3rd Sep 2019, 15:22
Bought 2 Buick LaCrosses the past year. Same car pretty much as the Impala, and I have rented Impalas. We have 1 with almost 40,000 miles on it in 16 months of ownership. Just oil changes and a battery. The other has 26,000; actually replaced 4 factory 20” tires. The other with twice the miles is a different touring version and running 17” original tires. Same platform as Chevrolet, but more bells and whistles.
6th Sep 2019, 07:23
I own a velvet blue 17 Impala LT V6, and I love it! I bought it used at 25k miles, and now the car has 70k miles on it and I’ve had zero issues with car the entire time of ownership. I’ve done just regular oil changes strictly using Castrol Full Syn motor oil, or Mobil 1.
GM really did a great job with the Impala platform, which shares its body and internals with the Buick Lacrosse and the Cadillac XTS. It’s a very reliable platform I should say and that is one of the reasons why I chose it over say the Malibu which are crappy cars IMO, plus they're smaller and more uncomfortable too.
What I like so much about this generation Impala is the near luxury feel you get from the inside. The quality of materials is really nice compared to most other midsize sedans on the market at the time, which use a lot of hard cheap plastic everywhere, while the Impala trim like the door panels are all nicely padded and soft with nicely done stitching.
I also really love the styling, it's very clean and looks like a luxury car from the side profile and has presence on the road, unlike the majority of other midsize sedans. It looks good and not overly garish and ugly such as the new Camrys.
The car rides pretty smooth for having a simple suspension setup and is extremely quiet, especially with high quality tires like Continentals. I just wish the tires were slightly bigger, since even with 18 inch wheels, the tires lack meat on them to absorb bigger bumps and potholes like a older fatter tire would that sits on a 15 inch wheel. I also wish LED headlights and taillights could have been standard or at least an option in the LT and Premium models. But no.
Although the 3.6 V6 in the car is nice and smooth, I feel like I really need to step on the gas in order for the car to get going sometimes. It doesn’t help that the transmission likes to stay at low RPM’s all the time either. Speaking of the transmission, it’s my least favorite aspect of the car. It’s funky and shifts odd at times, even though I’ve done a transmission fluid change a couple of times already. It’s as if the car is geared more towards better fuel economy than performance or acceleration, since it doesn’t like to rev high, unless forced.
Other than a few issues I have and/or annoyances, these cars are solid and one of Chevy's best attempts in a very long time at building and designing a quality reliable car. I just can’t believe the model is being discontinued! You can blame that on the idiotic executives and lack of marketing of the car to the public for its demise. I don’t understand the logic sometimes at GM and why they do what they do. The Impala is a hundred times better car than the Malibu, yet the lowly Malibu lives on although it doesn’t sell well at all. I mean what car has door pockets to hold an umbrella? Besides for a Rolls Royce, well the Impala has them on the front doors.
Even the trunk lid is connected to large metal bars and has thick coil like springs on the hinges side that retract, which feel of quality, unlike the cheap twist beam like hinges in most other cars that interfere with trunk space like luggage hitting the top of the hinges. It feels good knowing not too many Impalas are on the road, since I’m the type of person that doesn’t follow the herd; it’s nice not to see one like say, a Civic or the gazillion of other import vehicles on the road every 5 minutes of the day.
6th Sep 2019, 21:46
I think these cars are a steal and so is a used Premium II Lacrosse. It almost makes sense to buy a spare with super low miles and hang onto it. Get one of the last 6 cylinders. The only thing I don’t use is the paddle shifters (common on other cars) moved to the gear shift knob. If you had that on your Impala, that would give you the power boost you are looking for. Nonetheless it is very easy to speed in these cars on the interstate. Mine has a 170 mph speedometer with heads up displays. Cool to look at, but a bit optimistic.
8th Sep 2019, 11:41
"buy a spare with super low miles and hang onto it"?
Why would you do that with something that is still depreciating?
You're right, it "almost" makes sense.
8th Sep 2019, 12:33
You can blame it more on the popularity of new crossovers for their sales volume, carrying capacity and active families. There seems to be at least one at every household in my community. Also the full size trucks with rear seating. Some very well equipped with a lot of luxury features. It has hurt the large sedans sales. And resale. If anything, the execs are filling a need at a greater profit level. If they didn’t, the competition would grab the larger sales volume. After having crossovers for a while, they do become less enjoyable to drive. Sedans are more comfortable and handle better. You can get 26 MPG on a highway.
8th Sep 2019, 16:30
Because you may not find another mint, every option, used CPO with lower miles in the high teens to buy. Original sticker 37 grand. Sure they depreciate. I found one with 6000 miles. You can spread the wear. It’s not always about money. It’s availability on a model you really prefer and cannot get anymore. Not like we need a car loan and insurance is low. So we have a spare, big deal.
9th Sep 2019, 20:20
One can order any part for this car or any GM car from https://www.gmpartsstore.com. The site is worth looking at if not just for the exploded drawings. Prices are not bad.
9th Sep 2019, 21:54
My dad use to say you cannot buy back mileage on a used vehicle. Car mileage climbs with every year you wait. A desirable car that is appealing to you with low miles is a nice find. News that it will no longer be made being the driving force. It may mean zero to others, but it’s nice to you.
I think used late model GM full size sedans are great. As an example on a specific Impala review, think of the 1958 year. A one year body design. You know immediately it’s a 1958. For a very long time this Impala year was ignored. Not much interest and lower resale. Now it is a desirable model and was actually a pretty nice car then. And it has gone up significantly in value if that matters to some. It looked old immediately after 1958. I bought 4 Impalas in the early 60s. They rode nice, had a nice body design and were easy to maintain. But these are old Impalas. Fast forward to the present and now this car is going away. In the mid 60s it was the highest selling model in the USA. The full size sedans had a very long run. The bottom line and model overlap is what manufacturers notice today. I was a big fan of large station wagons as well back in the day. Had a Belair version, not the step up Impala. They are very popular with collectors today. Hopefully in the future the trend may reverse and more fuel efficient engines will be available from the factory. And people like them again. In the interim, the crossovers or SUVs are the trend for now.
2nd Sep 2019, 19:45
I bought my 2018 Impala LT for $16,000.00. Don't buy new; sedans are not selling well so you will get a great price used with low miles.