Got the Kia in the shop right now to get some things fixed up since i'm keeping it for the long haul and I've been handed the keys to this guy:
It's a Malibu Maxx LS V6 of unknown vintage and honestly after a weekend of driving it, it made me realize that this was literally the American take on the Vauxhall Signum that was based on the same Epsilon platform. - re-watched clarkson's review and gotta say, like the Signum, the Maxx is great for people in the back, absolutely meh for people up front.
Because Americans were deathly allergic to hatchbacks in 2004 (and now merely just mildly uncomfortable with them) Chevy's marketing boffins had the idea to market this as a "extended sedan" but come on, weird vestigial decklid aside, this is a hatch and, at least by appearances will do the hatchy things well:
I fit both a target run and cardboard that was going to the recycling center back here and it fit well. One oddity I had was with the logic behind the hatch release button inside the car - I couldn't get it to work when i stopped at Target but then when I parked it down the street to try it it worked. I thought i figured it out only to be surprised when it worked later. I've had no trouble since then so *shrug*
Working our way further up to the rear seat and this is where the magic of the Malibu Maxx is:
Back here is a sliding and reclining rear seat with seemingly acres of legroom. Also like the Signum, you could get a DVD player back here with RCA hookups for game consoles. This guy seats 5 even with the DVD player because it was built into the rear of the center console. The entry level LS spec car I was given access to lacks this feature.
But what it does have are two individual non opening sunroofs:
Honestly this is baffling and lends further credence that this car was developed with a "back seat first" mindset because nope....the front seat doesn't have a sunroof at all.
Speaking of the front seats, let's talk about life up front:
The door trims are a sea of gray vinyl wrapped plastic with a splash of cloth. the entire dash is a slab of dull, uninspired, cheap looking gray soft touch plastic.:
I forgot that silver trim was the "piano black" of the 2000's:
GM called this vintage Malibu "the most driver adjustable car in it's class" with the presence of a standard power height adjuster on the driver's seat, power adjustable pedals, and a telescoping steering wheel. Honestly I'm not exactly a outlier when it comes to dimensions so I fit fine - the power pedals were a cool party trick.
I will say that I was pleasantly surprised with how decently screwed together this ultra high mileage (200+k) example was. Aside from a center console lid who's latch had left the chat probably a decade ago, the rest of the interior was free of things falling off or broken. Don't get me wrong, there's enough cheap ill fitting shit in here to render moot any of GM's "premium midsize" intentions: for every nice feeling woven headliner, there's things like door tweeters that, at first glance, look like capped manual mirror controls but nope..they're speakers. But for 200k miles, again. It's held up.
Moving our way forward of the firewall, how does this oddball hatchback drive? Well given how backseat focused this thing is, the driving stuff is predictably pretty meh and straightforward.
Power - It's easily the fastest yet slowest car I've ever driven. I'll try to explain...it's a V6 model so that means a 3.5L OHV V6 with 201 horsepower. A J35 or VQ35DE this is not - is it creamy refined even for a pushrod engine? Yes. But between the 4 speed auto and the lazy throttle calibration I had to floor it to get onto the highway - I wasn't able to squeeze my way into the flow of highway traffic not once but twice. Around town it's fine, if a bit slow to take off until you get accustomed to the throttle tuning.
Steering - duller than dishwater, zero feel due to one of the earlier applications of EPS. Easy to park and turn. This is meh steering, you're not going to get joy from it.
Ride - very isolating. It doesn't float like a buick nor does it lean overly much in turns but it doesn't jar your teeth out over bumps. Better than my car on the same routes by a country mile.
Braking - She goes and stops.
So yeah, the Malibu Maxx. It's a practical hatchback but sparks no emotional joy for the driver. If you were picked up in one for a Uber though, you'd be fine, plenty of room for your shit and your luggage for the run to/from the airport. Plus you'll get to enjoy the stars at night unlike the driver.
EDIT: I completely forgot the radio! In a (i assume) cost saving move, the trip computer functions are NOT in the instrument cluster or even in a separate pod in the dashboard or in a overhead console. No it's in the radio:
As you can see though, it's near impossible to see during the day.
Honestly I don't like this - there's eyes off the road time with having the display in the radio. That and between trip computer functions, outside temp, radio station names/song titles/artist names (GM was big on adopting the Radio Data System standard) it's a cluttered display at times.