The 2017 Chevrolet Impala has arrived: the fourth model year for this latest generation. If you’ve seen one on the road, it probably made you do a double-take. I’m about to tell you the three reasons why the Impala contributed heavily to my decision to get involved with Chevrolet.
Size
Let’s start out with sheer size. The Impala is a monster. A modern classic American “boat” built on the Cadillac XTS frame. She measures almost 17′ long and over 6′ wide, and this translates into a super-spacious interior and a gigantic trunk. But one more thing that Chevrolet has done well in recent years, especially with it’s larger cars, trucks and SUVs, is make them feel more intimate and manageable…
Performance
The Impala is no different, and with its nimble handling and 305 horsepower 3.6 liter V6 engine, it feels more like a well-powered mid-size sedan. It’s only when you go to park it that you realize you’re behind the wheel of a behemoth.
Speaking of parking, this car would not work without it’s standard back-up camera guiding you. Rear visibility leaves a little to be desired. A peek up at the rear-view mirror tends to reveal only the top halves of cars behind you. This the one place where you make a sacrifice for style… so I don’t mind too much.
Style
What the Impala has going for it the most is its styling. The car’s silhouette is downright intimidating, and the well-conceived creases and bulges borrowed from the Camaro complete the Impala’s aggressive look… down to the furrowed headlight configuration. But all the stylish sculpting of the exterior is mostly at the service of the car’s aerodynamics. Function before form, as they say.
Inside, you get the sense of being in a “cockpit”, with a dashboard that swoops around to the sides, giving you a nice “enclosed” feeling. The seats are thick and comfortable, and the textured accents give the interior some due sophistication.
Sidenote: if you’re an audiophile, get the Bose 11-speaker premium audio system, because the stock Chevrolet offering is a little light on richness and dynamism. But you’ll have no trouble hearing it, because the cabin, and even the A.C. fans, are very quiet – not to mention that acoustic sound-resistant glass used seal the cabin. One more point on sound: the V6 engine does have at a nice little snarl during hard accelerations.
Colors are going to be everything in this car. Certain combinations, like a lighter interior with a Pepperdust or Summit White exterior, can seem passe. Jet Black interior and either Silver Ice or Black exteriors are the way to go for the style-conscious roadtrip-inclined urbanite.
And this is the premier American highway cruiser: big, solid, powerful, smooth, and distinctive. It’s been a while since all of those adjectives could be used in one place to describe a Chevrolet sedan, but with this generation Impala, it’s official: American cars are back.
