No matter what Stefanysyn and his team do to it, the Malibu will still look and drive very much like a Vectra sedan and -- the saints be praised -- the Vectra Signum model with its abbreviated station wagon shape on a longer wheelbase that is coming out soon in Europe.
The first and overwhelming thing you feel when driving the Vectra is the superior chassis underlying the handsome body. That is to say, the entire car -- not the ride -- is stiffer, and that does many wonderful things for a car.
In the first place, a stiffer car delivers a greater sense of quality, and that is not a trick like extra leather, since less twist and shake means less noise, a better ride, improved handling, greater crash worthiness, and so on. This is the kind of ability that speaks all languages.
While North American roads don't often require the precision that European roads regularly do, it's nice to have that kind of accurate steering response when the need does arise on a twisty Canadian road.
Vectra's interior bodes well for the new Malibu when it arrives next year as a 2004, since GM actually seems to have spent more money there than it has in previous models.
Assuming the theory works, the upcoming Malibu and Grand Am are likely to have better interiors than they do now, while maintaining their same general pricepoints.