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Here Are The Real-World Photos Of The 2014 Malibu You’ve Been Waiting For

These real-world photos show the freshened 2014 Chevy Malibu in a somewhat more realistic and life-like way, as opposed to the digitally-enhanced “faux-tos” we showed you earlier.

Stay tuned as we add more pics of the 2014 Malibu to this gallery from yesterday’s media event.

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Comments

  1. It looks okay to me…but I’m wondering if it will be enough…And notice what I said….it looks “okay”…I’m not blown away at all. GM needs to decide what is the “face” of Chevrolet…is it like the 2014 Impala (not my favourite) or is it like the Cruze (much better)? This sort of confusion is just plain silly.

    Reply
    1. It looks great to me… and I already was a pretty big fan of the 2013 Malibu’s design.

      But you’re right: what is the official face of Chevrolet? As of now, the brand seems to have four different faces:
      1. 2014 Impala, 2013 Traverse
      2. 2012 Sonic/Aveo
      3. 2014 Malibu
      4. Cruze
      … and that’s not taking into account the face of the 2014 Silverado.

      Now, we know that the Cruze will be replaced soon, so its design shouldn’t weight as heavily into figuring out what the official face is. So it would seem that the question is, which “face” will the next-gen Cruze get — that of the Impala/Traverse or that of the Malibu?

      That said, perhaps it’s really not necessary to have a single common fascia across all of the brand’s vehicles; maybe common “cues” are enough. But that wasn’t the case a few years ago, when the goal was to have the dual-port grille split by the Chevy Bow Tie across the board.

      Reply
  2. I’m surprised they didn’t make the tail lights a little more sophisticated a la the Traverse…The front end looks nice, but is looks dated now that the Impala and Traverse have a more streamlined grill.

    Did they improve the rear seat room – such as making the front seat backs thinner?

    Reply
    1. Yes, the rear-seat leg room is up 1.25 inches:
      http://gmauthority.com/blog/2013/05/2014-chevy-malibu-here-it-is/

      The engines are either more efficient (2.5) or more powerful (2.0T, 295 lb.-ft. of torque).

      The LED tail lights on the ‘Bu look great. They should be made standard across the board (LT and up?).

      Reply
  3. I think that the refreshed Malibu takes cues from the Impala but mixes them with the Tru 140s. You can see the Impala in the sharp slope in the hood where it meets the grill, the grill is more upright and touches the headlights. The overall shape of the grill and lower fascia is very Tru 140s. It looks good. Looking at the spy shots, it looks like the next Cruze will do the same. The front end looks a lot like the Tru while the rear end looks like it may take the lights from the Impala. I agree the rear of the Malibu would have looked really nice with the Travese lights. However, I hate the look of the front fascia of the Traverse, just my opinion. Anyway, the overall design of Chevy will be the Impala with the Tru Concept. The exception is the trucks and full size SUVs.

    Reply
  4. The more I look at it, it looks like a 4 door version of the Camaro (minus the front end). Especially how the rear side window comes up to a point at the C-post, even the design around the gauges is similar to the Camaro.

    Edit: Pay no attention to the avatar, It used my Yahoo fantasy baseball team logo.

    Reply
  5. Exciting updates. I wonder what this turbo engine sounds like. It’d be nice if it had more of a growl like a V6 and not the whiny sound of the typical 4. I’d like to see more interior pictures, especially the improvements to the backseat space. That was a major turnoff when we saw it in person and scratched it from our list as a possible replacement for my wife’s G6, which has a ton of interior space for a midsize. At least they are addressing the issue and not waiting for another redesign to fix it. The new front end reminds me more of the SS. Most people are comparing to the new Impala, but I’m not seeing that so much.

    Reply
  6. I see this has a h/brake, much better for teaching a learner than a car a button instead of a handle, if you ever have a leaner suffer brain lock you will want a h/brake handle.

    Reply
  7. Mixed feelings, at the end of the day the consumer will speak with their wallet. Definately agressive though and that is what I like, but the average generic Toyota lover will continue to shop the Camry unfortunately. This was the ground breaking of the 08 model it bridged the gap and helped draw in those consumers.

    Reply
  8. What this vehicle and the Impala are establishing is a strong Chevy brand identity. The 2013 is still striking when seen on the road and I believe was just beginning to be noticed and purchased. These improvements are going to establish this vehicle as a leader in this segment it may not break sales records but will set up for the next generation to do so. The real competitors here are the Fusion and Accord in my mind and I think Chevy is right to make a statement with this vehicle. Who cares about the bland Camry, Yawn… 5 years from now we will all be talking about what a joke the new Camry was when introduced last year and how its lack of presence destroyed peoples interests and how the consumer moved on to vehicles with stronger presence on the road and more excitement when driving. At the end of the day the Cruze can draw in the people wanting a cleaner looking car, this vehicle and the Impala will drive the Chevy design language and draw in the consumer wanting a more pronounced and refined vehicle. I think we will see the benefits of this vehicle on down the road as its strong road presence will be promoting the brand for years to come.

    Reply
  9. This car is ugly, really ugly. GM may want to get a styling lesson from Hyundai and Ford how to design cars. GM should concentrate on pick up trucks, although even there, Ford has it beat.

    Reply
    1. Trollin must be hard…

      Reply
  10. I just am having a hard time getting my head around the grille configuration. Almost looks like some designer tried too hard.

    Reply
    1. “Almost looks like some designer tried too hard.”

      Is there even such a thing? 😉

      Reply
  11. To me it looks pretty good, actually i like the tail lights ,and GM seems to have a lot of controversy with tail lights lately,not sure why, but does look like a Chevrolet, the lower grill should be a little larger and the wheels just look too small especially on the rear and cheapen the look a little, but all in all i like it.

    Reply
  12. I’m definately in favor of the new 2014 Malibu front end. It does resemble the proposed 2014 Chevrolet SS. Its the rear end that I’m not fond of. Doesn’t look like a Malibu, in fact it doesn’t look like a Chevrolet. But I’ll get used to it.

    Reply
  13. I just wonder how much of that grill isn’t really grill, as there’s got to be a bumper in there somewhere. Personally, I’ll be relieved when the big gigantic non-functional grill phase is over (and slicker/smaller/sportier and more sophisticated designs make a comeback). There’s nothing worse than getting up close to a car and discovering much of the grill is blocked off, IMO.

    I suspect the next Cruze front end is going to look a lot like this, too. Only the front will be more blunt. Yay.

    Reply
    1. I don’t see a problem here with this. Maybe historically, a bigger grille meant something… but with today’s advanced methods of getting air to go where it’s supposed to, a huge, prominent, gaping grille is an exercise in design rather than function. And when it comes to the 2014 Malibu, it looks great.

      Reply
      1. You are correct about the exercise in design. A modern car can be designed without a “grille”. Look at the Chevy Volt. The “grille” is covered, because the coolant radiator uses the air that flows under the bumper. Same with the 2014 Spark EV, which uses the same style as the Volt to cover the gas model grille spaces.

        Reply
        1. The Volt looks fantastic and is one of the best looking cars on the road today, IMO. Its grill works design-wise, for me at least, because you can’t tell from a distance that 1/4 or 1/3 of it is blocked–it’s really not even trying to be functional.

          Here are a couple examples of what I’m talking about, in case I’m not making myself clear:

          http://image.automotive.com/f/2013_chevrolet_sonic/40152052+w500/front-view.jpg

          http://inautomobile.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/2014-chevrolet-cruze-clean-turbo-diesel-01.jpg

          (If the above links aren’t alright with the site please delete them. I wouldn’t want to see them replaced with pics that don’t illustrate my point. Thanks)

          Reply
          1. Interesting… I’ve noticed but never really paid any attention to the blocked-off grilles.

            I’m still not convinced, but this could be similar to the time when a friend of mine who was really into HD televisions pointed out the flaws in my non-HD set by showing me a “true” HD picture. From that point forward, my eyes were always looking for the flaws in my standard-def system. Let’s see how I feel in a few weeks 😉

            Reply
      2. Well, some cars certainly look nice today, even with their gigantic grills, so I can’t say I completely disagree with that statement, but many cars today–like the Sonic, Cruze, and SS–don’t do a good job disguising their “fake” grill openings. In most cases, if you get them out in any kind of direct light you’ll see blocked off portions of these grills. IMHO, if automakers want to make grills huge and non-functional for design purposes, they ought to spend a little effort disguising it.

        As for the 2014 Malibu… I’m glad YOU like it. 🙂

        Reply
  14. I think she looks beautiful with 295 LBS FT of torque. That really brings out the color in her tail lights.

    Reply
  15. This Malibu refresh is very handsome. In fact, this entire update in general looks to be right where the Malibu ought to be. Although the tail lights were the only real exterior design flaw, which surprisingly GM didn’t bother to change. Nevertheless the bump in fuel economy, increased rear passenger space, higher torque rating and improved chassis are more than welcomed.

    But there’s one thing I don’t understand. Why do some FWD vehicles, including GM cars, have humps in the middle of the rear floor? Doesn’t that take away leg space for the middle passenger? My sister’s Sonata has a very low floor hump and it doesn’t affect the space at all.

    Reply
    1. Well, if you’re using a midsized sedan to carry five passengers, the comfort of the fifth will nearly always suffer, hump or not.

      What I don’t understand, though, is the reason behind calling the Bu’s rear end design “flawed”. How so, who says, and why? I love the quad taillamps of this generation.

      Reply
      1. I see. But what’s under the floor hump is what I’d like to know. Is it a provision for AWD or simply mechanical hardware, etc,?

        As for the tail lights, they don’t seem to flow well with the Malibu’s flowing, muscular aesthetics: they seem to cut off at the end which makes the side profile of the car look a bit awkward, in my opinion. Plus the design of the tai lamps look out of place. However, I do find the LED’s to be quite attractive. But I find the Chevy SS tail lamps to be a better overall fit for this car.

        Reply
  16. they didn’t bother to touch the interior or rear end BIG MISTAKE GM the 2013 front end looked great it didn’t need a refreshing and the ugly dash doesn’t look like it belongs in a 2013-14 model vehicle and the fusion and camry are ugly cars inside and out I don’t see the BIG idea why people are praising the fusion so much that car is ugly everywhere just like the camry,but the sonata,altima and mazda 6 all look good when you opt for a loaded one the base models look like crap to me the 2013 Malibu LTZ or high optioned LT I can live with it a little but the dash would bother me because i’ll have to look at it everytime im in the car,outside it itsnt too bad on the eyes from the side and front end I just hate how less enthusiasm was put into designing the interior and rear end

    Reply
  17. I keep seeing people wondering about “the face of Chevrolet”. What GM is trying to do here is make each model a brand instead of each model being branded as a Chevrolet. It’s one thing to say, “I own a Chevrolet” and it’s quite another to say, “I own an Impala” (especially if its a 2014 Impala). Doing this puts more emphasis on the model and models that are branded separately MUST be excellent.

    Audi began this “matryoshka” styling back several model cycles ago and began a revolution that every carmaker is copying now. Audi has recently announced they are moving away from this since many people cannot tell the difference between an A4, an A6, and an A8. In my opinion, Chevrolet is keeping in step with lead design by not having a particular face or grille shape. . the bowtie should be enough to identify it as a Chevrolet, as should the large bar across the grille.

    Just my .02.

    Reply

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