2023 Chevy Malibu vs 2023 Nissan Altima

• 2023 Chevy Malibu

  

  Starting at

  $25,000^[a]

  2023 Nissan Altima

  

  Starting at

  $25,290

  184	Base Torque (lb-ft)	180
  15.7	Cargo Space (cu.ft.)	15.4
  8	Infotainment Screen (in)	7

  One of the best parts about the modern-day automotive market is that cost-effective vehicles no longer look the part, and you can find cars that don’t shatter your wallet but are stylish looking and full of features. Stretching your dollar is hard to do when you’re shopping for a vehicle, but various manufacturers have made their vehicles a more incredible value than ever before. There has been some debate about the 2023 Chevy Malibu vs 2023 Nissan Altima, and the question on everyone’s mind is which of the two sedans they should purchase if they’re in the market for one. Both manufacturers have been producing vehicles for a long time, and over the years, manufacturers like Chevy and Nissan have become pure rivals, and the Malibu and Altima debate only aims to further this discussion.

  The 2023 Chevy Malibu is available with four trim levels, while the Altima is available with five. However, the Malibu is regularly the cheaper vehicle, with a majority of its trims being priced below the comparable trim level on the Altima. For example, the highest-tier Malibu costs several thousand dollars less than the highest-tier Altima, but most importantly, the Malibu is cheaper at the base level. The base Malibu––the LS––starts at an MSRP of $25,000, and the Altima starts at an MSRP of $25,290 for its base model––the S.^[a] The Chevy Malibu is the cheaper vehicle, but what makes it even more of a bargain are the handful of features you’ll find on the Malibu, but not the Altima, like a hotspot and various standard infotainment features, for example.

• Interior

  

  How Much Space Do You Really Get in These Midsize Sedans?

  The 2023 Malibu and Altima are comparable in many ways, but Chevy’s sedan has a few advantages with interior dimensions. Cargo space is worth discussing for any vehicle, and the Malibu and Altima, as midsize sedans, have highly comparable measurements in areas like the trunk. For vacation cargo, weekly groceries, and other times you may need to utilize your vehicle’s cargo, the Malibu and Altima should do the trick. However, given the lower price of the Malibu compared to the Altima, the former’s appeal is drastically increased because of extra cargo space. The 15.7 cu.ft. of the Malibu may not be a game changer against the Altima’s 15.4 cu.ft., but every bit counts when discussing sedan cargo room.

  As for the dimension differences, the Chevy Malibu is a far better fit for passengers in the back row. The Malibu and Altima both seat five passengers, but if you’re likely to have passengers in your vehicle more often than not, the Malibu will be a far more comfortable fit. Sometimes the difference can be significant, such as the 38.1 inches of rear legroom in Chevy’s sedan against the 35.2 inches of rear legroom in the Altima. This immediately opens up the possibility of traveling with taller passengers as they’ll have more room to stretch out. Passengers sitting in the back also have more headroom, albeit the difference is smaller than the legroom numbers––the 2023 Chevy Malibu offers 37.5 inches of rear headroom against 36.9 inches on the Altima. The Alima doesn’t out-do the Malibu in front-row headroom either, as both sedans offer an identical 39.1-inches, but it does have the slight advantage of 43.8-inches of front-row legroom over the 41.5-inches in the Malibu.

• Warranty

  

  Which Sedan Has You Covered After You Drive Off the Lot?

  Chevy and Nissan are two manufacturers that aim to cater to most drivers by making quality vehicles that cover a wide range of needs at affordable prices. As with any new vehicle you purchase, you are going to get warranties that help give you peace of mind that should anything go wrong with your vehicle due to manufacturer error; you won't be on the hook to pay for it. Manufacturers offering standard protection for various vehicle components isn’t uncommon, but some manufacturers do far better at creating warranty programs that make each customer feel trust in their vehicle and in the brand they’ve chosen. Both Chevy and Nissan offer similar warranties as far as the covered parts go, but what separates the two more than anything is the length of various warranties.

  One of the best reasons why anyone would buy a new vehicle is because of the warranties, and the warranties that come with both the Chevy Malibu and Nissan Altima include a Powertrain Limited Warranty and a Bumper-to-Bumper warranty (Nissan refers to this as Basic Coverage). With either sedan, you’ll have a three-year/36,000-mile Bumper-to-Bumper warranty that covers most components unrelated to the powertrain and with few exceptions. Bumper-to-Bumper warranties never cover user error, and they don't cover common wear-and-tear items like brakes, tires, and windshield wipers.

  The other warranties that are standard with each sedan include a five-year/60,000-mile Powertrain Limited Warranty and a two-year/24,000-mile Emissions Control Systems Warranty. The advantage the Malibu has against the Altima comes down to the five-year/60,000-mile Roadside Assistance plan, which covers you for two years or 24,000 miles more than the Altima would with Nissan’s three-year/36,000-mile Roadside Assistance coverage. Roadside Assistance is something you’ll want to be covered for as long as possible, and the chances of you ever needing to utilize this assistance is more likely to occur after the first few years of ownership, not during. You don’t want to spend extra money on roadside assistance as those are the times when you’ll need your funds the most, making this a clear advantage for Chevy drivers.

• Features

  

  Which One Offers the Best Interior Features?

  When you look at the differences in features between the Malibu and Altima, it’s almost hard to believe the vehicle with the lower MSRP is the one that comes with more of the features everyone wants. Vehicles released for the 2023 model year have to live up to the expectations set by their competition, and drivers are known to seek out modern-day amenities like versatile infotainment centers and quality-of-life improvements. When you purchase a new vehicle, it should feel modern and up-to-date, and this is something Nissan has missed the mark on considerably. The Altima comes with an infotainment center, but it’s both smaller and lacking more features than the Malibu’s media hub, making the Altima a head-scratcher until you pay even more for comparable features.

  The standard infotainment center in the Altima is displayed on a seven-inch screen, but the Malibu instead has an eight-inch screen. Size of the screen aside, the 2023 Nissan Altima doesn’t come with features like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The 2023 Chevy Malibu comes with Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The wireless variants of these features aren’t normally standard as manufacturers tend to offer a wired version of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto instead, and Nissan only offers this as an option for higher trims.

  Aside from the Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the 2023 Nissan Altima doesn’t come with a standard 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot, while Chevy’s sedan does. Consider what would happen if you placed both of these sedans next to one another five years from now. The sedan with the more modern features will retain relevancy by a mile, and there’s already proof––2023 vehicles without features like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are already beginning to feel irrelevant, like the base Altima, and those vehicles haven’t even left the lot yet.

  What Safety Features Do These Sedans Have?

  Both the Malibu and Altima offer plenty of driver-assist features that come with the sedan at no additional cost because of the Chevy Safety Assist and Nissan Safety Shield 360 safety suites. While both of these suites are very similar, there is one feature that Chevy offers as standard that Nissan does not: Lane Keep Assist. While both models offer a Lane Departure Warning to let you know if you are drifting from your lane, only the base Malibu also offers the tech to gently steer you back into place if you don't respond to the warning to keep you from side-swiping another vehicle. Considering the Altima is already the pricier vehicle in most situations, it’s a questionable decision to limit the Lane Keep Assist to an option.

Come Test Out the 2023 Chevy Malibu