Tomorrow I turn in a Chevy Impala I've been renting for the past week while up here in Seattle, Washington for training, and there are alot of preconcieved notions about the Impala that have completely changed, and some I wanted to note here since it's a much maligned car (by me as much as anyone else). Did it deserve it? You be the judge.

1. I used to think the car was poorly designed. I now think the idea of it's design was good, but it was executed pretty badly. Impala is basically a good looking car, but it seems that the styling studio drew up a good design for a full size car, and somewhere along the line, someone decided to use it on a midsize, and it looks pretty disporportionate. This goes for the dashboard as well. It's a nice design, but you get the feeling it was supposed to be on a bigger car. I still think the Impala's grille is ugly though.

2. I used to think the car wasn't very well made. In general, it IS a very well made car. It's quality of materials is actually pretty good especially next to the F-body!! When I pick up the Camaro tomorrow, after a week in the Impala, I know the Z's interior is going to feel like it was engineered and assembled by Fisher Price. It's not to say the Impala's perfect. The cloth on the bottom portion of the front seats attaches to a metal frame under the seat with a long plastic piece that clips on. The rentals slipped off (easily snapped back), but I can imagine hords of Impalas in the future with loose seat covers because of bent or broken clips.

3. I use to think the Impala was a dog. In truth, it actually does have some *****! You won't "Shock and Awe" anybody, but it has way more than enough power to be pretty impressive. It's also a surprizingly good handling car. The down side is because of it's standard tires and the fact it's front wheel drive, it's damn near dangerous in the rain (today was Seattle's 1st day of rain in about 60 days....a new record!). Stopping and agressive handling in the rain in this car makes you want the FWD fans to tell you again why FWD is better on slick roads. Another weak point is the transmission. It's so focused on being smooth, there's no snap to it whatsoever. There is more engine than transmission in these cars.

4. I used to think of Impala as a small Full Sized car. Now I wonder why Chevy makes both an Impala and a Malibu. I also wonder how can a Holden Commodore sedan have a load more interior room than the like-sized Impala. There is NOTHING "Full-Sized" about the interior of the Impala. The interior is pretty intimate, the rear seat legroom is dangerously close to "size small", and there is no footroom under the front seat for rear seat passengers. I now suspect police buy these cars primarily to discourage repeat crimes (1 ride in the back seat & you'll know why). I had to share the car with 2 other people, equalling some back seat time on the way to Vancouver, Canada today (almost 4 hours). Though I had the rear seat to myself, trust me, it was not fun.

Overall, I have to say the Impala was a better car than I thought it would be. It's basically a well made, reasonably quick, most certainly well handling mid-sized car, that's somewhat smallish inside.

As with my Camaro, the indefeatable automatic headlights that in this case don't even turn off when you turn off the engine (?!!) was maddening, but overall, Impala doesn't feel like a cheap appliance. It's great for driving like a bat out of hell on city roads (we were running late one morning after pulling a late nighter at Pioneer Square ), and is a better than expected "point and shoot" car on a busy freeway, and it is selling like gangbusters at the moment, and at some angles & lighting it actually looks good.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but pretty impressive comming from a guy that drives a Z28 and a Thunderbird SC everyday.

 

SInce my Monte Carlo SS's are basicallt the same car with different panels and interiors, I'll chime in with an update on each:

2001 SS: 71,500 miles. In the shop for: nothing.

2002 SS: 13,000 miles. In the shop for: nothing.

Only complaint I have for either is that the "soft touch" paint in peeling off the conter console on the 01... but that's because my wife abuses it pretty hard... but durability could stand to be better here.


Out of curiosity, did you have an Impala for Impala LS? (3400 or 3800) and did you have traction control?

 

I thinks that's a pretty typical impression. The phrase that comes to mind is "damning with faint praise". Most people expect so little of the car that they become mildly impressed when it exceeds those meagre expectations.

The company gave me one to drive back in 2000 so my impressions might be a little dated. It was also a base 3400 version (I've since driven some newer 3800 ones, but just for short jaunts.) My first impression was that the dash design is the among the worst of any car I've ever driven. Such a mishmash of shapes, colours, and textures without any unifying theme. Like anything ugly, you eventually get used to it (c.f. Aztek) but all it takes is one drive behind the wheel of an Accord to realize how far behind Chevy really is. I used to think they had this crappy design because they wanted 6 passenger seating and therefore couldn't have a console, but I've since driven some console-shifted Impys with the same dash. Why don't they use the far more attactive Monte Carlo dash for their 5 seat versions?

The other lasting impression was how soggy the handling was. Maybe it was because it was a base version, but that still shouldn't be an excuse to not give the car a modicum of body control.

On the plus side I've always liked the exterior styling, even the big taillights. Like most people here I'm not so fond of the chrome spear but I can overlook it. I also thought the car was roomy enough given its external size. And as usual, GM does a good job on the powertrain, with even the 3400 having adequate power and smoothness..

 

Last year I had helped out a buddy on a dealer trade and drove an Impala and a 99 Lumina back to back, and let me just say that Impala is 500% better than the car it replaced. It was unbeleivable how much better the Impala handled over the Lumina.

I like the looks of the Impala on the out side, but the interior could use an upgrade as far as looks go. It needs to look sportier, maybe a little more futuristic.

 

Well, for me, its easy to see why they make both an Impala and a
Malibu. In effect, it is the same as making a Grand Am and a Grand Prix..

And there is a monumental difference...

The Grand Am, to me, is great for 2 people. 4 can be a little tight, but manageable. I brought 3 other people with me to Lake George, NY last weekend and there were no complaints. Now, a Grand Prix on the other hand...feels much larger to drive, more substantial, and I always thought the back seat in my parents was fine. Mind you, I am 5 foot 7...tall I am not

I look at a Grand Am (especially in GT form) as a great backroads car and in town commuter with its smaller size, better handling and smaller feel. It feels more buttoned down. I look at a Grand Prix as being the ultimate highway car with its higher profile tires, 3800 V6 and smoother ride. My sister has an '01 Grand Prix GT, and I have compared it back to back with my '02 Grand Am GT, and I think the above is pretty accurate...

Now, a Malibu more than likely does not have anywhere near the handling of a Grand Am GT (at least current '97-'03 models) due to their ride biased 15 and 16 inch tires, and softer chassis components. But in terms of why they make both?

They better make both!!! Compare them, and an N body and a W body really are in 2 different classes...

BTW, I happen to like the materials in my Camaro Maybe I am easy to please...am I the only one who likes their '97-up Camaro interior???

 

I think the Impala is selling so well because of what you get: the price, the size, and the torquey 3800. I would never buy one, but for what you get I think it's a pretty good car.

 

Love it! Especially w/ steering mounted controls

 

I owned the 2000 Impala LS, loaded, for 2 years until I sold it to buy my '02 SS. Let me say that for what the Impala is, it certainly was a great car! It got me a total of 24k miles until I sold it privately, all with minimal problems of which were all covered 100% by the warranty. The 3.8L V6 was rated at 200hp and was very peppy on the expressway and at red lights. Gas mileage was excellent, just as well. Sure it isn't the Impala SS of the past, but this was an entirely different car in respect to both.

I was disappointed that in the beginning there wasn't any aftermarket parts for it, except what GM offered in accessories. Even the Monte Carlo SS aftermarket parts (of which were mostly compatible with the Impala) were only spec'd for the Monte. So part suppliers were losing potential buyers, like me, for Impala performance parts if all they would do was spec those Monte parts for both cars! Today if you look they finally got on the band wagon and have performance parts aimed at both cars, and they also filled the gap by adding performance versions with the Supercharged Series II 3.8L V6.

I thought the "appearance package" from last year was a joke, but it did make the car look a little more agressive. The blackout on the tail lights is a great look because it pays homage to the round tail lights of the classic Impalas and is much more cleaner. Overall conveniences I felt were great, too. Dual climate control, traction control, heated leather seating, 6? speaker stereo with cassette and CD, power moonroof, full power, good interior room, etc.

Sure I'd love to see a RWD V8 Impala built off this design, but again, for what the Impala was marketed towards, it sure is a great car! It has excellent styling cues and nice convenience features. I think once eveyone heard the Impala name plate was coming back they expected an LT1 version from the mid '90s, hence this is why no performance enthusiast is happy with it. But granted, for an everyday car it surely can't be beat.

 

The automatic headlights in the Camaro are very easily defeated. That was my first mod.

 

Yeah, you can do that, but then you take out the daytime running lights along with it. Some don't mind, but I think the orange DRL's are kinda cool.

 

Interestingly enough, maybe this is what provides hope for the domestic manufacturers. Assuming they can lure people into the showroom, they'll find better vehicles than what they expected, where as the superlatives applied to Hondas and Toyotas maybe will eventually lead customers to be disappointed when they find out that their product isn't perfect.

 

The way I did it you don't lose the DRL's. Just the auto head lights when it gets dark.

 

LS 3800 V6.

I initially was to have the Malibu (why rentals call them midsized is beyond me). But after concluding the back seat rider would be subject to cruel & unusual punishment on any road trip we took, we got a free upgrade to the Impy.

R377, you pretty much hit the nail on the head, and Eric and Darth drove it home. These cars are no Accord, but they are no doubt surprizingly good, dependable, and very low maintence cars. If I was in the market for a standard mid-size FWD family sedan, I'd pass up the Honda and Toyota for the Impala. All I'd have to do in maintence is change oil for the 1st 100,000 miles, and it's a pretty decent car.

The only problem is I'd buy a mid-size RWD sedan first (behind a RWD coupe of course). That means the Impy would currently be behind a Infinity G35 sedan, a used Lincoln LS V8, a Lexus IS 300, or a base model or year old CTS. I wouldn't consider an overly powerful FWD car for myself, because I find them unnerving on less than perfect and smooth corners, let alone rain or snow, so that puts me out of the SC Grand Prix & Impala/Monte SS group.

 

I saw somewhere an Impala gets better gas milage than Accord V6...

I can't beleive you found the interior small...I think it's pretty big IMO.

One thing people are missing to is that the Impala offers a standard V6...which sounds good to uneducated car types when pitching the car. The interior seems least as big as the Intrepid...which is simply huge.....


When I used to work at a rental car company...people would look all diappointed when you gave them an Impala and they had never had one....when they came back though they were like coverts singing about how comfortable it was an that it got great gas milage.

 

One thing you are forgetting is that the Impala is not in the same price class as the cars you listed. There is currently a $4,000 rebated on the Impala..which easily brings a well equiped car into the low $20s.