Click to enlarge:


My cousin and I decided to go to Vegas for our road trip. We decided to rent a car because my car lacked functioning A/C and it was cheaper than flying. I decided to go with Enterprise since they had the lowest rates and I found a nice discount online. I had reserved a standard size car, but since Hot August Nights was happening, there was a shortage of rental cars. I did not know what I was getting until I went there Wednesday morning to pick up the car.

I was pretty happy that we got a free upgrade. They gave me a full-size 2008 Chevrolet Impala. It was a base LS model with a dark silver exterior and black cloth interior. The car was really dirty on the inside when we got it. The trunk and back seat were covered in a white chalky powder. The guy at Enterprise cleaned it for my after I noticed it, but he couldn't get some of the stains out so he gave me 10% off. At first I thought it was an upscale model since it had a floor shifter and wood trim. Turns out the wood trim was standard on all trim levels except the SS. The floor shifter still confused me since this car was a base model. It didn't even have anti-lock brakes! It was still well-equipped with standard features such as DRLs, AutoLamps (I suppose I should call it Twilight Sentinel since it's a GM), trip computer, and auxiliary input jack on the radio. The panel gap was nice and thin. The doors closed with a nice solid thunk. The springs on the doors could have been tuned a little weaker in my opinion.

The engine was the new 3500 V6. It makes 211 horsepower at 5800 RPMs and 214 ft-lbs of torque at 4000 RPMs. What's interesting is that it has variable valve timing. Yeah, that's right, a pushrod engine with VTEC. I'm still trying to figure out how that works. This engine is adequate. It sounds unrefined, but that's how I like it. It moves the 3500 pound car with ease and has a nice kick on take-offs. The variable valve timing was not as noticeable as Honda's VTEC, but it still pulls pretty well into the high RPMs. I've managed to peg the tach at 6000 RPMs while passing. It struggles just a tad at the higher RPMs, but it's not as bad as Ford's 3.8L V6 where it just falls flat on its face after 4000. We tested the 0-60, but were just a little disappointed with the results: 12 seconds. Well, we did have luggage and A/C on, so that contributed to the weak time. The speed limiter is set at 107 MPH. When I hit that, the trip computer beeped at me and said it it's limited to 107 MPH. The engine bay was also very roomy with the V6, but then again it has to be big enough to stuff a small-block V8 in there.

The engine is coupled to a four-speed automatic overdrive transaxle. Old-fashioned, but it works fine in this car. The shifts were pretty firm in this car. I was expecting it to be smoother. The engine was spinning at 2000 RPMs while traveling at 80 MPH. We got a pretty impressive 30 MPG on the highway and 24 MPG driving around Las Vegas with some highway. It's also a Flex Fuel Vehicle so we could have ran it on ethanol. We only saw one ethanol station down there, but we figured it wasn't worth it since we're trying to minimize out fill-ups as much as possible. The fuel gauge was insanely accurate! The car has a 17 gallon fuel tank. I ran it until the low fuel message popped up on the trip computer. The fuel gauge was pointing right at empty. When I filled up, I manage to pump just a little bit over 16 gallons into the tank.

This car isn't exactly fun to drive, but it is pretty comfortable for a long drive. The gas pedal was drive-by-wire. The spring on the gas pedal was really stiff. It took me a while to get used to it. The brake pedal was not drive-by-wire. That took a while to get used to also. The slightest touch of the brake pedal really slows down the car. I'm so used to Ford's spongy pedals so I would quickly tap the brake pedal to cancel the cruise. Not a good idea in this car since it nearly sent us thru the windshield! The brake pedal also feels like there's about an inch of travel. It also felt like there's dead space between the initial press and the full travel. The car stopped really well with the four-wheel disk brakes nonetheless. Both the gas and brake pedals were positioned a little too high so it was difficult to get used to. The foot rest on the left side of the brake was useless. I liked the parking brake pedal with its tap-on, tap-off feature.

It didn't drive all that different from my Sable, but it is a lot bigger than the Sable. The car doesn't look that big from the outside, but it is ginormous inside! I keep thinking it's a lot wider than it actually is when I'm driving it. The front overhang seems quite excessive. It doesn't feel very long either. I parked it next to my parent's Windstar and it was just a little longer in overall length. The Impala was also quite tall for a large sedan. The trunk was pretty big too. My cousin thought it looked small, but I think it was because it's taller because it seemed to have about the same trunk space as my Sable. GM really nails space efficiency with the packaging. I don't like the pneumatic struts for the decklid. I like how old-school trunks pop up when they're unlocked. At least the decklid on the Impala raises about quarter of an inch indicating it's opened unlike the Focus which just unlocks, but doesn't raise.

The Impala's suspension was tuned really soft. It wallows like a brick on Jello. It has more body movement than my Sable (which is riding on the struts it came with from the factory). The Impala's handling felt very familiar. It drove exactly like my friend's '88 Olds Delta 88. Same driving-on-a-cloud style ride. It's great for those long trips on rough roads, but pretty bad on mountain roads with lots of curves. The steering was very sensitive, but there was no dead spot in the middle. It actually turned really well for a large car. It's too bad the soft suspension makes it feel like a whale in turns. I read the LT has larger sway bars to counter that. It's a great car for comfort, but I wouldn't try any racing maneuvers with it.

The interior was conservatively styled. The wood trim contrasted really well with the black dash and door panel despite looking obviously fake. The A-pillars looked like they were covered with the same soft material as the headliner, but it was really hard plastic with fake texturing. The upper dash and door panels were padded, but it still felt like hard plastic. The lower dash was definitely hard cheap plastic (similar to an ice cooler). The road and wind noise were really isolated. I could barely hear any wind noise until I got above 90 MPH! There was minimal road noise, except when traveling on the older parts of the highway. Driving at 80 MPH felt like it was going 65 MPH. It was pretty smooth on the straight ways.

The steering wheel had the same texture as the dash and was also hard to the touch. I'm glad that GM moved the cruise control from the turn signal stick to the steering wheel. It was very easy to use, although one button setup was counter intuitive (tap Set to Decelerate). I found it odd that the cruise control system had to be manually switched off. The system would stay active even after you turn off the car and restarted it. The turn signal switch felt a little loose. Every time I'd go and use the turn signal, it would fall into the high beams lock mode. The clicker for the turn signal was also really quiet. It was very hard to tell if it was on by hearing. I had to keep my eye on the cluster to make sure it was on or off. The cluster was very familiar. It had the exact same layout as my Sable. The speedometer was nice and clean with the lack of dual measurements. The trip computer was very legible.

The radio was also typical GM. It was very bass heavy, somewhat muddy sounding. I liked the auxiliary input jack on the radio. It would not be very fun to bring a book of CDs and having to switch them every hour. Just plug and go. The radio was very intuitive to use. Presets and EQ settings were easy to set. The volume knob and power button was nice and big for ease of finding and setting. The HVAC also had large knobs similar to the radio's volume knob. It only had a single zone climate control, but that was fine. The A/C was so cold! We had to keep the blower on one notch above Off to keep from freezing in the 105 degree heat! It also cooled down the car fast! The shifter looked and felt solid. I liked the chrome release button, but the lack of gear indicator on the shifter surround was a stupid. The shifter surround kind of looked like a woman's private area.

The car had automatic locks. The lock also automatically unlocked when the shifter was placed in Park. If it was just me driving alone, that would get annoying fast. Since I had a passenger, it was actually very convenient since the door doesn't automatically unlock when the door handle is pulled like Ford and Dodge. There is an option to turn off the automatic unlock or set it to driver's door only. It also had automatic headlights. I felt pampered with all this high tech stuff in the car. The Twilight Sentinel system was pretty accurate. It was not very sensitive to shadows and tunnels so they didn't flicker on and off. There was a setting on the headlight switch to turn off the DRLs which was pretty cool. The parking light setting also turns off DRLs unlike our Windstar. It also had headlight delay which was nice. It wasn't as smart as the Caravan's headlight delay though.

The seats were typical GM. It was nice that the driver's seat had manual lumbar control. It more than made up for the lack of thigh support. I always found GM's seats to be a little low. The backseat was really low to the ground. The passenger seat was a little higher, but still low. I had the driver's seat up really high to match Ford's, but was not too successful. The seats were not as plush as I'm used to in a GM. They were actually a little stiff, but it was fine for a long trip. There wasn't very much side support either so I was sliding around on turns. My Sable has a bench seat and it has more side support than the buckets in the Impala.

Overall, it was not a bad car. I kind of liked it despite the typical GM quirks. If I was buying one, I'd get a higher trim level with the slightly stiffer sway bar. The drivetrain took my abuse pretty well. It had adequate passing power and great low-end torque. If I could change anything else about the car, it'd be the seats and door locks. My cousin doesn't really like the car because it's a big heavy boat, but he agreed that it's not a bad car to take a long road trip on.

I also saw this on the way back. We thought it was something cool and new, but it turns out to be just a Hyundai Sonata.