1968 Chevrolet Chevelle on 2040-cars

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2016 Chevy Malibu gets premium looks, hybrid model

The Chevrolet Malibu was once an automotive icon, but its modern reputation is one for underachievement. A new 2016 model seeks to restore the storied nameplate with improved styling, more interior room and a new hybrid version. It debuts Wednesday at the New York Auto Show. Put simply, "the goal was to put Chevrolet back in the midsize car segment," said John Cafaro, the brand's executive director of car design. In a crowded arena with 2.2 million sales up for grabs annually, Chevy has not been a player. Last year, the brand sold 188,519 Malibus, a six-percent decline from 2013, and fewer than half the number of Toyota Camrys and Honda Accords sold. Despite awards from J.D. Power and Associates and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Chevy knew the Malibu needed a big change. New Skin, Lighter Bones The redesign has been in the works for at least three years. Although the Malibu is still based on GM's Epsilon 2 platform, the underpinnings are more derivative of the Impala than the outgoing model. The body structure makes greater use of high-strength steel, which helps reduce weight by 300 pounds. Size is more Impala-like as well, with 2.3 inches more overall length and a 3.6-inch wheelbase stretch contributing to greater interior space. A new skin covers the Malibu's lighter bones, and design language from the Impala gives its sibling sedan a fresher, more upscale appearance. To execute this premium appearance, Chevy turned to 25-year-old designer Jaymer Starbody, a four-year General Motors veteran and graduate from Detroit's College for Creative Studies. He described the new Malibu as having a "wheel-oriented" design, and the car looks poised to pounce from certain angles. Though the 2016 Malibu is the same width as before, designers stretched the creases and angles in the sheetmetal to create a flatter, sleeker appearance. The hood and cowl are lower, and the Malibu's face sparkles with LED running lamps on the top trim levels. Inside, the roomier cabin has a new center stack, satin chrome accents on the interior panel and a console storage area designed for mobile devices. Chevy MyLink with a seven-inch color touchscreen is standard on lower trims, and the top model upgrades to an eight-inch screen. Perforated leather seats and ambient lighting are also available options. The cabin was designed to look high-tech, but still remain easy to use, according to Chevy interior design director Crystal Windham.

Old Car or New Car? 1993 Chevy Camaro vs 2015 Honda CR-Z

My daily life revolves around used cars. As a former fast-talking auto auctioneer, it was once my job to inspect, appraise, and liquidate thousands of cars throughout the United States. Since I put down my microphone and became a full-time car dealer, I have gone from auctioning off 150 vehicles an hour – yes, we really do talk that fast – to buying 150 vehicles every two to three months. I see and bid on everything from $300 Volkswagens that belch more black smoke than a diesel truck rolling coal, to $30,000 DeLoreans that hopefully can go at least 88 miles per hour. The auctions never run out of weirdness when it comes to cars because they sell over 10 million every single year. So with that big number in mind, let me tell you about these two cars that have about as much in common as Mel Gibson and Mel Brooks.Option A: 1993 Chevrolet Camaro Indy 500 Pace Car Edition View 24 Photos This 1993 Chevrolet Camaro Indy Pace Car has all of 4,187 miles on it. Neither of those numbers are a misprint and yes, those are multi-colored stripes on the hood. Every week, I find at least two or three museum pieces that have been stored in the private garage of an auto collector. As you can tell, there are some very broad strokes to the definition and tastes of a collector. It could be a guy who has an extreme case of what I call "Automotive Compulsive Disorder" who chucks 20 or 30 old cars into a field and lets the weather and elements have at them. I once knew a guy, a car dealer at that, who "stored" seven 1990s Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertibles in the Georgia sun, and within two years those cars turned into complete junk. The fact that he stored them in an open field he didn't actually own and near a public road didn't help either. A few of the local meth heads and kleptocrats decided to strip-mine his collection, from the radiators to the tops themselves. He had a brief time in prison in between the before and the surprise after and trust me, he looked like he had soiled his britches when he saw what happened to his personally prized Cutlasses. Then you have whoever owned this Camaro. Is it a one-of-a-kind? Nope. Just 1 of 125, and an insignificant number at that (#87). But let's open the door to this Camaro and see what we find. Oof! I don't remember this multi-colored silly string design as a '90s must-have. Wasn't this popular back in the 1980s?

Personal testimonies show real-world effect of plugging in with Chevy Volt

At this point, there are tens of thousands of individual stories about what it's like to live with a Chevrolet Volt. But it also remains informative to take a look at one of these in depth. For example, one Atlanta-area Volt owner says he's cut his cents-per-mile ownership costs by almost 40 percent compared to his previous car primarily because of his ability to drive almost all the time on electric power. Jeffrey Cohen told Clean Technica that he put about 14,000 miles on his Volt extended-range plug-in hybrid for the year that ended October 2013, and that more than 92 percent of those were on electrons. He estimates his "lifetime" miles per gallon rating at a whopping 384 mpg, a figure pushed upward by the fact that he installed a Level 2 charger at home while his employer added an external 110-volt charger at work. Cohen is spending 45 cents a mile for his car, compared to 73 cents in his Infiniti M35. As a result, he's spending 45 cents a mile for his car, compared to 73 cents a mile with his prior vehicle, an Infiniti M35. About two-thirds of those Volt costs are for the $349-a-month lease payments, while 15 percent is insurance, 11 percent is for the charger and seven percent for the gas and electricity that actually powers the car. Helping lower that last figure is an overnight electricity rate that's about 10 percent of Cohen's daytime rate. Chevy parent General Motors hopes such testimonies will re-trigger sales for the Volt in 2014. Last year, GM sold 23,094 Volts, down 1.6 percent from 2012. We expect our readers have similar stories they'd like to share in the Comments. Related Gallery 2011 Chevrolet Volt: Review View 22 Photos News Source: Clean TechnicaImage Credit: Lead image: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong Green Chevrolet GM Electric running costs