1998 Chevrolet Malibu
Summary:
Nice car - maintenance too high - too many factory induced design problems - built with cheap parts
Faults:
Replaced intake manifold gasket.
Replaced battery several times as well as brakes, but not more than normal for these items.
Struts make a noise at low speeds, but we tolerate it.
Had to have other sensors replaced - dealership maintenance rates VERY expensive.
General Comments:
Had the AC switch intermittent problem. AC would go off and on at will. Turned out it was the switch itself. I got under the dash and sprayed a switch contact cleaner into the switch and it works perfectly now. A dealership would probably want to replace a lot of parts when a simple squirt of cleaner into the AC switch was all it needed.
Now my ABS light is coming on. Probably just needs cleaning but not sure I want to tackle that job myself. Will be over $400 for the dealership to fix it so they told me.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 16th January, 2009
12th Feb 2009, 20:05
If you paid 900 dollars or 700 dollars to get either the starter or alternator replaced, then you got screwed. Both of those parts on this car are fairly easy to get to, and Chevy parts are no means that expensive.
You didn't mention anything in here about preventative maintenance you did to it. Engines just don't fail at 70k for no reason. Maybe something was going wrong for a while and you just brushed it off and said "I'll get to that next time".