2014 Chevrolet Impala Full Test

Edmunds.com

2014 Chevrolet Impala Full Test

The all-new and much-improved 2014 Chevrolet Impala is finally competitive with other large sedans. But is it enough to beat them?

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quadricycle

You can tell that this car was designed by checking boxes instead of going by a single, cohesive design philosophy. So while I am glad that the Impala name is no longer constrained to rental lot specials, I just still couldn't bring myself to buy one. Mechanically, it seems like a vast improvement; but the decision making on the Frankenstein-ish exterior and those moronic graphics on the touchscreen is horrendous. Its like someone at Chevrolet is standing there with a clipboard saying to him/herself: "So this should be the best car ever made. We made a grown up sedan with a sports car front end, raised it a little because people do like SUVs, added some rear wheel arches because someone somewhere wanted them, cartoon graphics on the touchscreen for the young kids (Oh, we forgot that eight year old children aren't allowed to drive), and another hundred different things we milked out of focus groups. Should we check that these independent design elements come together to make any kind of sense? Nah, fire up the assembly line boys!"

agentorange

I like the phone icon going "blah, blah". However, gearknob toggle instead of paddle shifters or up/down using the gearshift is a major fail for me.

emajor

"thick A-pillars present a sizable obstacle on curving roads and the high rear deck lid keeps the Impala's perimeter line a mystery. This forces a heavy reliance on the rearview camera". This madness needs to stop, there is no reason you should have to rely on a backup camera to see out of a SEDAN. The profile picture shows the trunklid being nearly above Mark's eye level. Ridiculous. Chances are this car will be more popular with an older demographic, and considering how slowly and nervously this group pilots Avalons and Crown Victorias, I want them to be able to see out of the thing. Otherwise, nice effort by Chevy. Modern, quality interior, better driving dynamics, better styling. Just lower that beltline by 3-4 inches.

engineer_mba

"....there's not even a hint of torque steer with the pedal mashed...." - Very impressive for a front wheel drive sedan with over 300 hp. I am curious to know how this was accomplished without using the Hyper-Strut suspension geometry. Perhaps the suspension walk around will reveal this. Very nice overall effort.

nukedetroit

Greatly improved over the old Impala (how could it not be?) but it looks like dog [non-permissible content removed] and is still saddled with that darned "Government Motors" stigma.

throwback

Seems like a decent enough car. If I was in the market for a large sedan I would go with a V6 Charger over this. I do like the commercials with Sinatra though.

frank908

@nukedetroit:
Not sure if you're anti-GM or just anti-American wanting to nuke Detroit and all. What a shame that there are American citizens (or maybe you're one of those typical Europeans) that think it's intelligent or simply okay to make negative st

shatner

Better than the old one, but so was just about every other car not named Sebring. Then again 39k is way too much to think of spending on an Impala.

bankerdanny

The Avalon would still be #1 on my list were I looking for a car in this class with the Azera a close second. In fact, only the Taurus would be of less interest to me than the Impala. The dash looks like someone placed an aftermarket cover on it. This is less offensive in grey than the brown version in your first drive, but it still looks awful to me.

zimtheinvader

emajor, I agree but unfortunately I don't see it ever stopping. When compact cars need backup cameras too it is definitely a sign that we've gone form over function to way too great of a degree. -- The problem I see is with the pedestrian crash standards requiring that the hoods be so high on the front of the car they pretty much have to raise the trunk even higher or the proportions of the car will be way off. -- There was a great article in a car magazine a year or so back where they explained how the required space between the hood and solid parts of the engine shape the entire design of the car now. The belt lines also get raised making it harder to see out. The amount of sheet metal on the side of the car increases as everything gets higher so then the wheels look too small so they have to go with larger and heavier wheels

stovt001_

I don't think there has been any Chevy in the past 10 years or so with good rear end styling, but this at least seems the best Chevy in that regard so far. Certainly far better than the horrid new Malibu rear end. Overall I like the styling, aside from the limited visibility.

mieden

zimtheinvader, the high trunk is mostly a product of Dr Wunibald Kamms study on aerodynamics that stipulated keeping the flow of air attached to the body as long as possible. BMW claimed the infamous "bangle butt" of the E65 7 series was responsible for a 2% mpg increase alone...and designers of all brands never looked back (pun intended)! A few manufacturers (Jaguar and volvo off the top of my head) use "pyrotechnically enhanced" hoods to meet ped crash standards and can keep the beltline and hood low, but still use the high trunk to better their CAFE scores.

stovt001_

That trunk is indeed huge. It looks like you could fit your mafia's entire hit list in there, including cement. That certainly cuts down on trips to the marshes or river.

tim_boo

40k huh! I will check how much Hertz wants for their 1yr ones in a year.

atomicar

just a right car for a 55 year old driver. funny it's about the same size or bigger then impalas from the past.

agentorange

Pedestrian crash standards would be less of an issue if the civilised world would abandon the myth that the pedestrian always has the right of way. This idea does not pass the physics test. In fact, it comes from the days of the horse and cart when it was OK to shout and someone's animal to get it out of your way or to stop it trampling you. Try standing in the road and yelling at a 5500lb SUV coming at you and see how that works out.

billbuckhead

While Impala is vastly inmproved, Dodge Charger is a better deal with rear wheel drive choice of Hemi or Pentastar V6 with Zf 8 speed. However, a bad day for Ford Taurus and Toyota Avalon.

googonabike

@frank908:Yada,yada,yada. Since when Canada is part of USA?
The thing is made in Canada. Apparently, guy wants to nuke Oshawa, Ontario (the where it's made). Just for the record, he does not get my support here. As far as the car itself? it's way, way ove

major_zero_

Ditto to everyone on the price at 40k! What the heck? Yeah, it has all the options, but c'mon! I'll spend a couple extra bucks for a CPO 5 series.

jfire

i would not able to stand that frog faced design of steering wheel

aurora2002

The thick A and C pillars and tiny rear window is a GM feature of all Epsilon models that results in poor visibility forward (left/right) and poor visibility in the rear almost requiring a camera to backup. GM thinks this is a feature of the Malibu, Impala, Regal, Lacrosse and XTS but I could not find the poor visibility listed in the feature in the marking info even thou almost all reviews mention it.

joe2155

Hey Chevrolet! Why have you omitted some of the beautiful wood accents on the 2014 Impala LTZ since displaying them on your website? The ones at your dealerships only have wood around the shifter, power window buttons and steering wheel. The wood accents around the navigation screen, upper dash and upper door panels now just have gray plastic in their places leaving the dash looking drab without any wood at all in a nearly $40k car. All the photos on chevrolet.com clearly show this wood which you have failed to put into production. The sales people I pointed this out to were flabbergasted and at first doubted my claim, no longer. Not only is this wood missing but it is not even offered as an option. The luxuriousness of the interior has been greatly diminished! How much did you really save by this omission? It was just simulated wood anyway! Put it back!

darlung

I just purchased an LTZ and I am very impressed with this vehicle. As a retired Corporate Executive Limousine Service Provider; executive and owner, I grew tired of the trend that many of our car companies were going to service our industry. However; I predict that the direction that Chevrolet is going with their new Impala with the private segment, they will soon cross over into the car livery industry as well. This is an outstanding concept for a full size vehicle; front wheel drive, it rides and handles well and gets a pretty good range with its gas mileage.

It’s time that we (Americans) begin to understand that Made in the USA is coming back and that Detroit has caused the heads of the imports to turn; turn back to how we do it in the USA! Great job “Chevy”!

colbertman

I test drove the impala, base, yesterday
maybe this isn't the car for me, I'm looking for a camry replacement.
Found it noisy, the rear window non visibility issue is big, the screen in the dash with radio info is "muddy" - the letters don't look crisp
the interior is in this leather like cloth with a lot of seams; I think over time those seams are going to be dirt magnets.

It is a lot of room; if you need 4 adults, a great car.

I also question how reliable it will be; we know that camrys and accords are darn near industructible - how will we know about the impala until a few years have gone by ?

cdnbrian

I purchased an Impala in November. The car just keeps getting better as I get used to it. I replaced a 2003 Impala. The 2003 Impala had great visibility front, side and rear. Everyone was critical of that model, the taxi. The new one has a great design and, yes the rear visibility is not great. But it looks good and drives like a dream.

Oh, and Colbertman, I had two Luminas and one Impala since 1993. They travelled over 1 million kilometres without any major repairs, no warranty claims at all and at least two of them are still on the road. Define indestructible.