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Comments
I applied for mine: FR NO MAN
RR
* Problematic alternator (Flickering lights)
* Engine start problems (hard starts, etc)
* Somewhat excessive oil comsumption
* Soon to be an orphan engine as GM will no longer produce it.
When I read about these problems, it makes me glad that a have bulletproof, solid, reliable, smooth and economical 3800 under the hood of my Impala.
Will you also look into the Buick Regal GS and the Pontiac Grand Prix GTP with the S/C3800 engine?
Grand Prix has too many small grey buttons. The styling is a little overwrought.
The 2002 Altima looks interesting.
The trailbalzer is kind of cool, except for the ugly graining on the dashboard. Plus it is $30,000.
In response to your intrigue comments. My car does that hard starting thing, which appears to be unfixable.
It actually uses no oil between changes now.
My '99 has no alternator problems.
The engine is pretty incredible and its mid range acceleration is phenomenal. it is unbelievable on the highway.
Was on the impala site for hours last night. An LS the way i want it is about as much as a GL intrigue. So, I have some hard decisions to make.
As point of reference, these gates are lit up pretty well, so the guard can see you, your passengers, and anybody else you might have inside your car. They're not too keen on unauthorized personnel coming onto the installation, and the guards are very well armed.
BTW - The Captain's antenna wasn't unscrewed, it was definately broken off. Not a clean break either, the top was all snaggly. I'm sure he's none too happy about it.
I haven't tried to test the tensile strength of the OnStar antenna. It looks to be quite stiff and probably could be easily snapped by a brush type car wash.
The Captain's dealer may just give him a replacement...
take care!
RR
I just got my personalized license plates. They are "GD LoveU" (stands for: God loves you). It was a toss up between that and my moniker, but I decided that, what if someone was behind me one day and they were depressed and feeling at life's end or suicidal. What if they looked up and saw that God loved them? then perhaps I would have made a diffence by giving them a message of hope and encouragement, because God does love us all (even though a lot of times we don't believe it or feel it). It's also a reminder to me when I feel down.
I don't take my car through automatic car washes. I've seen them yank radio antennas off in the rotating brushes. I always wonder where they go. Probably wrapped around the center, ready to scratch the next car coming through. I guess you could bend the antenna close to the glass.
Thanks!
RR
I'm with you guys too!
Ken
My former personalized plates, were:
1 GOTO 1 - The smallest computer program I could think of that would completely fit on one 6-character plate. (Okay, I was a 'puter geek back in '84. Does it show?)
QQQQ - Four Q. Nuff said.
URNS - Apparently the DMV thought I was an undertaker, or that I was somehow involved in that business, 'cause if they really knew what it stood for, I'm certain I woudln't've got it (Spell it out, slowly).
VULTUR - My last name is "Buzzard"
VARD - Long story. Makes sense if you know who or what "The SCA" is... that's my name there.
SPADE 4 - After I got my car-before-last paid off, I stuck a 4 of Spades playing card in the back window. 'S Paid For. Get it? My plates that year matched the card.
BENGAL 7 - After Ohio switched to 7-character plated, I got this. Nobody on the team was using the 7 jersey at the time, and that was what I wore to games, so it was *MY* number! Later, after David Klingler started wearing the number, I began to regret my choice.
PSICORP - I'm a Babylon 5 fan, and as the token "evil Republican" in the local fangroup, the choice was obvious. Once I moved to MD, it was awkward, cause one of the contractors down here is PSI Corporation. People thought I worked for them.
Were I to get new plates for the Impala, I might go with GAZELLE or ANTELOP or something along those lines. Haven't given it much thought, since the current boring XYZ-123 plates are good through 11-02, and I have NO intention of giving Annapolis any more of my money than absolutely necessary.
I'm hoping that the new lifters will pop my trunk lid by a good 2-3" (with the spoiler).
This afternoon, I came back from GM Truck Show in Motion. I had a chance to drive most GM SUVs and trucks. They offered on and off road riding. I had a chance to drive the Toyota Highlander. The Highlander is a sweet SUV, but drives too much like a car. I prefer rugid truck feel.
I fell in love with the GMC Envoy. Drove the Envoy off road. One word......SOLID!! No rattles/squeeks, and handles superb.
There was a Hummer to test drive off road too. Unfortunately, someone drove the Hummer and put a flat in the tire. LOL No, it didnt' have the self inflated tires.
The 2002 Ford Explorer is a much improve vehicle! My only regret is that they didn't have Acura MDX to test drive.
To top it all off, as we exited the El Toro Marine Air Base, GM handed us a $1000 certificate on any purchase of a 2001 SUVs and trucks. Unfortunately, 2002 GMC Envoys, Trailerblazers, Escalades, and Chevy Avalanche were excluded from the discount.
I had a fun day today!!
My days as an intrigue driver are numbered, so i have started a car search.
I have rekindled my interest in the '96 impala ss.
The resale value on these cars is completely off the charts. How about $18,000 for a car in good condition and $27,000 for one with almost no miles and perfect.
They only cost $24,000 brand new!
The current pricing makes it really hard to buy one. Especially the payments.
This may be great, but consider what happens if you have a wind blowing. If the lid opens up more than it does, the wind can catch the lid forcing it up. This can break the hinges or even break the rear glass.
I know this because I live in an area that 30MPH winds are common and I have to be super cautious when opening the trunk even if it opens only an inch.
Ron
(hubby) is having the outing, Bengals will be golfing as 5ths with 4'somes. 200 golfers, new car on hole in one (par 3), Deer Creek State Park nights stay as door prize, vacation packages, clubs etc.
dew~
terrible
4 cars is a lot of gas
I wouldn't worry to much about the trunk lid popping too high because of the wind. If "wind" is a concern, easy fix is to place your hand on top of the trunk lid to prevent the lid from popping too high due to upward wind pressure.
It's convenient for me if the trunk lid pops at least 1/3 of the way. It allows my two hands to carry stuff in and out of the trunk.
Nick
If you want to add a turbo or supercharger on a new Impala the only other option is the aftermarket way. The S/C3800 requires a 'Heavy duty' transmission in order to properly handle the additional torque from this engine...so don't even think about swaping the engines at all...
My brother has a base 3.4 Impala.He puts 30,000 to 40,000 miles ayear on it.The car is good looking,but I saw an LS today-for the first time(just never paid any attention before).Great looking car!
The Catera suffers from bad reputation due to the chronic reliability problems this car had during 1997 (Introduction year) and 1998. GM and Cadillac are to blame for tarnishing the reputation of an otherwise excellent car by not putting enough time into testing and development of the 'Americanized' version of the Opel Omega. According to my Service Manager (Whom worked for Cadillac for 35 years) says that GM North America spent less than one year making the conversion from the Euro Spec Omega into the US/Canada Catera. They messed up the car big time due to their negligence. The Omega/Commodore line-up enjoys a tremendous reputation worldwide as very dependable, sturdy and reliable cars....but not so with the Catera, unfortunately.
I love the idea of having the Commodore SS in the US market or the middle east market only Chevrolet Caprice (It is a stretch wheelbase version of the Omega/Commodore/Catera with a 5.7L V8) but unfortunately tough fuel economy standards imposed on cars and CAFE standards are partly responsible for keeping these fine machines away from our shores. With the current fuel situation I very much doubt that we will ever see a Holden Commodore SS hustling down Route 66. But who knows what the future might bring.
The main mistake that GM made with the Catera was not to make the Omega/Commodore V8 engine available. The current 3.0L DOHC engine offered in this car is to underpowered for the weight imposed by the Catera frame. But again, thank CAFE and GM North America for that.
Is your brother happy with his base Impala?
It uses orange extract which is very effective and safe to use on your paint finish.
Just a suggestion.
I haven't owned an American car since the b80's,but I'm impressed with the Impala.If a person prefers larger cars ,its the bargain.
I feel it is superior to any import available.This includes the Toyota Avalon ,which costs $1,000s more.
I,myself, love my Daewoo Leganza(Holden engine).I'm hoping GM buys them.
Before the Impala, I hadn't own a 'domestic' vehicle since 1988. All my cars from 1989 to 1999 where Honda/Acura products. It does get pretty boring driving the same theme of cars year after year. After having owned a couple of Ford lemons I pretty much sweared off US cars. But the Impala was launched in late '99 I knew it was time to come back home....and the rest is history.
Glad to hear that your brother has had a pretty good experience with his. 40K miles + a year is a lot of mileage for a car....nice to know the Impala passes the test with flying colors.
switch out to the parking lamp mode will turn the
headlights off at night when the automatic lights
are on. The DRL's come on during the day when you
put the car in drive. I have heard that pushing the parking brake down 1 or 2 notches before you start the car will over-ride it too but I would be
careful about that.
The police package has a surveillance mode. The
switch is located where the fog lamp switch would be. It shuts off the DRL, the automatic lamp controls and the dome lamps. You might check with your dealer to see if they can order/install this
for you.
Anyone on the forum know anything about it?
I looked at the front brake pads (37.5k miles now)..... right side looks good, (always check both inner & outer pads ) left side looks good on the outer pad, the inner pad..YIKES! The inner pad on the left side is waaaay too thin. Time for a brake job!
Uneven pad wear is common & with the mileage we have on the car the life of the pads has been acceptible.
I've got near 20k miles on the K&N air filter so I pull it. Not very dirty , but I washed it and re-oiled the unit.
Have you folks checked the spare tire pressure in your Impala?????? The tire says 60 psi, our's was at 44psi. I try to keep it at 55 psi. No fun having a flat spare when you have a flat regular tire......been there!!
We visited Chapman Chev in Tempe AZ this AM. They have a 2002 Trail Blazer there. Nice vehicle. The dealer was not open yet(my fav time to just look). We watched a test on Speedvision of the 2002 Trail Blazer and my wife had that stare in her eye when they were showing the interior of the new T Blazer and talking about the Bose stereo package. My wife really likes her music! And yet she is mostly happy with the amp setup in our 2k Impala. (I never did the amp bypass) The 2wd unit we looked at was stickered at 29,700. We looked at new 4 door xtra cab Silverado LS trucks too. They were stickering at 28,500 to near $30k on the 2wd units. $900.00 for power front bucket seats!
They had a 2001 Impala LS that was eggzackly the same color combo as our 2k(the replacement color for light driftwood), leather seat inserts, info center and all. My wife was wondering outloud if Chapman would notice if we left our 2k and took the 2001. LOL
Tony
I read a while ago about there being a new amp. There was mention of 4/01 as being the date for the new amp. Does anybody have any concrete info on this?
If it was a base, however, he could have the sport suspension, rims and tires. I have them and there was no sticker on mine, so I doubt that's what it means. I think when he was choosing pin stripes, he thought it would be cool to have one that said, "Sport Edition."
lol
Ken
Could have been labeled the Impala T-Type (for Tacky).
Yuck!!
I think the MSRP was about $24,400. Edmunds says ther TMV is $150 over invoice. I wonder how they arrived at this info.
Does anybody know if there are any incentives in the southeast region? I couldn't find any. Buick and olds are practically giving their cars away. So it makes it hard for me to buy the impala.
You may want to wait until Memorial weekend. They normally have an additional $1K off during Memorial Sale. Fortunately for us in Southern CA, 0.9% financing is still being promoted.
If the car you looked at is asking for $24,400, I would ask for $22,000 as a starting bid.
Just my opinion.
"No rebates = Better resale value"
I take my car to an automatic car wash. One with the 'softcloth' washers, not the bristle brushes. I know it's controversial but I've had great luck. The person taking the money ALWAYS takes off my Onstar antenna and hands it to me. A nice touch... Haven't had a scratch in 3 years of using that car wash. At home my well water isn't clean enough and leaves horrible spots.
Some people like these types of aftermarket treated vehicles. I personally prefer my cars stock. Dealers make a lot of $$$ on these add ons.
Stereo speakers::: I apologize for not getting back to you with the serial numbers of my rear shelf speakers...watch for them a bit later on today.
I had found an Oldsmobile in the color I wanted and options I wanted on an NJ dealer lot.
I test drove it and all was well. I negotiated a good price and was told to come back the next day and the car would be all cleaned up and ready to go. No paperwork - just a handshake deal.
I called the next day to confirm that the car was ready. When I returned, the dealer had added a vinyl top and marked the price up by hundreds of dollars. I was really ticked.
No - I did not buy that car.