If you're shopping for a modern midsize sedan, the Malibu delivers maximum backseat legroom for minimum money, then reminds you why it's cheap every time you close those hollow-sounding doors. The plastics feel dated before you drive off the lot, and the whole experience is so aggressively forgettable you might struggle to describe it an hour later. Some examples have crossed 200k miles on basic maintenance, but timing chain failures lurk around 70k-120k on certain years, and the transmission has known weak points. It's spacious, fuel-efficient, and will probably start tomorrow, but the Accord and Camry offer actual refinement for similar money. Buy it if you need a roomy commuter and truly don't care about interior quality or driving feel; skip it if you value long-term durability or want anything approaching premium materials.
If you want a luxury sedan that'll outlive your mortgage and still feel special at 200,000 miles, the 2019-2025 ES is the one to buy, owners report zero drama, 50+ mpg from the hybrid, and an interior that hasn't aged a day. It's the last ES with the smooth V6, and the last one that feels like a proper Lexus before the brand lost the plot. The 2026 redesign strips out the V6, replaces buttons with touch-capacitive surfaces, and swaps hand-stitched luxury for Tesla minimalism that screams 'cost-cutting.' Nobody's driven one yet, so the hate is all aesthetic, but when a brand kills its best engine, ditches the iconic L logo for spelled-out branding, and makes the interior look like a rental car, that's a red flag. Buy the outgoing generation while you still can, it's the last ES that knows what it is.