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Comments
http://www.autowire.net/1999-62.html
I think it is nice that GM is doing a close follow up on the initial quality of their products.
http://www.chevrolet.com/gmnav/contact_us/index.htm
Concerns?.....amp, rear view mirror hindering the front view, trunk lid lifters, and etc.
Teo:
Introduce their engineer to this board. Perhaps, they can "hear" what we have to say about the pros and cons of our Impala.
I think is is very likely that GM has been closely monitoring this forum from a long time ago.
I'll keep everyone posted once I get contacted by the GM engineer.
Had posted a few times a while back, stating that I was going to order an 01 Base with all the trimmings (Leather, 3.8, etc.) because I wanted the bench seat, so the LS was not an option. Anyway, I ordered the car on 3/30, was told 6 weeks to deliver. Three weeks later (which was three weeks ago) I stopped by the dealership to see if they had a build date on the car. Low and behold, they said the car had been built, gave me the VIN, and said it takes about 10 days to get to PA. The tenth day was the Friday before Memorial Day - no car. I went to the dealership the following Tuesday, 14 days after the shipping date, and it was still not there. Was told that a 'trace' cold not be put on the car until 10 days after the 'final' shipping/arrival date, which was 5/31. Yesterday (Tuesday) was 21 days after it was allegedly shipped, still no car. I called Chevrolet, since I found it hard to believe that no trace could be put on the car until 6/11. Within 10 minutes, the dealership called me, apologized profusely, and said the car did in fact come in a week or two ago (as scheduled), had been listed mistakenly as regular inventory, and was SOLD!!! Needless to say, I was flabbergasted! I already sold the car (two weeks ago) that the Impala was going to replace, and I have been drooling for 6 weeks. They searched their dB for a similarly equipped 01, and only came up with one in the same color, but someone else has a pending offer on it. They can look for a different color, or they offered to get me an 02 at dealer cost (whatever that is). Thing is, they are not sure if they will be able to 'special-order' an 02 this soon. They will find out Thursday. Plus, I do not know what the 02 will look like, what the option packages are, etc. For all I know, maybe I can get an 02 LS with a bench seat. In addition, am not sure I want to wait another 6-8 weeks.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Thanks
Frank
Again, use the aggravation and time wasted on waiting for this special ordered vehicle that was sold on you, to make them give you an extra discount or even throw an extended GM Major guard warranty at no extra cost to you. Tell them that you are very unhappy about the incident and expect the dealer to go the extra mile to keep your business or you'll simply go elsewhere.
If the dealer can give you a new '02 at cost, sure is a very good deal, but it is difficult to make a deal on a car that yet doesn't exist. However, everyhting they promised, have them put it in a piece of paper signed by both the sales manager and the dealer's general manager.
Also, can you compromise a bit in the way you want your car to be configured and get another car already in stock with the possibility of getting a bigger discount due to the dealer's lack of customer treatment ethics??
I live within 5-10 miles of FOUR Chevy dealers and about 20 dealers of different models. The competition here is very stiff.
Please reconsider for an LS. I know you want a bench seat, but in my opinion, it's not very comfortable to have 6 passengers in the car (unless you have small size passengers). A fully loaded base with 3.8 can be had for the same price as an LS.
Maybe you should rent an Impala with bench seat and stuff 6 passengers in the car. See if it's comfortable or not. If not, LS is worth the money. Furthermore, LS are always in stock. No need to special order from the dealer.
I hope they treat you right for making a very big mistake. Some dealerships do act as bullies and decide to sell to who they want. Anyway, it is very unprofessional of an organization to lose track of who the car was ordered for in the first place. I know if the company I work for would have done this, it would have lost the business of a customer like frankb7 for good.
May all have a great day!
I remember him advertising for other GM cars that he does or has owned - Chevy Blazer, Buick Roadmaster and Park Avenue. I wonder if he is an Impala owner presently.
Ken
http://www.luckyjdr.homestead.com/ls1impala.html
You can find a link to his site and all the other Impala sites I know of on the Links page.
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/impala/
My dealer stocks quite a few Impala LS' without spoilers. I would personally not go thru the hassle of having the dealer swap trunk lids in fear of breaking something that is already fine. Dealers are notorious for messing up in simple things as Oil Changes, imagine swaping trunk lids, doors, hoods, etc. Just my opinion.
Did your dealer give you the option of getting a new Impala with the $175.00 spoiler delete option? Would it make you feel better about the spoiler if the dealer would give you $175.00 back without swaping the trunk lids??
PS: Check out the low profile rear spoiler design on that Impala SS prototype photos....I like it!
Thanks.
I also agree with the post that you take your business else where. If you can't trust them now why deal with them? Thats what I did and found out that they did me a huge favor. I ended up with a Sebring Sedan LXI for less then the Impala. Having driven both the Sebring is better and for the same price or less then the LS. I'm not saying you buy a Sebring only that you shouldn't lock yourself in to one car. There are other very good cars out there in the same price range. The 5 star DC dealer I dealt with was top notch and it was the easiest car purchase I've ever made. Again I'm only saying that to illustrate that no one should put up with the kind of thing you experienced and you don't have to.
Thanks to all who responded to my post re: my base Impala getting sold out from under me.
I am on the fence as to whether they knew the car was in and sold it to a higher bidder, or just made a mistake. My cynical side says they knew exactly what they were doing. Since I dealt primarily with the sales manager, and had a fairly positive relationship (as far as you can with a sales-person) I am not sure. Plus, I drove through the lot once or twice a week, after they told me the car was do to arrive in 10 days, and always looked for a Silver Impala, to no avail, so it must not have been around for too long. Plus, I discovered it was sold two weeks ago, and when I asked the SM on Tuesday to investigate, he was still insisting it would come in any day. Not sure he would have taken this stance if he knew the car was sold. Again, I guess it is possible they duped me. To be honest, this is a smaller dealership, and seem to be more attentive and less pushy than the other Chevy dealerships in the area, which is why I have not left them.
Maybe it is better to get an 02 anyway. Given the timeframe. Might as well take advantage of the 'newer' model. Guess I can look at another car (Sebring?), but I did all the research , and want the Impala (whining). One thing I am unsure of is what the dealer means by 'giving me the 02 at dealer cost'. The pricing is not available yet, but I am guessing they could go up in price by $500. Given that they were probably making at least that much on me with the '01' price I negotiated, I am thinking I should get the 02 for at least the same price I was going to pay for the 01, right? Maybe less. I was told that they are going to try to get a special order for me, by either ordering me an 02 that takes them above their already ordered allotment, or by getting permission to change one of the 02 Impala orders currently pending (they have two Impalas ordered for themselves; one build date is 7/31, the other is 8/6.
Sometime today the dealer is going to find out if they can order an 02 for me. We shall see.
Take Care
Frank
I was about 3 cars behind the dork, so I did see it happening and I was well able to slow from the lovely 55 mph to the about 15 he made us go to for cutting us all off! (and, I don't know that it was a "he", sorry)
The brakes were great. No grabbing. Only the slightest hint of ABS and NO pulling to one side or another. This is the biggest and heaviest car I've ever driven, and I expect braking to be a "chore." It was a breeze! Love it.
P.S., speaking of Breezes... My two cents on a Sebring. Don't! if you really want an Impala, you should have one. I know you won't be as excited about the room in side and probably not the power of a Sebring. It's a pretty car, no doubt....but.... I think the point was you could shop for other cars (besides an Impala) and my point was you could probably get your Impala somewhere else.
Good safety ratings too.
Good luck
Ken
Ken
There is overspray on the door and the driver's side rearview mirror.
Will be talking with the dealership tomorrow.
I take a lot of pride in how my cars look. They better make me happy.
Did you take delivery of the car at night??
If so, surprises like this are not unusual after delivery. I always inspect my cars from top to bottom prior to accepting them and try to take delivery in during daytime hours.
It could be a factory defect but it also sounds like a 'quickie' damage cover up paint job. Get the record straight from the dealer or else insist on a new replacement car. I gather you haven't put too many miles on it but if the dealer cares about your satisfaction they should take the appropiate action and do the right thing for you. I guess tomorrow is your dealer's 'Hour of truth'....
Don't settle for a brand new re-painted car..think about the hurt this will do to your future re-sale value.
Let us know what happens..
Ken
As I've posted numerous times, get whatever meets your needs first. I trade cars about every 10 years, so getting what served my needs was more important than the extra resale value of an LS 10 years from now. My experience has been if the difference between an upscale trim level and a more basic level is $1,000, 10 years from now the difference between the two will still be $1,000 (saw this exact thing with my Celica GT I sold last year, vs. Celica GTS' I saw in the paper at the time).
There remain a few courteous drivers out here but I haven't seen most of them. Have a great weekend- I'm headed to Mackinaw and leaving the college kid to house sit- he said something about a kegger? Think I should worry? :}
In any case, the GM told me they put an order in for an 02, with my specifics, and will find out Tuesday, if the order was 'accepted'. If accepted, the alleged build date is projected to be the last week of July. She is going to talk to the district rep, to see if he can expidite it, although she said sometimes the DRs are helpful, and sometimes not. We shall see. And yes, I want the bench for the occasional use, plus I like to lean my right leg towards the middle w/o hitting anything (console).
Not even sure if they are making any changes in the 02. Oh well, I'll find out.
Frank
Teo ~ I've had several Chrysler products and driven all of them hard. All of them with the exception of one had more then 150K miles on them when traded in or sold. The one had almost 90K on it. No exploding tranny's in any of them. The latest was a Grand Cherokee with 180K on it and the original transmission with no work done other then routine maintenance. My company has used Chryslers for several years. Only one model had excessive transmission problems and those were the early Dakotas. Other then that the Chryslers are no better or no worse then any other domestic and many foreign cars in regards to transmission repairs. Tranny problems? My company's Blazers, Jimmys and 4 Runners have had their share believe me.
I grewup with Chevy's so I've had an ongoing affection for GM cars all my life. And still think the 3800 series is one of the finest around. I simply don't like the way they are packaging their cars right now in terms of design and interior execution. Which is saying nothing in that regard has changed much in GM all these years.
All of the car manufacturers have.
In early Mopar mini van days a customer would complain about the loss of a speedo function. In most vehicles it would require a whole new trans case to fix the trouble. When Lee was at the helm of Chrysler he put out an order to "fix em". Which probably saved a class action law suit.
The infamous 'A604' 4-speed Automatic transmission has been a total reliability and durability nightmare as the it fares the worst failure rates in the industry. This transmission still lives on today on the LH cars, DCX Minivans, Neons as the '41TE' and '42LE' which are basically the same garbage with a different code name. The failure rate of these gearboxes goes above and beyond and other precedent set in the car industry.
The only good Chrysler tranny is the old 'Torqueflite' 3-speed that is sturdy and solid as a drum, yet it is ages old technology and increases engine wear and tear due to the lack of a 4th overdrive gear. Not sure if it still produced today.
Here is a good link of the 'Lemon Aid Book' which summarizes in detail the real deal behind Chrysler products. Ford products are not too far behind either these days. GM has also a lot of problems but by comparison Ford and DCX are battling themselves for the 1st place at the bottom of the barrel:
http://lemonaidcars.com/chrysler.htm
It is truly a shame, because Chrysler has very good looking vehicles; however, I have never been sold into the 'Cab Forward' hype. I specially like the new Stratus sedan, coupe and Convertible and to me they are really beautiful cars and safety seems to have improved greatly. The question remains on reliability....
I am glad that your fleet experiences with DCX products has been positive, unfortunately, you can count yourself in the minority of happy Chrysler owners. The amount of information found in the Internet, libraries, mechanics, Consumer Reports, all indicate that a Chrysler product purchase is one of the riskiest in terms of long term durability.
Glad to have you in the forum and please don't take this post as a 'rant' to blow you off.
Can you go into more detail about your experiences with the fleet of Impalas you currently have...likes?..dislikes?...issues?...praises?
If this dealer had undersold me to another customer, I would never give him the time of day to earn back my business. PERIOD!
The price we DO pay is their slow, and distracted. Don't make good choices and don't make them soon enough. Road rage incidents here are VERY uncommon. But incidents of blowing through a stop light and makeing illegal turns and other fuddleheaded mistakes are fairly common.
What I hear from co-workers from more "aggressive" cities is that Portland drivers make them crazy for things like stopping to allow a pedestrian to cross the street. WAY too much rubber-necking, following too close, and driving at uneven speeds. These things bug me too. But I guess after 20 years of driving I'm used to it now.
1. 2 new colors.
MEDIUM PEARL GREEN (REPLACES ORIGINAL GREEN)
BRIGHT RED (REPLACES TORCH RED)
2. CHILD SEAT TETHERS TOP AND BOTTOM OF ALL REAR SEATS.
3. POLLEN FILTER IN BOTH BASE AND LS MODELS.
4. DUAL ZONE HEAT/AIR CONTROLS STANDARD
5. PREMIUM SOUND SYSTEM.
NO OTHER CHANGES: 2 MODELS ONLY:
BASE 4 DOOR SEDAN. LS 4 DOOR SEDAN.
We have other problems that add to the mix: Very poor public transportation availability and roads urban planning infrastructure. In Miami if you don't have a car you are a 'dead duck'. Our Metro rail only serves a 20 mile North-south corridor line located on the east part of the city. The heavily populated western suburbs are too isolated from any efficient for of public transportation.
The new home construction boom of the 1980's and 1990's lead to an increase in the suburb population and often these new developments did not were complemented by the construction of new roads or effective updates to existing ones. The results are daily bottlenecks when traveling West-East directions and viceversa. Before I used to live in the suburbs and let me tell you it was not a fun commute to my office which was 15 miles away. Since I got married and moved to the city, my commute time got cut down to 10 minutes (From 1 and a half hours each way)and the 40 mile a day journey got cut down to 8 miles per day. What a world of a difference! Besides I live right next to one of Metro Rail's stations, so at least I have the option to live the car parked at home if I need to go to the Dadeland Mall area. (But not to work unfortunately).
Another issue is the amount of Immigration we get in this city. Don't get me wrong, myself and my family are South American immigrants like mostly everyone else here but a lot of these people have never ever driven or owned a car in their lives! So when they come to live in Miami, they are faced with the need of driving a motor vehicle...an overwhelming change in their lifestyles! Don't get me wrong, South America is not a jungle like most Americans that have never traveled there before often imagine, we too have lots of cars, traffic, roads (If you ever go to Venezuela or Argentina, Chile and Uruguay you'll see pretty impressive Highways and road engineering works)but the standard of living is so different and therefore most of the population in Latin American Countries can not afford a car.
Well enough on the profile of the Miami driver..
Could you post the link to this info?
Also...
The 2000/01 Impala already has Child car seat tethers in the rear package shelf tray located exactly behind each headrest in the rear seat back. 2 in the outter seating positions and 1 in the center seating position. I am not sure about the functionality provided by the new bottom tethers.
Is the 'Premium' sound system now standard? (CD or Tape/CD combo?)
Major pluses for upcoming '02 base Impala owners....Standard Pollen air cabin filter and dual zone temp controls...two items that were standard on the LS until now.
I applaud the color changes, specially the Red.
Any visible cosmetic changes?
I believe that these will be more noticeable for the 2003 model year.
Fellow 2001 Impala brochure participants.....we have only a couple of months left of 'Celebrity status'...:-(
Teo - 40 miles takes 1.5 hours? Wow - I drive Maine to Mass every day (54 miles each way) in an hour. Of course once I move to camp when school's out it will be a different interstate (I-93) and will take 30 - 50 minutes to drive the 20 miles from camp to work (yes my camp is actually closer!)
Heading to camp now to start cleaning it up for the move in a couple weeks.
Any of you Impala guys vacationing in the area this summer? I leave an open invitation to stop by for a visit and a swim.
Enjoy the weekend
Ken
Ken
In Guelph the drivers are mostly not too bad and not very aggressive. Speeding in residential areas is a pet peeve and it seems like more people are running red lights recently.
Toronto is a different story. Once you get on the 401 (the major East/West corridor across Ontario) in the Toronto area, you have to adjust your driving style or you'll be eaten alive. Road Rage is real. Everyone is much more aggressive, particularly with tailgating, sudden lane changes, honking if you're not moving as fast as they want to, etc. Toronto police have really started cracking down on things like gridlock (if you enter an intersection without a clear path all the way through and get caught in a red you get a ticket).
I've found that my Impala is perfect for driving in Toronto - lots of power to punch it past everyone, and GREAT brakes to stop quickly when someone cuts you off.
"Next year will see the widespread introduction of the LATCH system, short for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children. This combines a top tether with lower anchors, sometimes called ISOFIX anchors, built into the rear seat of the car. LATCH-compatible child safety seats attach directly to the anchors. The combination of tethers and anchors eliminates the need to struggle with vehicle safety belts and should allow simpler, more secure seat installation.
"This system will be mandatory on all vehicles, convertible seats, and toddler/booster seats manufactured on or after Sept. 1, 2002. Rear-facing-only seats will be required to have lower anchors only. Booster seats will not be required to have either a top tether or lower anchor."
For more info see http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/csr2001/csrhtml/LATCH.html
And the NHTSA flyer on the LATCH program can be found here http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/csr2001/csrhtml/LATCH.html