Taste test: McCamry or McMalibu?

Posted by hpayne on March 6, 2014

Toyota’s midsize Camry is the reigning segment leader but the Chevy Malibu has had an extreme makeover for 2014. (Toyota and GM)

When I think midsize sedans, I think fast-food hamburgers.

The burger is America’s meal. From state to state, the humble patty is never flashy, always decent. It comes in different styles – McDonald’s round, Wendy’s square, Burger King’s flame-broiled, Hardee’s jumbo — and it’s always cooked, tasty and safe. Get it wrong — remember Jack in the Box’s undercooked patties E. coli crisis in the 1990s — and your brand will fall faster than January temps in Escanaba. The same holds for America’s midsize car market.

More sedans are sold in this segment than any other, and every major automaker wants a piece.

Cost of entry: All must deliver a reliable, no-fuss product. Busy Mrs. Soccer Mom is in no mood for surprises. Ford lost my wife in the 1990s after two Taurus models and too many repair shop visits. Toyota’s midsize Camry burger is the reigning segment leader — call it McCamry — delivering a product that satisfies most tastes with less hassle. Toyota (with Asian brethren, Honda and Nissan) stole the segment’s top spot after years of unreliability from Detroit manufacturers.

Now, the Detroit Three are on the comeback trial, with Ford’s flavorful Fusion winning raves and Chrysler tickling taste buds with this year’s much-anticipated 200. But the car most like the Camry is Chevy’s Malibu. If the Fusion aims for a richer taste — think char-grilled beef — the Chevy competes with the Toyota with the same, nothing-fancy formula.

How is the GM product doing? I conducted a taste test: McCamry vs. McMalibu.

Reliability

Reliability is the coin of the midsize realm.

Back in the Dark Ages — circa 1990 to 2000 A.D. — Detroit automakers could compete with the Japanese only by undercutting them in price. Quality was that bad. At century’s turn, the Chevy Malibu tallied a distant 65 score (on a scale of 1-100) in Consumer Reports’ testcompared to Camry’s 78 and Honda Accord’s 79. That it outscored sibling class clowns Impala (39) and Saturn (38), and the slothful Ford Taurus (51), was small consolation.

So GM hit the books and the results have been dramatic.

“The 2014 Malibu is catching up quickly,” says Jake Fisher, director of auto testing for Consumer Reports, after it scored an 84 compared to Toyota’s 88 (the Honda Accord still wins class brain at 90).

Like Cadillac — which earned my Car of the Year vote for its more-German-than-the-Germans, third-generation CTS — Chevy has committed to putting in the long hours to catch up. When its mid-cycle 2013 refresh failed to impress customers, Malibu went back to the plastic surgeon, emerging with a face-lift just months after launch.

“The turning point for Malibu came when they didn’t have to sell cars at tens of thousands less than their Japanese competition. That has changed,” Fisher says.

Indeed, the $29,900 Malibu 2LT I drove is more expensive than a similarly equipped $28,000 Camry SE.

“Malibu is right there at this point,” Fisher adds. “There are just a couple of things holding them back.” Those couple of things are significant for the much-improved Chevy — after all, you have to knock out the champion to get noticed, not just extend him to the 15th round.

Exterior

Beauty has never been a strong suit in the Chevy family, but in a segment where average looks have been the norm that never seemed important. Times have changed.

Cars such as the Ford Fusion, Mazda6 and Hyundai Sonata have raised the bar, and the homely Camry and Malibu look dated. When you’re blessed with the Camry’s quality reputation, you can afford to be complacent. Not so the Malibu.

No. 2 must try harder. Give Chevy credit for the 2014 model’s Extreme Makeover. But the Chevy SS-esque face is hardly a head turner. I blame the brand’s split-grille theme which looks bold on big pickups and aggressive on wee Sparks. But on well-proportioned four-doors like Cruze and Malibu sedans it looks odd. Two grille openings is one too many — like your six-year-old put too many mouths on Mr. Potatohead.

Why should the Chevy Impala get all the good looks in the family? Give ’Bu big brother’s handsome smile to match its new, family-themed tail lamps (courtesy of sexy siblings Camaro and ’Vette).

Then buyers might slip inside where Chevy has the details right.

Interior

Open the Camry and Malibu doors, and it’s hard to distinguish between the two. Both are handsomely wrapped in dark plastic with premium trim, and the interiors are comfortably equipped. Everything is market tested: Comfy seats, good backseat legroom, clear instrumentation, cup holders, and USB ports where you need them. Feels like home.

Get comfortable, however, and Chevy’s details win you over. Begin with the center console, one of the best in the business. Organized on one sloped plane, the flush buttons and large knobs are intuitive, complementing the MyLink touch screen. “Knobs still matter,” says Mark Meyer, Malibu group leader. That’s a telling comment from an engineer whose colleagues at Cadillac have ditched knobs in their CUE system much to the confusion of customers.

The Malibu’s shifter beats McCamry’s clunky gates and its interior is library quiet, the product of body panel insulation and double-laminated windows. In an age when federal mpg nannies are forcing manufacturers to adopt inherently rougher 4-cylinder engines, such measures are welcome.

But my favorite Malibu detail is the windshield washers.

In most cars, including McCamry, nozzles dump their fluid in puddles in the middle of the screen and then expect the wipers to distribute the cleaner via multiple sweeps. Not the Malibu. Toggle the steering stalk (did I mention the stalks are crisp as an Audi? Another nice detail) and the washer team spits a fine mist across the entire windshield, necessitating just one wipe (maybe two) from the blades to finish the job. That’s teamwork. And much appreciated in a Detroit winter in which I’ve gone through gallons of fluid to stave off a muck assault from platoons of interstate-plying semis.

Performance

Malibu handling — though shy of the Mazda-Ford segment leaders — bests the Camry. Give particular credit to the Chevy’s mature stability control in icy conditions. Both vehicles come with peppy, fuel-efficient 2.5 liter engines. This is where the Malibu’s attention to detail again pays dividends. With engine stop-start technology standard, the heavier and more powerful Malibu still bested the Camry in EPA mpg rating, 29 to 28.

Safety systems in both cars are superb. Example: Leaving downtown on a hazy, darkened Lodge one night, a tail-lightless car limped along in the center lane. Without the Malibu’s collision alert system – FWEEEE! went the flashing red light on my dash – I might have rammed it.

In sum, objects in Toyota’s rear view mirror are closer than they appear. Chevy has caught up. Score some outright wins in the looks and quality — best-in-class windshield wipers aren’t enough — and McMalibu can be the new standard.

2014 Chevy Malibu

Vehicle type: Front-engine, front-wheel-drive, five-passenger sedan
Price: $25,215 base ($29,900 as tested)
Power plant: Ecotec 2.5-liter direct-injection four-cylinder engine
Power: 196 horsepower, 186 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mpg, 7.9 seconds (Car & Driver); 128 mph top speed
Weight: 3,532 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA 25 mpg city/36 mpg highway/29 mpg combined
Highs: Intuitive interior controls; love those wiper jets
Lows: Still playing catch-up in quality; Plain Jane styling
Overall:★★★

2014 Toyota Camry

Vehicle type: Front-engine, front-wheel-drive, five-passenger sedan
Price: $24,550 base ($28,038 with options)
Power plant: 2.5-liter twin-cam four-cylinder engine
Power: 178 horsepower, 170 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mpg, 8.1 seconds (Motor Trend); 117 mph top speed
Weight: 3,275 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA 25 mpg city/35 mpg highway/28 mpg combined
Highs: Runs like clockwork; spacious interior
Lows: Plain Jane styling; Clunky shifter
Overall:★★★

 

 

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