By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
Do you agree that the new cars are designed differently than the one designed 10/20 years ago ?
Do you agree that oil and filter have been improved during those 10/20 years ?
Do you agree that almost everything on a car is designed to last a lot longer ?
Do you agree that almost all other pieces of machinery are maintained following hours of operations ?
If so why sticking to the old receipe ?
The only way we can say for sure who's right is by having our engine oil analysed by an independant Laboratory.And I am sure that if the engine is in good shape that the oil will be good also.
<<<< Again, it all boils down to driving habits and traffic/weather conditions>>>>>
The above are monitored by the oil monitor.All but the dust,thats the only thing,if you drive your Impala where a 4x4 should be driven you are going to change a lot more than engine oil !!
Your can get oil change for free ! Good for you. At what rates can you get the oil change,I mean do you have the oil changed according to GM maint.schedule or ,when you want to have it changed ? And what is the recommended interval in the book for short trip maintenance ?
Finnaly :
Yes waisting money,what else is thrown in the garbage when you still can use it ?
Yes waisting time,for what reason on earth will you go somewhere to wait for something you dont need ?
Yes waisting ressources...this one is obvious !
Yes old engine oil is not good for the environment.
Teo, I will follow the Oil life monitor indicating light and the maintenace schedule made by the peoples who designed the car .You are going to do that also and even MORE !! We can't go wrong.I guess that the main difference is that you "love" your car,and a car for me is a machine,maybe a bit more than a machine...
Last questions ;-)): are you overweight ? Are you
eating properly, you know veggy,fruits,fibres etc.? Are you exercising for a minimum of 30mn a day 4 days a week ? If yes good for you ! But if not STOP worry about your car !!!! Take care of yourself....
Cant wait for your reply !!!!
Okay, okay Agreed to all of the above.
I just love to waste $20 every 90 days on oil/filter and love to deplete earth's natural resources...NO MORE DINO OIL!!!!!!!
Hey off the record, are you from QUEBEC?
Why spend $20-$30 every 3K when you can double that, and not damage anything? Plus, baveaux is correct about the environment, which is quite an important consideration for many people.
I doubt if most people will have these cars forever. Personally, I don't think this car will last forever, anyway. The venerable 3.8 may be a workhorse. But, if my 89 Bonneville with the same engine is any indication, everything else on the car and under the hood will fail well before the engine block.
Please post the mileage when your monitor finally goes off. I doubt if it is going to go off anytime soon, regardless of driving habits, which will give us an idea of what GM considers a proper interval.
Do you agree that the new cars are designed differently than the one designed 10/20 years ago ?
Do you agree that oil and filter have been improved during those 10/20 years ?
Do you agree that almost everything on a car is designed to last a lot longer ?
Do you agree that almost all other pieces of machinery are maintained following hours of operations ?
If so why sticking to the old receipe ?
The only way we can say for sure who's right is by having our engine oil analysed by an independant Laboratory.And I am sure that if the engine is in good shape that the oil will be good also.
<<<< Again, it all boils down to driving habits and traffic/weather conditions>>>>>
The above are monitored by the oil monitor.All but the dust,thats the only thing,if you drive your Impala where a 4x4 should be driven you are going to change a lot more than engine oil !!
Your can get oil change for free ! Good for you. At what rates can you get the oil change,I mean do you have the oil changed according to GM maint.schedule or ,when you want to have it changed ? And what is the recommended interval in the book for short trip maintenance ?
Finnaly :
Yes waisting money,what else is thrown in the garbage when you still can use it ?
Yes waisting time,for what reason on earth will you go somewhere to wait for something you dont need ?
Yes waisting ressources...this one is obvious !
Yes old engine oil is not good for the environment.
Teo, I will follow the Oil life monitor indicating light and the maintenace schedule made by the peoples who designed the car .You are going to do that also and even MORE !! We can't go wrong.I guess that the main difference is that you "love" your car,and a car for me is a machine,maybe a bit more than a machine...
Last questions ;-)): are you overweight ? Are you
eating properly, you know veggy,fruits,fibres etc.? Are you exercising for a minimum of 30mn a day 4 days a week ? If yes good for you ! But if not STOP worry about your car !!!! Take care of yourself....
Cant wait for your reply !!!!
In braking off with the tradition of sloppy built GM products, I actually think that the Impala taken well care off can last together in one piece for many years to come. It is a very well built car. I am planning on keeping our LS for no more than 6 years. We shall see....
At the risk of everyone jumping on me, I think the interior is still pretty sloppily built with some pretty cheap materials. (Not to mention roof strips, which is exterior). I'm pretty sure that a lot of stuff will be coming loose or falling off or failing in six years time.
But I still like the car, so don't beat me up too bad!
Teo I am from Barrie Ontario,50 miles north of Toronto originally from Québec La belle province. Why that question ? Do I have an accent when I write ? :-)
l'Impala est une grande voiture, n'est-ce pas?
J'aime tout français!!!
Changing oil every 3000 miles is cheap, cheap insurance. It is not throwing money away.
My '87 IROC is designed to run hot. In fact the oil pressure will actually drop after 2500 miles.
Valvoline is the only motor oil that i have used that will take me past this 2500 mile threshhold.
In this instance changing the oil every 3000 miles is the correct thing to do.
You might want to do so more research before you make a blanket statement like that.
I will continue to change my oil every 3000 miles as long as i am using dino based oil.
And i have never been to a quick lube place in my life.
hunter39 - oh yeah, CR is biased. The Camry is a reliable good car - no question. But ride one. It's really somewhere between a Cavalier and an Impala. The 3.8 gets better mileage on the highway (same city) as the Camry V6 even though it is bigger, heavier, and more powerful. It's better in the crash tests too, and it rides like a smooth luxury model. A friend had a company car Camry and we parked it right next to the Impala and it was a joke of a comparison. No contest.
CR seems to rate the size of the glove box or some other silly item as important as the comfort of the seats or safety. Their reports can be misleading.
I saw a report in Reader Digest about safe cars. They list the "safest" cars. Camry was there - Impala was not - Even though the Impala has way better crash ratings. Go figure. Biased - yeah. Lazy - maybe it's east to just dust off last years review and edit it for any updates. Who knows.
If the Camry was bigger and still got better mileage, you know it would be trumpeted all over the car reviews.
*shrug* I like the way the interior looks.
In summary - no character for the Camry. Panache by the yards for Impala!
Have a great day
Ken
Most reviewers, including the ones that liked the car, have also mentioned that, so I'm not completely alone in that opinion.
I know they're not inexpensive, just cheap. Have you already had to buy replacements?
For me, that's the main shortcoming. It's gonna be one great day when GM can build them as good as they look.
I try to change the oil every 3000, but it doesn't always work out that way. My last two changes were on July 12th and again on August 8th. We put over 3500 miles on the Impala in less than one month.
Probably not only driving to the corner store...
Why changing the oil at 3000 miles in that case,when the same logic apply at 3000 miles when driving in town ,stop and go traffic with lots of idling in winter times ? Where is the logic behind that ?
You wrote:<<My '87 IROC is designed to run hot<<<<
--Certainly not warmer than any other car built today.
<<<<<In fact the oil pressure will actually drop after 2500 miles.<<<<
And why that??? Why at 2500 miles,2500 miles on the highway or in town,in hot climates or at 70 degrees ? fuel dilution ??? wrong viscosity? Engine ready to let go ??? Modified engine or car maybe ? What GM recommend in your owner manual ? Sorry but I am not buying what you are saying.Take an oil sample next time and send it to a lab, they will probably find something wrong with your engine (High level of lead,thin,maybe iron )and not with the oil.
Lots of peoples prefer one oil over another,but I am still waiting for the one able to explain why,for somebody who can explain a Technical data sheet pointing out the TBN number,viscosity improver the level of ash, the min.pumping temp,flash point,evaporation level etc.I am waiting for somebody with facts,tech.facts i am waiting for someone who can prove me that Valvoline is better than Castrol or whatever else just by looking at the Data sheet...
Somebody said,plenty of car are dying before their engine,engine oil is not designed like yogurt there is no date to tell you when it became overdue,use common sense,like the oil life monitor !!! See below how most of the car ownwer thinks !
Example : Oil changed new filter installed, and you are going to use your car in those condition. Winter time,short trip,lots of idling,next oil change due in 3000 miles or 3 months witchever come first.
NOW:
Summer time,long trip ,not a lot of idling,do you still have to change the oil at 3000 miles ???? The condition are totally different.
The oil life monitor is a lot smarter than me.This device can tell how warm the engine is running,under what kind of load,and how often the engine was started and for how many hours it run.If the condition change the system is going to tell me.
You compare oil change with cheap insurance,ok you are partly right.
But this is not because that you have a home insurance that you are not going to experienced a break and enter...and the day that you will will call the company for a claim they will probably try not paying anything..... blaming God again for whatever happenned....
This is my opinion and I agree with it !
Nothing wrong with yours by the way !!!
I, for one, feel uneasy about going that long between changes and will never go more than 4000 to 5000 miles without new oil and filter. Who are you to believe?
If you really want to know, spend the $15.00/20.00 I guess for an oil analysis once a year.This is going to tell you whats going on inside your engine,this is like a blood sample,you can find the disease before its too late.See below what result you can get from a lab:
>>>>Laboratories receives your sample, the staff will perform comprehensive tests and prepare a report chronicling the elements that the oil contained, as well as preventative maintenance tips (B). Basically, oil analysis report focuses on the following elements: chromium (rings, bearings, and exhaust valves); copper (wrist-pins, cam, and valvetrain bushings, severely worn bearings, and the oil pump); iron (the engine block, the timing gears, the crankshaft, the rings, the camshaft, the valvetrain, and rust); lead (bearings); tin (pistons, bearings, bushings, and connecting rods); aluminum (pistons, bearings, bushings, the block, the oil pump, the supercharger, and ingested sand and dust); and silicon (silicon gaskets and oil additives).>>>>>>>>
Please do not assume that I work for a lab,I am not ...
Richard
Calm down and no flames please!
Lets go back to the Impala now, tell me about the brakes are they ok or they are like the Malibu,rotor warping every weeks? How works the handbrake with the disc brake at rear,futur headaches likes before ? read grand-prix and lumina 95.I do not know for now if I will go with the Impala or the Regal,the Regal is a safer bet in regards of reliability,what do you think ? But one thing I like about both car,they come equipped with Oil life monitor :-))))
I would do it, but I give this orphan kid $20 to change mine. His parents are blind and have terminal diseases, so he really needs the money. You know, otherwise I'd do it.
Oh. I know. We could get my ex-wife. She never changes her oil anyway. Actually, she never has any maintenance done until she hears a loud noise or smells something burning.
Maybe you would know...Is Chevrolet a French name? It seems like one.
Does it do any harm to change your oil every 3K?
>>>Certainly not!<<<<
Does it do any harm to not change your oil at all?
>>>Try it and see<<<<
As for used resources...almost every place recycles used motor oil.
Like I said before, it all depends on driving styles and conditions. I generally try to get mine changed between 3k - 5k. The 3k mark is not something thats going to blow your car up if you miss it once in a while.
"Routine" maintenance is probably the most important thing you can do to ensure the longevity not to mention dependability of your car.
One last thing. Time is a factor in oil changes also. If you plan on storing or letting your car sit for awhile then change the oil first. Combustion byproducts that are acidic (moisture too)build up in oil. Especially in vehicles used for short trips. Long trips/drive times tend to "burn" these byproducts out of the oil, specifically the moisture component. These are harmful over time.
Drive Safe,
Frank
PS - I hit 36,000 miles at 22 months, 1 day
Another moniter side note, my Buick LeSabre also has an oil moniter, and it displays oil life as a percentage of how long it will be before the oil should be changed (according to the moniter). That car is just over 3000 miles now and the moniter was at 58%, not quite half way. Looks as though it might be near the 7500 mile range when it runs out.
I do not use the moniter to tell me when to change, I feel with highway driving, 3 months or 6000 miles, whichever comes first is a pretty good maintainance schedule.
The few complaints I have with the Impala are small nuiscances. The armrests on the doors need more padding, the black moulding along the car needs to be replaced with something that is easier to keep clean and doesn't become a problem when waxing, and the trunk, while large, has a very narrow opening due to the shape of the trunk lid.
Dollar for dollar, it is a hard car to beat and a great value.
Their highway system is amazing...lots of mountain passes and tunnels along the way. The longest tunnel we crossed was the St. Gottard pass which is 17.5KM long. That tunnel also serves as a nuclear refuge and it has installations (Hospitals, shelters, etc) built inside the mountains which are always ready. They can fit the whole entire population of the country (7 million people) inside the tunnel complex in a matter of hours.
The Swiss are one interesting culture...obsessed with perfection, efficiency, precision and cleanless.
To live there you have to be a millionaire or a celebrity as a foreigner. You can not become a Swiss citizen (I am sure they are exceptions to that rule) but if you have millions to spend, the Swiss have no problem with you staying...problem is you can't work unless you are naturalized.
Switzerland is the only country that has refused to enter the European Union...and I can see why. They have a built up paradise and they see a risk in opening up their borders.
While there we saw lots of American cars, mainly GM's and Chryslers. They seem to be quite popular there. At the border crossing between Italy and Switzerkand we saw a Swiss family traveling to Italy in their early 1990's Chevrolet Caprice 'Woody' station wagon. Those cars look huge there. We also saw old generation Buick Regals and some GM dustbuster vans.
I wish I could take the Impala there to drive it across Switzerland and Europe...an awesome road trip!
http://www.findagrave.com/pictures/1904.html
It would be much more cost effective to stick to a regular oil change schedule with high quality oil.
There is no reason why the average engine can't go 250,000 miles with regular changes.
If i were racing cars synthetic would be an option.
The camaro is an interesting story. In the late eighties GM was running these cars with very high temperatures. My car has two electric fans. The second one does will not even come on until the A/C is turned on or it reaches 229 degrees. Yes you read that right 229 degrees. It is not unusual for me to be sitting in a drive through and have the temp guage go up to 230 degrees where the second fan comes on, and it pulls the temp gauge back down in a matter of minutes.
This is really hard on an oil to run at these temps.
It simply can't take these temperatures for a long time.
Why GM designed it this way i have no idea. I am assuming emissions and warming the catcon up quickly were the reasons.
The camaro is completely stock and has never been modified. It has done this since day one and now has 201,000 miles.
Both my intrigue and impala stay around 180-190. My impala has never gone past the halfway point on the temp gauge.
http://ky.essortment.com/louischevrolet_rdgn.htm
Last year, they did a rally to honor Chevrolet's legendary history in his native town in Switzerland. The event took place on September 2000.
I went through some heavy downpours of rain in the last month or so and in one of these cases a truck cut right in front of me, I hit the brakes and did not have any problem with traction. Sure is good to be rid of the noisy goodyears, probably changing the tires is the best of all the upgrades I did to my impala as far as something I appreciate every day.
ghostwolf
Stop and go driving plus short distance driving are murder on oils. As was mentioned previously, long distances are good for getting the moisture out of the oil. Older cars were dirty in comparison and consequently more "bad" stuff was in the oil and needed to be filtered out.
When I switch to synthetic oil, I will switch AMS oil and do the reccommended oil sample prior to changing oil. Modern oils are more durable than we give them credit. The airlines, military, and fleet users change oil based on certain events or sample results prior to changing oil. Recycled oil is big business - only morons dump toxic waste.
This link is not an endorsement, just a place to ponder about synthetic oil.
http://www.amsoil.com/frequent.htm
Or perhaps cognitive dissonance has fully set in!
Brad
I've also named my car like you did. I call it "my Impala" or "my car". Pretty catchy, eh?
They cost about the same as the GA's. However, if you want to save money, you might try looking into the Yokohama Avid Touring. They're about half the price of the AVS dB, are very very quiet, have a more conservative appearance, and a tread life of about 80,000 (as opposed to maybe 36,000 for the AVS dB).
I recommend checking out Tirerack.com. You can see actual user reviews and ratings, and compare different tires. You can also get most local tire dealers to match their price, which is generally easier than mail order (unless you are getting new wheels also).