By: Alan Gamblin
It’s not every day you get to drive a million dollar car; let alone six of them. That was my experience yesterday in the desert of Nevada. Chevrolet invited their dealers to a race track in Spring Mountain, Nevada to drive prototypes of the redesigned 2016 Camaro, Malibu, Spark and Colorado Duramax Diesel. Earlier I had the opportunity to drive the new 2016 Volt at a facility in Las Vegas. As these vehicles are pre-production cars, each car cost one million dollars or more to build. I can only say it was six million dollars of awesome. Let me share some thoughts on each vehicle.
2016 Chevrolet Malibu
The 2016 Chevrolet Malibu is nearly 300 pounds lighter and has wheelbase that’s been stretched nearly 4 inches, making it more fuel efficient, more functional and more agile.
The 2016 Malibu is anything but boring. I believe the new Malibu is most beautiful car in the mid-size market. The beauty is not just skin deep. What impressed me most about this car besides its looks is the fact it is a little larger, rides better and has ‘sick’ technology. That is what my young friends call something fantastic…sick.
Three of us drove both the base four cylinder engine and also the turbo charged engine. Both engines had plenty of power and the turbo charged version really moves. The car handles extremely well even in sharp turns. The back seat has more room and provides plenty of leg room even for my large driving buddy. This car has a ton of safety features available like pedestrian warning, lane keeping assist, blind spot and rear cross-traffic alerts and adaptive cruise control. But my favorite is the teen driver system. Where was this when my kids were teenagers? Enter a pin code and the system allows parents to monitor their teen’s driving habits. You can preset maximum speed, set the maximum audio system volume and even mute it until all the occupants are buckled up. Malibu can track distance driven and when the parents wish, pull up a report card when they hand you back the keys. Kids will hate this but as a parent I love the peace of mind. But teens will love the wireless phone charging pad.
The 2016 Chevrolet Malibu is nearly 300 pounds lighter and has wheelbase that’s been stretched nearly 4 inches, making it more fuel efficient, more functional and more agile.