more immediate concern with every drop counting.

Was involved in wreck and the car was totaled off by insurance company with 38,400 on the odometer. Judging by some of the reviews on here this may have been a good thing.

Overall for what I paid it wasn't that bad of a car. Having a family friend being a Chevy mechanic and being able to get parts for dirt cheap helped in that department after some of the horror stories I've heard from other owners with these cars. Was surprisingly peppy for a "family sedan" and had a nice little growl under acceleration. Seemed to get decent fuel mileage. Floated at around 24-27 mpg nothing to write home about, but didn't guzzle gas. Factory stereo was pretty good for a stock stereo system. Only time I had a problem with the brakes and they felt iffy was coming off a highway and having to slow down quickly after sustained high speeds with the car fully loaded. Never had a problem with them around town and in near miss avoidance instances. The previous owner had the car serviced for the hazard switch recall so I didn't have to experience that.

In the end after reading some of the other reviews and hearing first hand from other owners I guess I'm one of the luckier ones. But only having the car for about 14,000 miles I really can't offer much on the long term reliability of the car.