Consumer Reports rates the new Impala best

[ls1mike]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: glock19
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
I won't get started on Subaru. The guy I work with has a 2006 WRX and in the past year has dumbed 2500 bucks into in normal maintenance. None of my GM cars have needed that ever.


I don't know if that's fair. A 7 year old turbocharged, AWD, performance car is not going to be cheap to maintain.


Especially if driven the way many of them are! A guy in the MSF class I took had a WRX...he'd done a turbo and two clutches in 90,000 miles. Of course, his driving style is best shown by the fact he's on his SEVENTH set of tires!

A turbo and two clutches? Still to get out run by stock LT1 cars and Smashed by LS1 cars? Plus the G8 GT which stickered for a about the same will embarrass it and have less maintenance cost. That is good bang for the buck there. I was going to let it die but sometimes you guys kill me.
That is way too much for a car that runs 14 second 1/4 miles and on real road course, not a dirt track or cones, has a hard time beating an LS1 F-body around the corners.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: Colt
After awhile GM will have big discounting on the Impala.


I'd be amazed if they don't already!

But hey...soon, you too can drive a new Impala! Just $44.99/day with coupon at any airport!


Jarlaxle, you and your big mouth may just be wrong this time. Generally I agree, even when you are just ruffling feathers here or on other boards

. But the new Impala is done right.


Are you actually DENYING that rental fleets will buy thousands of Impalas? If so...have you rented a car in the last ten years?

 

[ls1mike]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: Colt
After awhile GM will have big discounting on the Impala.


I'd be amazed if they don't already!

But hey...soon, you too can drive a new Impala! Just $44.99/day with coupon at any airport!


Jarlaxle, you and your big mouth may just be wrong this time. Generally I agree, even when you are just ruffling feathers here or on other boards

. But the new Impala is done right.


Are you actually DENYING that rental fleets will buy thousands of Impalas? If so...have you rented a car in the last ten years?

Past Impalas. The last three time I rented a car I got an Impreza, Altima, and ugh a Yaris.
Have yet to see a new Impala as rental. You like the past don't you?

 

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: Colt
After awhile GM will have big discounting on the Impala.


I'd be amazed if they don't already!

But hey...soon, you too can drive a new Impala! Just $44.99/day with coupon at any airport!


Jarlaxle, you and your big mouth may just be wrong this time. Generally I agree, even when you are just ruffling feathers here or on other boards

. But the new Impala is done right.


Are you actually DENYING that rental fleets will buy thousands of Impalas? If so...have you rented a car in the last ten years?


No but that is when Impalas were [censored] and they could get a dozen for a dime.

 

[ls1mike]

So lets talk about fleet sales when it comes to trucks, no one mentions that. The United State Government buys THOUNDSANDS of them. A sale is a sale and they all end up in the hands of private consumers someday. IMO if you have a car that can handle fleet usage that is good thing. Fleet usage is a rough life for any car period.

 

[mechanicx]

GM has had decent interiors, body hardware and switch gear in many of its cars going back to the late 90's. And also decent riding and handling cars that are pretty reliable. Some models and years had some mostly minor issues, but other makes aren't without their shortcomings too. A lot of criticism of GM vehicles and praise of imports isn't even really true in the past and especially not currently.

 

[JethroBodine]

Originally Posted By: matt711
I doubt anyone is paying what GM is asking for their cars... Im glad GM is improving but IMO the Impalla is not a very good looking car. The rear end proportions just seem off. Interior is improved but still not up with either Ford, Lexus or European imports. GM needs to hire a former Audi interior designer.



I disagree. I think the new body style is excellent. The interior feels a bit plastic. Sound system is ok. But I liked the base XLT Avalon best because it was the best combination of interior/exterior appointments and ultra reliable 3.5L V6 and 6 speed auto trans. It is a toss up with the Impala though.

 

[HM12460]

Good job Chevrolet. I'd certainly look at one if in the market.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: glock19
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
I won't get started on Subaru. The guy I work with has a 2006 WRX and in the past year has dumbed 2500 bucks into in normal maintenance. None of my GM cars have needed that ever.


I don't know if that's fair. A 7 year old turbocharged, AWD, performance car is not going to be cheap to maintain.


Especially if driven the way many of them are! A guy in the MSF class I took had a WRX...he'd done a turbo and two clutches in 90,000 miles. Of course, his driving style is best shown by the fact he's on his SEVENTH set of tires!

A turbo and two clutches? Still to get out run by stock LT1 cars and Smashed by LS1 cars? Plus the G8 GT which stickered for a about the same will embarrass it and have less maintenance cost. That is good bang for the buck there. I was going to let it die but sometimes you guys kill me.
That is way too much for a car that runs 14 second 1/4 miles and on real road course, not a dirt track or cones, has a hard time beating an LS1 F-body around the corners.


He open-tracks the car (his turbo went on the main straight at Watkins Glen) and he runs SOLO courses with it. He has never drag raced it. Wild guess: about 10% of the miles on it were on a track!

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Fleet usage is a rough life for any car period.


Yep, people act like rental is kind duty or something. Most everyone I know abuses the living daylights out of those poor cars...

Jarlaxle, The SRT8 ships with the nicer NGK plat/iridium hybrids and specs a plug change at 100k+ miles. My car has over 200 drag strip passes and dozens of HPDE's all over the country and I bought one motor mount out of necessity. Other than that: fluids, tires, and brakes.

 

[PandaBear]

Looks much better than the old ones I see in 06. I've rented one when my car overheated in the desert at 110F (long story) and need a car to get to my destination.

It is big on the outside and small in the inside (huge thick uncomfortable seat wasted all the inside space). It float instead of hug the road as I like it, bad steering response, waste a lot of gas, and feel like it has no torque despite the big engine. It may be good for people used to that kind of car but IMO it is not very good, even if you sell it for $25k.

It seems like they finally fixed it in the newer version. The styling is much much better than the old one (what were they thinking? it was 2006 not 1986).

 

[Cujet]

Just rented a brand new 2014 Impala.

NOPE! Not for me.

The back seat has insufficient leg room. I can't believe it, but the car is big on the outside and small on the inside, like the poster above says. I'm 5 foot 10, 190 pounds and can't fit in the back unless the seat is moved up 4 inches!

It's engine is as refined as a 2003 Honda V6, which is to say, quite refined, but not world class. It's still 10 years behind the best of today's engines.

The transmission is standard GM fare. Smooth and unresponsive, slow and gentle shifts, and takes 2 seconds to upshift in manual mode, once commanded. Ugh.

Steering is much like the previous Impala. OK, but not sports car taught. The steering wheel is huge and blocks some of the controls for the display, no matter the position of the wheel. Why are we still having these issues??

The ride is EXACTLY like GM cars from years ago. It feels like the suspension is populated with large, fresh, rubber bushings. It's a typical GM feel and owners of those big 1978 Gran Prix's will feel right at home. The cornering is fairly capable, as GM did a good job keeping the wheels planted accurately on the road.

The car accelerates well enough, once floored, but torque steer is enough to pull you out of your lane if you are not "on top of it".

Conclusion: It feels exactly like an older, large GM vehicle, with a few added bad habits, worse throttle response and insufficient rear seat room.

22MPG in mixed driving.

 

[gofast182]

That's an interesting take. I wonder if a higher trim would make a difference? I also wonder if some of this hype behind new cars from the Big 3 is just [censored] kissing to make everyone feel better about them? Although it's undeniable they're making progress and I've seen a few on the road and they sure to look good.

 

[Cujet]

Originally Posted By: gofast182
That's an interesting take. I wonder if a higher trim would make a difference? I also wonder if some of this hype behind new cars from the Big 3 is just [censored] kissing to make everyone feel better about them? Although it's undeniable they're making progress and I've seen a few on the road and they sure to look good.


Trim level would not make me happier with the car. It was very nice inside as rented. Comfortable leather seats, nice dash, good cornering capability and so on. It's the glaring flaws of insufficient rear seat room, "old school" feel, excessive torque steer, numb throttle response until floored and so on that make this car quite "sub standard" when compared to offerings from Honda, Toyota, VW, Audi, Ford and so on.

 

[Cujet]

Just another note: I bottom out in the rear seat. Had to ride there for an hour while the wife and mother in law were up front. GM failed miserably in the rear seat department. Period, end of story.

Also, the rear brakes are absolutely tiny. The outside mirrors are horribly shaped and provide a poor view behind and beside. I've come to strongly dislike this car.

 

[01rangerxl]

I'm excited to see what these will look like when they hit the auctions, then come to me. Looks nice for an Impala, and better be for the price. It will be interesting to see how fast they can be hooptied up.

I worked on an '09 today with less than 100K miles. The owner/rent to owner ripped out the console because the shift interlock broke. There was lots of trash where the console used to be. A blend door was hammering away like crazy, CEL was on, and there was a series of "service this" and "service that" messages. Oil life had been at 0% for who knows how long. The car had been customized with numerous chrome trinkets. I see '12s and '13s that aren't much better, and dexos be [censored], "dat cost too much."

 

[Ed_T]

Very few people are actually going to buy the retail Imp, IMHO. It is a geezer-mobile, and, too many of us geezers still have too many not-so-fond memories etched into our brains and wallets of our domestically-badged sleds of yore. And that's why we no longer drive the domestics, and have gone permanently over to the dark side. Sales of the Imp and cars like it are scarred by potential buyers' fear of the unknown, and fear of history repeating itself.

As we geezers die off, who will be left to buy the Imp? New geezers? Doubtful. They've already been buying and enjoying foreign-badged-mobiles for far too long to swap those horses mid-stream.

And with the trend growing amongst the youngers to not buy a vehicle at all, I would surmise the new Imp and cars like it will be some of the first to be killed off by the market.

So, to those so inclined, you might want to grab your Imp or similar vehicle now, while GM and the rest are still making them, so that you won't be left stranded at the altar wearing your bowtie.

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: Ed_T
Very few people are actually going to buy the retail Imp, IMHO. It is a geezer-mobile, and, too many of us geezers still have too many not-so-fond memories etched into our brains and wallets of our domestically-badged sleds of yore. And that's why we no longer drive the domestics, and have gone permanently over to the dark side. Sales of the Imp and cars like it are scarred by potential buyers' fear of the unknown, and fear of history repeating itself.

As we geezers die off, who will be left to buy the Imp? New geezers? Doubtful. They've already been buying and enjoying foreign-badged-mobiles for far too long to swap those horses mid-stream.

And with the trend growing amongst the youngers to not buy a vehicle at all, I would surmise the new Imp and cars like it will be some of the first to be killed off by the market.

So, to those so inclined, you might want to grab your Imp or similar vehicle now, while GM and the rest are still making them, so that you won't be left stranded at the altar wearing your bowtie.


Quite a number of younger folks who want something large for growing families but do not want a gas-sucking minivan or SUV are finding the Detroit 3 offerings to be on par with other carmakers.

And, it's hogwash that us younger folks don't want (new) cars. Once they start settling down and wanting a larger place than their trendy urban loft to start raising families, they'll find out that they need a car to haul kids, dogs, and groceries back home. After the student loans get paid off, that is. It's quite difficult to haul a kid and a week's worth of groceries on public transportation, unless one calls a cab. And at that price, buying a car is cheaper.

 

[Mykl]

The problem is that most of us younger folks with growing families don't have brand-new Impala money to spend on a car. So if we wanted a large, comfortable sedan over a used mini-van or CUV I personally would be angling towards a used Avalon.

 

[Cujet]

Final report:

16MPG city,
20MPG highway,

Unable to achieve more MPG. Numb, unresponsive, balky, quirky and full of unnecessary issues. Compared to a 2014 Honda Accord V6, the Impala is half the car.

Awful driving car. Wife hates it, I hate it. Plus some form of aerodynamic rattle that was annoying on the highway.

If GM continues down this path, they deserve to fail, utterly and completely.