2003 Chevrolet Impala Base from North America - Comments

-Front Brakes; 2 times.

-Constant squealing while braking.

-Warped the Factory rotors two times.

-Battery died once for no apparent reason.

-Factory tires tend to squeal while turning. There the "Tiger-Paw" Brand..

It doesn't bother me enough to buy new ones..

I bought this car Nov 2004 with about 32k miles, for about $12,000. It was a rental in its previous life.

It was a choice between a 03 Toyota Celica GTS, 02 Jetta or this car.

After test driving the Celica and my lack of experience with Jetta, I picked the Impala.

Faster than the Celica and cheaper to insure than both.

As far as the brakes go; I know I drive hard, my friends can vouch. I still believe the factory front brakes (rotors and pads) are not the best for the weight of this beast.

So I went and installed High Perf Pads and slotted & crossdrilled rotors@ about $275. I left the rear wheels alone.

Not a hint of problems since!!!

My battery died once in a parking lot after about 15 min of listening to music (not loud). Theres a system in the car that disables accessories when the battery gets too low. I think it tried; my whole dash flashed a couple times before it died. I had it jumped, had battery checked. It checked good..

Whatever???

I hope in no way that it sounds as if this is a bad car; because its far from it.

-Highway miles MPG are better than great

Drove from Dallas to Chicago, Averaging about 500 miles per tank.

-City miles suck; about 215 miles per tank.

-I can fit myself and 4 full size adults with the greatest of ease!!

-The trunk is a monster!!! I can probably park a Kia in it. :)

-I previously owned a sporty "looking" Saturn (R.I.P) before and managed to get pulled over about once a week.

The Impala is like invisible to police. I've only been stopped/chased once (I didn't see them behind me) ; doing 115 MPH on the highway. I had that one coming.

- The factory stereo is actually really good.

I had an amp and twelves put in anyway using the factory head unit.

Sounds even better now.

Nevertheless!!! I plan on keeping this car until I turn 23, when my insurance goes down. I'm 20 now.

---I have another survey on a 1996 Saturn SC1 "An American Honda", I was younger, but I still drive just the same.

Overall I'm truly happy with this car and hope it stays that way for a while...

I will update periodically!!!

-Update-

Had catalytic converter replaced @ 53k on 18 Nov 05.

I noticed a rattling exhaust sound @ about 46k and kept getting worse until I could'nt stand it anymore.

Is covered under the "Federal Emissions Warranty" up to 80K miles. Didn't cost me a thing. Accelerating sounds a lot better now.

It has to be done at a dealership though. Midas said they couldn't touch it by law if still under warranty.

Another update: 76,000 miles.

- Still alive and ticking, ticking like a time bomb! For sure have a loose/sticky lifter, took it in once; was told they couldn't do anything about it until it blew up. Makes the car sound cheap and old when giving it gas. It's pretty much a beater now. Afraid to drive it the 12 hours from Louisiana (military) to Chicago (home).

- I'm pretty sure my catalytic converter is clogged again.

- Since the base model does not have ABS, after slamming the brakes managed to destroyed all four tires with less than 17K miles on them.

- lost all four hubcaps.

- Don't want to put any money into it seeing as I can't wait to get rid of it.

Waiting for my credit score to come up a bit. Will definitely get rid of it by April 08'.

Was eying a Hyundai Sonata, changed my mind after test driving. Not sure what I want.