2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer Ls...4x4--looks Good--runs Great on 2040-cars

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Chevy previews 2016 Malibu ahead of New York debut

With everything going on in Geneva this week, it would be all-too easy to forget that there's still stuff going on back home in America. And the upcoming new Chevy Malibu is a prime example. Chevrolet has announced that it is bringing an all-new Malibu to the New York Auto Show next month, teasing us with this preview image and a few enticing details. For starters, when we say it's all new, this time we mean it's all new. The next-generation Malibu has been built on a new platform that uses more high-strength steel to cut 300 pounds off the curb weight compared to the outgoing model. It's also got a wheelbase that's almost four inches longer, with shorter overhangs front and rear and a roofline that tapers stylishly and more gradually towards the tail. We'll have to wait a little longer – but not too much longer – to find out more, but in the meantime you can read what Chevy's telling us so far in the press release below. Born Again: Next-Gen Chevrolet Malibu Announced Larger, lighter and more efficient Malibu to be unveiled at New York Auto Show 2015-03-04 DETROIT – Designed to deliver more efficiency, connectivity and advanced safety features than ever, the next-generation 2016 Chevrolet Malibu will make its public debut at the New York International Auto Show this April. Using a blank slate approach, Chevrolet designers benefited from an entirely new architecture, which for Malibu includes a wheelbase nearly four inches longer than the outgoing model. That, in turn, provides increased rear legroom and interior space. Due to a higher-strength steel structure, the new Malibu is also expected to be 300 pounds lighter than the current model, which benefits the sedan's fuel economy and handling. "Malibu's gorgeous styling is the result of a masterful understanding of proportions," said Ed Welburn, General Motors' vice president of Global Design. "The roofline has been stretched rearward giving a more sleek profile, while the front wheels have moved forward and front and rear overhangs have been reduced. Along with the sculpted body side, these cues help Malibu appear more dynamic and sophisticated." More details about the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu will be shared each week leading up to the vehicle's global debut. The 2016 Malibu is expected to go on sale by the end of 2015. Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world's largest car brands, doing business in more than 115 countries and selling around 4.8 million cars and trucks a year.

Chevy Volt has worst sales month since August 2011, Nissan Leaf also down

January is traditionally a time when new car shoppers take a break. For the last few years, if we isolate our focus to just the first two major plug-in cars in the US market, we see that the first month of the year was lower – often dramatically lower – than the 11 that followed. So, when you see the Chevy Volt dropped and Nissan Leaf sales figures for January 2015, don't be too surprised. The Volt sold only 542 units last month, that model's lowest since August 2011. That also represents a 41 percent drop from January 2014, and it reinforces the thought that if anyone out there is interested in a new Volt, they're going to be waiting for the new model to drop later this year. While we do expect sales to climb in February and into spring, we won't be surprised if the general Volt trend remains quiet until the second-generation arrives. On the Leaf side of the ledger, January's low sales numbers were still about twice as high as the Volt's – the Leaf sold 1,070 units last month, the lowest since February 2013 – but it did break a streak for the Japanese automaker. Usually, each month represents at least an increase over the same month a year ago, but that wasn't the case this time. In January 2014, Nissan sold 1,252 Leafs. Still, Brendan Jones, Nissan's director of electric vehicle sales and infrastructure, issued an upbeat statement: "We saw a significant increase in demand in December from Nissan Leaf customers looking to take advantage of federal and state incentives at the end of the tax year, which pulled some sales ahead. We're confident that EV sales will continue to rise over time due to increasing emission regulations and other reasons for purchase of EVs such as lower operating costs, reducing dependence on foreign energy sources, environmental concerns and a great driving experience." The numbers will tell us soon enough. News Source: General Motors, Nissan Green Chevrolet Nissan Electric Hybrid ev sales brendan jones

Here are a few of our automotive guilty pleasures

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. The world is full of cars, and just about as many of them are bad as are good. It's pretty easy to pick which fall into each category after giving them a thorough walkaround and, more important, driving them. But every once in a while, an automobile straddles the line somehow between good and bad — it may be hideously overpriced and therefore a marketplace failure, it may be stupid quick in a straight line but handles like a drunken noodle, or it may have an interior that looks like it was made of a mess of injection-molded Legos. Heck, maybe all three. Yet there's something special about some bad cars that actually makes them likable. The idea for this list came to me while I was browsing classified ads for cars within a few hundred miles of my house. I ran across a few oddballs and shared them with the rest of the team in our online chat room. It turns out several of us have a few automotive guilty pleasures that we're willing to admit to. We'll call a few of 'em out here. Feel free to share some of your own in the comments below. Dodge Neon SRT4 and Caliber SRT4: The Neon was a passably good and plucky little city car when it debuted for the 1995 model year. The Caliber, which replaced the aging Neon and sought to replace its friendly marketing campaign with something more sinister, was panned from the very outset for its cheap interior furnishings, but at least offered some decent utility with its hatchback shape. What the two little front-wheel-drive Dodge models have in common are their rip-roarin' SRT variants, each powered by turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engines. Known for their propensity to light up their front tires under hard acceleration, the duo were legitimately quick and fun to drive with a fantastic turbo whoosh that called to mind the early days of turbo technology. — Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski  Chevrolet HHR SS: Chevy's HHR SS came out early in my automotive journalism career, and I have fond memories of the press launch (and having dinner with Bob Lutz) that included plenty of tire-smoking hard launches and demonstrations of the manual transmission's no-lift shift feature. The 260-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder was and still is a spunky little engine that makes the retro-inspired HHR a fun little hot rod that works quite well as a fun little daily driver.