Chevrolet Malibu has a suggested price of $19,995 and gets 22 mpg city/30 highway.

GM

I admit it. I had to check that there was a Chevrolet bowtie badge on the trunk lid of the 2008 Malibu.

Why? I could have sworn that from the back, the Malibu had the attractive styling of Volkswagen’s short-lived Phaeton luxury sedan.

And after getting inside the Malibu and seeing the nicely crafted interior — which is especially eye-catching with two-tone cockpit — I checked again for the Chevy badge.

Yup, it was there, highlighting that Malibu is distinctly different and welcoming for 2008 with new interior, exterior, platform and engines.

Indeed, since its introduction at showrooms last fall, the new-generation Malibu has been winning praise from auto critics left and right. It even made Car and Driver magazine’s 10 Best list for 2008 and is among three finalists for the independently bestowed North American Car of the Year.

That’s not all. The new Malibu earned a top, five-out-of-five-stars safety rating for frontal crash protection. Six standard air bags, including curtain air bags, are standard. So are antilock brakes and traction control.

But don’t miss this: The Malibu’s starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price, including destination charge, of $19,995 — with an automatic transmission and four-cylinder engine — undercuts many family-size sedans from Japan-based brands.

For example, the lowest MSRP, including destination charge, for a 2008 Camry with four-cylinder engine and automatic transmission is $20,280, while the lowest retail price for a 2008 Honda Accord sedan with four cylinder and automatic is $21,795. A 2008 Nissan Altima sedan with automatic and four cylinder starts at $21,205.

Every Malibu comes with standard air conditioning, AM/FM stereo with CD and MP3 player and XM satellite radio with three months of complimentary service.

Each Malibu also has something not offered in the competing vehicles: OnStar emergency notification service with one free year of point-by-point navigation assistance included. No purchase of a DVD-based navigation system is required.

Like the competitors, Malibu also is offered with a V6, at a starting retail price of $26,995.

This price is more than the $24,300 starting price for a 2008 Camry with V6, the $24,705 price for a V6-powered Altima and the $26,595 price for a 2008 Accord with V6.

Will all the improvements be enough for the Malibu to outsell the Camry and Accord, which rank among the best-selling cars in America?

Perhaps not, given that more than three times as many Accords and Camry cars have been sold to U.S. consumers this year than Malibus.

But the new Malibu surely is compelling enough to draw new buyers — especially buyers keeping an eye on fuel mileage.

Malibus with the base, 169-horsepower, 2.4-liter, double overhead cam, Ecotec four cylinder are rated by the federal government at 22 miles per gallon in city driving and a noteworthy 30 mpg on the highway.

The only transmission offered is a four-speed automatic that performed quite smoothly in the test car.

The resulting combined mileage rating for this model is 25 mpg, which is on par with that of a Camry and better than the 24-mpg combined rating for an Accord — both with four-cylinder engines and five-speed automatic transmissions.

There’s also a first-ever gasoline-electric hybrid version of Malibu for 2008, just released in the last few weeks. Its fuel rating is 24/32 mpg, which is just a bit better than that of a four-cylinder, gas-only Malibu.

Malibus with the uplevel, 252-horsepower, 3.6-liter V6 carry one of two mileage ratings: 18/29 with four-speed automatic or 17/26 with six-speed automatic.

Beyond the stylish looks and interior, the new Malibu rides and handles well.

The platform underneath is the same one that’s used in the Saturn Aura sedan — another product of Chevy’s parent company, General Motors — and it provides a stable structure for the independent, four-wheel suspension to do its work.

In the test Malibu 1LT with four-cylinder engine, the car mostly rolled over road bumps, conveying just slight vibrations to passengers. Yet the driver never felt isolated or disconnected from the road.

This is in contrast to previous Malibus where I often felt that the back end of the car handled road bumps differently — and more harshly — than did the front end of the car.

The Malibu’s steering in the test car had a mostly mainstream feel. It responded easily.

And I didn’t notice, as I drove the new Malibu, that this car is some 3.5 inches longer, overall, than the 2007 Malibu and has a 6-inch longer wheelbase that contributes to good-size door openings and a welcoming 37.6 inches of legroom in the back seat.

The length and an additional half inch of width meant, though, that the Malibu took up a bit more room in my garage than I had expected.

The Malibu’s back seat is roomy for even three adults, and I appreciated the 37.2 inches of head room.

Best of all, the back seat didn’t steal space from the trunk, which has a competitive 15.1 cubic feet in storage space.

I just wish that the lower sills at each door opening of the Malibu were recessed a bit more. In the test car, I dirtied the backs of pant legs getting out of the vehicle once the Malibu had been in a rainstorm and gotten wet and dirty. I also had a bit of trouble working the latch on the small storage spot at the top middle part of the dashboard.

A final note: The five-door Malibu Maxx hatchback model offered with the previous Malibu has been dropped.’08 Chevrolet Malibu 1LT

BASE PRICE: $19,345 for LS; $20,305 for LT.

AS TESTED: $21,470.

TYPE: Front-engine, front-wheel-drive, five-passenger, mid-size sedan.

ENGINE: 2.4-liter, dual overhead cam Ecotec four cylinder.

MILEAGE: 22 mpg (city), 30 mpg (highway).

TOP SPEED: 113 mph.

LENGTH: 191.8 inches.

WHEELBASE: 112.3 inches.

CURB WEIGHT: 3,436 pounds.

BUILT AT: Kansas City, Kan.

OPTIONS: Convenience package (includes remote engine start, power, six-way driver seat and power adjustable pedals) $515.

DESTINATION CHARGE: $650.

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