OK, so I shouldn’t be writing this post because I really don’t care about this car (well, I care about it a little bit). It turned up on the local Craigslist [listing now removed], and it exemplifies an eternal truth–in the Latin, Tempus Fugit (Time Flies).
I remember when these came out in 2000. I said to myself, “Oh, look! They’re bringing back the 1962 Chevy design!”
It was easy for me to see the resemblance, however . . .
The 2000 “Impala” more closely resembled the classical Bel Air or Biscayne–two round lights per side, not the traditional Impala’s three:
Twenty-one years ago, I just assumed that everyone knew that this new Chevy sedan was echoing the ’62–but now I’m wondering if most people actually saw the connection, or even knew what a ’62 Chevy was!
The advertising gushes over “The sheer joy” of driving this car. It is a car to “fall in love with.” Is there anyone today who feels that way about it now?
During the first decade of the 21st century, these were a common sight amidst the “carscape”. But when I found this CL ad, it reminded me that it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen one on the road. Now, on occasion, one will pop up for sale, not as a collectable or even a desirable car, but a “transportation special”– to be sold to drivers seeking cheap wheels to get from “A” to “B”:
From the Craigslist ad:
2003 Chevy Impala! 110k miles.
Runs very well 3.8L v6 automatic has good a/c (was just serviced) body is clean (normal wear and tear) has good suspension no vibrations passes inspection without issue. Priced to sell!! The interior is in good shape everything is working. The body is straight, clean transportation.
(They were asking $3000.)
Nothing adds distinction to a car like painting the grille lipstick red!
A few scuffs here and there–hey, it’s a used car!
The dashboard–a big plastic frown, with stains.
APPLY BRAKE TO SHIFT FROM PARK. Shades of the Audi “sudden acceleration” drama. I guess they felt that they had to spell it out because people weren’t used to doing that yet. Once the government mandates something in the name of safety, things can never be like they were before.
Not a bad looking interior, but one that says “appliance”, not “fine car”. Seats with two-toned pleated fabric do add a mild sense of lavishness and comfort.
The venerable GM 3800 engine. From what I have read, this is a smooth-running, durable motor.
When these “like a ’62” Impalas came out, I hoped that future models might revive some other classic Chevrolet styling cues (maybe even a new version of the “gullwing” ’59–now that would be wild!) But no–when the next generation 2006 came out, it adopted a rather generic rear end/taillight design. Thus the only thing that gave this car any real distinction was taken away.
It may seem like I’m ragging on this Chevy, but I don’t think it’s a bad car. In fact, it is an early 21st century version of what Chevrolet has always been about–low cost, smooth and competent transportation, with a few luxury touches here and there, and utterly practical.
The problem (if you want to call it that) is that it is a product of its era, long past GM’s “Golden Age”. Functionality, efficiency, and government standards now rule. Art and Colour, Harley Earl, Bill Mitchell are long gone. A little hint of the early ’60s magic was temporarily grafted on, but few people remembered or cared. Now this car and the predecessors it was named after are receding from the public consciousness. Things that are familiar to us, loved or unloved, are fading away. Will anyone want to preserve or restore this car–this true exemplar of the transportation of the lumpen proletariat? To paraphrase Wolfman Jack in the trailer for American Graffiti, “Where were you–in 2002?”
I don’t know if the term “oddly enough” applies, but I always found this vehicle appealing from day one. From the “easy wash” rear end to the slightly badass front end coming up fast on your tail. I still find them sedately seductive, & who can complain much about the GM 3.8, & a no-nonsense interior?
This was, of course, the last one they “built like they used to” in the sense that the Impala and its littermates were GM’s last big passenger sedans. There’s something very poignant about the passing of that era, and you’d think older folk would lament it, but they discovered long ago that a chair-height driving position is easier on aging hips, knees, and backs. Little old ladies drive Equinoxes, RAV4s, and CRVs now.
I hate this generation of Impala. It reminds me of how some cars (Edsel, Aztek, ’62 Plymouth) are so bad, they’re good, while others are a steaming pile of ‘meh’ and, to me, are worse because they lack any personality or character, whatsoever.
That’s where I put the ’00-’05 Impala. It’s about as mediocre, cheap, and craptacular as one can get in a domestic vehicle, back in the day when GM was building cars primarily to sell to fleets and rental agencies (and it showed). The attempt to replicate the ’62 Impala’s rear end with those cartoonish retro tailights just made it worse.
»thundrous applause« Nailed it!
Actually, when this vehicle first came out, GM said that the rear of this Impala was to evoke the memory of the 1960 Chevrolet. When you really look at it, the design does faintly echo the 1960 design. Just saying what GM stated.
Having driven a number of these (and been assigned an ’05 when new as a company car) they drive and ride pretty well for their intended function. My only gripe with them was the steering wheel always seemed a size too large in diameter.
I put 30k on the ’05; after moving, I was assigned an ’02 or ’03 with around 150k at that time. No problems with either one while I had them. Both had the smaller 3.4 liter.
A former friend of my wife’s had one of this era. She and her husband had well in excess of 200k on it when we quit interacting with them.
An acquaintance of mine recently posted on FB a picture of his when it crossed the 300k mark.
While I cannot say these were phenomenal cars, I will say they tend to be underestimated.
A friend who was in financial difficulties had one of these until a few years ago. Having little money she maintained it religiously and it served her very well until the apparently inevitable plastic intake manifold gasket failure sent it to the knackers. It was too old, and the cost was too much for her. The end of this car’s long and satisfactory relationship with her was tempered and no doubt influenced by a mutual friend selling her a creampuff old Camry for a few beans.
I am sure that the Impala soldiered on somewhere afterwards having been resurrected by some shadetree mechanic who could do the work himself, but the Camry made her forget it pretty quickly.
The bottom line – the Impala was an okay car but in the world of Camrys, okay is not enough. Should her finances ever improve enough to buy a new car, I can’t imagine her walking into a Chevy dealership.
this was based on the Lumina W body platform and seemed to be a very good rental car
based on interior size it was not a real full size car
the W platform was an expensive disaster for GM
These are very much so a cockroach of the road in Wisconsin. I would say 75% of them have body damage and just about all of them have pretty severe rust at this point. I never was really much of a fan of of these, but it’s a testament to their durability that they are still soldiering on 15-20 years later.
There are now lots more Gen 4 Ford Taurus than these Impalas out here in Rust-free Land. I see them.every day, while the Impalas are virtually gone. Did Ford sell that many more (plus Mercury Sables), or do the Taurus/Sable last that much longer?
When these came out I picked up on the resemblance of the rear tail lights to the ‘62 Chevies as well. My first thought was “Hey, it’s an IMPALA. It’s supposed to have THREE lights to a side!” Seriously, though, I had one as a rental in late 2003 and I quite liked it. They’re still a regular sight here in Ontario, and while they were no Camry, they still got the job done with no fuss and decent mileage to boot. I’ve also driven subsequent generations of the Impala as rentals, and, again, I was happy to get one. The last one I drove was a 2016 for ten days of vacation, and I was kind of sad to take it back. It’s too bad GM stopped making them – it was one old nameplate I was glad to see again.
“My first thought was “Hey, it’s an IMPALA. It’s supposed to have THREE lights to a side!””
I thought the exact same thing!!
Me, three!! 🙂
“maybe even a new version of the “gullwing” ’59”
That task was left to Toyota, fulfilled with some of the recent Prii …
I didn’t see any resemblance to the ’62 when these came out. It just looked like another generic American sedan to me. Still does, though decidedly less so than the ’06+ generation. I suppose it would make a good set of cheap wheels in a Camcord kind of way for someone.
The typical CC car, so dull as to be forgotten and completely off the radar of any “enthusiast”. I never realized the dip in the rear panel mimicked that of the ’62, probably due to not being intimately versed with said ’62, interesting and more clever than I would have expected. I find the front more distinctive than the back, the round headlights under the clear cover are attractive (just as I find it a highlight of the later Sonic of all things). And with the 3800? Pshhh, great engine, it elevates the rest of the car.
I’ve never driven one, but did rent its successor which I found to be surprisingly capable in and around the desert freeways of the greater Las Vegas area back when they (the cars) were newish. If the older ones are anything like that, then it does what larger American cars do best, i.e. cruise along on straight freeways across great distances in comfort and silence.
Too much black exterior plastic, just like nearly every car today.
My W body Intrigue had many good points, chief being the 3.5 Shortstar, but the small but annoying and recurring defects changed my liking it to loathing it. Plus the ride was too stiff for our bumpy roads.
These were never really interesting, but they had at least some styling flourishes that kept them from pure blandness (like the 06+). I think Chevrolet put those round lights on a few other cars for a couple of years.
I was always kind of amazed that Ford never went anywhere with a big round light on each side back when retro touches were showing up here and there. I think it was the Nissan Altima that did it for awhile, a big round taillight under a clear cover that followed the quarter panel contours.
Ford did do the big round taillight on the last Thunderbird, retro along with the rest of the car
Two lights per side surely its a Bel Air but apart from that its roughly what Im driving except my car comes from PSA silver(road grime grey) battle scars too high of mileage now but still running fine, easy to clean? I really dont know I waterblast it once a year just before its inspection thats about it.
Tint the windows dark and you have the “Ubiquitous Unmarked Cop Car” of the Nineties….
(*oops….meant “Ubiquitous Unmarked Cop Car of the ‘Aughts’….)
Matt Z I agree with you about the cockroach of the road. I live in Indianapolis and it seems that these have become the official vehicle of criminal conduct in Indy. The previous holder of this title was the mid 1980’s Olds Delta 88. Whenever there is a police chase, drunk driving crash, shooting or road rage incident chances are one of these is involved. The ones I see on the road have different colored hoods, doors, fenders and decklids along with at least 2 tires being temporary spares. I guess they are relatively cheap to buy, easy to work on and parts to keep them running are plentiful.
Lolrofl.
…was there then?
Maybe, but the brake/shift interlock mandate was still eight model years in the future when this car was built.
Not I, til you pointed it out, and yeah, it really only works with the 2-lamps-per-side Bel Air/Biscayne.
This is almost identical to the 2005 Impala LS I had. Mine was also in this gold color with these wheels, but by 2005 they had made all of the exterior trim body color on the LS, which did help its looks. I was the third owner after my grandma owned it for a year and a half, and put 5k on it. I had it until 142k, and at the end everything wore out and was starting to rust out all at the same time. I had maintained it well, but it was time. It was incredibly comfortable on long road trips, and wasn’t too slow with the 3800. I’ve had my Acura TSX wagon for almost 5 years, and honestly the only time I miss the Impala is during a big snowstorm as that was a tank.
I was considering one when used car shopping awhile ago, but didn’t for other reasons (the right Volvo wagon popped up). Had a couple coworkers who swore by theirs, not at them, but one was married and another engaged, so I can’t say this was a single guy’s ride.
Once the government mandates something in the name of safety, things can never be like they were before.
Good. I’ve read way too many instances of accidental moving-out-of-park crashes. (Not supposed mechanical fault, but operator or child error.)
It’s a Chevrolet Epica / Daewoo Evanda, but nicer.
Yes a good engine: Maintenance issues are the sparkplug leads touch and cross fire after a while and the front crank pulley loses its rubber centre.. Easy and cheap to fix.
Good fleet car, particularly for police undercover and detective use. Rugged and very easy to service/repair.
I rescued one a year ago on its way to the wreckers after being parked for a few years by a friends sick dad. He has passed and it was a sudden illness so the car was stopped one day and just left. The car I was driving had its ac system self destruct and I need it for breathing issues. So it was $1500 to overhaul the system or take a crack at the impala.
One year later and long story short, $350 to unseize the brakes, we were on the road and in 20000 miles since then nothing but an oil change every 2500 miles. NOTHING!
Yeah as a car guy its about as much fun to drive as watching paint harden but otherwise all I can say is long live the cockroach!
Yee! Why so often?
When the Malibu nameplate was revived for ’97, the ad headlines read “The Car You Knew America Could Build!” But by the time the ’00 Impala came out, I remember some reviewer saying this one was “The Car You Knew America *WOULD* Build”.
When it was new, the car seemed kind of lame. About the only interesting styling feature was the Biscayne/Bel-Air looking rear end. I think it was a bit awkward, because the rear of these cars is too tall and narrow to pull it off compared to the ’62 Chevies, but at least they tried. The fit and finish on them was also pretty bad. Uneven panel gaps all over the place, and the interior was just a mess, I thought, with all sorts of conflicting shapes, too many pieces, too much hard plastic, and so on. And one thing I never could understand, is how GM could build something that’s supposed to be an intermediate/wanna-be full-size, but have a back seat that small. The picture above of the back seat is a bit misleading, and most likely the front seats are fairly well forward, but I remember it being pretty cramped back there, and made even worse, somehow, when the 2006 restyle came around. It’s a curse of the entire W-body lineup though. I have an ’03 Regal that I inherited from my Dad, and its back seat is even worse. Now if you’re shorter or more average height, it probably wouldn’t be a problem. And in my case, it’s not often I have people in the back seat so it’s not an issue, but I just think that something this size should have a bigger back seat.
But, to quote another auto reviewer I can’t remember (I think it was Consumer Reports) GM cars are often like a fine wine…they get better with age. Or rather, they might seem totally mediocre when they’re new, but then fast forward a decade or so, and they’re still plodding along, nickel-and-diming you to death, long after many more “sophisticated” or “desireable” cars have long since been junked.
I looked at the Impalas when they first came out, and wasn’t overly impressed. Normally I like a bigger car, but at the time, I actually liked the Malibu better! But, not enough to sign on the dotted line. I ended up with a 2000 Intrepid, base model with the 2.7. At the time, it seemed better than the Impala in almost every respect. And, mine was a good car. Despite the reputation the 2.7 got, and transmission issues that Mopar was famous for at the time, I never had any serious trouble with it. It made it to around 150,000 miles and 10 years, but then was totaled when someone pulled a hit and run on it in a parking lot.
But, time has not been well to Mopar’s LH cars, especially the 2.7. If I was in the market for a cheap used car, and happened to come across a GM W-body that seemed to be fairly well cared for, I’d consider it. I don’t think I’d say the same about a Mopar LH car. Or most cars, honestly, from that era. Maybe a Ford Panther or one of GM’s larger FWD cars, but that’s about it.
In November of 2000, my grandparents bought a brand new Impala just like the one featured here – same interior and all. It replaced a 1992 Olds 88 Royale – and they loved it for 7 years until a Merc Grand Marquis came along.
I’m sure it didn’t have more than 100k miles on it, and it never left the state of PA – but the interior held up nicely, the backseat was decent, and the trunk held their golf clubs with room to spare.
For a Chevy, it had some nice features – dual climate control, RDS equipped radio, and the bucket seats/console looked nice. I drove this era as a rental with both the 3.4 and the 3.8 – the 3.8 was the perfect motor for this car by 2000.
These looked best in dark colors, but a tan one will always take me back to summers in Central PA with my grandparents and Earl Pitts on the radio.
I own one of these, 2005 Impala. Base model, bench seat with the sport appearance package (5 spoke Impala SS style wheels, body color moldings, trunk mounted spoiler). Black with gray interior. 3.4 V6. Bought it a little over a year ago with 121k on it. It’s sitting at 140k right now.
It’s a simply excellent car for what it is. Basic, comfortable and reliable. The car sat for a couple months recently and I went out and started it. First blip of the key and it fired right up. Great headlights, really good in the snow, on straight highway driving it will pull (or close) to 30 mpg, the car has needed nothing except for recently when a brake line went. It truly is a cockroach.
Sometimes even a “car guy/gal” just wants cheap comfortable travel with no drama, drag racing, or worry of “dings”. Plenty of other vehicles out there for testosterone loaded jollies.
I bought a 2005 Impala LS new in Oct 2004….Black with the LS trim package, 3800 V6 and gray leather interior…..I took it off the road earlier this year with 251,000 miles on it….I should have retired it much sooner because the car became a money pit after it reached 100,000 miles.
Electrical issues such as battery randomly going dead overnight without rhyme or reason, manifold gaskets going bad causing multiple catalytic converter failures, transmission blew at 131,000 miles, instrument panel gauges stopped working, had to use GPS speedometer app on smartphone to see how fast I was going…..steering rack replaced twice, window regulator on drivers door window broke twice, causing drjvers window to slip down inside the door, list goes on and on.
I changed oil on that 3800 every 3,000 miles and that engine still ran nice and smooth when I retired the car.
Body rot, including rotted out rocker panels and subframe took it off the road.
I bought a black 2017 used Impala as a replacement and the refinement and quality of the ’17 is much better than what I saw with the ’05
I actually remember liking these quite a bit from a styling standpoint when they came out, particularly in SS form, and especially in black. I didn’t know at the age I was that these weren’t B body based so I thought these were restyled Caprices rather than restyled Luminas which was a big comedown, I loved the 96 Impala SS and Had these simply been that shed of the whale styling they’d have been amazing.
Hated the looks of the successor to these, I never understood why those triangle shaped taillights became so trendy in the mid 2000s, but it was cool in a unintuitive and self destructive way that they stuffed a transverse LS engine in the SS, I wish that had been attached to this generations styling.
Yes, I got the ’62 styling cue right off the bat.
But the car itself was a complete and utter disappointment. Seemed by this time, Pontiac had become entry-level and Chevy was somewhere below, certainly NOT “The Great American Value” of decades past.
And the reason was clear.
The General had 3-4 divisions too many at this point and probably the only reason the Impala reboot sold as well as it did was bc the once-spectacular Ford Taurus had also been reduced to a stinking pile of mediocrity itself.
Harsh much?
Sorry…to me, the ENTIRE RUN of the GM-10/W-body was a complete Bart Simpson job, at least when it came to the Bowtie.
And all you need to do is drive a well-equipped example of what replaced the W-body.
The 2014-20 Impala, especially with the 3.6, looks, feels and drives like a spiritual successor to the Impala SSs of old. Nicely styled, well-equipped, enjoyable to drive.
I absolutely LOVE mine. And I’ve even had unsolicited compliments about how sharp it looks. (It’s black with two-tone gray interior)
IMO, if the Chevy W-body (Lumina, Monte Carlo, Impala) had been as nice for that day, as the final Impala is in the current day, GM would probably have a better market share in the US. It would be like comparing a ’54 Chevy to a ’55…except the ’54 Chevy, dowdy as it was compared to the ’55, was actually a well-built car.
I love my 2017 Impala as well….Black, LT trim, 3.6 engine…..plenty of power and it still gets me 30mpg highway with 105 more horsepower than my old 2005 Impala 3.8 had.
The only thing I find quirky about the ’17 is the transmission…..On light throttle, it shifts like a truck with a very low geared 1st gear…..If I use heavier throttle,it seems to skip gears on upshifts and sometimes it shifts to a higher gear faster than I would like under acceleration.
Manual mode helps out somewhat with the quirky shifting.
One other thing I dislike about it is the design of the back end of the car….The taillight design on the ’14-20 Impala looks too much like many other cars on the road.
My Dad owned a ’65 Impala 4 door hardtop when I was growing up and there was no mistaking those 6 round tailights for anything else but an Impala.
Actually, when this vehicle first came out, GM said that the rear of this Impala was to evoke the memory of the 1960 Chevrolet. When you really look at it, the design does faintly echo the 1960 design. Just saying what GM stated.
My Dad bought a ’01 Impala as his penultimate car (traded it on an ’06 Impala). His didn’t have the 3.8, rather the 3.4, wish it had the 3.8…not sure they offered it that year. He bought it new, kind of a sneaky trick by the dealer but it worked, they were looking at his supposed trade-in, and “lost” the keys, and told him he could keep the Impala for the (long labor day) holiday…of course it was really a “try before you buy” and my Dad fell for it, ending his streak of 3 Mercury Sables in a row (’89, ’94, and ’96). I liked the car a lot, but it was oddly equipped, think it had side airbag on driver but not passenger side. It also had the fold down rear seat that his ’06 didn’t (being a base LS stripper). However, it didn’t stay long, he had a problem with no starting which we couldn’t figure out, leading to the ’06, which has long outlasted it (my Dad died 5 years ago, Mom took over the car but she stopped driving this year, and my youngest (surviving) sister took it over.
All of them were bench seat models. Came in handy when my Dad had cancer, we had to get him into the front seat from wheelchair, used a towel to pull him into the seat…would have been tougher on one with center console. Wish they still came this way…well, they don’t sell the Impala new anymore but as I get older I think it would be the proper car for me to get (old fogey mobile, easy to get in/out of) but they’ve stopped making new ones so guess I’d have to buy a used one.
I own a 2003 LS that’s almost identical to this one from CL with the rims, gold paint, and tan interior. I love that car it has been a good car granted it’s my first car and the 3800 is one of the best V6 engines imo. The only thing that I’ve done to it that’s aftermarket is the grille that I ordered at my work, I swapped the grille out with the ‘04-‘05 SS Indy Pace Car Package mesh grille because it looks so much better. It has almost 203k on it and when my dad had originally bought as his car a couple years ago, he gave $1200 for it and it only had like 190k on it and now he has a ‘06 Impala SS. Yeah it might not be a sports car, but it’s comfortable, reliable, and cheap and it’s only broken down on me twice in a way that I couldn’t drive it for a day or two until I fixed it. The first time was a sway bar link that rotted out because of the design and then the alternator. Surprisingly with the mileage most of the parts on it are original like when I changed the spark plugs at 200k they were the original ones from ‘03. Yeah I might have put quite a bit of money into that car to have bought like a ‘08 LS or LT just by replacing stuff that needed it, maintenance, and stuff that the previous owners before my dad and I had neglected to do so. I went through service records and it was a very low mileage car up until 2016 where that owner had put 100k in a year. Yeah it has a few problems like power steering leak from both the rack and pump, but I plan on driving that car until the wheels fall off it because I like that car so much and it fits me good which there’s only a couple cars that I can drive comfortably. Here’s a pic of “Cheby” granted I don’t have a good pic of it with the SS grille, but this is my pride and joy.
I love my 2000 Impala 3.4l 139,000 miles as of now(she had 127,000 when I got her)….. I would so love to purchase your Impala 3.8 , so I can have 2 …. But, unfortunately I can not afford $3,000 right now. Hopefully I can soon.
The pic is of my Beautiful girl …. She was completely stock when I bought her 2 years ago.