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Comments
OTOH, I'm gonna put the top down for the ride home tonight. A little ZZ Top on the stereo. Oh yeah.
If I was driving the Impala, I'd have the moon roof open. (Or, is it a sun roof? What's the difference, anyway?)
At classic/antique car shows, I have seen cars of the 20s, 30s and 40s with unrestored cloth interiors that still looked great decades after they were made. Have also seen cars of the 60s and 70s that had some very nice original vinyl that almost looks like new today. On the other hand I've seen some original old leather of the same vintage that is cracked, weather, dried and/or discolored.
As everyone knows, car interior temperatures run great extremes from literally sub-zero to well over a 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Many cars sit in bright sun year after soaking gobs of damaging UV light. Whatever the interior components are made of, it's a very demanding situation.
On the W-body car applications, the Upper intake manifold is "Composite" (Thermal plastic) and the lower manifold is made of "High Silicon Molybdenum, Cast Nodular Iron".
I am afraid that a lot of cars today are using Thermal Plastics for critical engine parts, not just GM.
In the 3.4L V6 engine found in the Impala base, the upper and lower intake manifolds are made of Cast Aluminun.
My only sort of beef with the 3.4L engine is that the cylinder head is made of Aluminum whereas in the 3800 is made of Cast Iron.
Chris
Sunroof is the generic term used to describe an operable panel in a vehicle roof which can let in light and/or air. Moonroof is a term created by Ford in the 70's, yet is now used generically to describe glass panel inbuilt electric sunroofs.
There you have it. Ford had to open it's mouth
to confuse everyone.
Tomatoes - tomatoes
Steve
Sunroof = Metal sliding cover.
I could be wrong.
Is it only me, or do others dislike the fact that the glass slab slides back over the roof, instead of into the roof? It looks fine from inside the car, but I hate the way it looks from outside.
The only advantage of the Integra/Impala setting is that you have a bit more headroom vs having the panel slide inside the roof.
Have you seen the one in the Mercedes C-class coupe?
yeah, maybe they will have a rebuttal
My dad had a Mazda MX-3 with the roof that opened outside the car. The top was of course painted to match body color. I believe many Bimmer's also have the solid painted roof.
My preference is NEITHER. I don't like additional holes in my sheet metal. Drop top is a different story!
RR
Anyone have any potential solutions to my earlier post about inside plastic trim that is loosening up?
ie. the door panels inside are horrible..go over bumps..temperature changes = all sort of annoying noises..
Talk about BAD QUALITY..I hope Bob Lutz reads theses posts..cheap poorly made interiors have got to go!!!!
I believe the thinking here is that way you can let Moon light in, without letting air in. Sunroof means you can only see out with the roof "open", which means air comes in as well...
With the glass the sun bakes your head here in the valley of the sun Arizona. Yes I know, not much rain here.
No holes in the roof for this guy....we had glass T-tops once, about 4 months and we got rid of the car.
Before we bought the Impala in 1999 we looked at Toyota Avalons at the urging of some friends. All of the Avalons we looked at had moonroofs. I had to get real "intense" with one salesman so he would understand I did not want a car with a hole in the roof. LOL
The impala was a lot better value for the money spent. IMHO
Ain't America great?!!
rr
Meanwhile, at GM, even now, on the Vibe, you cannot get a really nice factory stereo, without also getting "moon," as in "moon and tunes." Sorry, GM, if I were Vibing, I guess you just sent me to the aftermarket for an even nicer stereo for less money. Answer me this GM (ha, as if they were here), how smart was that on your part?
The novelty wore out after driving these cars, so for the next replacement I decided to skip the Moonroof and leather seats which are a $700.00 and $600.00 option respectively in the Impala (Fortunately not tied to any other option packages).
Ain't America great?
Well after 2 years of Impala ownership I am missing the moonroof on ocassion. Well until next time around.
I am on my third car (over the last 12 years) that has a moon roof. I have never had any leaks whatsoever. I love it !! Open the panel only (not the glass) at night and let the moon light in. Open the top during the day and let the air rush in.......
To each his own. I may not agree with your opinion, but I will fight to the death to protect your right to have it!
This was more of an issue on cars made 15 to 20 years ago.
Also another reason why I skipped the Moonroof in the Impala was the somewhat chintzy interior headliner assembly around the opening. I noticed a few cars with the headliner sagging from around the roof opening.
The solid roof cars don't have this problem.
I open the panel during the day too! I like the light. It gives it an open, "airy" feeling, even with the glass closed. The dark tint works well to keep the intensity down, so as not to bother me. I suppose it would be different in FL or the SW.
My next car will DEFINITELY have a moonroof.
The symptom was, when accelerating from a stop the front wheels would skip, kind of like the gear would not catch. Oh well the extra warranty more than paid of it's self now.
This reaffirm my belief that when buying an extended warranty for your Impala, you should go with the GM Major Guard plans. You don't have to put up with nonsense such as this. Repair approvals on the spot with the Major Guard contract as whereas the aftermarket contracts one has to pay repairs up front (And wait to be reimbursed some day) or have their "people" go out and take a look at your car to make sure is not a "Fraudulent" claim...ridiculous!
I used to work for an insurance company when I was in college and I know for a fact that there are more and varied insurance scams of all kinds than you can possibly imagine. To think otherwise is simply naive.
If the companies didn't question and validate claims and prosecute fraudulent ones, insurance of all types would be far more expensive than it is.
This is the reason why I think the GM extended warranties give an added advantage to the customer. No need to wait for "X" adjuster to show up, just write up the repair ticket, get a repair approval in a matter of minutes and get on with the repair, ordering parts, etc.
This saves time and money. To me that's very valuable.
I was driving earlier this week during a rain event, doing 55 and I hit a pretty good area that had accumilated some water. My "Trac" light came on, letting me know in advance that I was Hydroplaining. Great Feature!
Brett.....
Oh yeah... Impala
So far no cradle or ISS problems on mine that I can detect. About once every 3 months after a 40 mile trip and after car sits for 45 minutes upon restarting and when you put in Drive and go to take off...it hesitates and stumbles and acts like an car of 70's with a leaned out carb. Once you step on it and get past it's stumbling, it is ok..it never quits running. Then you'll never have it happen again until months later. This is a 3800 200Hp engine.
I have really enjoyed all the varied info in all the old notes. I have gone back to the beginning and am reading like a book. My intention before warrenty runs out in a year is to take all improvements and service updates from this forum to the dealer ..tell him to keep car until thru....and I will almost have 2003 Impala! Laugh Laugh !
Oh one more thing. I rotated tires at 17k first time....guess should have done sooner. The GA tires look good but have raise rubber slightly on the outside tread. Between 20 to 50 mph the tire noise sounds like you are running 4 knobby snow tires. Don't care for that. I am noting others tire replacemnt types vs the Goodyears. Just as a comparison..we had also bought a 2000 Venture Van. Rotated Firestone tires at 17 K also. No raised rubber. They run silent. They are an all weather tread design aggressive looking but quiet. bye
That's quite an undertaking, starting at the beginning and reading almost 8700 posts.
Enjoy your Impala!
I have heard so many horror stories that I was worried going in that this was going to cost us a lot of money. After giving the info to my service advisor, and him not having any experience with this company, then I was ready to cry. He called me back in five minutes and told me that this was the best warranty company he has ever dealt with. 9am the next morning got a call they started tearing it down, should have it back next week.
FatherTyricius