9 Crazy Used Cars You Can Buy Instead of a Chevy Malibu
Car News
In Chevrolet’s commercials, the automaker touts the two thousand sixteen Malibu as suggesting the style and quality of a luxury car. One person in the ads even says it’s nicer than his BMW. We certainly think the fresh Malibu is an excellent car, but we embarked to wonder: What sort of used luxury cars could you get for the price of a Malibu? We took to Autotrader to find some of our favorites, with a self-imposed budget of around $31,000 — harshly the cost of a midlevel Malibu.
If your kids don’t mind a squeeze — and you can woo your spouse that a 420-horsepower convertible is just what your family needs — then the RS4 might be the car for you. Consider it: You can get the thrill of the wind rushing by, with the top down on a beautiful summer day, rowing through the gears in your stick-shift, V8-powered Audi. all for less than $28,000.
This H1 is something truly special: the fundamental opposite of a Malibu. Big. Bulky. Brutish. Impractical. Capable of rolling over a Chrysler PT Cruiser. My beloved part about this car is that the pictures on Autotrader are taken in a flawlessly normal suburban neighborhood, which truly shows this Hummer H1’s natural habitat. If you went out to buy a Malibu and came back with this . well, at least everyone would be astonished.
This is a true Bentley. A real Bentley. A full-size, old-school Bentley sedan with the 6.75-liter V8 engine, effortless steering and a waft-on-the-clouds rail. It looks like something an Uber Black driver aspires to; it looks like something children would stare at; it looks like you’re about to embarrass your neighbor and his Jaguar S-Type. This is quintessential British luxury — and for $24,900, it’s worth it.
For those who like their color choices to be officially recognized by AC/DC and the Rolling Stones, there’s this black-on-black S65 AMG, a full-size luxury sedan that should do the job of reminding your neighbors and co-workers who’s boss. Nothing will strike the harass note of your twin-turbocharged, V12-powered Mercedes — and nothing will match its grunt, as traffic-light drag-race opponents (and your wallet) will certainly agree.
Albeit most enthusiasts would forsake the E60 BMW M5 for the lighter, purer, cheaper-to-own E39, this particular E60 M5 seems to have something special. That something special might be the spectacular blue exterior color, the 6-speed manual transmission, the gorgeous gray-leather interior or the absence of pretentious wood grain that usually finds its way into high-end luxury cars. Or maybe it’s the 500-hp V10 engine. Whatever it is, we like it. Especially for less than $24,000.
There’s no way you could make a list of ridiculous Malibu rivals and not include at least one unnecessarily swift wagon, and this 469-hp, supercharged, V8-powered bounty from God seemed to fit the bill ideally. Not only does it have rear-facing third-row seating like old American wagons, it also has a similarly large V8. Fortunately, its supercharger makes it even quicker than the tuned Chevelle wagons of old. If your objective is to be understated, this silver E55 AMG is flawless — until, of course, your next-door neighbor leaves a strongly worded note in your mailbox after three mornings in a row of waking up to the sound of your bellowing AMG harass.
It’s unlikely to hate the nine hundred eleven because it just offers up so many benefits, including sleek classic styling, ideal on-road manners, an excellent design and a slick transmission that just goads you into shifting more and more and more. This one has a lot of miles, but it also has a reasonable price — it’s available for less than $28,000. And because this is a 911, you won’t even have to apologize for the headlights.
The Aston Martin DB7 shares its taillights with the Mazda 323. Earnestly. But it’s an Aston Martin with a V12 and a manual transmission for under $30,000, so that doesn’t matter. It could share its taillights with a UPS truck, and it would still be cool. This is the British sports car of all British sports cars — and you’ll certainly be seen behind the wheel, because it’s a convertible, too. The interior is a beautiful white leather with black piping, the exterior is a stunning dark gray, it only has 58,000 miles, and it sort of has rear seats in case you sort of have children.
“Since 1904,” says the Rolls-Royce marketing team, “Rolls-Royce has created instantly recognizable motor cars that have made the marque an suffering icon all over the world.” That’s certainly true. And while the 1980s may have been the period in Rolls-Royce’s history that proves the adage “they can’t all be excellent,” it’s hard to care when you’re staring at a 21,000-mile Rolls-Royce for under $30,000. If you choose driving boats to cars and don’t find anything too fundamentally wrong with the number of cows that were killed in the making of this ultra-luxurious interior, this one thousand nine hundred eighty six Silver Spur will make you look and feel like royalty.
OK, so every car on this list might be the exact opposite of practical, which means they very likely won’t interest many Malibu shoppers. But as Autotrader has demonstrated, the $31,000 you’ll spend on your Malibu could theoretically buy you something indeed interesting.