Consumer Reports rates the new Impala best

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Unfortunately the real test of a car is how good it is when it reaches 10 years old. Until you can travel 10 years into the future and then go 10 years back, you will never know how good a car actually is.
 
I'm starting to see a lot of Impalas on the streets and I think they look excellent, especially the LTZ.

I'll admit I was a huge GM basher just a few years ago. Not a single model interested me - laughed at the thought of owning one (or Ford or Chrysler) Not anymore.... I'd proudly own the Cruze LTZ, Cruze Diesel, new Impala, Volt, Spark EV, ATS, XTS, 3rd Gen CTS, new SS, or C7 Corvette.

I recently saw an XTS in what must have been the top spec in a pearl white. Absolutely stunning.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
The Car & Driver review that SteveSRT8 posted earlier called the Avalon, which won the comparison, "an invigorating car to drive". I think it's fair to say that ALL of these large sedans have improved way beyond their predecessors. I'm sure that C&D itself is as surprised at that statement (an Avalon being invigorating to drive) as anyone else.


Interesting thing that C&D article, about the Impalas trunk they say:

The Impala’s cathedral-sized trunk is the largest, at 19 cubic feet, and it’s accessed through a clamshell lid that looks like it’ll take a pair of skis sideways.

The Avalon tied with 3 others for 16 cubic feet of trunk space, and they give the Avalon top score for trunk space? Did they flop this? If they swapped that score with the Impala, it would have still have come in second in their testing, but by only 1 point.
 
Yes, I agree that the new Impala is a worthy consideration in it's respective class. I have also read that it rides better than the Avalon with better handling too!

I really like where Chevrolet is going with their new lineup and vehicles that are now hitting the showrooms. It's about time!

Time will also tell how well the new Chevy(GM) vehicles hold up in terms of reliability and overall test scores in their respective class'. I believe they'll do well and I think that GM(Buick, Chevy, Caddy, Vette, GMC) are on a HUGE Roll! Not only for the domestic manufactures but, world wide... YEAH!

I haven't purchaced a domestic car since 1984 but, I will these days and most likely it'll be from GM
 
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Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Just saying it is pricey to maintain one as compared to other cars. Normal maintenance is acceptable, that price for what was done is not.

Yours is brand new, time will tell, just like every other car on the road.


I am always amazed at what others tell me is "routine" maintenance. We would go crazy here if our fleet trucks were down like that. Not something we are used to at all.

I think that was my point, I don't have routine maintenance like that on any of my cars. Isn't your fleet stuff GM?

I didn't mean to single out Subaru, but it was fresh in my head and it is on Par with the WRX guys I know and that hang out with Bill.


Honestly, putting aside the valve covers and the water pump the rest of that stuff really was "routine" maintenance. Timing belt, plugs, fluid changes, filter changes... All of that stuff really is routine and needs done on any car.

I know you don't think of his WRX as a performance car and that's fine (with a name like LS1mike I wouldn't expect you to be impressed with 300hp lol). The point I was making earlier is when you take a platform that makes 173hp and turbo it up to 240hp in his case or 305hp as is the case with the new WRX STI then reliability is going to go down. I think it's totally fine to say the WRX is going to cost more to maintain just not Subaru as a whole (I believe you acknowledged this in your last post, just clarifying).
 
Listen, I've had many a high performance car, some near exotics, a few germans, etc. There is no way that work is "routine". It may be for a Subaru, but it's not for a Vette, a 180 mph SRT8, or a hot Stang, etc. And I'm ignoring the pricing completely, as what you pay is between you and your wrench.

I find the lil scoobers to be quite the performance car IMO. Excellent pricing, capable performer and easily modded to high HP levels, although their reliability seems directly tied to boost psi! Add in some bad weather and they are excellent. If it's not wet or snowing then watch out for the cheap high powered Americans in your rear view!

But many of us find those repairs expensive and completely unneeded on our choice of higher performing machinery. My car has almost 80k miles and has required tires, brake pads, lubricants, and one motor mount broken at the strip during over 200 passes and many HPDE's all over the country at various tracks. My mount was 50 bucks.
 
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Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Listen, I've had many a high performance car, some near exotics, a few germans, etc. There is no way that work is "routine". It may be for a Subaru, but it's not for a Vette, a 180 mph SRT8, or a hot Stang, etc. And I'm ignoring the pricing completely, as what you pay is between you and your wrench.

I find the lil scoobers to be quite the performance car IMO. Excellent pricing, capable performer and easily modded to high HP levels, although their reliability seems directly tied to boost psi! Add in some bad weather and they are excellent. If it's not wet or snowing then watch out for the cheap high powered Americans in your rear view!

But many of us find those repairs expensive and completely unneeded on our choice of higher performing machinery. My car has almost 80k miles and has required tires, brake pads, lubricants, and one motor mount broken at the strip during over 200 passes and many HPDE's all over the country at various tracks. My mount was 50 bucks.


Like I said, the valve covers and the water pump are not routine and I would hate to have to replace those things. As far as I'm concerned the clutch is the drivers fault.

But you mean to tell me that you don't think timing belt, plugs, fluids, and filters are routine? What out of those things do you find not routine?
 
Timing belt and plugs come to mind very quickly. I have a ton of vehicles in the driveway and a shop yard and not a one requires a timing belt change. Every single one runs a minimum of 100k miles on plugs, and our fleet trucks can easily go to 200k miles.

The last car I had a manual trans in had 450 hp and ran elevens at the strip. I sold it at 105k miles and the clutch was perfect. One of my guys who works here had an 85 Mustang GT 5 speed that had almost 200k miles on it with... you saw this coming... the original clutch.

Like I said before, I generally do not experience these types of issues here and would not want to.
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
It's good to see American iron back in full swing. Japanese have sat for too long on their laurels and it's about freaking time to see some interesting cars once again.


wonder how long the love affair will last?
 
Originally Posted By: glock19
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Just saying it is pricey to maintain one as compared to other cars. Normal maintenance is acceptable, that price for what was done is not.

Yours is brand new, time will tell, just like every other car on the road.


I am always amazed at what others tell me is "routine" maintenance. We would go crazy here if our fleet trucks were down like that. Not something we are used to at all.

I think that was my point, I don't have routine maintenance like that on any of my cars. Isn't your fleet stuff GM?

I didn't mean to single out Subaru, but it was fresh in my head and it is on Par with the WRX guys I know and that hang out with Bill.



I know you don't think of his WRX as a performance car and that's fine (with a name like LS1mike I wouldn't expect you to be impressed with 300hp lol). The point I was making earlier is when you take a platform that makes 173hp and turbo it up to 240hp in his case or 305hp as is the case with the new WRX STI then reliability is going to go down. I think it's totally fine to say the WRX is going to cost more to maintain just not Subaru as a whole (I believe you acknowledged this in your last post, just clarifying).

It is not that I don't think of it as a performance car. It does just fine, I would be a goof to think that it didn't. But your analogy is similar to that of the Buick. The Buick starts with 200 hp put a blower on it and you get 240 and 280 ft/lbs of torque. Mods are cheap and big power is easy. I am at 290 HP and 320 Ft/lbs to wheels. You have to figure about an 18 to 20 percent loss through the drivetrain with an auto, so those are nice numbers at the crank.

Even with mods and running 13's the Buick has been easier and cheaper to maintain. Maybe not a fair comparison, but a similar idea.
Some cars just don't take it as well.
 
Originally Posted By: cashmoney
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Wow ...
Apparently, anyone who buys american cars is buying an enormous PoS and is going to waste a ton of maintenance on it. Gotcha.


I find it hard to believe that folks still spout that silly "buy American" [censored] about cars these days. GM likely builds more cars outside the US than Honda and Toyota. GM has car factories in 15 different countries outside America.

Wake up people - car companies don;t have nationalities - they are corporate multinationals that design and build cars all over the world.

For example Honda, Toyota, Mercedes and BMW have had huge car manufacturing plants in the US for many years. They actually build some of their cars in the US and export them to several other countries.


you hit it right on the nose.
thumbsup2.gif
 
GM makes some really nice cars now.

Before quality was a mixed bag from piles of dung to decent but they make a lot of models.

GM needs to thank imports and Europeans + bailout for motivation to make nice interiors. Horrid before. So nice now....

Definitely moved away from the tacky dumping Pontiac.
 
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!
 
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!


Jaraxle, 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
smile.gif
. But the new Impala is done right.
 
Originally Posted By: rjundi

Definitely moved away from the tacky dumping Pontiac.


I got a Pontiac that will shut you down and up.
smile.gif
 
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!
 
Originally Posted By: glock19
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
They were all modified and took a good beating I don't remember ever putting 2500 dollars into any of them. $2500 for "routine maintenance" is B.S.


If you don't mind me asking, what exactly constitutes $2,500 in routine maintenance?


All I can think of would be a new clutch.
 
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: glock19
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
They were all modified and took a good beating I don't remember ever putting 2500 dollars into any of them. $2500 for "routine maintenance" is B.S.


If you don't mind me asking, what exactly constitutes $2,500 in routine maintenance?


All I can think of would be a new clutch.

Did you read any of the post? I spelled it out his clutch was done separately. My dang MODIFIED Buick out runs his bone stock, never tracked WRX, we are not talking an STI here. Of course on the corners the car is hard to beat, but on the commute to work he hates the Buick.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Timing belt and plugs come to mind very quickly. I have a ton of vehicles in the driveway and a shop yard and not a one requires a timing belt change. Every single one runs a minimum of 100k miles on plugs, and our fleet trucks can easily go to 200k miles.

The last car I had a manual trans in had 450 hp and ran elevens at the strip. I sold it at 105k miles and the clutch was perfect. One of my guys who works here had an 85 Mustang GT 5 speed that had almost 200k miles on it with... you saw this coming... the original clutch.

Like I said before, I generally do not experience these types of issues here and would not want to.


Unless the SRT8 is different, the hemis call for sixteen spark plugs every 36K!
 
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