1999 Chevrolet Malibu LS from North America - Comments

I have owned my 1999 Malibu since 2000 when I bought it with 30,000mi. 8 years later I still have it and it just now sprang the infamous coolant leak from the water pump. I don't know if it is worth it to fix, because the value on these cars is pretty low, but other than that I only replaced the brakes once, and the alternator once, I also had to replace the starter, but it was my fault it went bad. I don't think that is too bad for a car I have had for 7-8 years. There was a comment I read that said people may be driving their cars to hard. I agree.

I've owned my 1999 Malibu V6 since 02 at about 65000 miles and now I am at about 125000 miles. I beat the crap out of it making more than my fair share of cross state commutes during my college years. It has its share of problems, gotta refill anti-freeze about once every 2-3 months, no blower on 1 and 2, Air intake jumps on its own, both front window button clips snapped, hood and trunk is peeling and now rusting, alternator and starter went at about 100k miles, fuel gage will randomly ping at Empty from time to time, stopped about 2 months ago with no warning, serpentine belt was destroyed when a wheel turned into a ball of jagged plastic, routers get warped and had to be replaced and continue to warp and go thru brakepads almost once a year and the front right spring and strut had to be replaced when the spring broke this last summer. But considering how hard I drove it and the lack of recent maintenance due to financial restraints lol and that its nine years old...it's a wonder it drives at all. I'll drive it into the ground and be thankful I got this much use out of it. Got it as a used company car with mostly highway miles on it and I take it easy in the winters but I find theres still a sweet spot at 80+mph with smooth driving and it generally has about as much work as I would expect for my first and only car that I have abused for 6 years. Would consider a new Malibu if the factory flaws were addressed, haven't looked into it being that I wouldn't be able to afford it and won't plan on a new car til this one catches fire that highway speeds can't put out. Then again im a point A to point B kind of guy, not someone who expects the best ride possible(and really lucky it would seem)

I own a 1999 Malibu that has about 150,000 miles on it. I got it about a year ago with around 95,000 miles on it. I've put some serious mileage on it due to the fact that I travel quite a bit for work. I have had no serious problems with my car, and I absolutely love it.

There are some minor problems with it, such as the fuel gauge spontaneously dropping to empty when it gets down to around 1/4 of a tank, and for some reason, once in a while the driver's side power window will stop working for a day or so, but then magically fix itself. Still haven't figured that one out, but I haven't looked real hard either.

Also, my CD player stopped working recently, but my kids may have been the culprits there.

I have really been lacking as far as oil changes, tire rotation, etc, but after reading some horror stories here, I will be changing my oil and hugging my car first thing in the morning.

I don't know what to say for the people who have had nothing but problems with their Malibu. Maybe some ARE driving them too hard, or maybe some of it comes down to the cars just being assembled at different times by different people. Maybe the third shift guys on the assembly line did their jobs better than the first shift guys. I don't know, I'm not a doctor. I just wanted to let you all know how fortunate I feel after reading some of these comments, and I will not take my Malibu for granted as I have. I had just always assumed they were dependable vehicles based only on my own experience with mine.

It might also be worth noting that my Malibu is a salvage car. Who knows, the time and care taken to rebuild it may have made the difference. But like I said before, I'm not a doctor.