I've been to Malibu and it's a really cool place right on the beach north of LA it's a spot where you find plenty of rich and famous people and plenty of fancy cars, so when the team at Turners Cars called to say we would love you to do a review on a Malibu I thought I immediately thought California beach time!
Now this might be a long bow to join as this is a Holden made by Daewoo in Korea (South Korea) for Holden to compete with the likes of the Toyota Camry, but I figured if they are going to name a car after such an iconic place in the USA then it must be something worth taking for a spin!
Now Holden didn't really have a lot of success with this car in NZ or Australia and it's quite hard to work out why. Our test car was packed with all the latest features some of which you wouldn't find on some very expensive euros.
Push button start, bluetooth, and Navigation all standard features just to name a few.
The Interior actually has quite a European feel to it and the seats are comfortable and supportive with easily enough room for 5 adults.
With our test car we replaced the 16inch standard tyres and wheels with a new set of 20 inch wheels and tyres. Now I might be a little bias here but it transformed the look and the handling of the car. After driving it on the standard wheels the new 20s just enhanced the handling no end. Better braking and cornering we noticeable off the bat and then the overall look of the car was enhanced.
The engine is surprisingly peppy for a 2.4 litre with around 125kw on tap, now it's no HSV Clubsport but then again at around $17000 for a used one it doesn't have a price to match.
Some people might think this is a Commodore and it does resemble this to an extent but the Malibu is its own show, and a very cost effective one at that.Overall these are really good value for money used cars. If you put a set of new wheels on one they start to look a lot more like their big brother the Commodore.
I suggest you get down and see the team at Turners Cars and take one for a test drive I think you will be surprised.
