CHEVROLET MALIBU test drive since 2012 sedan
Chevrolet Malibu. He does not know how to fly, but he walks confidently
There is such a tradition in the technology of presentations: everything is told about the car and, of course, in a complementary form, what a comfortable, stylish, with aggressive appearance, dynamic, safe, environmentally friendly .., well, a lot of other advertising crap. But then, as a rule, in the end, under the curtain and with a breath, they declare the main feature. For example, they say and he also flies! This, of course, is a joke, but the principle, I think, is clear to you. So, for the first time in my practice, flights did not take place. The press conference suddenly ended, I stayed with my mouth open and a dumb question: guys, but what?! Fortunately, the reaction was still grabbed by the PRARMENT, he dragged aside and began to torture: so,- I say to Piarmen, “this is something strange.” They smeared everything with a thin layer, but did not say the main one. What is Malibu salt? In his amazing price, the lemon is three hundred thousand? Excuse me, 1,285,000 rubles, which, by the way, is the highest among competitors. Or is that the equipment is only one LTZ, and the options are only color, but the sky (I mean the hatch)?
Poor fellow Piarman (he has a normal work of him like this) began to repeat his presentation that, they say, look, what a cool design, a rich interior, a powerful and reliable engine, excellent dynamics, steering with an exact feedback here he had to stop him on Half words, ask not to repeat what has already been said, but simply explain the price. Of course, it is fully consistent with the spirit of our Russian reality to wring prices to complete lawlessness, since there are still customers who have a financial threshold in consumption (due to the size of the stolen by them). But even for such a strategy, forgive me, the lemon is three hundred too much.
The answer of Piarman was frank and, I must say, revealed the secret of the project. He admitted that in the Russian market for Malibu, a corporate car will prophesy a career. This is the main direction of the blow. There will be completely different prices (about a million). Yes,- I thought, is interesting. And perhaps even real. Therefore, he took up the newly -made Chevrolet with a light heart and without any complexes.
I'll start in order. Design. I immediately in one fell swoop about the exterior and interior.
This, of course, is not Georgetto Jujaro, but in the trend of the modern vision of the architecture of the car. Given that the aesthetics largely depends on the taste, I give you the opportunity, looking into the gallery, to evaluate this side of the new Chevrolet project.
About convenience for the driver four with a plus (according to a five -point system). A convenient, proper landing that allows, not only comfortably settles in an armchair, but also easy to read all the information of the dashboard, work with navigation and audio system. In the process of driving in the entire range of capabilities, working with governing bodies almost does not cause problems.
But why did I drop half a bell? The problem is that you can switch the gears in manual mode only with the key of the automatic box located on the handle of the selector. And this is very inconvenient.
The only thing that justifies the designers the absence of the need to use this key. A little later I will clarify what I mean by that. Now about the convenience of the rear passengers. There were three people in our crew on the test. Their growth was: 170 cm, 178 cm and 190 cm. I, with my 170 centimeters, were very convenient from behind (even if a tall colleague sat in front of me). With a height of 178 cm, it was still normal. But 190 centimeters did not fit there in any way.
In the movement, the first thing you pay attention to excellent sound insulation: neither the engine, no tires, nor surrounding noise in standard driving modes in the cabin is practically unscrewed. Yes, if you press the gas pedal to the floor, then the soundtrack of your ride will change, but, as you guess, this is not about that.
The second thing I felt inadequate to switch the automatic gearbox. The switching point all the time was higher in turnover than the situation required that. This gave some kind of nervous coloring in the ride. But, after some time, the brains of the car fell in place, he stopped hysteria, and we went in normal mode. What was it? Everything is very simple. Apparently the previous rider raped the car, trying to satisfy his Schumacher ambitions. The on -board computer, as he could, helped him in this switching algorithm shifted into the area of \u200b\u200blarge revolutions. That's all. And when the same computer realized that Schumacher left the driver's seat, he gradually brought everything to normal. Well, this speaks well of the brains of the car. True, the reaction was slightly slowed and could quickly adapt. In confirmation of what was said, such a plot soon happened.
It was almost shed rain. Mountain road, serpentine, climb up. We drive up to the first steep reverse (180 degree) turn. I stuff the car’s nose into a turn, add the gas and at the same time twist the steering wheel. Ideally, the car should turn on the second, and, possibly, the first gear and with a good torque fit into the turn. Nothing complicated is a full -time situation. And he suddenly shuts up with switching. I, having felt freezing, grabbed the gearbox selector, where the notorious forced switching key is located, but so far I felt it, while I realized which part it was pressed on, the car itself came to my senses, roared with the speeds, squeaked with tires on wet asphalt and dragged it with jerks up. Yes, somehow it did not work out affectionately. But with a motom, already knowing some braking of the brains in Malibu, everything was successful. And on the second day of the test, we were so injured that we understood each other with half -thought. And I had no complaints about controllability, stability until the end of the test.
The verdict is as follows: a car for a solid four. Moreover, this assessment is not the mean arithmetic between two five and a deuce, but a very even indicator in all respects. For whatever you take - a solid four.
Source: Magazine 5 wheel [November 2012]
