2003 Chevrolet Malibu LT from North America - Comments

7th Sep 2006, 08:07

"Great looking with long lasting engine, but user interface lacks greatly in quality"

What things have gone wrong with the car?

Brakes and rotors are worn out. The front tires wore out within 20K miles. The remote (both sets) don't work effectively, even after putting in a new battery. The trunk rarely opens on the first press of either the remote or the internal button. The drivers front seat is broke, and the only way to fix it is to replace the whole thing. Rusted fasteners holding up the trim. The front end is starting to have some problems. I will assume ball bearings are worn. I am sure that has something to do with the prematurely worn tires. The horn also no longer works, which is fine by me, now I don't have to lock the door and use the remote as the alarm system use to blare the horn.

General comments?

The car was magnificent prior to the third year of ownership. From that point on, it seemed everything just fell apart. Every single item I listed above (excepted for the worn tires) Happened the third year of ownership. I am so happy this is a lease, that I will be giving up in about two more months. I had a ford, and Chevrolet engineer evaluate the car and the GM engineer said that a lot of this cars short comings are from the lack of a good testing prove-out. Whereas the Ford employee said that even on a new platform, this car would have never passed the quality inspection. I love domestic, and I love my Lincoln. I am just going to stick to Ford.


7th Sep 2006, 17:27

“Front tires wore out within 20,000 miles.” It’s really important to rotate your tires especially on FWD cars. I had similar experience buying a used van with 25,000 miles and front tires completely shot. I replaced all 4 tires and rotate them every 6,000 miles. Currently at 37,000 miles and all are in great shape. I expect 60,000+ from them. Too bad about all your other problems though.

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