2014 Chevrolet Impala: "Uh, Woah."

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YSSMAN

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What a surprise from GM. Even as a guy who normally tries to keep up on things like this, this is very, very, very, VERY far away from what I was expecting. We already know it will share its platform with the Cadillac XTS, but interestingly enough, the Chevrolet will be front-drive only. Four cylinders will the name of the game, aside from the "standard-issue" 3.6L unit that is in damn near everything.

I'm very surprised by the powertrain options, the content they seem to be jamming into the interior, and just how "upmarket" the car looks inside and out. It is definitely filling the shoes that were once worn by the Buick Lucerne.

But what does this mean, more than anything? The Caprice is going to the civvies. The Impala is too soft for NASCAR, and they won't run the Camaro. If you're a fan of big, rear-drive V8 sedans, this change to the Impala is the best hope you have of getting a proper American car once again.
 
I just looked at it and I immediate reaction was "meh". It's a bigass car. It looks "upmarket", as you say, but it doesn't necessarily look "good". There are only a few parts about the design that I like:

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I like the horizontal shoulder coming off the tip of the headlight, and I like the horizontal base of the windows. It makes the car look much lower and sleeker than it actually is. That's about it for the good stuff.

The rear arches make the car look powerful, though many things about it seem brutish like the scowling headlights. There's a flat slice on top the hood which reminds me of classic GM trucks. Tough, yes, but not elegant.

The thing stands out as being a big, brutish American design but that rarely leads to an actual good design. The only language this thing has about it is "Merica", and I'm getting tired of that. There are more interesting ideas out there, like the new MKZ which makes this car look like a freshman effort.
 
That design + FWD only = Ha ha GM. You so silly.


Also getting kind of sick of mid-size sedans that remind me of early 80's American cars.
 
You know, I like the looks. But the FWD kills it for me. In a car of that size, RWD won't take as much space, hence why I wonder why FWD? They had a good platform on Camaro, why not use that?
 
Leonidae@MFT
You know, I like the looks. But the FWD kills it for me. In a car of that size, RWD won't take as much space, hence why I wonder why FWD? They had a good platform on Camaro, why not use that?
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Because absolutely nothing about the Cadillac it is based off of makes any sense either (hey, let's take the midsize Epsilon-II platform, and make it bigger. But let's not stretch the wheelbase to do so so the car can adequately replace the car it is supposed to replace, even though the Zeta platform cars we already have could perfectly replace the car we want to replace), so they might as well go for the clean sweep?

I mean, they only spent a billion dollars on Zeta and then proceeded to use it for basically nothing except cars it is ill-suited for, so why change now?
 
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So, basically, they took the Buick LaCrosse and Taurus-ified it. :lol:

Looks good though. We were looking at a LaCrosse and I think we have some better options now with this and the MKZ.
 
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I think it actually doesn't look that bad. I like the front half of the car, it looks like a very good piece of automotive design. As for the back half, the swoop between the rear wheel and the middle of the rear door seems too Dodge Charger-esque, and the overall size of the rear seems much too large, although the whole car is rather large. The shape of the taillights makes me think of a new Corolla, I've noticed that some automakers are using styling cues from the recent Toyota Camry, Corolla, Honda Accord, and Civic, most likely because those cars sell really well. (2012 Nissan Versa, 2009 Nissan Maxima, 2011 Hyundai Genesis, etc.) I wish GM would stop making everything an FF, the fact that the SRX was an FR was why I liked it, but then they made it FWD. The Impala started out as an FR, and needs to be one, I really disliked the 2004 Impala and Monte Carlo for that reason, and I've heard from people that had them that they wished they'd bought something else.
 
The best thing about this car is that they got rid of that STUPID corporate grill. The line-up would look 2x better if they followed suit with the rest of em.
 
Saw the a rendition of the SS verison in Motor Trend. That version makes the car looks quite nice. The Malibu SS is also another nice looking version even if it basically a Cobalt SS with a bit more power.
 
I quite like it. Best looking Impala since... well, since about the 60s really. As others have said though, it's just a pity it isn't RWD, since the design implies it so much. They clearly let the designers pen the car they wanted to drive, but ultimately it's limited by the platform they chose.
 
LMSCorvetteGT2
Saw the a rendition of the SS verison in Motor Trend. That version makes the car looks quite nice. The Malibu SS is also another nice looking version even if it basically a Cobalt SS with a bit more power.
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Pretty sure I read somewhere that GM wouldn't be putting the SS badge on anything that didn't truly deserve it. In my opinion it shouldn't be on anything other than the Camaro at this point in time.
 
R1600Turbo
Pretty sure I read somewhere that GM wouldn't be putting the SS badge on anything that didn't truly deserve it. In my opinion it shouldn't be on anything other than the Camaro at this point in time.
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Well tell that to Motor Trend and Road & Track, etc. Just saying.
 
Im actually feeling this design. I dont mind the FWD thing.. Car is to large to even be pushed hard. its just ment to Cruise and Coast. If it had AWD it would start to mess with the XTS's sales.
 
I don't know if this can go head to head with the new Camry.

It maybe boring to drive, but the Camry is certainly a good looking car (IMO of course gents).

Edit: I can't believe I actually like the Camry, I think the Indian in me is coming out.
 
Front three-quarters shot screams Lincoln to me, for some reason. Might be the wheels. The interior looks nice, and I like how the stereo moves up to access some storage space, but I'm not quite sure about the exterior yet. The car as a whole looks awful big for only 175 horsepower pushing it, though; I have a feeling that quite a few of these cars are going to have the V6 underneath the hood. (As an aside, are the horsepower wars back? Dodge came out with their 283-horse V6, Toyota had their 268 HP V6, and now Chevy's got 303 horsepower. I'm not counting the EcoBoost, 'cause it's turbocharged and that's cheating. :lol:)
 
That is one of the most awkward looking designs I've seen in a long time. It's like GM took styling cues from all these different cars and threw them together without bothering to blend anything. It's like the tried to cross a Ford Taurus and a Camaro to see what would happen then add in different flairs all over the car. The interior looks pretty good though, it's one thing GM has come a long way on.

I still think at the end of the day though I'd end up with the Fusion, it looks much better.
 
Cano
Oi, that thing doesn't look better than this in your eyes... or does it?
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'Fraid so. Always found that gen of Impala monumentally generic. It's just a box on top of another box, with some wheels and a decent engine. I'm sure it's a great car and I wouldn't have liked to see one in my mirrors during the 90s as flashing lights would undoubtedly follow, but there's not an element on it that could be described as style.
 
Immediate reaction was me saying "what the"...Too big. If it was smaller it'd be nicer.
 
I always loved Impalas but this is disappointing. It was such a great looking car from the 50's to 96 but this one looks fat and bloated. It just seems to me American cars of today lost their traditional American styling. But everyone seems to love this new style so i guess I just have to deal with it.

Just my opinion of course.
 
homeforsummer
An American describes a car as "too big". Maybe 2012 is the end of the world :sly:
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Just because I'm in love with muscle cars doesn't mean I can't say new cars are too big lol :sly:

If the body shrunk a bit lower then it would be a bit sportier and nice I think.
 
Slashfan
Just because I'm in love with muscle cars doesn't mean I can't say new cars are too big lol :sly:

If the body shrunk a bit lower then it would be a bit sportier and nice I think.
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To be fair to it, the Impala is a fullsize sedan. It's *supposed* to be big!
 
Yeah but not that big lol. Maybe longer and more stretched out would suit it better.
 

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