Viable alternative to the Accord or Camry? Not quite.

I've owned my 2008 Chevy Malibu for just over six months now and I'm underwhelmed. Don't get me wrong it's a decent family sedan, but it still doesn't compare to my 2006 Accord in just about every aspect.
When I was car shopping I looked at everything from Camry to Accord, to Mercury Milan and even some preowned luxury cars from Cadilac and Lexus. I wished I'd have picked any of them quite frankly.
I've had no problems whatsoever and the car gets you from point A to point B as well as any of them, but boy is this an unispiring car! The looks are decent enough for a sedan and the overall size fits my lifestyle well but the interior, as usual from GM, uses inferior materials and looks just plain cheap. I don't know what plastic material the dash is made out of but it looks worse than a Rubbermaid bin and is tough to clean. I know high end cars use better materials, but c'mon GM, this stuff is the pits!
The seats are fairly comfortable and attractive and there is plenty of leg room to stretch out. The electronics work fine and all the dials and knobs are conveniently located but it still reeks of economy class at $23,000.00 which should at least buy you decent materials.
The ride is fairly firm and it handles ok for a front wheel drive sedan but there again it's just mediocre and the last thing Detroit needs to be producing now is mediocre cars.
I'm a little disappointed as well in the gas mileage I'm getting as well. I purposely bought the 4 cylinder version for this reason, but barely get 26 MPG when the TV ads tout 30 MPG and believe me I'm not a lead foot so that's a hard one to accept.
I do like the Onstar service GM offers on their new cars for the first year. It gives you an added sense of security and has some usefull tools like the hands free phone.
Maybe I'm too critical but having just come from owning an Accord and a few other foreign brands, GM still has lots of work to do to catch up. Maybe they'll get the chance or maybe they'll go under, either way they are a long way from overtaking Honda and Toyota.
You're probably wondering why I bought the car in the first place, right? Well, as dumb as it sounds, I really wanted to support an American business after years of owning foreign cars but I should have kept looking. Buying a car is too big of an expenditure to let your emotions rule and next time I'll shop with my head and not my heart.