2014 Chevrolet Impala Designers
2014 Chevrolet Impala Designers Featured on Wide Open Throttle
Chevrolet
Impalas of the 1960s were immensely popular cars, for good reason. They
combined youthful design with a graceful elegance that embodied the
brand's promise of offering more than you'd expect for "low-priced
three" money. The car that preceded the Impala seen here was nothing
like the swingin' '60s model, even if it looked old enough to be
designed from a rejected drawing discovered in Bill Mitchell's sock
drawer.
Huh?
Besides being a Fleet Queen, the Lame Duck Impala was sold with the
kinds of cash incentives you'd find in the trunk of Walter White's
Pontiac Aztek, if it had one. The old Impala competed with Chevy's own
Malibu instead of the Ford Taurus, Toyota Avalon, and Hyundai Azera.
Calendar 2011 Impala sales totaled 171,434 to the Malibu's 204,808 and
the Taurus' segment-normal 63,526. For 2014, Chevrolet has substantially
upped the Impala's game in its look, features, and premium interior
quality. As Chevy's flagship, it should command much higher average
transaction prices, with the resulting margins helping to offset
inevitably lower sales volumes.
It
will be available with lane-departure control, adaptive cruise control,
a heated steering wheel, heated and cooled seats, and an infotainment
system that's pretty much the same as the new Cadillac User Experience
(CUE). Impala LTZ stickers north of $40,000 will seem reasonable. The
popular mid-level Impala LT trim looks like it could be a
top-of-the-range LTZ, and the LTZ's decor is rich enough to be in a
Buick LaCrosse.
The
design is what makes it look more premium, though. Interior design
director Crystal Windham says she and her team were going for a good mix
of sport and luxury with the Impala's interior. The Impala gets a very
stylish Corvette-inspired dual cockpit, with rich-looking padding
covering the gauge cluster cowl and part of the dash. The dash material
extends to the tops of the front doors. The Impala LS comes with cloth
seats, while the LT has leather-look vinyl with suedelike inserts
repeated in the door panels.
"It's
all about getting more excitement and color into the LT model," Windham
says. Three trim levels will offer nine interior combinations.
Outside,
the new Impala draws on "heritage" for pre-1980s expressiveness,
explains Mike Pevovar, GM's global Epsilon design manager for North
America. "The Impala has a heritage of its own," he adds, though his
team assiduously avoided nostalgia.
If
there's any specific heritage in the car, Pevovar continues, it's '67
Impala-inspired, though to this writer's eyes, the deep draw beltline
crease and Coke-bottle profile meeting at the Camaro-esque nose suggest
the "fuselage"-look '69 Impala. Pevovar's design theme gives depth to
the car, so you'll see something new on second or third examination.
Chevrolet
becomes the first brand to offer a conventional naturally aspirated
four-cylinder engine in the full-size sedan class. The Impala also will
be available with the 2.4-liter eAssist four that's standard in the
Buick LaCrosse. Both engine options will be offered soon after the early
'13 launch with the familiar 303-hp, 3.6-liter direct-injected V-6. All
three engines will be available across all trim levels.
My
brief first drive was in an early-build engineering-development LTZ
with the 3.6, which I followed with a turn at the wheel of a
$40,000-plus 2013 Ford Taurus Limited powered by the 288-hp 3.5-liter.
Being a handbuilt preproduction car, the '14 Impala doesn't have the
body rigidity expected of factory-built autos. So with all such
developmental drives, mental adjustments must be made.
Still,
compared with the Taurus, the Impala is quieter overall. The Chevy's
electronic power steering is lighter and more direct, with none of the
Ford's slight initial understeer at turn-in. The light steering is
appropriate for a big family car, and provided good feedback from road
imperfections. The Taurus' chassis is busier over patched and repatched
pavement, and the large Chevy gets around moderately fast country road
corners with well-controlled body roll for a two-ton full-size sedan
while smoothing out those bumps better. Chevrolet got the big family
car's ride-handling balance right. The Impala simply feels sleeker and
more buttoned-down than the nearly crossover-tall Taurus.
The
3.6 remains one of GM's best engines, and it doesn't disappoint in the
Impala. It feels quicker than the base Taurus, and its six-speed
automatic snicks off upshifts smoothly and quietly. The four-banger
ought to be more than a curiosity in this car. I drove a 2013 Malibu
with the new, 195-hp engine, and it's smooth, quiet, and powerful in
that lighter sedan.
This
short drive of the Impala leaves several unanswered questions, such as
whether it will remain Chevy's "flagship" when the RWD SuperSport goes
on sale a half year after the Impala. One thing for certain is that
Impala versus SuperSport will work better for Chevrolet, and for us,
than did Impala versus Malibu.
2014 CHEVROLET IMPALA BASE PRICE $26,000-$32,000 (MT est) VEHICLE LAYOUT Front-engine, FWD, 5-pass, 4-door sedan ENGINES 2.4L/182-hp/172-lb-ft
DOHC 16-valve I-4 plus 15-hp/110-lb-ft electric motor;
2.5L/195-hp/190-lb-ft DOHC 16-valve I-4; 3.6L/303-hp/264-lb-ft DOHC
24-valve V-6 TRANSMISSION 6-speed automatic CURB WEIGHT 3800-3950 (mfr est) WHEELBASE 111.7 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 201.3 x 73.0 x 58.9 in 0-60 MPH 7.5-8.5 sec (MT est) EPA CITY/HWY FUEL ECON 18/28 (mfr est) ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY 187/120 mpg (est) CO2 EMISSIONS 0.90 kW-hrs/100 mi (est) ON SALE IN U.S. Spring 2013
The
design is what makes it look more premium, though. Interior design
director Crystal Windham says she and her team were going for a good mix
of sport and luxury with the Impala's interior. The Impala gets a very
stylish Corvette-inspired dual cockpit, with rich-looking padding
covering the gauge cluster cowl and part of the dash. The dash material
extends to the tops of the front doors. The Impala LS comes with cloth
seats, while the LT has leather-look vinyl with suedelike inserts
repeated in the door panels.
"It's
all about getting more excitement and color into the LT model," Windham
says. Three trim levels will offer nine interior combinations.
Outside,
the new Impala draws on "heritage" for pre-1980s expressiveness,
explains Mike Pevovar, GM's global Epsilon design manager for North
America. "The Impala has a heritage of its own," he adds, though his
team assiduously avoided nostalgia.
Chevrolet
becomes the first brand to offer a conventional naturally aspirated
four-cylinder engine in the full-size sedan class. The Impala also will
be available with the 2.4-liter eAssist four that's standard in the
Buick LaCrosse. Both engine options will be offered soon after the early
'13 launch with the familiar 303-hp, 3.6-liter direct-injected V-6. All
three engines will be available across all trim levels.
My
brief first drive was in an early-build engineering-development LTZ
with the 3.6, which I followed with a turn at the wheel of a
$40,000-plus 2013 Ford Taurus Limited powered by the 288-hp 3.5-liter.
Being a handbuilt preproduction car, the '14 Impala doesn't have the
body rigidity expected of factory-built autos. So with all such
developmental drives, mental adjustments must be made.
The
3.6 remains one of GM's best engines, and it doesn't disappoint in the
Impala. It feels quicker than the base Taurus, and its six-speed
automatic snicks off upshifts smoothly and quietly. The four-banger
ought to be more than a curiosity in this car. I drove a 2013 Malibu
with the new, 195-hp engine, and it's smooth, quiet, and powerful in
that lighter sedan.
This
short drive of the Impala leaves several unanswered questions, such as
whether it will remain Chevy's "flagship" when the RWD SuperSport goes
on sale a half year after the Impala. One thing for certain is that
Impala versus SuperSport will work better for Chevrolet, and for us,
than did Impala versus Malibu.
| 2014 CHEVROLET IMPALA | |
| BASE PRICE | $26,000-$32,000 (MT est) |
| VEHICLE LAYOUT | Front-engine, FWD, 5-pass, 4-door sedan |
| ENGINES | 2.4L/182-hp/172-lb-ft DOHC 16-valve I-4 plus 15-hp/110-lb-ft electric motor; 2.5L/195-hp/190-lb-ft DOHC 16-valve I-4; 3.6L/303-hp/264-lb-ft DOHC 24-valve V-6 |
| TRANSMISSION | 6-speed automatic |
| CURB WEIGHT | 3800-3950 (mfr est) |
| WHEELBASE | 111.7 in |
| LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT | 201.3 x 73.0 x 58.9 in |
| 0-60 MPH | 7.5-8.5 sec (MT est) |
| EPA CITY/HWY FUEL ECON | 18/28 (mfr est) |
| ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY | 187/120 mpg (est) |
| CO2 EMISSIONS | 0.90 kW-hrs/100 mi (est) |
| ON SALE IN U.S. | Spring 2013 |
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