Just purchased a 2003 Chevy Impala...

[mcvickj]

...and I love it. I picked it up last Wednesday from the dealer. A very smooth ride. Nice and roomy. Power everything. Remote starter. Everything is in just the right spot.

I was driving a 1997 Ford Taurus with 180,000 miles on it. I planned on driving it all the way to 200k but she seemed to have other plans. A nasty overheating issue showed up and was causing all sorts of problems. The mechanic said the could have repaired what he noticed was wrong but he didn't feel like it would take care of the problem. His gut instinct was that the head gasket was starting to go.

Here are some pictures. http://www.jrmcvicker.com/images/Impala/

 

[sweetdiesel]

Congratulations on the new ride. Which engine is in it?

 

[Candyman]

The funny thing is that I drove that exact car (well, not THAT car) for a couple weeks when my '93 Eclipse imploded. It's a nice car. A lot of room and very comfortable. Now I drive a '00 Intrepid which is giving me fits and I've been thinking about checking out the Impalas again.

 

[dannyd]

nice impala. how much horse power does it have?

 

[WoodiE]

Not a bad looking car. I LOVE the 96 Impalas, the SS series are freaking sweet looking. Everyone that has them here for sale wants an arm and an leg for though so I'm sticking to the old crusty cherokee I have.



-Michael

 

[mcvickj]

It has a 3.4 V6. The LS model has the 3.8.

Here are the stats from the Chevy site...

Sedan
3.4L 180 hp V6
180 @ 5200 RPM Horsepower
205 @ 4000 RPM Torque

LS
3.8L 200 hp V6
200 @ 5200 RPM Horsepower
225 @ 4000 RPM Torque

 

[4u2nv]

Not a bad looking car. I LOVE the 96 Impalas, the SS series are freaking sweet looking. Everyone that has them here for sale wants an arm and an leg for though so I'm sticking to the old crusty cherokee I have.



-Michael

Them are awesome as hell!! I've always wanted one as well, but there crazy in price here too. Some day..lol..

 

[RatzoRC]

Nice car.
I hope you get 180,000 out of this car as well.
Good luck with it.

 

[HeartBreak]

Nice - Ya gotta love that front bench seat. Not many cars have that nowadays, not even pickups.

If I trade in my Olds, that's what I'll get.

 

[olds97_lss]

Yeah, that's a pretty solid engine... I had a head gasket blow on my olds though, around 70K. Then the mechanic screwed up and let it sit on his lot for 2 weeks with a gallon of antifreeze in the crank case which torched the main bearings and made it sound like a diesel. We replaced it with a used 3800 that had 50K on it. The car has 140K on it now and the current engine has 120K. Still runs very solid and doesn't burn any oil. I think the head gasket in the first one was a fluke.

The cool thing is that it gets decent milage. On my 110 mile comute every day (70 highway, 40 traffic) I'd get an average of 25-26 mpg. On long trips witht he AC on (it's black on black on black) running 75mph it would still average around 25-26. Without the AC on it would get 27-28.

Now it's the wifes car and the pig below is mine... it rides much smoother than the olds. Still gets about 24mpg...