2.2l Ecotec 2007 Malibu

[The Critic]

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Actually people are rushing out to buy those cars, well the cobalt and impala. I work in the plant that builds the impala and our 3rd shift was just recently saved because of extremely strong impala sales.

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Shoot, I wonder where those cars are going...Enterprise?

No offense meant, but I see a NEW Cobalt/Malibu/Impala on the road (with dealer plates) about once a season...if not less often here in Northern California. I wonder who's buying these cars, but they certainly aren't flying off the lots around here...

 

[Warlord]

Thats odd, I see them everywhere, and not just at work. I don't mean to turn this into a gm sales thread though. I'll shut up.

 

[The Critic]

You're right, they are everywhere. Isn't the Impala still in the Top 5 nationwide? I just always wonder where these cars are...I see a ton of them in rental fleets, but thereafter, they just disappear...they must go somewhere.

I'm guessing that they sell fairly well in Canada and Detroit regions, perhaps also in the South and Midwest.

Don't get me wrong, Warlord, the Cobalt/Malibu/Impalas are decent cars, especially when they're a year old. But to me, I can't justify their purchase when new due to the rapid depreciation (and nearly impossible to resell later), lack of the "cool" factor ;-) , plus the fact that it's just an "average" car in its class...

 

[chromatin]

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Actually people are rushing out to buy those cars, well the cobalt and impala. I work in the plant that builds the impala and our 3rd shift was just recently saved because of extremely strong impala sales.

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Shoot, I wonder where those cars are going...Enterprise?

No offense meant, but I see a NEW Cobalt/Malibu/Impala on the road (with dealer plates) about once a season...if not less often here in Northern California. I wonder who's buying these cars, but they certainly aren't flying off the lots around here...

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Well, because that's N CA. No offence. That's the place which is highly obsessed by imports.

 

[The Critic]

We do have plenty of F150s/Silverados/Tahoes around here though, don't get me wrong. It's just that the GM/Ford family sedans don't sell well, or at all. If I do see them, the very few "near new" ones, they are driven in the lower income parts of town for some reason.

There are the cars I see in my middle to upper middle-class neighborhood in south Sacramento on a daily basis:

Sienna
Odyssey
Camry 4-cyl
Accord 4-cyl
Civic
Corolla
RX330 (lots)
MDX (not as many now)
TL
tC
Tahoe
Silverado
F150
F250/Ram2500

That's about it...

 

[The Critic]

Come to think about it, most shops around here don't even stock the oil filter for a GM 2.2L Ecotec. I've yet to see one at the local Kragen's/AutoZone or Walmart. That's how rare the GM 2.2L is around here.

 

[chromatin]

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We do have plenty of F150s/Silverados/Tahoes around here though, don't get me wrong. It's just that the GM/Ford family sedans don't sell well, or at all. If I do see them, the very few "near new" ones, they are driven in the lower income parts of town for some reason.

There are the cars I see in my middle to upper middle-class neighborhood in south Sacramento on a daily basis:

Sienna
Odyssey
Camry 4-cyl
Accord 4-cyl
Civic
Corolla
RX330 (lots)
MDX (not as many now)
TL
tC
Tahoe
Silverado
F150
F250/Ram2500

That's about it...

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True. But N CA is an area with big Asian population. Asian love Japanese imports. If they are richer, they drive German imports. That contributes a lot to what you observe, I believe. And of course it has big Mexican population too and they love Japanese. But they may not contribute to as many new cars, I guess.

If you go to any Asian or Mexican Store anywhere in this country, go luck finding >10% of non-Japanese cars in the lots.

 

[The Critic]

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True. But N CA is an area with big Asian population. Asian love Japanese imports. If they are richer, they drive German imports. That contributes a lot to what you observe, I believe. And of course it has big Mexican population too and they love Japanese. But they may not contribute to as many new cars, I guess. If you go to any Asian or Mexican Store anywhere in this country, go luck finding >10% of non-Japanese cars in the lots.

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Not entirely true, at least from what I observe. Even the richer Asians prefer the luxury Japanese Imports over the German equivalents. The German cars around here are driven by White Americans. Yes, I do see an occasional Asian yuppie in a BMW, but rarely.

Actually, the Mexican and African population are the racial groups that purchase the most domestic vehicles, in particular, family sedans. 9 out of 10 GM/Ford family sedans I see out on the road here, if any, new or near-new, are driven by one of Mexican or African ethnicity. If there's a new domestic family sedan on the road, of all the ones I see, they are almost always driven by a Mexican or African American.

If someone could explain why such is the case, I'd be dying to know.

 

[CharBaby]

I recently drove a 06 Colbalt with the Ecotec 140 hp and thought is was a wonderful drivetrain but I hated the rest of the car. Too many pinch points in the seats and the view outward in all directions was terrable. Then I drove an 06 Mazda 3 w/ 2.0 140 hp(my personal fav) and an 06 Honda Civic EX w/ 140 hp(2nd to the Mazda) and I thought the Ecotec was as nice of a drivetrain with an automatic tranny as the others. Drivetrain felt good and strong too with a healthy sound. And Im not a fan of demestic 4 cylinders! All 3 cars were rated for a 140 hp but the Ecotec being a bit larger felt the strongest by far. Just as smooth too! Nice job GM powertrain team! Now just get the rest of the car right! Good trunk and stereo though!

 

[brianl703]

Last night I got about 38MPG on my Saab93 driving at 55-60MPH and slowing to 40, 35, and 25 for the small towns.

Prior to that trip I put 87 in it just to see how it would work (the manual recommends 89 for "best performance" but suggests that 87 is OK to use).

I couldn't tell any difference.

 

[carock]

I had a 96 Saab 900S with the 2.3L no turbo engine. I got 24.3 MPG overall during my 129,000 miles with the car.
Californians tend to buy cars that are easy to "place" on the roads. I once took a GM engineer friend of mine on some mountain roads with big drop offs. He said"now I know why you always emphasize handling!"....He had never been on such roads. Our freeways can get a little dicey at night when running 85mph along side a concrete wall too....

 

[brianl703]

Same here, we do not have the "graph paper" roads found west of Pennsylvania. Some places out there look literally like a sheet of graph paper on a map.

There's one road with a 15MPH curve on it that people tend to take too fast which connects to I95, one day I saw a wreck there when I was going TO I95 and when I came back the other way, I saw ANOTHER wreck there.

 

[OriginHacker21]

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that, along with many other things in that essay are probably made up

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I tried to be as truthful as possible. It is easy to make the above statement - so back it up with some facts of your own to disprove me. Otherwise, your post is unwarranted. I'm not an expert so several things may have been off - such as the weight. I was wrong about the weight. With the auto tranny it is 2771 lbs. With the manual it has to be a wee bit lighter.

The car and engine are cheap components of GM so they won't compare to a BMW or a nice car worth its $$$. In my critical opinion GM's build quality is low. The ecotec engine feels sluggish with an automatic transmission and sounds like it is dying near redline. But what do you get for a $9,000 car? As for fuel mileage - I think it really excells on highway only trips.

 

[JTK]

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Thats odd, I see them everywhere, and not just at work...

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Same here warlord. We do have a bit of GM employment in the area so I'm sure that plays into it. Either way, I'm happy GM is around and more than happy to own/drive them! That 'West Coast' can float away as far as I am concerned!

(I'm joking!!)

Joel

 

[06RANGER]

So is the base 2.2l Ecotec only offerred in the Malibu, Colbalt, and Ion?

 

[brianl703]

http://www.gmpowertrain.com probably has a 2007 engine guide listing what the 2.2L comes in. They did for 2004, 2005, and 2006..

 

[brianl703]

http://media.gm.com/us/powertrain/en/product_services/2007/07car.htm

 

[PF52]

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No offense meant, but I see a NEW Cobalt/Malibu/Impala on the road (with dealer plates) about once a season...if not less often here in Northern California. I wonder who's buying these cars, but they certainly aren't flying off the lots around here...

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Seeing my new Cobalt the other day, a co-worker commented he's been seeing a lot of them around lately. So as an experiment, I counted the Cobalts I saw driving, while on a trip from our office here in the Chicago suburbs, to a jobsite we have on Chicago's north side. I saw 68 of them. That's just the number of Cobalts I saw pass me on the road; I wasn't scanning the parking lots or anything like that.

I'd say they are doing well around here.

I'll agree about California, though. Every time I've been there, the domestic cars are conspicuous by their scarcity.

 

[brianl703]

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So as an experiment, I counted the Cobalts I saw driving, while on a trip from our office here in the Chicago suburbs, to a jobsite we have on Chicago's north side. I saw 68 of them.

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That's flyover country, it doesn't count!

 

[06RANGER]

Base powerplant in the redesigned 2008 Malibu will be the 2.4l Ecotec.

Does it deliver the same kind of economy and performance as the 2.2l?