TTAC Celebrates America's Sweetheart With Impala Day
Published: August 23rd, 2013
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The W-Body Chevrolet Impala, a TTAC darling, made way for an all-new Epsilon II version this year, and TTAC was initially skeptical about the changeover. But being such fans of the outgoing Impala meant that we’d have to review the car. Twice.
Monday will see us two side by side reviews of the 2014 Impala. The first will be a thorough run-down of a press car by our man Alex Dykes. The second will take a look at a 2014 Impala rental by veteran traveling salesman Bark M. Given the importance of fleet sales to the Impala in past years and Chevy’s states goal of increasing retail sales, we’ll be able to get perspectives from both sides of the fence.
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We drove fleet Impalas for years going back 2 generations, and they were the best thing ever. Massive trunk and honest, comfortable room for 4. Fairly quiet with a nice, responsive high value V6 and auto 4 speed. That combo got as good mileage (almost) as the silly hybrids we've got now. That combo nets 28 mpg, our Fusion hybrids get 31-32 and the fleet champion are the Focus sedans that get 35-36. That's personally checked in multiple driving sessions. Let me explain we put lots of miles on the fleet cars, visiting our customers. Most all office travel is by car; we're regional and don't cross regions, so very little air travel. The motor pool car's are always on the road. I'd have one in a NY minute given the proper deal, which would make it slightly less than half of the equivalent imported media darlings. I concur with TorontoSkeptic. It's $4k vs $10k, and that's not even trying hard. I've seen ads with reasonably looking domestics for less than $2k, but I've not physically verified that. Is the prior generation W body going to have all the attributes of a new model anything? No, of course not. But it will be a 95% solution, cause that's the percentage you'll be cruising in traffic or with passengers, having to drive comfortably. I can only manage to do my outlandish driving about 1/20th of my time behind the wheel. Those times, I want the Focus, or my Miata. They are very rare opportunities, and that makes the W-body a very attractive solution.
Why not change the name? "Impala" just screams "cheap crappy rental"... can't they find some other African animal? How about say, "Chevrolet Antelope"? To keep the Impala name is similar to trying to market a Chevrolet Yugo.
Was that perchance the two test cars and chase vehicle that ran up 580 in Oakland around noon today?..
Just finished a 1600 mile trip and didn't see one new Impala, just a few Malibu's along with Camery's with some other makes thrown in. The car most seen by a wide margin was the new Fusion. Most of them being the up scale version. Looks like Ford hit the mark with this car. The Impala is to pricey, needs to give big rebates plus dealer discounts to really sell.