Compare the2023 Honda AccordVS 2023 Chevrolet Malibu

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Honda Accord have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision. The Chevrolet Malibu doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Honda Accord are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The Chevrolet Malibu doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.

Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Accord Touring has standard Low Speed Braking Control that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The Malibu doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.

The Accord EX-L/Sport-L/Touring has standard Parking Sensors to help warn the driver about vehicles, pedestrians or other obstacles behind or in front of their vehicle. The Malibu doesn’t offer a front parking aid.

The Accord’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Malibu doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.

Both the Accord and the Malibu have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available blind spot warning systems and rear cross-path warning.

The Accord’s corrosion warranty is unlimited miles longer than the Malibu’s (unlimited vs. 100,000 miles).

Honda pays for scheduled maintenance on the Accord for 2 years and 24,000 miles. Honda will pay for oil changes, lubrication and any other required maintenance. Chevrolet only pays for the first scheduled maintenance visit on the Malibu.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2023 Auto Issue reports that Honda vehicles are more reliable than Chevrolet vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Honda 15 places higher in reliability than Chevrolet.

The Accord’s standard 1.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 32 more horsepower (192 vs. 160) and 8 lbs.-ft. more torque (192 vs. 184) than the Malibu’s 1.5 turbo 4-cylinder. The Accord Hybrid’s standard 2.0 DOHC 4-cylinder hybrid produces 44 more horsepower (204 vs. 160) than the Malibu’s 1.5 turbo 4-cylinder.

On the EPA test cycle the Accord gets better mileage than the Malibu:

Regenerative brakes improve the Accord Hybrid’s fuel efficiency by converting inertia back into energy instead of wasting it. The Malibu doesn’t offer a regenerative braking system.

For better stopping power the Accord Hybrid’s front brake rotors are larger than those on the Malibu:

For better traction, the Accord has larger standard tires than the Malibu (225/50R17 vs. 205/65R16).

The Accord LX/EX/EX-L’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 50 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Malibu LS’ standard 65 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Accord LX/EX/EX-L has standard 17-inch wheels. Smaller 16-inch wheels are standard on the Malibu LS.

For better handling and stability, the average track (width between the wheels) on the Accord is .2 inches wider in the front and 1.1 inches wider in the rear than the track on the Malibu.

The Accord uses computer-generated active noise cancellation to help remove annoying noise and vibration from the passenger compartment, especially at low frequencies. The Malibu doesn’t offer active noise cancellation.

Because it has more passenger and cargo room, the EPA rates the Accord a Large car, while the Malibu is rated a Mid-size.

The Accord has 2.8 cubic feet more passenger volume than the Malibu (105.7 vs. 102.9).

The Accord has .4 inches more front headroom, .8 inches more front legroom, 1.3 inches more front hip room, 2.7 inches more rear legroom and 2 inches more rear hip room than the Malibu.

The Accord has a larger trunk than the Malibu (16.7 vs. 15.7 cubic feet).

With its sedan body style, valet key, locking rear seatbacks and remote trunk release lockout, the Accord offers cargo security. The Malibu’s non-lockable remote release defeats cargo security.

A standard locking glovebox (which can’t be accessed with the valet key) keeps your small valuables safer in the Accord EX/Sport/EX-L/Touring. The Malibu doesn’t offer locking storage for small valuables.

The Accord uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Malibu uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

The Accord Touring has a standard heads-up display that projects speed and navigation instruction readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Malibu doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

The Accord’s front power windows open or close with one touch of the switches, making it more convenient at drive-up windows and toll booths, or when talking with someone outside of the car. The Malibu’s standard power window switches have to be held the entire time to close them fully. The Malibu LT’s front passenger window doesn’t close automatically.

The Accord has a standard locking fuel door with a remote release located convenient to the driver. A locking fuel door helps prevent fuel theft and vandalism, such as sugar in the tank. The Malibu doesn’t offer a locking fuel door.

The Accord’s standard speed-sensitive wipers speed up when the vehicle does, so that the driver doesn’t have to continually adjust the speed of the wipers. The Malibu’s manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted. The Accord Touring’s standard wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically according to the amount of rainfall on the windshield.

The Accord’s LED headlights produce a whiter, brighter light (up to 3x) using five times less power than the Malibu’s standard projector halogen headlights and light instantly. LED lights also last over twenty times longer than halogen.

The Honda Accord outsold the Chevrolet Malibu by 34% during 2022.