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'94-'96 Impala SS
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A stock low mile '96 is worth a pretty penny. My completely stock '96, which I bought new, has only 19,000 miles. I wouldn't sell you mine for $22K.
I wouldn't sell my Alfa, either, so I do understand where you are coming from and I don't wish to imply this is a criticism of the car. I just want to clarify to people how the collectible car market works in general, and to encourage the previous poster who is looking that he can find what he wants in the $22K range.
Anyway, for a used American 4-door sedan to be selling anywhere near MSRP is already highly unusual and indicates a strong (if small) collectible market for the car.
What this shows is that if something has some serious HP and is "rare enough" (relative to other 4-doors, not to say exotic cars), then people will seek it out.
Chevrolet Impala SS 1 96 50723 $20,588 * Kent WA
Chevrolet Impala SS 4 96 $22,999 * Fairless Hi PA
Chevrolet Impala SS 4 96 58816 $21,083 * Knoxville TN
Chevrolet Impala SS 4 95 77317 $14,995 * Springfield MO
Chevrolet Impala SS 4 96 $8,995 * Knoxville TN
Chevrolet Impala SS 4 96 64863 $19,995 * Miami FL
Chevrolet Impala SS 4 96 70000 $17,500 * Moultrie GA
Chevrolet Impala SS 4 96 59502 $21,995 * Merriam MO
Chevrolet Impala SS 4 96 54835 $18,995 * Fairfield NY
Chevrolet Impala SS 4 96 89613 $17,995 * Mt. Airy NC
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Chevrolet Impala SS 4 95 54011 $8,874 * Tampa FL
Chevrolet Impala SS 4 95 32647 $19,995 * Memphis TN
Chevrolet Impala SS 4 96 54228 $19,218 * Tinley Park IL
Chevrolet Impala SS 4S 95 72100 $15,488 * King NC
Chevrolet Impala SS B 95 96000 $15,900 * Tulsa OK
Chevrolet Impala SS I 95 56627 $18,950 * Fort Lauder FL
Chevrolet Impala SS SD 96 84459 $18,490 * Lancaster CA
Chevrolet Impala SS SS 96 39043 $16,995 * Stanhope NY
Chevrolet Impala SS S 96 69083 $9,999 * Dover NY
Chevrolet Impala SS S 96 62000 $22,500 San Jose CA
Is a reliable new car in your price range? Check to see!
Key:
A few years back, I came close to buying a '96 Caprice Classic with the 350 LT-1 engine. Does a stock Impala SS of the same vintage have any performance/handling mods over the 350 Caprice? I know they're both rated at 260 hp.
I'm guessing the Impala may have better tires, wider rims, and a stiffer suspension. Is the gearing in the tranny and differential any different?
Basically, is there anything in a stock SS Impala that would make it any faster than a Caprice 350?
-Andre
The same 260 hp/330 lb-ft torque 5.7L LT1 V-8 engine was used in both the Caprice sedan (optional) and Wagon & SS ( both standard). The same 4L60-E 4-speed automatic transmission, including gear ratios (3.06, 1.63, 1.00, & .70 overdrive), was used for both the 4.3L and 5.7L V-8s.
The SS came standard with a 30 mm from stabilizer bar and 26 mm rear. SS had front and rear vented disc brakes. The SS came with tuned De Carbon shock absorbers. It also had standard limited slip differential, quick ratio power steering, and transmission oil cooler. Plus 45/45 bucket seats. SS also had "Salisbury 4-link coil steel alloy spring" rear suspension.
SS had P225/50ZR-17 tires standard versus largest Caprice tire option of P235/70R-15 (non-speed rated).
The Caprice could be ordered with following options: G80--limited slip differential w/3.23 final drive; QMU--P235/70R-15 blackwalls; G67--automatic levelling suspension (wagon only); and B4U--sport suspension (incl. trailering package w/HD cooling and engine oil cooling, and G80 LSD & 3.23 axle, and requiring QMU tires). There were no bucket seats, only 55/45. All had rear drum brakes. No rear stabilizer bar; 26 mm front. Had "4-link solid axle coil steel alloy spring" rear suspension.
4.3L Caprice used a 2.93 rear axle. 5.7L Caprice used a standard 2.56 rear axle, with an optional 3.23 available. The SS had only a 3.08 rear axle.
Empty 4.3L Caprice weighed 4,061 pounds. 5.7L Wagon at 4,473. SS at 4,036.
Due to the similarities and fact the Caprice could be ordered with the 3.23 rear axle, it was actually quicker. But due to its non-speed rated tires, the SS had a much higher top speed (drag limited at over 140 mph). There was no real comparison, though, in handling or hard braking.
One of the best comparison tests of the time is reported in the May 1996 issue of Popular Mechanics' CarSmart. They compared the SS to MB S500, Cadillac Fleetwood, Buick Roadmaster, Chevy Caprice (w/optional 5.7L V-8 & suspension), Lincoln Town Car, Merc Grand Marquis LS, and Ford Crown Vic LX:
The Caprice Classic is "the fastest car in this group, even out-dragging the more performance- oriented Impala SS. But its ride is more comfortable than the SS, more like the Roadmaster... Where the Caprice fell short was its handling... Its stability rating is the worst of any here... the Caprice warrants attention, but for another $1,283 you can purchase an Impala SS, which makes the Caprice seem unnecessary."
"Hands down, the Impala SS is the best value here... it simply delivers the most car for the money... it outhandled and outaccelerated the Mercedes, and equaled the Benz's remarkable braking performance."
Their test results:
Car SS Caprice
0-60 7.5 7.3 secs
30-50 2.7 2.5 secs
50-70 3.8 3.8 secs
60-0 cold 118 130 feet
60-0 hot 121 139 feet
Handling 47 43 mph
I ended up buying a 2000 Dodge Intrepid 2.7 about a month later. I'm happy with it, but there's a spot in my heart for an Impala SS, or 350 Caprice! Maybe when I wear the 'Trep out, I'll come back to GM and get a used one.
-Andre
I actually took my intrigue in to early terminate the lease and the dealer told me about GM's program to pay my lease off if i by a new GM car.
By the time they took all the discounts and incentives off of the new impala it was over $7000!!. So i bought the new car.
One of these days i will own a black '96 SS. They will probably still be selling for over $15,000 five years fom now.
Hope you do like it. My brother, a clergyman who isn't into cars at all (viewing them like appliances), loves his '00 Impala LS. That says a million words to me about who the target market is for new Impala.
Can't tell exactly what you paid, but I'm assuming you got $7,000 "OFF" MSRP sticker. A loaded Impala LS will sticker for around $22,000. So you had to end up paying about $15,000 or thereabouts for the car (unless you bought a base model with few options). Not too much less than for the SS.
Give your Impala a year and then compare its resale value. Bet the '96 Impala SS will be worth more!
"competent though unexceptional model"
Is this akin to damning with faint praise?
CR tested a '00 Impala LS in their May 2000 issue. Currently out of 17 6-cylinder family cars CR has tested over the past 2 years, the new Impala LS scores AHEAD of only 4: the Chysler Sebring LX, Mazda 626 LX, Mercury Sable LS, and Ford Taurus SE. It TIES with the Chevy Malibu LS, Dodge Intrepid, and Mitsu Galant ES.
CR rates the new Impala LS BEHIND the VW Passat GLS, Camry LE, Maxima GXE, Accord EX, Olds Intrigue GL, Grand Prix SE, Olds Alero GL2, and Hyundai Sonata GLS.
Is almost laughable to compare new Impala to old one. The new one is barely competitive in its class, and falling behind. Old one was in a class by itself. Only the '03 Mercury Marauder will be competitive.
The '01 was simply cheaper for me to purchase. I am 6'8" and most of the cars on your list don't work for me. I came out of an '99 intrigue so i know all about that car. I don't have the time to spend at the olds service department anymore. And i am not prepared to take a $10,000 depreciation hit in one year on an intrigue.
Part of the deal on the intrigue termination was that they forgave my remaining lease payments. If i had turned the car in in may i would have had to pay $2445.00 out of pocket. The total discounts on the '01 was about $4500. MSRP was $25,504 I paid $21,068.00. S.C. sales tax is only $300.00 maximum.
Back to the comparison. They are different cars, the '01 doesn't handle like the SS, but it only gives up about .5 second 0-60 mph.
Once i get the grey mouldings off of it and slightly tint the windows i will have a pretty good looking car. True, it is still front wheel drive. But the '01's aquisistion cost was less.
If i don't like the car in a couple of years i can buy a SS or a Marauder. I am sure my income will allow me to do that by then.
CR is not a great magazine to use when comparing cars. If it were everyone would be driving camrys and accords.
2. Real knowledgeable car guys don't confuse old and new Impala. They are as different as night and day.
3. Darn near everyone is driving a Camry or Accord (they have led the sales charts for years). That is why Chevy only made about 60,000 '94-'96 Impala SSs. You had to be in the know to know. And want to stand out of the crowd.
4. Appears you bought your pedestrian conveyance primarily to save some dough. Great for you and Chevy. But you didn't get anything other than a bland, boring, low performance car that sullies the name "Impala". God help us if Chevy has the gall to stick "SS" on this FWD taxi cab wanna be.
5. Hope it holds enough resale value so you can trade it in on a new '03 Marauder. But I'm guessing there will likely be another fire sale on a bland car and you might be inclined to go for that. Hope not!
My other car is an '87 IROC that i special ordered. It is the 215 hp TPI motor with 5 speed. 3.45 rearend, limited slip and 4 wheel discs. It will be in and out of the shop until this fall. Part of the work being done on it will a 336 CID small block with about 300 hp.
I felt that the SS was inappropriate for my job as a real estate agent. I did not know that my not buying the SS excludes me from my hobby.
According to you i am no longer a car enthusiast.
Do you honestly believe there is any valid comparison between your LS and my SS? If so, please enlighten me. And I don't mean things like "each has 4 wheels, 4 doors, a steering wheel, etc."
I do not feel that I settled for a bad car though. I have thoroughly enjoyed driving it these past three days. It is not as sporting as the intrigue was, nor does it have the intrigue's incredible passing power. It still drives great and i have gotten lots of compliments.
The deal that Gm offered me was to good to pass up. Remember, i would have had to pay almost $18,000 for the SS, and $2445.00 to get out of the lease on the intrigue.
a. I can't begin to fathom how anyone can "thoroughly enjoy driving" the new Impala. I've driven my brother's '00 LS. Even tried to push it a bit. Wasn't fun and certainly not exciting or rewarding. It is not a serious driver's car nor is it intended to be driven hard. Serious drivers don't buy them. Buyers who do don't drive 'em hard. Unlike the SS, it just isn't physically capable of high levels of all around driving excitement.
b. It is NOT sporting, period. End of discussion. Nor is the Intrigue.
c. It "drives great"? Compared to what? A Corolla? Taurus? Stratus? Not compared to any even half serious sport sedan I'm aware of.
Who is complimenting? Retirees? Teachers? Salesmen? Little old ladies? Certainly not the same people who would appreciate and compliment an SS.
I haven't read a Consumer Reports auto review in awhile, but it used to be that "competent though unexceptional model" is about the nicest thing that CR would say about a domestic car!
Considering that if CR had their way, we'd all be driving 4-cylinder Accords and Camrys with crank windows (and they haven't changed over the years...back in the 60's they would've wanted everyone in 6-cyl Valiants!), I'm sure they would've been more biased against the Impala SS and Caprice than they are the new Impala!
The new Impala is a good car, but I look at it as more as the first real replacement for the '78-83 Malibu (the Celebrity and Lumina just never quite fit that bill, in my opinion) than I do as a replacement for the '94-96 Impala SS.
b4z, I'm surprised that your Impala's 3.8 is that lacking in passing power compared to your Intrigue, which I'm guessing had the 3.5. Then again, I think the 3.5's OHC design did give it better higher-speed performance.
I looked at the new Impalas when I bought my Intrepid. Only problem was they only had fully-loaded models on the lot, priced well out of my price range, and at the time I hadn't gotten used to the style of it yet, so I didn't seriously consider it. When new-car time comes around again, I might consider one, if I go new again. I still have a yearning for a big RWD car though, and may try to just find a nice used Caprice or Impala SS.
-Andre
The impala has less than 100 miles on it and i have not even given it half throttle yet.
The midrange in the intrigue with DOHC motor was pretty incredible. Its power from 55-90 mph was very confidence inspiring.
I don't guess giowa has ever driven an intrigue. The car handled pretty well and rode quite a bit harder than the average midsize car.
2. When a non-performance oriented publication like CR says your car is "competent" and "not exceptional", you know it is smack dab in the middle of mediocrity. Bread and butter sandwich of cars.
3. I don't care what b4z buys or drives. It is just odd to even have him jump in to claim he was seriously considering an SS and then say he buys a new LS. Then to compare the two in acceleration figures, as if somehow having the LS be within 1 second 0-60 somehow allows any rational comparison. No problem if he is on the Edmunds new Impala site. But not the SS site.
4. Notice how andre rightly compares the new LS to an Intrepid.
5. I own a modest 6-cylinder family 4-dr sedan. I use if for work. But my '00 Hyundai Sonata GLS is a V-6 with 5-speed manual transmission, ABS & traction control, leather, sunroof, etc. It is as sporting as possible a sedan for under $20,000. A great bargain and a real sleeper. I was pleased when CR top rated the Sonata GLS over the other 3 cars it competed against. (Thinking Malibu, Stratus, and Alero). But I would never post anything on an SS site trying equate my Sonata to my SS. Same is true for new LS.
Well, maybe one day, I'll get to add one to my fleet!
The Holden Commodore SS is produced, for export, in Left-Hand Drive.
http://www.gmme.com/chevrolet_cars/caprice/caprice_ss.htm
That's the Caprice SS. Seems to be a mix of Holden Commodore SS and Holden Statesman/Caprice. Per Holden's website, neither comes in an "SS" Version, just the Commodore.
http://www.gmme.com/chevrolet_cars/lumina/lumina_ss.htm
That is the Middle East Chevrolet Lumina. It basically IS a LHD Commodore SS.
Now, the Commodre also comes to the Americas. A V6-Engined version is sold in Brazil as the Chevrolet Omega.
http://www.chevrolet.com.br
(I can't directly link to the Omega.. its' all thatsilly JavaScript).
So, would it be a stretch to import it? Nope.
Oh, want to know what the LHD Lumina SS sells for in the Middle East? About $24,000 plus tax. Extra for leather tho
GM is so incredibly out of touch with the marketplace its' scary.
Bill
GM needs to get back to what they do so well... large, RWD cars with big engines.
Just my 2¢
Fuelled her on 87 octane regular the whole way. Cheapest was $1.069 in Speedway stations on US 30 in and around Valparaiso, Indiana. Upstate NY was $1.639-1.699. Illinois about $1.459-1.499. IA $1.299. Rest of Indiana about $1.229-1.329. W. Ohio & Penn $1.359-1.459. Premium was always about $.15-.20 more expensive.
And the interior and trunk space was fantastic. Had no problems bringing all the luggage back along with all the vacation crap. Including two 30 packs of Genny Cream Ale. Something we can't get in midwest and wife & I both love.
http://ghostwolf.xaper.com/
Here's the site with the SS badged Impala LS:
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/impala/
That's it for today, and I recommend that you appreciate the great cars that you have and not try to talk down to the owners of other cars. They might have a very good reason that they like their cars!
I had a friend whose dad had (maybe still has? This was years ago) a TR-6 from the early '70's. That thing was a dog. Now maybe his was ragged out or something, but the few times I rode in it, if felt like it was going to tip because it was so narrow, lost traction too easily, and just didn't feel all that fast.
I had to change the water pump too at 63,800 miles. and the brakes twice. other than that it's a good car.
Gold Wheels Tampa FL.
Caprice Classic sedan: $19,905
Caprice Classic wagon: $22,405
Impala SS sedan: $24,505
No LS trim was offered starting in '95
Here's something weird that I discovered during my research: The catalog states that only 485 Caprice wagons were built in calendar-year 1996. If that's true, then that's one rare puppy right there.
When I sold mine, 11/30/01, she had 26,000 original miles. Traded her in for a '98 BMW 540i6. I got $18,000 for her. This was the first Impala SS for the dealership. They were shocked at how high the NADA pricing info was. But there is high demand. They had no trouble selling it. Sold it to a Chevy dealer, probably for a customer.