Tell anyone that a new Chevy Malibu hybrid shares many of a powertrain with a Volt and they’ll fundamentally ask how distant it can go in EV mode. Answer: not far. Unlike a Volt, a Malibu hybrid is set adult to maximize fuel economy from a using engine, not to widen electric range. Wait compartment we tell them we can’t even block it in.
Instead, there’s this: 48 mpg city and 45 highway. Those EPA numbers are high adequate to kick a hybrid versions of a Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata, Kia Optima, and Toyota Camry. It competence not kick a Honda Accord hybrid’s 50/45 figures, though that automobile is on interregnum compartment 2017 as prolongation moves to Japan.
Pulled directly from a Volt are a dual electric motors, a transmission, and a regenerative-braking system. There are dual vital differences, however: a engine and a battery. Under a aluminum hood is a 122-hp 1.8-liter four-cylinder instead of a Volt’s 101-hp 1.5-liter four. GM deemed a incomparable engine required since a Malibu relies on a gas burner some-more often, a battery container being a small fragment of a Volt’s. The Malibu’s 1.5-kWh battery packs in a case and cooking about as many space as a roller-bag suitcase; a Volt has a massive 18.4-kWh container using adult a spine.
Tucked only behind a behind seats, a Malibu’s battery reduces case volume from 15.8 cubic feet to 11.6. And while a behind seats still fold, a battery mostly blocks a pass-through. Hybrid hardware isn’t light, either. The hybrid weighs 371 pounds some-more than a bottom Malibu with a 1.5-liter engine.
There’s not many EV operation to be had with a 1.5-kWh battery, that is because a Malibu isn’t designed to work in EV mode for really prolonged or during speeds above 55 mph. Instead, it works only like a Toyota Prius, typically motoring off on electric energy though banishment adult a gas engine shortly after to work with a electric motors to pierce a automobile brazen in a many fit demeanour possible.
There’s no EV-mode symbol to close it into electric drive—or any other setting. Chevy claims that it’s already set adult for limit potency and motorist submit isn’t necessary. Being light adequate on a stifle to stay in EV mode adult to any poignant speed is challenging, nonetheless a digital arrangement is there to help, informing a motorist how low a accelerator can go before it fires a engine.
When a engine kicks on, it does so sensitively and though many vibration. Under assuage to tough acceleration, a hybrid complement feels and sounds a lot like a required sedan with a CVT. The complement binds engine revs during a consistent rpm, and a automobile surges brazen though gearshifts or changes in pitch. From a stop, a acceleration to 40 or so mph comes with a clever force and wheelspin, a electric motor’s 277 pound-feet of torque attack tough and fast. In a flitting situation, a electric engine boosts a gas engine with a gratifying surge.
Lifting off a accelerator sends some assign behind to a battery. Apply a brakes kindly to boost a electrical regeneration, or name L1 or L2 on a rigging shifter to boost a volume of insurgency from a motor. Borrowed from a Volt, a Malibu’s braking complement seamlessly blends a braking finished by a motor-turned-generator and a front brakes. They feel linear and normal, that can’t be pronounced of many other hybrids.
Visually, there are a few pointed tweaks to revoke drag, such as additional radiator shutters and a somewhat reduce float height. Otherwise, a Malibu hybrid is a passed ringer for a required model. Even a tires are a same; no rock-hard, low-rolling-resistance rubber or 45-psi pressures here.
Chevy hasn’t announced pricing, though when a hybrid arrives this spring, we’d theory it’ll supplement about $2000 to a bottom line of a Malibu 1LT. So design prices to open during $28,000 for a bottom version. What buyers will get is a normal Malibu with a essence of a Volt, a space of a mid-size sedan, and scarcely a fuel economy of a effusive Prius. That’s value crowing about.
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