About six months ago, I bought a 1999 Malibu from a friend of mine who had purchased it used about 5 years earlier. The only reason he (my friend) sold the car was because his wife had just gotten a 05 Corvette and they didn't need four vehicles. I bought the car because I knew that it had been very reliable for him. He had no real problems with it, and neither have I. The car now has over 110,000 miles on it. Everything works just as it should, and with proper preventative maintenance, I expect things to continue that way. (I also own a 1968 Camaro with over 200,000 miles on it. Of course, almost every part of it has been replaced at least twice and some things dozens of times.) Maybe there were only a couple of people at the Malibu factory who took pride in their work, and I am one of the lucky few who seem to have gotten a well built, trouble-free product.
Has anyone tried filing the Lemon Law in their state?
Concord, NH.
Ah, yes the Chevrolet Malibu - GM's quality automobile - NOT!
I unfortunately own a 2000 LS. From the get-go, it started with the brakes, replaced pads, shoes, the rotors several times. A/C Heat Sensor 4, count 'em 4 times., Alternator went out on a busy highway.
You folks that have had no problems - you lucked out big time, no doubt about it - bet you folks are in the 1 percentile, 99% of us got screwed.
GM will never get another dime from me after this experience.
I would love to sue!!!
Ah yes, my 2000 Malibu LS Lemon; Where to start: I bought it new from GM dealer
Vibration at highway speed; Dealer balanced wheels free, three times! It didn't work the first or second time, why waste both my and his time the 3rd try?
Brakes were fine inside warranty, but catastrophic failure just outside warranty? Dealer quote $650; I changed only the pads and then ran rotors another 120,000 km!
I am on my 4th heater fan resistor pack
Replaced 3 front wheel bearings;GM Service Agent advised me to `stop cornering too fast or hitting curb'! (Original ` fast wearing' tires went 180,000 km)
Replaced inlet manifold gasket due to coolant leak 100,000 km; replaced water pump 250,000km.
Replaced fuel pump and rusted out, leaking, fuel and brake lines 260,000km
Am I a Hard driver?
My Honda Civic went 550,000km on the original wheel bearings and was still running well when sold.
My Ford Tempo went 400,000km with only 2 front wheel bearings changed; still running well when given to my niece.
My Chevy Citation went through only one of their infamous transmissions and had the original wheel bearings when given to my son at 350,000km.
I am the original owner of a 98 Malibu. It now has 70,000 miles. Here is my list of problems that seem to be common with other Malibu's of this time. Coolant leak due to a leaky manifold (never had fixed, just occasionally add radiator stop leak powder). ABS brake light always on. AC control cuts in and out (my wife and I have learned how to play with the fan switch and press on the control panel to get the 'green' light back on). Already replaced the fan resistor unit to correct the fan speed problems at the lower settings. Goes through front brake pads and brake rotors too often. Glove box handle now getting hard to open... might be related to the excellent use of plastics by GM. Getting body rust around the gas cap door. I noticed wet spots on the mat in my trunk. I opened up the cover over the spare tire well and found the tire, jack, etc. under water... I had the start of an aquarium. Rear tires don't wear evenly... they 'cup' and make lots of road noise if you rotate them. Horn switch in the steering wheel went bad and woke up the neighbors at 3AM one night (pulled horn relay.. but now have no horn). The radio has worked great!
I have a 99 Malibu and I have had the problem with the A/C cutting off and on by itself and the recirculate go off and on by itself also. There is an easy fix and it will save you a lot of money. I was quoted 185.00 for a new climate control so I decided to look into it more to see if anything can be done. I found this link on the internet and used it and BAM no more problems... Easy fix, give it a try and save yourself some money.
Sincerely
James Short
abilenetx@cableone.net.
Sorry forgot to add the link in last comment... Here it is
http://www.imcool.com/articles/aircondition/AC_ControllersAreRepairable.pdf.
I purchased a new 99 Malibu in February of 99. This has been a great car. Runs well and everything works properly. Money put into car has been for routine maintenance and new tires. The only thing I can complain about is that it is rusting around the gas tank. If they have redesigned this car so that water and dirt is not getting trapped in this area, I would not hesitate to purchase another.
1999 Malibu.
Finally selling it because we can't afford to keep it running. $2,000 to $3,000 worth of work every year.
2 sets of bearings, one gas tank, front windows work sometimes, changed rotors, drums once a year not just pads and shoes (approx. 20,000 km), fan resistor board (only have speed 4 or 5 on the a/c twice, leaking antifreeze (head gasket), two alternators, check engine light on and mechanic said car is okay, feels like a 50 inch sub in the back when slowing down (car bounces even with new brake equipment, alignment and wheels freshly balanced).
I have a 1999 Chevy mailbu myself. I am the second owner of this particular car. I am now at 270000 miles and still kicking. It does have its problems, but for some reason it keeps on running. So far the car cost me 1500 up front with 220000 miles on it. I have done around 1500 in repairs. Working on 3rd year seems worth it to me. It falls around 83 bucks per month. Hard to do these days for a car that has never left me on the side of the road. Most problems with people and cars is that if there is when the car gives you a warning about a problem. The driver ignores it until it cost a whole lot more to fix.
The ticking noise is piston slap. just keep the oil changed and it will hit high miles.
I purchased my 1999 Malibu LS from original owner in June Of 2004 with only 6,800 miles on it. At this time it has 32,000 miles.
In the 3 years we have had this car, we have replaced the front brake pads, both power window units on drivers side and the a/c control panel.
Other than that, the car has been OK.
My sister-in-law also has a 1999 Malibu LS that she purchased new. She has had to replace the a/c control panel 5 times. Other than that, she has has little trouble with the car.
Shouldn't Chevrolet be responsible for replacing the a/c control panel??? It is obviously a defective manufacturing problem.
OK I'm about to get this car next week in OCT 1 is there anything I should worry about before I get for myself my email address is babyzoneman@yahoo.com.
I own a 199 Malibu, that I purchased with 76000 miles on it. It has been a decent car for me.
I put a total of 70000 or so since then, and I have never been stranded beside a highway somewhere, which is more than I can say about Volkswagen. It was cheap for me to fix because after market parts are cheap, and I'm a do it your selfer. So far, I had to change front brake pads, rotors, right front hub assembly, intake manifold gasket (corrosive dexcool is believed to cause this). All the parts to do this cost about $300.00; not too bad.
This is not the car for everybody, but the great fuel economy and the great look for the price I paid then $5700 in 2003. Try to buy a newer Honda with this low miles for that! Even if I paid for the labor, I still saved thousands.
My 1999 Malibu (4 cylinder) now has 145,000 miles on it and still runs great.
Other than replacing the driver's side window control switch once (which is very easy to replace yourself), all I have done is perform regular maintenance on it and it keeps going... and going...and going.
I have read many "horror stories" others have had, but in my case I have had a very good experience with this car.
As for a couple of the other comments saying they believe anyone with a positive experience must be either a GM dealer or a "paid" reviewer; that is wrong. Just because many people have problems with a vehicle does not mean everyone who purchased that vehicle ends up with the same problems.
I also have a 2003 Ford Powerstroke 6.0 Diesel and many people have had problems with theirs, but so far NO problems with that one either (and many others also have reported they have no problems). I understand why people would be upset with vehicle problems, but I have also read reviews where people had something like 80,000 (or more) miles on their Malibu's and expected the tires, brakes, etc to never need replaced when those are general maintenance items needing replaced on EVERY car.
Someone can complain about a lot of things, but please do not include general maintenance items in the complaints because nothing lasts forever. I guess as another person already stated "I must have gotten a good one".
I have a 99' Chevy Malibu and it is a total crap.. I have owned it for about 5 years.. bought it with about 70K miles on it. I have had to replace brake pads numerous times, suspension is crap, ABS light was always on... and it mysteriously went off recently. Now the Airbag light has been on constantly. For those of you who are lucky with these cars perhaps you will experience this in a few years because I do all the required maintenance in the car, but it's still acting up.