When I’m out running early on weekday mornings, I often see an eighties Malibu sedan driving along the Lincoln Highway in Bryn Mawr. Time to update this elderly post.
“… a beautiful and practical choice …”
The 1983 Malibu was the final rear-wheel-drive Malibu and the last Malibu of any kind until the 1997 model year. For 1983, Chevrolet eliminated the Malibu Classic designation and reverted to Malibu as the single trim level, which you could get in either a four-door sedan or a five-door wagon.
Standard motivation for the 3,100 to 3,200-pound sedan (weight largely depended on engine choice) was provided by the evergreen LD5 3.8 liter/231 ci V6 with a two-barrel carburetor hooked up to a three-speed automatic transmission, making 110 bhp and getting 20 city/29 highway by the standards of the day. Power options included two different diesels (a $500 V6 and a $700 V8 that just about no one purchased) and the LG4 150 bhp 5.0 liter/305 ci V8 with a Rochester E4ME four-barrel carburetor rated at 18 city/26 highway. With an 18.1-gallon fuel tank, the owner of a V8 Malibu could expect a range of 325 to 360 miles. Performance was not exactly sparkling: 0-60 took a little over 11 seconds with the V8.
Standard exterior and mechanical equipment on the $8,084 Malibu V6 sedan (about $21,100 in today’s dollars or a little under what a 2019 Malibu L costs) included quad rectangular headlamps, high-energy ignition, a Delco Freedom II battery, power front disc/rear drum brakes, power steering, and P185/75R14 glass-belted radial tires (a size currently available thanks to Hankook) on 14-inch wheels. Inside, a base Malibu came spare—highlights were a vinyl bench seat, a cigarette lighter, a locking glove compartment, and a day/night rearview mirror.
Moving to the V8 brought the Malibu sedan’s base price up $225 to $8,309 (about $21,700 in 2019 dollars). Options that were ordered in more than 50% of 1983 Malibus included air conditioning (the most expensive option at $725), tinted glass ($105), remote left-hand side-view mirror ($22), and rear window defogger ($135).
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linked from the Old Car Manual Project’s amazing brochures section.
Interestingly, you could still order some performance-oriented options for the Malibu even in its final year. A limited-slip differential ($95), performance rear axle ($21), gauge package with trip odometer ($95), heavy-duty battery ($25), heavy-duty cooling, rally wheels ($108), and the F40 heavy-duty suspension ($26) were all available, though I’m not convinced they found a lot of buyers among the total of 117,426 Malibus purchased in 1983.
This generation of Malibu does come up for sale every once in a while in the Hemming’s Motor News classifieds or on eBay Motors, but there were no reasonably stock sedans available when I updated this blog entry in June 2019.
Make mine Dark Blue Metallic, please.
Other rear-wheel drive G-platform (designated A-platform before 1982) cars I have written about include the 1984 Buick Regal Grand National coupe, the 1981 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Sport Coupe, the 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme coupe, the 1980 Pontiac Grand Am coupe, and the 1987 Pontiac Grand Prix coupe.
Updated June 2019.
Eighties Cars 
I’d like to start off by saying I’m glad I discovered this page, and I always look forward to notifications there is something new! I always liked these cars, along with the other G-body sedan variants. However, if Malibu was like the other sedans with the inability to roll down the rear windows, A/C would’ve been a necessity especially where I live in the South. I’d still like to have one – With or without A/C. And make mine in any color but white!
Thanks for the comment – agreed about the A/C to keep things civilized.
Hi, I, too, always liked the last of the real Chevrolet Malibus–especially the last of the last–the 1983. I sure wish that I still had the silver-gray ’83 four-door sedan with blackwalls and a lay-flat hood ornament that my father gave me. Except for its bastard V6 (uneven running because it was a 90-degree V instead of a 60-degree V and, very stupidly, part “inch” and part metric), I really loved that car. If I had it now, I’d want it to have a Chevy 350 V8 and a Turbohydramatic, etc. My ’83 Malibu must have looked like a cop car ’cause quite a few cars didn’t want to go by it on the highway!! (True story.) I’d keep mine just as it was except for the drivetrain. Man, I loved that car.