2001 Chevrolet Malibu LS review from North America

Omitted is the small stuff and a warranty repair of the fuel pump.

The ignition switch went at 39928 miles. After towing in, the Chevy dealer replaced the ignition switch (at our cost) but didn't notice the horn was also not functioning. We accepted it (far from home and on vacation).

The car had to be towed in again for its 2nd replacement ignition switch at 52565. This dealer couldn't say what was wrong with the horn, but offered to poke around at $80 per hour. We didn't have him do that considering we had asked GM customer service to investigate and were hoping they'd want to look into it, and had already run up a $625 bill for this 2nd ignition switch replacement.

It took GM 75 days to come to the decision that they would offer nothing towards the replacement ignition switch nor the 2nd replacement ignition switch, nor investigate a possible short, despite the non functioning horn. Out of warranty was out of warranty.

Today, day 79, the car had to be towed in for the 4th time for it's 3rd replacement ignition switch. This $625 ignition switch is apparently being treated as a disposable fuse as long as it's us paying the bill. As for the horn, no one but a Chevy dealer can fix it, and they won't except at $80/hour T&M against no estimate --but now it's time to write that blank check or junk it because it due for state inspection :-)

If a company stands behind their cars you're okay. When they don't, it's a roll of the dice. We rolled lemons; maybe you'll be luckier. But when a car only has a 36,000 mile warranty there may be a very good reason!

The rest of my opinions of the Malibu just aren't important because the car isn't reliable, affordable, or salable if you have scruples (it still has a hidden defect). It's a car purchased brand new, with 55,000 miles, that we're still making payments on, that needs to go to the junkyard.