The big news from the most recent round of Consumer Reports Top List may have been all about the 2017 Chevrolet Cruze, but let’s not forget the compact car’s bigger brother.
While the 2017 Cruze claimed the top, coveted spot as the number one compact car, the 2017 Chevrolet Impala was named as the top large sedan for the third year running.
Even though it’s a largely shrunken segment in the U.S., large car sales still play a part in automakers’ bottom lines. CR said the Impala was the best of the best and had shaken its rental car illness of the past.
“I know when we first said the Chevy Impala was a top pick, there was a lot of confused faces,” Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports director of automotive testing, said. “This is not the rental car version. This is the new version that they have which drives like a luxury vehicle, continues to be reliable and it’s just good owner satisfaction. It drives terrific.”
The Impala may have helped the Cruze’s case, too;Â CR basically called the new Cruze a scaled down version of the Impala in many ways.
“The best way to describe (the Cruze) is they took the Impala and they shrunk it down and have many of the same virtues in a smaller package,” Fisher said.
“If you look at the competitors, you look at Corollas or any other compact cars, there’s a lot that they could learn from the Cruze in terms of ride, quietness and just a substantial-feeling vehicle, along with having the latest infotainment, which again you can navigate.”
For all the love found in the Cruze and Impala, it wasn’t enough for the brand to crack into the top 10 brands overall. However, Buick found a home at number eight this year, making it the only American brand, outside of Tesla, to secure a spot.
Comments
A much-deserved honor for a fantastic family sedan! The styling is still among the best, as is the interior design, space, and functionality! Part of me hopes this CUV/SUV craze slows down for the sake of keeping this and other great, large family sedans relevant!
I’m not one to take CR very seriously especially since they are generally biased against American branded vehicles. Sometimes I believe without any real merit. However it shows just how good the Impala must be for this rag to give praise and continued accolades for this great car. If only we could convince Chevrolet to get that TTV6 and AWD from the XTS into the Impala we would have a complete package and total winner.
Fantastic vehicle, not just in CR but in almost every competitive test I’ve read.
Agree with TTV6 and AWD, especially AWD since I think Chevy is really missing a lot of the market by not offering.
Add an 8 or 9 speed automatic and you should have a total winner!
To add Awd and TT would be nice but just how much do you think people would pay for a Impala?
The Taurus AWD TT sells in so few numbers and is so expensive there are much better options at that price.
It is tough any more to offer all with a value brand.
Will rephrase both are nice but where Chevy is leaving sales on table is no AWD at all! Don’t believe there would be any issues getting someone spending $40k for a Premier to spend $2-3 grand more for AWD on the 3.6 normally aspirated!
I’m sure awd would definitely be a seller at 40-43K on premier and 35-40K on LT’s. It could get some law enforcement interest if a awd ppv vehicle were a possibility. If marketed and packaged correctly the tt and awd for 45-50K would get some attention and should be cost feasible since the platform already supports it. I also believe the Impala name alone has more historical significance and credibility with a performance package than the Taurus name ever could. Especially as people are learning the Impala is no longer the vanilla queen of the rental lots. If folks are willing to plunk down near 50 grand for a Camaro SS or the SS sedan, then I believe there could be as many interested in a high performance Impala in Chevrolet’s customer base as there are for the XTS V-Sport’s customer base. Comfort, roominess, handling, and power at Chevrolet value. I’d take one.
Generally AWD accounts for less than 10% of most car sales as most people who want AWD buy a CUV.
Police sales of sedans are weak as most departments are now going for Ford Explorers that are being prices at $26K to departments today.
Then to slot this in over the Regal and then under the Lacrosse price wise would also be difficult.
Would you make much on the sale?
To do AWD you almost need to do it right and use the Alpha where you can have a proper car and not step on the Buick FWD and keep under the CTS.
You get over 40K you will need a Haldex system or better to compete.
The lack of a global market for this car hurts as with lower volume sales here it makes it difficult to add these high end feathers. Years ago when they sold nearly a half million of these it was much easier to leverage the volume.
I am not going to say your ideas are bad but they are just not easy to accomplish in the market where this car is.
Even now the Malibu price is closing in on this car too and that hurts its cheaper models. That is why I say it is a shame this car was not around years ago when it really mattered.
Even here in the snow belt AWD is not a given and is a low percentage car sold here. Snow is not that difficult to drive in and generally if someone wants more they buy a SUV, CUV or truck.
Make no mistake Scott, the Chargers with AWD are a hotseller for police departments.
Roger that! Also to the public because it has been the only place to go for a full size performance sedan. If the SS would have had the volume and they were easier to find throughout their run, they would have made a bigger dent in this market. If they offered the AWD and a performance version with the TT and AWD nobody would expect it to sell 40K units a year, but it could get up to 15k in sales and that would probably be just about right for the performance sedan market.
AWD is not just for snow but more secure handling in all weather and situations. Besides there are many like me who don’t appreciate the driving dynamics or lack thereof in a fwd vehicle.
I agree FWD sucks but so do many low price AWD systems.
You have limited sedan sales and a limited range of price to cram the Buick, Cadillac and Chevy in.
Besides outside the Corvette and a large SUV or truck most people will not pay much over $40k for any Chevy sedan.
Why would they need to deviate so far from what the XTS and XTS V-Sport offers? The Impala doesn’t have to have all the cost prohibitive items of which you speak and the XTS can handle some fairly spirited driving as it is. Give this to the Impala and let the Camaro engineers get the handling fine tuned for higher performance. Would I prefer a rear drive biased car that the Alpha or even Omega could provide? Heck yes, but talk about expensive.
Quite frankly and just like a lot of others, I could care less what this might do to Buick. Buick save for China has been lost in the woods for years and years. The only reason why Buick exists is because of borrowing so heavily from other GM platforms and good sales in the Chinese market. Are they good cars? Absolutely. Do they resonate in the North American market and have any kind of multi generational demographic? Not as much as they would like for sure.
The Malibu is nice enough, gets plenty of compliments on its competency, but it is nowhere near the car the Impala is and with no V6 to compete with Accord, Camry and Fusion, it’s the back bencher in the midsize segment. Chevrolet needs a performance sedan period. I’m not quite sure why you of all people would try to not make sense of it.
There would be no reason why an Impala with these options could not directly compete with the Charger and pull at least 15K sales per year. The lack of inventory of the SS over its run has left this market solely to Dodge and that is a complete shame. Chevrolet/GM cars are so much nicer and higher quality than the ancient and bloated Charger.
As far as PPV’s go, I don’t know why any company wouldn’t want their name on a L.E. vehicle for marketing purposes and for the most part have acquiesced to Ford on this. PPV’s are so de-contented before being outfitted with equipment, it is not hard to get them down into the high 20’s to low 30’s. It’s not like they are coming fully loaded for that much, they are total strippers except for the drive-train, but it’s easy to get the cost down on those since the platform is spread out to so many other vehicles. Also, hardly any agencies go for the eco-boost which save a ton. If GM would take this on and offer a Sedan as well as a SUV set up like the Explorer, they might just make something of it. People know Patrol cars have to be reliable and they get a good perception for the higher end public version. It has worked for the Explorer and the Charger very well. I know the Crown Vic didn’t set the sales world on fire toward the end of its run in the private market, especially because they were just so old, but the livery businesses and L.E. agencies loved them because they were so darn reliable.
Few opting for eco-boost cop cars is also what I’ve heard following a scaling back of pursuits (liability reasons?).
When I’ve been pulled over, I’ve soured on those models for a while. If they use the Impala as a police cruiser, they should change the fascia up and call it Caprice.
On the bright side, my co-worker loves his Impala’s shutter high-beams on the highway. He says he can strobe them to fool a left lane slowpoke into moving over.
CR is sort of current waiting room coffee table wisdom.
I’ve driven a rented ’12 Impala, ’14 Corolla, and ’16 Cruze. The Impala was a strong engine pulling an empty can feeling car and the Corolla was an empty can with good mpg’s. It’s interesting that Jake Fisher’s words implied the Corolla is rental grade.
The CR brand article has luxury dominating the top and Chevrolet within striking distance of Toyota. Maybe perceptions are shifting with Toyota leaving the door open with a stodgy image also.
Beyond Scion failing, and the FRS/BRZ underwhelming a lot of people, I’ve heard 70% of BRZ buyers pick the stick and they also command much higher used prices. Toyota overall tries too hard overcompensating for their image with some garish new designs.
bring back the elegant, low and simple designs back again.
The Impala has a nice stance and a very elegant design which has aged extremely well for a modern vehicle. Do you want it to look stodgy soon after introduction like the Taurus, Avalon, Cadenza and LaCrosse do?
This, simply put, is a superior design over ANY of the older Impalas. It’s better engineered, better looking, better built, and more reliable.
I have to agree. I’ve owned both a 1986 Impala and a 1996 Impala SS, and while I loved both cars, the new Impala is head and shoulders above the rest, design-wise. I love the low side glass-to-sheet metal ratio – gun slit side windows look great. The huge side glass on the ’96 was my only real gripe against it; it looked mean, otherwise (for a 1990s car).
I’ll be in the market for a new or off-lease vehicle this year, and if I get a sedan (big if – love my Tahoe) I’d get an Impala.
It is a shame they did not have this car a few years ago when larger sedans held more of the market.
Better late than never.
Bring back the SS Impala with the 3.6 TT ! I will be the first in line to buy.
On GM’s Facebook, there is many complaints of owners, mainly for GMC. Then how much was it for these “ads”?