2001 Chevrolet Malibu review from North America

1. Electrical short in the radio system

2. Electrical short in the heating/AC system

3. Replaced brakes several times (before they should have needed to be replaced)

4. Brake rotors required resurfacing

5. Leaking intake manifold/gasket replacement (cost nearly $900)

6. Car repeatedly refuses to start for no apparent reason

7. O2 sensors replaced several times

8. Tires wear out prematurely and have strange treadwear patterns (suggests problem with front suspension)

9. Problems with front suspension

10. Wheel bearing replacement required (still holding out on this one, but it makes an ungodly grinding noise while driving that sounds like a lathe turning cast iron (something only a machinist would relate to)

11. Assorted random occurrences such as little plastic things falling off and the little panels for the switches in the door came unglued- pretty much, the car is falling appart.

GM has quite a track record of producing junk cars. I always thought that the junk was limited to the super cheap cars, but this simply isn't true. This Malibu is garbage. I generally enjoyed having this car at first until the problems started. Once they started, they never got better and then just kept getting worse. I've been stranded at an airport, stuck at home, and stuck with the car in front of a friends house all because the car decided not to start for some inexplicable reason. Then with all of the other expenses added up to fix this thing, I could have bought a 3-series BMW. The savings to buy a middle of the pack domestic sedan is not worth the thousands I've had to put in this thing just for repairs not to mention the unplanned maintenance costs of replacing brakes after only about 20K miles.