Caddy-level girth and gear on a Chevy
sedan? Suddenly, it’s 1966 again
Perhaps the first thing you need to know
about this new gen-10 Impala is that the General is so determined to rehabilitate
its “Hertz-so-good” image that the unloved ninth-gen car (a Biscayne at heart,
in terms of posh ness) will continue to be produced in Oshawa through 2014 as
the Impala Limited. Sales will be “limited” to fleet customers, freeing the new
car to target retail buyers-you know, living, breathing humans instead of
faceless corporate purchasing drones. The latter have been perfectly satisfied
with acres of egregious plastic and wouldn’t know sueded microfiber from mouse
fur, but the former appreciate contrast stitching and soft-touch materials,
and, if they’ve ever rented an Impala, might need some persuading to give this
big Chevy another look.

2014
Chevrolet Impala
Helping in that regard is the new car’s
arresting exterior design, which drew nods from the locals in southernmost
California, where domestic cars are almost as exotic as taco trucks are in
Detroit. The wind tunnel approves, bequeathing a claimed 0.30 drag coefficient
on the I-4 with grille shutters.
Anyone hooked by the exterior style might
be reeled in by a classy interior jam-packed with the level of luxury features
that separated Chevy’s range-topping Caprice from lesser full-size Chevys in
the mid-‘60s, when the brand was moving more than a million B-bodies per year.
Many of these features are controlled by a refreshingly intuitive 8-inch
Chevrolet MyLink screen (standard on all but the base LS) that supports
iPad-like clicking swiping, and dragging, and displays 3-D images of buildings
in urban centers when equipped with navi. It’s basically a rebranded Cadillac
CUE system, and it can connect up to 10 Bluetooth devices and store 1000
contacts. The radio features 60 presets and supports Pandora streaming, and its
screen function just like a hotel-room safe. Open it, stash your valuables in
the bin behind, type in a four-digit code, and the “vault” locks, along with
all your favorite places and contacts so a rogue valet can’t steal your car,
navigate to your home, open your garage door, and take all your stuff.

This
is a huge car inside, and better-packaged than its most direct competitor,
Taurus
Leading-edge safety features include
options such as forward collision alert, collision-mitigation braking, adaptive
cruise with full stop-and-go functionality, plus the usual lane-departure, cross-traffic,
and blind-zone alerts and 10 standard airbags. And because the new Impala is
meant to primarily lure retail buyers (a 70/30 mix is eventually expected,
reversing the current trend), its overall volume will be lower-we’re guessing
60,000 or so. So the need to limit model variation drove the decision to make
things such as four-wheel Duralife disc brakes (they never rust) and an
eight-way power seat standard across the line. Of course, ticking all the
options brings an Impala to within $3800 of a FWD Cadillac XTS. (There’s way
more overlap with the Impala’s Buick platform-mate, the LaCrosse.)
Having spent several hours driving and
riding in the front and rear seats, I can attest that this is a huge car
inside, and it’s better-packaged than its most direct competitor, the Ford
Taurus. That car rides crossover-high; standing 1.8 inches taller and
stretching 1.6 inches longer, yet the Chevy offers an additional 0.9 inch of
front headroom, and a legroom advantage of 3.9 inches front, 1.7 rear. Taurus trumps
it in trunk volume, however, with 20.1 to the Impala’s 18.8 cubes. The Hyundai
Azera and Toyota Avalon both offer less interior and trunk space.
The Impala also strikes me as a
considerably quieter car. Many of Buick’s sound-deadening tricks have been
applied here, including acoustic laminated glass forward of the B-pillar and
triple-sealed doors. Active noise cancellation will eliminate the booming noise
caused by early converter lockup in the four-cylinder modes that will follow
the V-6 to market by a couple of months. (The mild-hybrid eAssist model arrives
a few months after the 2.5.)

Hard
cornering was met with minimal body lean, thanks in part to a clever analog
substitute for the Cadillac’s computerized Magnetic Ride Control
The V-6-powered LT and LTZ models felt
surprisingly agile in the hills east of San Diego. Hard cornering was met with
minimal body lean, thanks in part to a clever analog substitute for the
Cadillac’s computerized Magnetic Ride Control. Chevy’s front struts employ
“digressive” damping – firmer at low travel, softer at higher travel – along
with extra-all (2.3-inch) progressive-rate rubber jounce bumpers and
constant-rate rebound springs inside the struts. These features conspire to
reduce roll in corners without exacting the head-toss penalty of a stiffer
anti-roll bar in single-wheel bumps. The suspension also absorbs two-wheel
impacts such as speed bumps more comfortably than would be the case with
stiffer or progressive-rate damping.
I had the chance to sample all three tire/wheel
combinations, from the base 18-inch Firestone Firehawks to the 19-inch Goodyear
RS-As to the 20-inch Bridgestone Potenzas, and decided the sweet spot was the
19s. All three hang on tighter in a corner than most Impala owners will dare
push this big sedan, especially if loaded with family. The 20s were noticeably
noisier, and 18s (which are paired with their own, differently tuned front
struts) didn’t afford any noticeable ride benefit.

Perhaps
most important, the steering, brake, and throttle all help make this an easy
car to drive smoothly
The 3.6-liter V-6 snarls delightfully under
the whip, and hustles the Impala off the dime quickly. Its 305 hp trumps that
of the last Impala SSV-8 (though torque is lower), so expect 0-60-mph sprints
to take around 6 seconds. And don’t expect a V-8 version of this Impala that
market niche is now assigned to the rear-drive Chevrolet SS. Shifter paddles
are not offered (radio control buttons occupy the back of the steering-wheel
spokes, as in some Chryslers), but there is a manual gate and a+/- toggle on
the shifter for selecting an appropriate degree of engine braking when
descending a grade. Neither is there any sport-mode transmission programming
(such things are now the SS’ bailiwick), and once or twice the six-speed became
confused by my throttle work in the curves.
Perhaps most important, the steering,
brake, and throttle all help make this an easy car to drive smoothly. The
light-effort helm never demands mid-corner correction or herding on a straight
highway – the electric assist compensate for road crowns and crosswinds. The
brake pedal engages near the top of its travel with linear action thereafter,
and the throttle never feels jumpy.
Big, strong, smooth, and stylish sound like
1960s values we can embrace today. Bring on the Impala-Galaxie, er, Taurus
compare!
Technical Specs
·
Price: $27,535 - $34,555
·
Vehicle layout: Front-engine, FWD, 5-pass,
4-door sedan
·
Engines: 2.4L/182-hp/172-lb-ft DOHC 16-valve
I-4 plus 15-hp/79-lb-ft electric motor; 2.5L/196-hp/186-lb-ft HODC 16-valve
I-; 3.6L/305-hp/264-lb-ft DOHC 24-valve V-6
·
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
·
Curb weight: 3700-3800 lb (mfr)
·
Wheelbase: 111.7in
·
Length x Width x Height: 201.3 x 73.0 x 58.9
in
·
0-60 Mph: 6.0-8.6 sec (MT est)
·
EPA City/Hwy fuel econ: 19-25/29-35 mpg
·
Energy cons, City/Hwy: 135-177/96-116
kW-hrs/100 mi
·
CO2 emissions: 0.68-0.86 lb/mi
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