Having received a fairly substantial refresh for the 2014 model year, Chevy is giving its bread-and-butter Malibu midsize sedan a few changes for the 2015 model year.
The updates for the 2015 Malibu start with the deletion of the LT Crystal Red Premium Package, 16″ allow wheels, 5-spoke aluminum wheels, and two colors — Crystal Red Tintcoat and White Diamond Tricoat.
New features consist of OnStar Generation 10 hardware with 4G LTE and Wi-Fi hotspot capability, 5-spoke painted aluminum wheels, and Iridescent Pearl Tricoat exterior. Rounding out the changes are manual child door locks that replace electronic child door locks (to which we shake our head in disapproval).
Find the full list of RPO-level changes below.
Deletions
- (GBE) Crystal Red Tintcoat exterior color
- (GBN) White Diamond Tricoat exterior color
- (PDY) LT Crystal Red Premium Package
- (QW0) 16″ alloy wheels
- (R1U) 5-spoke aluminum wheels
New Features
- (G1W) Iridescent Pearl Tricoat exterior color
- (VV4) OnStar Gen 10 with 4G and Wi-Fi hotspot capability
- (R28) 5-spoke painted aluminum wheels
Changes
- Manual child door lock replaces electronic child door lock
Comments
There’s also Sable Metallic as a premium color option. Why the heck did they switch to manual child locks? The electronic ones are so much more convenient and class-leading. The LS and LT rims need to be replaced because they are way too ugly. Blue Velvet, Red Rock, and Rainforest Green should also be offered. The +/- rocker switch should be changed to a slapstick type lever. Intake Variable Valve Lift and Variable Torque Management should be added to the 2.0t I4 for better efficiency and responsiveness. My 2014 has been great so far so I am not complaining whatsoever, but nothing is perfect.
Iridescent Pearl White Tricoat the new GM will definitely be white as snow and not be so yellow as to the Diamond Tricoat.
I’m surprised Crystal Red Chevrolet canceling thought it was a flagship Color brand.
Sable and Autumn Bronze take to get a bit more.
Important changes to hopefully help better sell the magnificent Malibu. It is necessary that the marking covers the widest range of colors to suit the tastes of customers.
I highly doubt any of these changes will be a deal-breaker for anybody out shopping for a mid-sized family sedan. But…I suppose the “research team” did their homework. After all they were the ones that figured out that Malibu customers can’t figure out which cup holder was for driver and passenger if the cupholders were not placed side-by-side. Accord, Camry, 6, Altima, and Sonata drivers and passengers seem to be sipping on each other’s drinks because all of them have cupholders that are one-in-front-the-other. GM just needs to fix this car once and for all and stop nibbling away at it with useless changes.
The seats are side-by-side. The cup houlders should be side-by-side. Unless you are on a bike.
The driver is the one in charge of things, they get the front one, easy enough. BFD