Topic: Test Drive: 2014 Chevrolet Impala

[Fobroader]

Up to a month ago in the US an Impala buyer could score the older version Impala with the 6, air, cruise, etc. ( the basics) for 20K off the curb.   Very satisfactory car for middle America.  Now the list price for the 2014 base version 4 cylinder LS is $27,500  ...... which should be never offered with a 4 banger.  Just dilutes the brand.   Like Toyota offering a Camry 4 banger in the new Avalon just to beat the price down.   

4 cylinders in that land barge...thats a great idea 

[ChaosphereIX]

Up to a month ago in the US an Impala buyer could score the older version Impala with the 6, air, cruise, etc. ( the basics) for 20K off the curb.   Very satisfactory car for middle America.  Now the list price for the 2014 base version 4 cylinder LS is $27,500  ...... which should be never offered with a 4 banger.  Just dilutes the brand.   Like Toyota offering a Camry 4 banger in the new Avalon just to beat the price down.   

4 cylinders in that land barge...thats a great idea 

it will be offered to appease eco hippies such as myself, but nobody will buy one. All will get an LT with a V6 with prices around $38k.

and I know the old reputation is hard to shake, but these will not be fleet units...they look and feel too nice. Drive one and tell me I am wrong.

[Fobroader]

Up to a month ago in the US an Impala buyer could score the older version Impala with the 6, air, cruise, etc. ( the basics) for 20K off the curb.   Very satisfactory car for middle America.  Now the list price for the 2014 base version 4 cylinder LS is $27,500  ...... which should be never offered with a 4 banger.  Just dilutes the brand.   Like Toyota offering a Camry 4 banger in the new Avalon just to beat the price down.   

4 cylinders in that land barge...thats a great idea 

it will be offered to appease eco hippies such as myself, but nobody will buy one. All will get an LT with a V6 with prices around $38k.

and I know the old reputation is hard to shake, but these will not be fleet units...they look and feel too nice. Drive one and tell me I am wrong.

Are these eco hippies uninformed?? How hard would that little 4 banger be working....and resale value.... 

[ChaosphereIX]

Up to a month ago in the US an Impala buyer could score the older version Impala with the 6, air, cruise, etc. ( the basics) for 20K off the curb.   Very satisfactory car for middle America.  Now the list price for the 2014 base version 4 cylinder LS is $27,500  ...... which should be never offered with a 4 banger.  Just dilutes the brand.   Like Toyota offering a Camry 4 banger in the new Avalon just to beat the price down.   

4 cylinders in that land barge...thats a great idea 

it will be offered to appease eco hippies such as myself, but nobody will buy one. All will get an LT with a V6 with prices around $38k.

and I know the old reputation is hard to shake, but these will not be fleet units...they look and feel too nice. Drive one and tell me I am wrong.

Are these eco hippies uninformed?? How hard would that little 4 banger be working....and resale value.... 

honestly it is merely a marketing exercise in my opinion - this car CAN get X MPG if you get this engine...but you wont buy it once you actually drive the car. Now if it was the 2.0L Turbo from the Regal, that would be a different story...I dont know why they didnt do that...

And yes it would be working overtime and the resale would be terrible vs the V6

[whaddaiknow]

Up to a month ago in the US an Impala buyer could score the older version Impala with the 6, air, cruise, etc. ( the basics) for 20K off the curb.   Very satisfactory car for middle America.  Now the list price for the 2014 base version 4 cylinder LS is $27,500  ...... which should be never offered with a 4 banger.  Just dilutes the brand.   Like Toyota offering a Camry 4 banger in the new Avalon just to beat the price down.   

4 cylinders in that land barge...thats a great idea 

it will be offered to appease eco hippies such as myself, but nobody will buy one. All will get an LT with a V6 with prices around $38k.

and I know the old reputation is hard to shake, but these will not be fleet units...they look and feel too nice. Drive one and tell me I am wrong.

It's funny how you are always SO SURE about the future. Time will tell. I hope you are right as I like the new Impala design.
Avalon with its bullet-proof reliability reputation, despite having been completely designed built and sold in the US is not selling all that well, surprisingly. Priced the same way, one has to be a die-hard GM fan to choose the all-new GM over an all-new Toyota. So I think you are jumping to (optimistic) conclusions.

[Oldsguy]

"It is still overboosted at driving speeds, and I found it was floppy on centre."

That statement just screams classic GM.

More accurately, it screams classic autos.ca GM bashing even when the facts do not support their statement.

[Vanstar]

Up to a month ago in the US an Impala buyer could score the older version Impala with the 6, air, cruise, etc. ( the basics) for 20K off the curb.   Very satisfactory car for middle America.  Now the list price for the 2014 base version 4 cylinder LS is $27,500  ...... which should be never offered with a 4 banger.  Just dilutes the brand.   Like Toyota offering a Camry 4 banger in the new Avalon just to beat the price down.   

4 cylinders in that land barge...thats a great idea 

it will be offered to appease eco hippies such as myself, but nobody will buy one. All will get an LT with a V6 with prices around $38k.

and I know the old reputation is hard to shake, but these will not be fleet units...they look and feel too nice. Drive one and tell me I am wrong.

Are these eco hippies uninformed?? How hard would that little 4 banger be working....and resale value.... 

Going by similar American brands, resale on these cars won't be much to write home about and that is a good thing. A year old Impala with low kms will be in the order of $22k in my humble opinion.Most of these cars will be rentals, hence a good supply of used units with good prices.

[Vanstar]

"It is still overboosted at driving speeds, and I found it was floppy on centre."

That statement just screams classic GM.

More accurately, it screams classic autos.ca GM bashing even when the facts do not support their statement.

Have you driven the car? Can you make such an opinion? What have you driven to compare it with?

Lots of cars with electric steering have bad feel and sloppy on centre feel. The last Elantra I had was like spinning a wheel not connected to anything.

[Fobroader]

Up to a month ago in the US an Impala buyer could score the older version Impala with the 6, air, cruise, etc. ( the basics) for 20K off the curb.   Very satisfactory car for middle America.  Now the list price for the 2014 base version 4 cylinder LS is $27,500  ...... which should be never offered with a 4 banger.  Just dilutes the brand.   Like Toyota offering a Camry 4 banger in the new Avalon just to beat the price down.   

4 cylinders in that land barge...thats a great idea 

it will be offered to appease eco hippies such as myself, but nobody will buy one. All will get an LT with a V6 with prices around $38k.

and I know the old reputation is hard to shake, but these will not be fleet units...they look and feel too nice. Drive one and tell me I am wrong.

Are these eco hippies uninformed?? How hard would that little 4 banger be working....and resale value.... 

Going by similar American brands, resale on these cars won't be much to write home about and that is a good thing. A year old Impala with low kms will be in the order of $22k in my humble opinion.Most of these cars will be rentals, hence a good supply of used units with good prices.

Oh, I know, most GM sedans have crap resale value as every few months most rental fleets vomit out a steady supply of low km, used cars. Still, a privately bought 4 banger will cost more than a used rental with a V6, so for a private buyer, unless youre planning to run it into the ground it sounds like a bad financial decision. Its there just for fuel economy numbers, I know that, but this is just a red herring for transport canada and their fuel mileage estimates.

[Fobroader]

"It is still overboosted at driving speeds, and I found it was floppy on centre."

That statement just screams classic GM.

More accurately, it screams classic autos.ca GM bashing even when the facts do not support their statement.

And your statement just sounds like classic Oldsguy "fall on the sword in the name of GM" banter. How can you tell someone what their opinion of a car theyve driven should be?? The guy drove it, steering felt sloppy, he didnt like it......wheres the problem??

[ChaosphereIX]

Up to a month ago in the US an Impala buyer could score the older version Impala with the 6, air, cruise, etc. ( the basics) for 20K off the curb.   Very satisfactory car for middle America.  Now the list price for the 2014 base version 4 cylinder LS is $27,500  ...... which should be never offered with a 4 banger.  Just dilutes the brand.   Like Toyota offering a Camry 4 banger in the new Avalon just to beat the price down.   

4 cylinders in that land barge...thats a great idea 

it will be offered to appease eco hippies such as myself, but nobody will buy one. All will get an LT with a V6 with prices around $38k.

and I know the old reputation is hard to shake, but these will not be fleet units...they look and feel too nice. Drive one and tell me I am wrong.

Are these eco hippies uninformed?? How hard would that little 4 banger be working....and resale value.... 

Going by similar American brands, resale on these cars won't be much to write home about and that is a good thing. A year old Impala with low kms will be in the order of $22k in my humble opinion.Most of these cars will be rentals, hence a good supply of used units with good prices.

I highly doubt the resale will be anywhere close to that in a years time...try maybe $5k off or so like most other retail GM units...

And people, stop saying these will go to rental fleets, GM is not doing that. It is not in the plans. We deal with AVIS and Enterprise through our dealership, not a single Impala is going to them. THEY ARE STILL MAKING THE OLD IMPALA FOR RENTAL FLEETS ALONGSIDE THE NEW ONE DESTINED ONLY FOR RETAIL.

Did I make that clear enough? GM is trying to turn around the Impala, so therefore it is not going to the fleets.

[ChaosphereIX]

Up to a month ago in the US an Impala buyer could score the older version Impala with the 6, air, cruise, etc. ( the basics) for 20K off the curb.   Very satisfactory car for middle America.  Now the list price for the 2014 base version 4 cylinder LS is $27,500  ...... which should be never offered with a 4 banger.  Just dilutes the brand.   Like Toyota offering a Camry 4 banger in the new Avalon just to beat the price down.   

4 cylinders in that land barge...thats a great idea 

it will be offered to appease eco hippies such as myself, but nobody will buy one. All will get an LT with a V6 with prices around $38k.

and I know the old reputation is hard to shake, but these will not be fleet units...they look and feel too nice. Drive one and tell me I am wrong.

It's funny how you are always SO SURE about the future. Time will tell. I hope you are right as I like the new Impala design.
Avalon with its bullet-proof reliability reputation, despite having been completely designed built and sold in the US is not selling all that well, surprisingly. Priced the same way, one has to be a die-hard GM fan to choose the all-new GM over an all-new Toyota. So I think you are jumping to (optimistic) conclusions.

I know I may be a little optimistic about the Impala future, but honestly it is one of the best in the segment of large full size mainstream cars...and that is not coming from a GM salesman, but from someone who is looking at the segment as a whole. The Avalon is a well-built snooze-fest [I admit the last one I drove is a 2011 IIRC so it could be heaps better, but I dont see that being the case]and the Taurus is horribly inefficient interior-wise. The Impala drives well, is well put together with a nice interior [ignoring the wierd steering wheel...ugh], and is huge inside and out.

[Fobroader]

Up to a month ago in the US an Impala buyer could score the older version Impala with the 6, air, cruise, etc. ( the basics) for 20K off the curb.   Very satisfactory car for middle America.  Now the list price for the 2014 base version 4 cylinder LS is $27,500  ...... which should be never offered with a 4 banger.  Just dilutes the brand.   Like Toyota offering a Camry 4 banger in the new Avalon just to beat the price down.   

4 cylinders in that land barge...thats a great idea 

it will be offered to appease eco hippies such as myself, but nobody will buy one. All will get an LT with a V6 with prices around $38k.

and I know the old reputation is hard to shake, but these will not be fleet units...they look and feel too nice. Drive one and tell me I am wrong.

It's funny how you are always SO SURE about the future. Time will tell. I hope you are right as I like the new Impala design.
Avalon with its bullet-proof reliability reputation, despite having been completely designed built and sold in the US is not selling all that well, surprisingly. Priced the same way, one has to be a die-hard GM fan to choose the all-new GM over an all-new Toyota. So I think you are jumping to (optimistic) conclusions.

I know I may be a little optimistic about the Impala future, but honestly it is one of the best in the segment of large full size mainstream cars...and that is not coming from a GM salesman, but from someone who is looking at the segment as a whole. The Avalon is a well-built snooze-fest [I admit the last one I drove is a 2011 IIRC so it could be heaps better, but I dont see that being the case]and the Taurus is horribly inefficient interior-wise. The Impala drives well, is well put together with a nice interior [ignoring the wierd steering wheel...ugh], and is huge inside and out.

But the Toyota has something that GM hasnt had in a lifetime, a well respected brand. GM has made crap cars for such a long time that people need time to turn their thinking around, you ask anyone who doesnt give a rats ass about cars whats a reliable brand name, probably gonna go with Toyota. This think might be leaps and bounds better than the Avalon, but I betcha the Avalon will sell better and have way better resale simply because its a toyota.

[Frontier1]

"It is still overboosted at driving speeds, and I found it was floppy on centre."

That statement just screams classic GM.

More accurately, it screams classic autos.ca GM bashing even when the facts do not support their statement.

Have you driven the car? Can you make such an opinion? What have you driven to compare it with?

Lots of cars with electric steering have bad feel and sloppy on centre feel. The last Elantra I had was like spinning a wheel not connected to anything.

Every Corolla I drove since 09 had a nasty steering feel, some companies dont have it at all when it comes to electric power steering.

[ChaosphereIX]

Up to a month ago in the US an Impala buyer could score the older version Impala with the 6, air, cruise, etc. ( the basics) for 20K off the curb.   Very satisfactory car for middle America.  Now the list price for the 2014 base version 4 cylinder LS is $27,500  ...... which should be never offered with a 4 banger.  Just dilutes the brand.   Like Toyota offering a Camry 4 banger in the new Avalon just to beat the price down.   

4 cylinders in that land barge...thats a great idea 

it will be offered to appease eco hippies such as myself, but nobody will buy one. All will get an LT with a V6 with prices around $38k.

and I know the old reputation is hard to shake, but these will not be fleet units...they look and feel too nice. Drive one and tell me I am wrong.

It's funny how you are always SO SURE about the future. Time will tell. I hope you are right as I like the new Impala design.
Avalon with its bullet-proof reliability reputation, despite having been completely designed built and sold in the US is not selling all that well, surprisingly. Priced the same way, one has to be a die-hard GM fan to choose the all-new GM over an all-new Toyota. So I think you are jumping to (optimistic) conclusions.

I know I may be a little optimistic about the Impala future, but honestly it is one of the best in the segment of large full size mainstream cars...and that is not coming from a GM salesman, but from someone who is looking at the segment as a whole. The Avalon is a well-built snooze-fest [I admit the last one I drove is a 2011 IIRC so it could be heaps better, but I dont see that being the case]and the Taurus is horribly inefficient interior-wise. The Impala drives well, is well put together with a nice interior [ignoring the wierd steering wheel...ugh], and is huge inside and out.

But the Toyota has something that GM hasnt had in a lifetime, a well respected brand. GM has made crap cars for such a long time that people need time to turn their thinking around, you ask anyone who doesnt give a rats ass about cars whats a reliable brand name, probably gonna go with Toyota. This think might be leaps and bounds better than the Avalon, but I betcha the Avalon will sell better and have way better resale simply because its a toyota.

you are not wrong. Doesnt make the Avalon a better car, but you for sure are not wrong.

[mixmanmash]

"It is still overboosted at driving speeds, and I found it was floppy on centre."

That statement just screams classic GM.

More accurately, it screams classic autos.ca GM bashing even when the facts do not support their statement.

And your statement just sounds like classic Oldsguy "fall on the sword in the name of GM" banter. How can you tell someone what their opinion of a car theyve driven should be?? The guy drove it, steering felt sloppy, he didnt like it......wheres the problem??

Lol.  That's the truth.  As for the steering feel, I've driven many GM cars that have had sloppy steering feel from early 80s Buicks, mid 90s Buicks, late 90s Chevy Malibus, Pontiac Grand-Ams, Chevy Trucks, etc.

Honestly, there were only 2 GM cars that I ever drove (my family was pretty much a GM family till the late 90s) that had good steering feel:  1992 Pontiac Sunbird, 1995 Pontiac Grand-Am.  That's it.

Ok one more:  1988 GMC Vandura 2500.  This had better steering feel than a bloody mid 90s Astro.  However, good steering feel typically was not the norm over at GM in my experience.

[ChaosphereIX]

"It is still overboosted at driving speeds, and I found it was floppy on centre."

That statement just screams classic GM.

More accurately, it screams classic autos.ca GM bashing even when the facts do not support their statement.

And your statement just sounds like classic Oldsguy "fall on the sword in the name of GM" banter. How can you tell someone what their opinion of a car theyve driven should be?? The guy drove it, steering felt sloppy, he didnt like it......wheres the problem??

Lol.  That's the truth.  As for the steering feel, I've driven many GM cars that have had sloppy steering feel from early 80s Buicks, mid 90s Buicks, late 90s Chevy Malibus, Pontiac Grand-Ams, Chevy Trucks, etc.

Honestly, there were only 2 GM cars that I ever drove (my family was pretty much a GM family till the late 90s) that had good steering feel:  1992 Pontiac Sunbird, 1995 Pontiac Grand-Am.  That's it.

you should drive an ATS then...and yes the Impala's steering is light and not sports-car like, but then it was not meant to be like a Porsche...

[Jaeger]

"It is still overboosted at driving speeds, and I found it was floppy on centre."

That statement just screams classic GM.

More accurately, it screams classic autos.ca GM bashing even when the facts do not support their statement.

And your statement just sounds like classic Oldsguy "fall on the sword in the name of GM" banter. How can you tell someone what their opinion of a car theyve driven should be?? The guy drove it, steering felt sloppy, he didnt like it......wheres the problem??

Spot on.  Greg can't help being Greg.

[Fobroader]

Up to a month ago in the US an Impala buyer could score the older version Impala with the 6, air, cruise, etc. ( the basics) for 20K off the curb.   Very satisfactory car for middle America.  Now the list price for the 2014 base version 4 cylinder LS is $27,500  ...... which should be never offered with a 4 banger.  Just dilutes the brand.   Like Toyota offering a Camry 4 banger in the new Avalon just to beat the price down.   

4 cylinders in that land barge...thats a great idea 

it will be offered to appease eco hippies such as myself, but nobody will buy one. All will get an LT with a V6 with prices around $38k.

and I know the old reputation is hard to shake, but these will not be fleet units...they look and feel too nice. Drive one and tell me I am wrong.

It's funny how you are always SO SURE about the future. Time will tell. I hope you are right as I like the new Impala design.
Avalon with its bullet-proof reliability reputation, despite having been completely designed built and sold in the US is not selling all that well, surprisingly. Priced the same way, one has to be a die-hard GM fan to choose the all-new GM over an all-new Toyota. So I think you are jumping to (optimistic) conclusions.

I know I may be a little optimistic about the Impala future, but honestly it is one of the best in the segment of large full size mainstream cars...and that is not coming from a GM salesman, but from someone who is looking at the segment as a whole. The Avalon is a well-built snooze-fest [I admit the last one I drove is a 2011 IIRC so it could be heaps better, but I dont see that being the case]and the Taurus is horribly inefficient interior-wise. The Impala drives well, is well put together with a nice interior [ignoring the wierd steering wheel...ugh], and is huge inside and out.

But the Toyota has something that GM hasnt had in a lifetime, a well respected brand. GM has made crap cars for such a long time that people need time to turn their thinking around, you ask anyone who doesnt give a rats ass about cars whats a reliable brand name, probably gonna go with Toyota. This think might be leaps and bounds better than the Avalon, but I betcha the Avalon will sell better and have way better resale simply because its a toyota.

you are not wrong. Doesnt make the Avalon a better car, but you for sure are not wrong.

If I was looking at a mid size or large car, the domestics would definitely would be in the competition but there are a lot of people who think that GM still makes cars like the Corsica, Century and the Beretta....its kinda sad, for most they are missing out on some nice cars and good deals. 

[Frontier1]

Up to a month ago in the US an Impala buyer could score the older version Impala with the 6, air, cruise, etc. ( the basics) for 20K off the curb.   Very satisfactory car for middle America.  Now the list price for the 2014 base version 4 cylinder LS is $27,500  ...... which should be never offered with a 4 banger.  Just dilutes the brand.   Like Toyota offering a Camry 4 banger in the new Avalon just to beat the price down.   

4 cylinders in that land barge...thats a great idea 

it will be offered to appease eco hippies such as myself, but nobody will buy one. All will get an LT with a V6 with prices around $38k.

and I know the old reputation is hard to shake, but these will not be fleet units...they look and feel too nice. Drive one and tell me I am wrong.

It's funny how you are always SO SURE about the future. Time will tell. I hope you are right as I like the new Impala design.
Avalon with its bullet-proof reliability reputation, despite having been completely designed built and sold in the US is not selling all that well, surprisingly. Priced the same way, one has to be a die-hard GM fan to choose the all-new GM over an all-new Toyota. So I think you are jumping to (optimistic) conclusions.

I know I may be a little optimistic about the Impala future, but honestly it is one of the best in the segment of large full size mainstream cars...and that is not coming from a GM salesman, but from someone who is looking at the segment as a whole. The Avalon is a well-built snooze-fest [I admit the last one I drove is a 2011 IIRC so it could be heaps better, but I dont see that being the case]and the Taurus is horribly inefficient interior-wise. The Impala drives well, is well put together with a nice interior [ignoring the wierd steering wheel...ugh], and is huge inside and out.

But the Toyota has something that GM hasnt had in a lifetime, a well respected brand. GM has made crap cars for such a long time that people need time to turn their thinking around, you ask anyone who doesnt give a rats ass about cars whats a reliable brand name, probably gonna go with Toyota. This think might be leaps and bounds better than the Avalon, but I betcha the Avalon will sell better and have way better resale simply because its a toyota.

you are not wrong. Doesnt make the Avalon a better car, but you for sure are not wrong.

If I was looking at a mid size or large car, the domestics would definitely would be in the competition but there are a lot of people who think that GM still makes cars like the Corsica, Century and the Beretta....its kinda sad, for most they are missing out on some nice cars and good deals.

Agree,  sorta like Barrie1 stuck on that rusty Civic thing