The last time I drove a car adorned with a leaping Impala logo it was 1963 and I was in the Army stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.
The Honda Accord hadn't been invented yet, let alone become America's favorite midsize sedan, and when Dinah Shore sang "See the USA in your Chevrolet," many of us saluted and headed for the nearest Chevy dealer.It seemed more like an order than a request.
Those were Detroit's glory days. Americans bought American cars, and if they weren't terribly reliable, that was OK, because we'd trade them in every two or three years anyway as the latest finny fender would catch our eye.
Back then, by the time you had logged 50,000 miles on a car, the rocker panels were rusting, the carburetor was calcifying and the transmission was tanking. It was called planned obsolescence, and it was one of the things that made the economy hum.
It was also a time when four-door sedans ruled. The terms "sport-utility vehicle" and "minivan" wouldn't be coined until decades later, and even wild and crazy young people would usually choose a sedan to "customize" and thus separate their vehicles from the cars driven by Mom and Dad.
My '59 Chevy Impala had not been customized, but it had some hot-rod factory options (and appropriate logos announcing their presence) that ensured no one would mistake me for married with children, a mantle as abhorrent to 20-somethings back then as it is now.
I suspect that today it will take more than an advertising jingle to get people out of their sport-utes and minivans and into a traditional full-size sedan, but the folks at Chevy are giving it their best shot with the 2000 Chevrolet Impala.
Fact is, despite changing automotive tastes, a six-passenger sedan with a really big trunk has as much to offer at the dawn of the 21st century as it did in the middle of the 20th.
Consider the advantages of sedans over SUVs and minivans:
You don't have to hoist yourself up into it, you just sit down.
Your cargo is safely locked away in its own isolated compartment, not rattling around in the open behind the back seat.
When the highway crosswinds blow, they don't affect a low-riding sedan nearly as much as a tall van or sport-ute.
A sedan's lower profile and weight means fuel economy is usually better.
When you wash it, you can reach the roof without standing on a ladder.
If you should happen to kiss another car in the parking lot, your sedan bumper won't do nearly as much damage as that big, high-mounted shredder on the front of your SUV.
OK, fine, probably none of that is enough to drag you out of your big 4wd rig, but I thought you should know there are alternatives.
One of which is the new Chevy with an old name, Impala, a blast
from the past in which Chevrolet is trying to conjure up images from its glory days. (Some 13 million Impalas have been sold since the 1950s.) Actually, they did that a couple of years ago when the name was first resurrected as the Impala SS, a retro V-8 powered beast sold in small numbers on the basis of its bad-boy image.
The Impala I've been driving this week is not that car. This is Chevy's new flagship marque, the car for all seasons and all people, the sedan it hopes will carry it stylishly into the 21st century.
It's certainly up to the task, but it remains to be seen if it can pull people out of their Accords, Camrys and Tauruses where they've been ensconced for these many years.
But it might. Impala offers several things those cars don't, not the least of which is space. It is rated to seat six adults, although five are more realistic, with more overall wiggle room than its competitors and a trunk large enough to carry all their stuff.
There are only two Impala models, the standard version powered by a 180 horsepower 3.4 liter V6 and the LS, motivated by a 200 horsepower, 3.8-liter V6 (the bigger engine is optional on the standard model), which also includes a ride and handling suspension package.
My tester was the upscale LS version, and its approximately $3,800 higher base price is well worth the extra money. Base price of my tester was $22,365. A sunroof added $700, a dual cassette/CD player was $223, and a "preferred equipment" group was $517, a bargain considering that it includes a driver info center, universal garage opener, alarm system, electrochromic rear view mirror and steering wheel controls for the sound system.
I like the cut of the Impala's jib, especially with the rear spoiler deleted. That not only saves $175, it removes a useless appendage that has no place on any car not running at Le Mans or the Brickyard and certainly not on a family sedan.
Impala shares its platform with two other GM models, the Olds Intrigue and Pontiac Grand Prix, but you'd never guess that to look at them. Impala has a style all its own and its ride is a nice blend of European sports sedan and American luxury car: not too soft and not too hard. Goldilocks would like it right off.
The 4-speed automatic transmission is well matched to the engine, propelling the Impala from 0-60 in about 8 seconds, pretty sprightly for a full-size family sedan, and it accomplishes that without a lot of noise or vibration, taboos in this class of car.
Bonus: fuel economy of 20 m.p.g. in city driving and 29 on the highway. Pretty darn good for a car this big.
While the Impala's styling is appropriately conservative, it looks pretty dashing in my tester's "torch red" paint job. Although leather interior is an option, my car had velour cloth upholstery.
Oddly, the Impala has a side-impact air bag for the driver but not the passenger.
Impala also has something I've not encountered before, a Radio Data System or RDS that will perform such feats as interrupt a program to broadcast traffic or weather bulletins, change the clock when you move into a different time zone, and search for up to 25 different types of programming -- from hard rock stations to classical to talk shows.
The system is keyed to radio stations broadcasting digital signals, in short supply right now but apparently the wave of the future. The radio's volume and tuning controls are rotary knobs, just like on my '59 Impala, and I love them. Some things the auto industry got right way back when, and that's one of them.
It goes without saying, I hope, that the Impala LS has all the usual luxury/convenience goodies on board.
E-mail (max@desnews.com) or fax 1-801-236-7605. Max Knudson's autos column runs each Friday.