How to Buy a Car: Part 3 - Test Drives

Never, under any circumstances, buy a car you haven't driven!  You need butt time in the seat to determine if you like the way the car drives and if it's comfortable.   

Let me give you an example why the test drive is so important:

Recently I was looking at four cars to replace my Nissan Pathfinder--the Nissan Altima, Chevy Malibu, Nissan Maxima, and Ford Fusion.  I had already done my research and those four cars were in my price range, offered the features I wanted, and had received good reviews from a number of automotive publications. 

The Altima was my top choice, until I drove it.  The steering was vague, and while I didn't mind the CVT transmission, it would drone under full throttle and didn't snap off crisp gear changes, even in the manual shift mode.  It also felt cheap inside, with cheap plastics, and I didn't like the orange font on the stereo or gauge cluster.  But what really bothered me was the noise level and ride quality.  It rode like a ten year old Honda Civic, which is okay… for a ten year old Honda Civic. 

I also drove the Maxima, which despite being built on the same platform as the Altima, was a revelation.  Many automotive journalists have bashed the Maxima for costing as much as an Infiniti without being as good to drive.  They argue that the Altima is a better car for a third the price.  But as a used vehicle, the Maxima is a screaming deal.  It has Nissan's 3.5 liter V6, which is one of the best engines of all time.  It's got immediate power and will go from 50-90 miles an hour faster than you can say, "Scotty, I need warp speed now!" 

But the Maxima also suffers from the same Jack o' Lantern display as the Altima.  And even though the ride was sublime until you gave it the beans, it just didn't feel quite right to me.  I can't explain it, but I just didn't love the car like I wanted to. 

I think part of the reason was because I drove the Chevy Malibu and Ford Fusion.  I know it sounds like I'm comparing cream to creme brulee', but hear me out--both the Malibu and Fusion nail the right balance of ride and handling for the midsize car segment.  They also offer more features and nicer interiors than the Maxima.  Neither car will show its taillights to a BMW 3 Series, but they aren't supposed to.  You won't take a Malibu or Fusion to Laguna Seca.  You also wouldn't take a Maxima to Laguna Seca, although Nissan's marking to position it as the "four door sports car" make you think you should want to. 

The last car I drove was the Ford Fusion with a V6.  It was almost as fun to drive as the Maxima, but it had a nicer interior and more features.  In my everyday slog to work, those things are more important.  A quiet ride, heated seats, Bluetooth connectivity to my phone, are more enjoyable than a snarling exhaust note, track tuned suspension, and whippet handling, when I'm commuting in stop and go traffic. 

If I hadn't driven those four cars, I'd have picked the Altima and never looked back.  Instead, I ended up picking the Fusion.  I liked the looks, and the interior.  It felt like a quality car and checked all my boxes.  I started looking for a used one with leather and a V6.  I found several on the internet within 30 miles of my house, including one in one of my top colors.  And on a cold, damp November Saturday, I headed for a Ford dealer in Raytown to see a man about a Fusion. 

But things didn't go exactly as planned...  

The $15,000 Question: Chevy Malibu

Most of the cars I've mentioned as part of the $15,000 Question series have had some semblance of practicality, but were geared more towards the enthusiast on a budget.  The Chevy Malibu is not one of those cars.  It falls on the practical side of the equation without any real sporting pretense.

90% of the car buying public are not car enthusiasts, or at least not rabid fanboys that squawk about things like the virtues of Porsche's PDK vs. BMW's SMG from the comfort of their mother's basements.  No, the average person thinks about what they need for the drive to work and to haul kids around on weekends.  They think about cup holders and bun warmers more than engine displacement and 0-60 times.  And at the end of a long day at work, full of emails, meetings, bad coffee, and eating at their desks, the average person wants a little serenity on their drive home.

It's the reason why Lexus has sold so well and why the Malibu makes perfect sense.


I'm not saying the Malibu is as good as a Lexus.  But it is very, very good at its intended mission.  It's very quiet, comfortable, loaded with features and has the best balance of ride and handling of any car in its class.  It's quieter than a Nissan Altima and doesn't float like a Toyota Camry.  It's also well made.  The doors close with a solid thunk and the interior is as nice as anything in its class.  Some might find the stereo and HVAC controls simplistic, but they are uncluttered, unlike the myriad of buttons on the Honda Accord's center stack.


Ten years ago, the thought of owning a Chevy Malibu, or any GM car, was laughable to anyone who had a Camry or Accord at the time.  Now it's not.  There was a time when Chevrolet made good family cars, when owning a Bel Air, Impala, or Malibu was something you could take pride in.  Some would argue that Chevy has not made a car like that since we landed a man on the Moon.  But I would argue Chevy has in the form of the 2008 and newer Malibu.