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Comments: 1-15, 16-20
This car is a falling apart piece of junk. The seats are ugly to look at, and hideous to sit on. It only takes about 5 minutes to realize that sitting on the floor might be more comfortable.
The headlights: ummmmmm, there are headlights? I just drive with my high beams on at night, because the low beams feel like no beams at all. This problem should be fixed! I actually had to pull over and walk in front of the car to make sure that the headlights were really on. Even while using the high beams, I still wish for more visibility.
When pulling in/out of anywhere that has a slight inkling of a bump or dip, the front of the car scrapes loudly on the ground. It almost feels like it will hit the ground if I apply the brakes too hard.
The doors: Well, they hit you where the good lord split you, if you're not careful! This is because they spring open or closed so swiftly, they are hard to control. When I open the door, to reach into the car for something, the door will spring shut, almost knocking me into the car! Beware, anyone parking next to an Impala will definitely receive a significant door ding! Inside, the door panels are rattling, and very loose. The door lock controls are placed awkwardly.
The front of the car: the grille and bumper are so cheaply made, if you look at them wrong, they will fall off. The grille just kind of dangles there, because it keeps coming un-snapped.
The trunk: when the lid is open, it is a good amount of space. When shutting the trunk, it must be slammed with all of my might, or else it will not latch.
Steering: When going straight and accelerating, the car pulls quite hard to the left. I end up swerving around trying to stay straight.
The car looks best when you are enjoying a ride in a good quality car like a Toyota, looking out of the window at an Impala. That is to say, there is no pleasure in being in this car, it is just for looks.
Didn't all these "problems" exist when you bought it?
Oh come on!! I could'nt help giggling while reading your review
I will agree with easily being able to scrape the front. I do it all the time especially coming out of driveways and such.
Never once doubted my headlights?
Don't have any rattling.
I love the design of the front/grille although if you push on it, it moves. Only then does it kinda feel cheap.
The seats are abit boring, but are totally cumfy on really long trips.
Yes I have dinged other cars in a parking lot; who hasn't?
For a car you apparently can't stand to look at let alone drive; you've put quite a few miles in only a year!!
Lastly, it appears you have the base model which really don't provide all the bells and whistles, but still has more than most...
P.S.......Try not to be so critical!!
My parents own this car I am just the "casual" driver! I love it, we have the LS! The engine is great for passing freeway driving etc...! The bottoming out can get very ANNOYING and happens ALL THE TIME!
This is without mentioning we have had problems!
Our biggest problem has been the dealership here we have to order parts and we are a big city and a huge dealership and the service dept. always takes at least three visits before they actually fix a problem a little frustrating! They never seem to be able to fix it they try, but they never get it! Therefore, I AM PROUD TO SAY THAT OUR NEXT CAR WILL BE AN IMPORT, the only reason we stayed away from German and Asian vehicles is parts and service fears of huge repair cost and waiting times, but UNFORTUNATELY... CHEVY is a bigger service nightmare! And all of the people I know just love their VW, and Honda... vehicles without half the problems (radio, brakes, and heat) before 20,000 km!
The Impala rocks! IF YOU Don't MIND A lot OF LITTLE PROBLEMS THAT TAKE FOREVER TO FIX! It is too bad that GM has let quality drop and a car this good is serviced so poorly!
OK let me get this straight, for 1 if you people didn`t drive so hard on these cars the you wouldn`t scrape the front end off! secondly by doing so obviousely after time something will come loose and start to rattle
i rest my case.
The 2006 impala ss with 303 hp v8 engine and fully redesigned doesn`t have this problem.
I just drove a 2006 Impala last week as a rental, and wow, was I ever impressed! It had all the bells and whistles such as heated, leather seats and nice trim level. Have to admit that I always scoffed at heated seats, but it was awfully nice when the mornings were in the teens. Must have also had the "drive by wire" steering because it didn't have that usual front-wheel-drive steering wheel shake. It was the smoothest, quietest car I've driven in 30 years!
Advice to the original reviewer : Why don't you (really) buy and drive real "good quality car like toyota". And then we'll talk about Chevy quality. It was all about blaming competition by asian dealerships.
"it didn't have that usual front-wheel-drive steering wheel shake."
That shake is called torque steer, BTW.
I have a 2005 LS model with nearly 30,000 miles on it, and am pleased with the car... no rattles, no falling apart, no headlight visibility problems... The bottoming out has been a problem with mine... I have scraped the bottom of the aluminum cradle several times... certain road conditions require going over at a crawl, turning into driveways or parking lots with a dip or hump in the pavement, etc... All this aside, I am proud to be driving this Impala, this is my 5th vehicle in 20 years, and my 5th Chevy... I have looked at the 2006 Impala, and I am glad I purchased an '05 as the '06 seems to have strayed away from the Impala heritage as far as looks. An Impala without round taillights???
I have had my 2004 Impala for 2 years now and I have put 62,000 miles on mine. This has been the best car I have ever driven. Every vehicle has it's little annoyances... the front end scraping seems to be a common problem with every car I have owned. But that is why there is the plastic piece below the actual bumper to save the scraping of the bumper.
My grill has never come off. I drive this bad boy just about everywhere and mine is still intact.
My door paneling hasn't rattled once, refer to the 62,000 miles mentioned above.
It seems that the negative commentor may have just gotten a lemon. They exist in every brand of car or truck out there. Just a fluke.
I LOVE my Impala and I plan on purchasing another one after I drive this one until it dies!
An Impala without round taillights?
Uh, yeah, that would be every Impala built from 1966 model year up through the Impala SS of 1996. The round taillights did not reappear until the 2000 model.
And no, the 1968 tailights were NOT round unless your definition of round is flat on top.
As a car enthusiast, I rent and drive several cars a year as well as repair cars. It has been from my experience that the 2000-2005 Impalas plastic under the bumper can scrape, but as for quality, and fuel savings, I averaged 32MPG in all 5 Impalas I have rented, all with 3800series engines and had drove them each approximately 5000miles at an average speed of 65MPH, and I floor it to get to that speed, none of them let me down. On the other hand this "quality Toyota" brand (Camry) you are talking about I have rented two of them, they averaged 29MPG (3.5L V6), which isn't bad, but when you floor it to get on the freeway and the transmission doesn't shift causing the connecting rod to blow through the block and needing the engine replaced (at 7000Miles) is not good quality, and the materials used in both the Impala and Camry are similar, except the Impala is more user friendly. The review seems to be an add for Toyota and wouldn't surprise me if it were a Toyota dealer that posted it.
Better re-read that post there. I see 7,000, not 70,000.
Either way, 32mpg out of a 3.8L motor in a pretty heavy car is impressive!
Our office has had seven Impalas from 2002-2005. We keep them until 70,000 miles and then turn them in to the company. Among all seven cars, there have been a total of two problems; a bad water pump and a bad motor mount. Pretty impressive. In addition, I get 32 mpg on the highway and have found it to be among the most comfortable highway cars I have ever driven - and I've driven a lot of cars. There are lemons among all manufacturers. Check the reliability ratings for Mercedes, you'll be surprised.
P.S. the reason the grille is "flimsy" is so that it can absorb minor impacts without breaking.
After staying away from GM cars for 30 years (our last was a '70 Chevelle SS) I bought a Pontiac Grand AM in 2003. WOW!! GM has come a LONNNNNNG way!! Over the 36 years we've been married my family has owned over 35 cars. We've owned mostly Ford and Chrysler, with a couple of Japanese cars (lemons) and one German car (NIGHTMARE). In switching back to GM (we now have a GMC as well as the Pontiac) I am tremendously impressed at the build quality and performance of these cars. My brother has a 2004 Impala and he loves it and has yet to have a single problem with it. It gets incredible gas mileage (33 highway) and rides like a dream. As for the bottoming out, a lot of our cars have done that. Modern cars are just built low and have too much front overhang.
You say that your car pulls to the left when you accelarate maybe if you done proper maintenance like the "alignment" you wouldn't have this problem.