The 2016 Chevrolet Malibu is a fine vehicle. We were pleasantly surprised when we drove both the gasoline-powered Malibu, and the hybrid variant.
But Edmunds decided to take it a step further, comparing the 2016 Malibu Hybrid to the 2016 Chevrolet Volt. Essentially, the Malibu Hybrid acts like a Volt without a battery charge. The Malibu Hybrid works by regenerative braking and the engine charging the mild hybrid system. As Edmunds notes, it’s like a Volt minus the plug.
This makes for torque-filled acceleration, and a pretty smooth transition to gasoline power should the engine kick in to help. And it’s roomier than a Volt, too.
Is it really valid to compare the two? Not really, they’re very different cars. But we get the gist of it, and 40 mpg from a midsize sedan is more than respectable. It’s good to see GM building not only great trucks, but great cars again.
Comments
The Volt has a really cramped awkward backseat.
Finally got to sit in a Malibu. The salesman was stunned when he opened the driver’s door and I instead got into the backseat. This was easier to get in and out of, roomier. Kinda a pass/fail for the remainder of the car — and it passed.
An excellent Malibu Hybrid does not an obsolete Volt make. However, could an excellent Malibu Hybrid along with the new Bolt make it obsolete?
Until battery range is comparable to fossil fuel ranges, electric cars are nothing more than expensive political statements. If one if truly concerned with traveling as far as possible on the least amount of fuel, diesel or hybrid is where it’says at.
As much as I like Teslas and Volts, they do not make sense as real transportaion. And they definitely don’t make sense when it comes to reducing carbon emissions – at least not till our electric grid is derived primarily from Nuclear power. But that’s a whole other ball of wax.
Well the EV has a place but they are not for everyone yet.
Until they are cheaper and are not lifestyle changing they will have a grip on the average buyer.
Charging times need to come down. Prices need to come down Ranges need to increase and availability to charge in more places easily in the time that it takes to fill a tank of gas are key.
You don’t get it, do you? I’ve had my Volt for over 4 years and used only 10% of the fuel i used to use on my previous gaz cars and go anywhere, anytime and as fast as i did when using last century’s technology of propelling a car with explosions. that’s a fact that makes real sense to me, and my wallet.
When was the last time you drove your car from full to empty? Bet you can’t remember!
Once you’ve driven 200 miles to 250 miles, your legs and ass are praying for you to take a break. And while you take that 30 minute break, you charge your car for another 3 hours and so on. What’s wrong with this plan?
Is there place for improvement? Of course, energy density will improve fast enough so that a Volt will probably be obsolete in 5 to 6 years.
Anybody who says diesel and paralel hybrids (the Volt is serial hybrid, not the same) is the way to go should severly reevaluate his game plan. Even Volkswagen is dropping diesel in favor of EVs!
40% of the US electricity comes from coal, not ideal, i agree but coal power plants are way more efficient than your gas car so even driving an EV powered by coal is twice as efficient as your gas car.
Foolish comments shows you never even sat in an EV and push the Go pedal cause the day you do, you will wish for a time machine to go back and erase those same foolish comments.
I may seem a bit harsh but if you’re not willing to reconsider your outdated point of view, please, PLEASE, try to validate your point by convincing me that, in 2016, it still makes sense to propel your car with fire and explosions…
good luck!
The Volt is a good compromise for the owner that wants a EV but does not want to own two cars.
The Hybrid is a good car for those who do not have the ability to plug in.
The EV is the perfect car for those who want to run around town and have a place to plug in every night and price is not an issue.
These all will evolve and change. New technology could make any one of them obsolete at any time but till then all need to be invested in.
We do have issues with the power grid as it has not been keeping up. As the number of cars grow there will need to be expansion of the power grid.
Water is limited, Coal is being made illegal, a lot of the crazy plans like burning garbage etc never worked out. Nukes are not being built and the fact is wind and sun is not going to be enough alone.
We need someone in the government to wake up and plan to increase electricity not just for cars but for all the electronics we have moving forward. Demands will only increase over time.
Power grid issues can be dealth with Thorium nuclear power plants that could use spent fuel cells that we now bury in salt. Reasearch in them have been left aside in favor of Uranium power plants because of the need for weaponization, a side product of Uranium power plants. but more and more countrys are waking up, US included, and renewed interest is gaining speed.
Refining petrol uses gigantic amounts of electricity. The shift to electric mobility does not have the impact you might think as electric vehicules are 90% efficient compared to 20% efficiency in the best case scenario for a gas car so driving on dinosaure juice is a highly innefficient way of using energy.
Solar will play a big role in our energy demand. It is actually suprising how little land is needed to supply 100% of our energy needs thru solar.
All our service trucks, from UPS trucks to garbage trucks can be electric with little investments as we can already see many citys replacing old public buses with new electric ones.
The shift is happening, slower than i would expect, but it is happening.
May the best technology win! I know i already win and in a few months, my Volt will be paid for and my cost of driving will be under 2 cents per mile from then on. Thank you GM! Next one is a Tesla, it’s writen in the sky…
The point is they could but they fact is they are not.
As for Solar it is limited. If it would do it all today we would already be doing it.
As for wind it takes large and I mean very large wind farms that at neither cheap or welcomed by most people.
All the could and woulds matter little as Oil and Gas is still the cheapest thing going and is not going to run out in the near future as some like to lie about.
The other lie is about funding terror. We avoid much of that as very little oil comes here from the middle east. Only a few states use it on the east coast. Last I saw around 4-5.
Most oil comes from here Canada and Mexico. More would come from here is the present President would approve the pipeline.
What we do not buy in the middle east mostly goes to Europe, Russia and China. They will continue to buy it no matter what.
Now I still believe we should still continue to support the growth of EV cars as we are to help advance them and lower the cost to make them a reasonable alternative as that is not going to happen over night on it’s own.
But the truth is it is really just an options and will remain one only advancing as technology improves and investment continues. You can not set a time table on that.
Note too much of your changes like City buses are all being done too by means of government spending that is not always cheap or efficient. We have already seen here city buses of several types and they all were expensive and not always practical. Not to mention few people ride them here. They are propane now and have been for a while.
I do not disagree with you on where this is going but I do disagree with some of the realities and expectations of time and cost. The only way major changes will happen is if they do as they are trying in Europe and ban gas powered cars. In a country like ours that would be about as easy as banning guns. So I do not see it happening soon.
The biggest lie in the world is Green Energy is cheap and able to take the place of what we have now. It is a line from those making products for it and trying to sell it. Some of it can and will change things others it is just a bill of sale. Some folks just do not want to let the market sell itself and lie.
“As for Solar it is limited. If it would do it all today we would already be doing it.”
That’s like saying if LED lights could dramatically reduce energy consumption we’d be %100 LED at this point.
Fully agree with John’s comment.
scott3 said: ”All the could and woulds matter little as Oil and Gas is still the cheapest thing going and is not going to run out in the near future as some like to lie about.”
You may be forgeting all the hundres of billions in subsidies oil producers are getting worldwide? that’s why your gas is cheap!
Burning fuel comes with health and environment costs, especially in cities. And that cost is on top of subsidies we already pay for.
Gas is not cheap, that’s an illusion.
You’ll notice i never mentioned wind farms, for a good reason. They are still mechanical and make noise, solar does not.
There is no need to ban anything, The best technology will win, and that’s electric propulsion, not explosions.
EV offering is slim, i agree. That’s the consumer’s fault because they don’t know the technology exist and seldom go to a GM dealer to ask for a rechargable car, they go in asking for an SUV and guess what?, that’s what GM sells them.
GM should use the Voltec system in every car they make, and they will eventually but they are in no hurry. They don’t want to shoot themselves in the foot as they make most of their money from parts and oil changes and normal maintenance. EVs need much, much less.
You say EVs are too expensive.
In my case, if i had bought, over 4 years ago, a Cruze instead of a Volt, i would be forking out more money for my cruze than i am for my Volt at this point in time. I made the right choice in my case.
Laws are being written for people living in apartments to get access for chargers. Here in Quebec, it is now required to install outlets for electric cars in all new houses or building constructions.
For anyone reding this, i cannot stress enough how much EVs are superior to ICE cars. It’s like comparing a rotary phone to a smartphone. The torque is out of this world. And until you have experienced one, you have no idea what you are talking about. 95% of people who bought an EV will not go back to an ICE car, ever! Over 500,000 EVs sold in the US and Canada, we can’t all be wrong.
Try one, with an open mind, i dare you not to grin while pressing the GO pedal! You will never be the same person and the way you view cars will be forever deeply changed.
And my Volt is the coolest of all. I don’t even have to plug it in. I have a Plugless System.
Look closely at my avatar. 🙂
Thanks, Scott.
I see way too many comments that only apply to the commenter’s situation.
* Some people live in the countryside.
* Some people live in the city.
* Some people live in apartments.
* Some people live in houses.
* Some people actually want to subsidise the future of transportation. (the future they want to see)
* Not everyone’s electric power comes from coal/natgas plants.
What makes sense for one person may not make a lot of sense for someone else.
“Anybody who says diesel and paralel hybrids (the Volt is serial hybrid, not the same) is the way to go should severly reevaluate his game plan.”
Anybody who believes a nuclear grid is our future hasn’t been taking notes.
Agreed John. Thorium plant would reuses the spent fuel cells already burried that Uranium plants already discarded and produce very little waste and are not nearly as dangerous as Uranium plants. We should have enough spent fuel cells to last many, many years.
I’m a much bigger fan of solar as no mechanicals are needed. It’s like digital energy compared to windmills that are still mechanical or analog energy, they makes noises for people living nearby. Not a fan at all of that technology (pun intended!)
A litlle research on Thorium plants will reveal why we decided to go with Uranuim instead of Thorium.
I think coal is even less than 40% down into the thirties since gas took on more of a role as well as renewables.
Not sure what you mean by, “they do not make sense as real transportation”. My volt has an electric range of 35-45 miles before it needs charging and the gas generator brings the range up to nearly 400 miles. I do 95% of my driving without having to have the gas generator go on. But if I want to go more than my normal commute, I can go cross country and still get about 45 mpg. I love my Volt.
The Volt *is* a hybrid dummy. So are hybrids a good solution or not? ? You seem to have trouble getting your script straight.
P.S. electric cars already reduce carbon emissions.
There are serial hybrids (Volt) and parallel hybrids (Prius). Huge difference. Volts can go months without using gas, not so with the Prius.
I know. I own a 2014 Volt. I was just calling the oil company shill out for the obvious confusion of talking points.
AND YOU ARE A BULLSHIT!
Huh? NOT just a political statement.
95% of the time I drive less than 40 miles in a day so I drive around on electricity only – charged at home where I also have solar panels providing almost all of my electricity.
I have driven the Volt from Sacramento to Las Vegas and Southern California on gas….
So, it’s a great mix of electric with gasoline backup….I can save by using electricity and when necessary I can drive as far as I want…
The Malibu is indeed an excellent Hybrid, however the author is completely incorrect in stating that it is a “Mild Hybrid”. It is a full hybrid, the previous generation was a “mild” system. Completely different layout and technology.
If the site holds itself out as an “authority” please ensure accuracy of the information.
The author of this article is a moron and obviously have never driven the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid as the car is not a mild hybrid as the 2016 Chevy Malibu can be driven in battery mode for extended distances at near freeway speeds which is something a mild-hybrid vehicle cannot do; but the biggest difference between the Malibu Hybrid and the Volt is that if a person’s daily commute is under 43 miles, the individual would not need to use a single drop of gasoline whereas the Malibu Hybrid will use near a gallon of gas traveling the same 43 miles.
The Bu is a really good product.
The Hybrid and Volt are two cars targeting similar but different buyers. I do not put one over the other and just glad they are both Chevys.
An EV is not for everyone nor is a Volt or hybrid. That is why they all are needed and as technology improves the strongest will survive.
It would be helpful and considerate if you provided the link to the Edmunds artcle here.