Compare the2025 Kia K5VS 2024 Chevrolet Malibu

For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Kia K5 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.

Both the K5 and Malibu have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The K5 has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Malibu’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The K5 EX/GT1 has standard Parking Collision Assist that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Malibu doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.

The K5 offers all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Malibu doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.

The K5 EX/GT1 has a standard Surround View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Malibu only offers a rear monitor and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the front or sides.

The K5 has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them and moves the vehicle back into its lane. A system to reveal vehicles in the Malibu’s blind spot costs extra.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the K5 has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. Chevrolet charges extra for Rear Cross Traffic Alert on the Malibu and the Malibu’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert does not include automatic braking.

The K5’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 K5 and the Malibu have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, 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 and rearview cameras.

The K5 comes with a full 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire car and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The Malibu’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 2 years or 24,000 miles sooner.

Kia’s powertrain warranty covers the K5 5 years and 40,000 miles longer than Chevrolet covers the Malibu. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the Malibu ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2024 Auto Issue reports that Kia vehicles are more reliable than Chevrolet vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Kia 10 places higher in reliability than Chevrolet.

The K5’s standard 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder produces 28 more horsepower (191 vs. 163) than the Malibu’s 1.5 turbo 4-cylinder. The K5 GT’s standard 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 127 more horsepower (290 vs. 163) and 127 lbs.-ft. more torque (311 vs. 184) than the Malibu’s 1.5 turbo 4-cylinder.

As tested in Motor Trend the K5 GT 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder is faster than the Chevrolet Malibu:

The K5 has a standard locking fuel door which locks and unlocks with the power locks. The fuel filler door is not lockable on the Malibu. A locking fuel door helps prevent fuel theft and vandalism, such as sugar in the tank.

The K5 GT’s launch control uses engine electronics to hold engine RPM’s precisely in order to provide the most stable and rapid acceleration possible, using all of the available traction. The Malibu doesn’t offer launch control.

For better stopping power the K5’s front brake rotors are larger than those on the Malibu:

The K5 has standard front and rear gas-charged shocks for better control over choppy roads. The Malibu’s suspension doesn’t offer gas-charged shocks.

The K5 has vehicle speed sensitive variable-assist power steering, for low-effort parking, better control at highway speeds and during hard cornering, and a better feel of the road. The Malibu doesn’t offer variable-assist power steering.

For better handling and stability, the average track (width between the wheels) on the K5 is 1.2 inches wider in the front and 1.6 inches wider in the rear than the track on the Malibu.

The K5 GT handles at .85 G’s, while the Malibu LT pulls only .84 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The K5 GT executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1.1 seconds quicker than the Malibu LT (26.3 seconds @ .69 average G’s vs. 27.4 seconds @ .63 average G’s).

For better maneuverability, the K5’s turning circle is 1 foot tighter than the Malibu’s (36 feet vs. 37 feet).

Because it has more passenger and cargo room, the EPA rates the K5 a Large car, while the Malibu is rated a Mid-size.

The K5 has 2.4 cubic feet more passenger volume than the Malibu (105.3 vs. 102.9).

The K5 has 1.1 inches more front headroom, 4.6 inches more front legroom, 2.5 inches more front hip room, .3 inches more rear headroom and 3.2 inches more rear hip room than the Malibu.

To make loading groceries and cargo easier when your hands are full, the K5’s trunk can be opened just by waiting momentarily behind the back bumper, leaving your hands completely free. The Malibu doesn’t offer a hands-free gesture to open its trunk, forcing you to put cargo down if your hands are full.

The K5 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 K5’s standard driver’s power window opens or closes with one touch of the window control, making it more convenient at drive-up windows and toll booths. The Malibu’s standard driver’s power window switch has to be held the entire time to close it fully. The K5 EX/GT1’s front and rear power windows all open or close with one touch of the switches. The Malibu LT’s passenger windows don’t close automatically.

The K5’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 K5’s standard outside mirrors include heating elements to clear off the mirrors for better visibility. Chevrolet only offers heated mirrors on the Malibu LT.

The K5 has a standard dual zone air conditioning allows the driver and front passenger to choose two completely different temperatures so people with different temperature preferences won’t have to compromise. This makes both the driver and front passenger as comfortable as possible. Dual zone air conditioning is only available on the Malibu LT.