Pulling a few pages from the Volt playbook, Chevrolet will offer a “strong hybrid” version of the 2016 Malibu set to bow in New York next week.
Power for the Malibu Hybrid comes from a 1.8-liter direct-injection four-cylinder paired with a modified two-motor drive unit from the 2016 Volt meant to aid the engine during acceleration. Total horsepower comes to 182, and its estimated combined mileage is projected to be 45 mpg. Electric power comes from an 80-cell lithium-ion pack providing 1.5 kWh to the hybrid system, which can allow the Malibu to travel up to 55 mph on electric-only travel.
The gasoline engine is also Chevrolet’s first to have exhaust gas heat recovery, improving fuel economy and engine warm up as well as providing heat to the cabin. Further fuel economy improves come from exhaust gas recirculation, while its regenerative braking system — also shared with the 2016 Volt — helps maintain charge in the pack
The hybrid will leave Kansas City, Kan. for showrooms next spring.
Something’s not right. There’s no way a 1.5kWh battery pack can provide 55 miles of electric-only range. The Volt battery pack is 17.1 kWh.
Right.
The author has no clue about these things so wrote up a fantasy. To go along with the other artisanal posts. Really not good enough.
Actually, the battery is 1.5 kWh, and allows the car to go as fast as 55 miles per hour for a mile or two.
So says the real world.
I misread the press release, wmba, not entered some fantasy land where I craft my so-called “artisanal” headlines and posts like Budweiser beechwood-ages its beer. Anyway, the information has been corrected.
“Artisanal”? I didn’t realize we were getting upscale, boutique content these days. Damn, I’ll have to start tucking in my shirt before I read.
Thanks! I needed a good chuckle!!!
Possibly, the car will travel 55 miles battery and engine charging the battery.
Beyond 55 miles the engine would power the generator directly.
The way Volt works.
Yeah, going back to the GM Press release, it says 55 miles per hour.
Not 55 miles.
“The gasoline engine is also Chevrolet’s first to have exhaust gas heat recovery, improving fuel economy and engine warm up as well as providing heat to the cabin.”
How will GM screw this up? CO poisoning? Fires? Rust out? Will the dealers try to sell add on nitrogen? Intermittent CEL so you can’t pass emissions? Guys, here’s you chance to win GM new technology roulette.
Post your guesses to keep me from buying one, because I love the idea of a quicker warm up.
The new technology roulette is much the same with almost every manufacturer with the possible exception of Toyota and Honda.
Yes, but thanks to economy of scale, when GM plays new tech roulette there are so many losers. Post-bailout GM seems to be doing better at this, hopefully this won’t break the trend.
Part of the problem is me, I can’t resist newest technology and money on the hood.
No, it was also roulette with every Honda hybrid made after the original Insight (which, ironically, was basically a beta test with an early-adopter niche market).
Why not look up what the exhaust gas heat recovery actually is before making snarky comments like this? If you see what it is you’ll see how off base your comment really is.
We’re not talking interior heat from the exhaust manifolds (ala air cooled VW’s) here…
My direct experience with cutting edge GM technology are as follows:
Cadillac 4 6 8- had to be disconnected
Olds Diesel – My friend gave up and converted to gas
Vega Aluminium block – They gave up and went back to cast iron
Vega corrosion – After only two years.
2.8 liter head gasket – so prevalent that my truck sat for two months waiting for parts.
2.5 liter throttle body injection no start in cold weather – the fix was hotter plugs the burned through plug wires every 10K
Northstar head gaskets – It will happen to almost all of them.
Random airbag deployment – Buddy started his car and was knocked into the back seat
Plastic intake manifold trouble. $800 right before Christmas
Buick Skyhawk turbo cooling. Wow, great car for the time when they got the cooling right
Lock up toque converter solenoid trouble. Car transmission gets hot and car stalls when braking
That said, I hope I’m wrong, they seemed to do well with the Volt. I love GM cars, as does my wife. Our last one was a 2008 Aura with the VVT V6. Great motor until it grenaded at 100K.
Turbo?
I don’t think the 1.8L is an Ecoboost. It also looks like the hybrid may not have room for a spare tire.
In the 80’s they had a 1.8 turbo motor in their J body. They were a blast to drive, but boy did they go through turbos. It may have been the bearings instead instead of a cooling issue. I remember Ford had some trouble with turbo fours too so it wasn’t just GM. It only lasted a couple of years and I still can’t bring myself to buy anything with a turbo. The Regal held up with it’s turbo six, but that was way out of my price range at the time.
@pbxtech – The 1st Gen Volt has hardly been plagued with new technology problems so I wouldn’t be too worried about this. Unless the bean counters got their hands in it.
Haa! The Volt has indeed had many issues. The funny thing is that almost all the issues are related to old technolgy that should have been perfected years ago.
All one has to do is take a look at gm-volt .com to see the multitude of problems that owners have experienced. The most prevelant problems seem to be related to the HVAC not working in the winter, issues with the steering rack, and issues with the in car systems and displays randomly crashing or becoming unresponsive.
The drivetrain is solid… It’s everything else you have to worry about.
“The drivetrain is solid… It’s everything else you have to worry about.”
I highly doubt that!…….LOL
That is sort of the story with most GM products isn’t it?
redliner
go to any website dedicated to a certain model vehicle and it is filled with “typical” problems. Every Toyota, Honda, GM, Mopar, Ford etal website will be filled with people having issues…that is what the sites are there for primarily.
“That is sort of the story with most GM products isn’t it?”
Not the ones I’ve owned. Pretty sure my next vehicle purchase will be a used Volt. Guess how worried I am about “everything else”.
One case doesn’t make a trend, but the only real issue I had on my was due to a failed bearing on the transmission
I hope you’re right, they are coming off of leases right now and can be had for close to $15K. I think the second generation my be a better bet though.
The Prius uses a vacuum bottle to save some engine heat. My C-Max could really use this, the time for engine warm-up and anytime you use the heater is when MPG falls below 40 MPG.
The outgoing Prius does away with the pumped thermos system and instead uses exhaust heat recovery just as this new Malibu. Toyota claims even faster warm up than the old system, lower cost, less weight and higher reliability.
There isn’t anything “Volt”-like about this car; it’s a regular hybrid.
The Volt’s 16.5 kWh battery permits it to drive 38 miles or so before the gas engine starts.
My 13 Optima Hybrid has a 1.6 kWh battery – similar to this Malibu’s – and the gas engine turns on any time it needs to, including at rest. The Malibu won’t be any different, but it will be a first legitimate conventional hybrid car for GM.
Cameron, I’m not usually one to pick nits, but your title says “Mailbu.” Figured you might want to know earlier than later.
Maybe it’s a bespoke production run for the Postal Service.
Thank you; I actually didn’t even notice the error, which has since been corrected.
Exhaust gas recirculation? What kind of futuristic voodoo technology is this? Genius move to finally hybridize their midsizer during an oil glut.
Little late to the party as this is old news. The design of the 2nd Gen Voltec is such that it can easily be adapted to a run like a conventional hybrid. Actually pretty smart on GM’s part.
Yep, the gen2 Volt is a regular plug-in hybrid with a big-ass battery pack and some limited selectability in power sourcing.
Hardly regular. Name me one plug-in hybrid that I can mash the pedal to floor, accelerate up to a 100 MPH and never kick in the ICE? The Volt is still in a class all its own and has the best engineered battery pack of any hybrid or electric car period. Don’t believe me, just wait another 10 years when 2011 Volts are still running around with their original battery packs with little to no performance degradation.
LaFerrari?
IIRC the gen2 Volt turns on the ICE around 70mph or so, but that sort of thing is really a matter or software control (and electric motor sizing to some extent).
And the Volt’s batteries aren’t magical. Regular deep discharges will use them up eventually. We’ll just have to wait and see what amount of time “eventually” ends up being.
Show me a link or something that says the 2nd Gen Volt switches on the ICE with a fully charged battery to help propel it along @70 MPH.
I’ve had the first Gen Volt up to 80 MPH and it was running on nothing but the battery. So I find it really hard to believe that GM went and changed that with the 2nd Gen. I can’t see that there would be any reason to do it. But I’m wrong all the time, just ask my wife and kids.
Never said the battery pack was magical. I said it’s the best. Yes time will tell how long they are actually usable.
Ya the 1.4 million dollar Ferrari. I guess you got me there. Wonder how that would do through a cold snowy Minnesota winter as an everyday driver over the course of 10 years.?
Couldn’t find it now; it was something to the effect of one of the motors would overspeed due to the collective gear ratio if something wasn’t declutched at 70. Maybe not?
I have driven a Prius and my business partner has a used Volt, which I have spent a lot of time in including a 400 mile round trip jaunt in one day.
The Volt is by far the better choice in terms of cabin comfort, seats, lack of road noise. He had one issue which was easily rectified shortly after purchase. At the end of the day, he paid 23.5k for a used Volt that came from the factory as a demo and had yet to have the tax credits redeemed. Which makes the net in his rig 12k for an average of 68 mpg. Not bad.