The newer malibus are very nice. I get one of those most of the time as a loaner car from my dealer if I take my car in there.

I'll take the mileage thing back on the 08 Malibu. Going from CA to MI I got 29.9, 30.6, 32.5 and 34.6 MPG on four separate tankfulls. 3.6VVT engine.

Which motor did it have? the 4 or 6?

V-6 3.6 VVT It is prolly one of the best motors for power and economy I've driven.

Avis gave me a Ford Escape Limited when I was in FTL a couple of weeks ago. Interior was pretty nice - it was more comfortable than it looked. Roomy. The Sync system is pretty cool, although the voice recognition could use some help. The recognition on our Altima understands my voice almost flawlessly. The only complaint I would have with the interior is the center console controls; there were so many similar-looking knobs and buttons it was almost overwhelming.

The 3.0L V6 was peppy and the transmission worked quite well with it. It seemed no matter what speed I was at, when pushing down on the accelerator the gear shifts were smooth and not jerky. Torque steer was noticable but I've driven much worse. Fuel economy was OK but not great - I was stomping on it alot, so....

As for the exterior, IMO, it's come a long way in the looks department. The color-keyed molding and chrome accents make it much more appealing to me than the earlier models. Overall, for the money they are getting for this vehicle, I don't think it's not a bad deal considering the whole package and the features it comes with.

I think the new escapes with the black rims and darker features look the best they ever have.

I thought the consensus on this board was that the Escape was noisy, cheap, and rough-riding. Did they totally revise it?

I end up with a lot of Dodge Caliber rentals when I travel for work... Visibility kinda sucks, but I'm a sucker for satellite radio. I think I'm going to start branching out so I can see what the other cars are like :shrug:

Too think I liked the original base model Escape...always seemed like an honest little bugger.

Dude......Those are about the lowest-quality cars you can rent. Noisy, slow, and an incredibly cheap plastic interior.