2000 Chevrolet Impala LS review from North America

The A/C could not keep the vehicle cool from day one. This required two trips to the dealer in the first week. Problem was corrected.

Bumping noise from truck. Two different deals declared this “No Problem with the Vehicle” and “we found something loose in the spare well”. After vehicle is out of warranty, I have discovered a TSB for this issue. Some type of modification needs to be done to the gas tank mount or something. Local dealer says too bad, out of warranty.

Brake Pulsation at 11K miles. Funny noise from steering on hard turns. Dealer says both are related to the Brakes and there is a TSB. Required overnight in shop. Brakes fixed, but funny bump noise in steering was noticed again within 1K.

Air Bag warning light coming on intermittently while driving somewhere between 18K – 22K. First trip to deal for this they said it was fixed…it was not. (During this trip the funny bump noise in the steering was again mentioned to the service under writer.) When Air Bag light continued to be a problem, car went back in. They kept the car overnight and called us to come get it. They had removed the RADIO and left a hole in the dash…said they would not pay for a loaner car while the got a new radio? A week later, we took the car back in and waited for 2 ½ hours while the radio was put back in. This supposedly fixed the airbag problem. Since then, at least once every couple of months, you will notice the air bag warning light flash on and right back off. Third trip to the dealer…they could not verify or reproduce the problem. During this third trip for the air bag, the funny bump in steering was brought up again. Service writer said this was not a defect and was nothing to be concerned about.

The radio display light intensity went wacky after the radio was replace (or repaired) for the air bag problem. Full brightness is the only halfway stable setting. At anything less it will flicker between off-dim-full brightness. By this time disgust with the deal had grown so high that we let it go.

At 43K the head gasket blew, or rather leaked. Out of Warranty - - Big Bucks! This developed slowly and the car never over heated. There was faint smell of antifreeze for several days, like a slow leak. Low Coolant Reservoir light came on. Added coolant, cause was not found. Two weeks latter, Low Coolant Reservoir light again. This time the cooling system was pressure tested and leaking into the engine.

At 54K or so the Check Engine light started coming on, then turning back off again. About 75% of the time the code is EGR valve position. The remaining 25% of the time the code seems kind of random. This is worst in hot weather. The EGR valve has been replaced once (not cheap) with no effect.

At about 54K the “Low Tire Pressure” warning started going off without cause. It has become quite predictable when starting with the vehicle cold and driving at a constant highway speed for 20 minutes the light will come on. When you reset it, it will not appear again until the same conditions occur again (cold start and drive at constant highway speed for 20 min).

I have since discovered that the funny bump in the steering (which has gotten worst with time) is a known defect and there is a TSB. But guess what…its out of warranty now. I traced the time line for this issue and the TSB dates back to BEFORE the first time we had the dealer look at the problem.

Many little issues like the rubber trim strip along the room buckling, the battery failing in under 3 years, Remote door locks are unreliable (sometimes takes three or four tries from right beside the vehicle.)

Because of the problems with the car, especially a concern that the air bags may not function correctly, my wife prefers not to drive the car! We cannot afford to get rid of it because it is worth so little. With 10% down and 5 year straight financing (not a balloon payment or financing program type issue) the note has been way upside down since year two. My credit union car loan rep said the wholesale bluebook had dropped a higher than normal amount, as compared to purchase price.

When its running, it's a great car. Handles and accelerates well enough to be called "fun to drive".

Lots of room and trunk space.

A/C vents are a little lacking on the Drivers Side.

Reliability and Chevrolet service have made this car a burden to own.