New Malibu a game changer

With its looks, roominess and confident performance, the new Malibu represents a serious threat to the standard Japanese front-runners. From now on, those who go blindly to Honda and Toyota dealers in search of their next mid-sized sedan will be making a serious mistake.

I'm not saying that every single person who drives the Malibu against the Camry and Accord will choose the Malibu. But the decision will no longer be automatic. This Chevy is a rock solid player.

If you're concerned about reliability, try looking at GM's more recent product introductions. The company's new three-row SUVs - the GMC Acadia and the Saturn Outlook - recently earned Consumer Reports' recommendations. (The magazine's editors still say that GM still needs to do a better job maintaining high levels of quality year-over-year.)

In J.D. Power vehicle dependability rankings, Buick recently tied Lexus at the very top, a sign of what GM, at its best, is capable of.

Following on the Mercedes-beating Cadillac CTS and those rightly popular three-row crossovers, the Malibu is another sign that GM's vaunted "product turnaround" is real. This is a company that's finally realized it doesn't have to build boring, cut-rate cars.