2001 Chevy Impala

[76ChevyTrucker]

Well, as I've said before, I currently own a 2001 Chevrolet Impala LS sedan, 3.8L V6, Hydra-Matic 4T65E transaxle, leather interior, sunroof, power driver's seat, steering wheel mounted radio controls, am/fm,cd,cassette. The car has 110,000 miles on it and not given me that many problems. I've had to replace the water pump and belt tensioner pulley (both were making a very slight squeal, could only be heard with a screwdriver being used as a stethiscope (sp?), the belt's been changed once, coolant flushed and refilled, hoses replaced, air, oil, fuel, and transmission filters, pcv valve every two oil changes, one set of AC Delco spark plugs, and wires, brakes all the way around once, both front hub assemblies replaced and two front tires.

As far as mechanics, the car is in excellent condition. On a regular basis, I maintain about 28-30 miles per gallon, if drive it hard, mileage drops to about 25, maybe 23 if I drive it hard the entire tank of gas. The engine and transmission perform flawlessly, with only a minor growl of the traction control system unless I turn it off. The AC keeps me cool when I need it to, and in the Alabama summer, I need it fairly regularly. The stereo unit pumps out the tunes whenever I need it to and the sound system definitely helps keep me driving the car the way I like.

From the standpoint of comfort and ergonomics, the car is well designed and very comfortable for someone like me, 5'10" and about 330lbs, I know I'm a big guy and the seat supports me very well and keeps me comfortable on long drives. As far as trunk room is concerned, well as a friend of mine put it, even with the big toolbox (I always carry tools, for those, just in case, situations) in the trunk, you could still hide a family of Mexicans in there.

I could only offer one major gripe about the car, and even this one is minor, with the car the way it is, why couldn't there have been some form of factory option for a dual tip exhaust set up on it. Otherwise, the car has been a great ride, smooth, comfortable, powerful, and economical. Oh yeah, one other gripe, its not paid for yet.....Here's a few pictures of it and the other rides that I have.... http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/e_gladwell/a...m/ph//my_photos

[Mach5GTP]

Cool. My mom has an 02 base Impala, her first new car. Has about 60k on it now, and it's been great. Had a fuel injector replaced under warranty last year, and the hubcaps bec. they were fading. I do all the maintenance on it, and it's been a pleasure. My dad put the factory vent-visors on, and my brother and I added some dark gray rub strips to save the bumpers. It's a beautiful car, much better looking than the new Impala IMHO. My mom loves it, she gets it washed every Sunday. Lots of room inside, very comfortable and spacious. I like the dash a lot, too. And the trunk space- my God, it's HUGE! IIRC it's something like 18cu ft, and it's very wide and deep- heck, you almost have to crawl inside to get stuff from the far end! Excellent!

It is a bit underpowered w/ the 3400, but rides great and is very tight and quiet. Feels like it'll last 200k easily.

Edited March 14, 2006 by Mach5GTP

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Me personally? I think the 2000-2005 wasn't much of a car to look at inside and out. My mother owns one. But it is probably one of the best handling mainstream sedans out there and, although its small, the 3400 V6 has a nice throaty growl and the transmission shifts smooth as butter.

Edited October 15, 2006 by YellowJacket894

[76ChevyTrucker]

Yeah, that's one thing I like about mine, I had a'99 Pontiac Grand Am SE2 sports coupe before my Impy and the one thing I like about the Impala is that I can sling it into the corners like my Grand Am, but with more people in it to scare.

[scharmer05]

yeah im impressed with my Impala...I only bought it becuase I got a hell of a deal....its a 02 base model, I got it the end of 04 with 50000 miles on it and only payed 5200....it was a steal IMO. I really did think that it was an ugly ass car to begin with....those rear taillights still piss me off when I look at them. But I started adding stuff to it when I got some extra cash. First it was a spoiler off an SS, then I redid the stereo....A JVC head unit, Infinity 6.5" components speakers in front and back, and an Infinity 12" sub in back with it all being powered my MTX amps (some of you might care about all that, but I put it all in myself so I like telling people about it). Then I had Cat back dual exhaust added, (sounds really nice IMO, not loud but a nice tone). When I added the dual exhaust, I put on new American Racing Rims (to replace the steelies and hub caps) and tires. Before the next winter I added a car starter and car alarm (since my sisters CD player and CDs got stolen out of her car and mornings up here in Jan. are crazy cold and I was sick of running outside every morning) and finally, last month I added a different grill made by SLP and a K&N filter.

Overall, its a great car. I don't mind the looks so much anymore....I actually love the front end now....I love the headlights and the edgy look it has...and the rear looks a ton better with the spoiler and the dual exhaust. It handles well, but if I end up replacing the shocks im going to add something a little stiffer, as the ride is a little spongy to me at times. But I love the way you sit in it. Its a very cab forward feel, like you looking down the hood, not up over it.

If any of you out there have an Impala and are looking to add anything, I would go for the K&N filter and dual exhaust...I can definately feel it and it sounds great. It has a lot more mid-range torque from what I can tell.

[frogger]

Me personally? I think the 2000-2005 wasn't much of a car to look at inside and out. My mother owns one. But it is probably one of the best handling mainstream sports sedans out there and, although its small, the 3400 V6 has a nice throaty growl and the transmission shifts smooth as butter.

Wow for me the zero steering feel and handling was my only major complaint about the non-LS Impala.

[ponchoman49]

The biggest problems I have seen on this car are the intermediate steering shaft, the famous GM intake fiasco and some electrical and ignition gremlins. Other than that it was a pretty decent, roomy car.

[76ChevyTrucker]

Thankfully with 113,000 on the odometer, I haven't had the "intake fiasco" happen to me and no electrical problems whatsoever. I did take the PCM out and had it reflashed today to correct a problem with it throwing false P0420 "Catalyst system efficiency below threshold (bank 1)" codes, but it was no big deal, stopped by my work (at CarQuest) and got it reflashed with the update, now I don't have to worry about getting that stupid code over and over again and not actually having a problem.

[loki]

yeah im impressed with my Impala...I only bought it becuase I got a hell of a deal....its a 02 base model, I got it the end of 04 with 50000 miles on it and only payed 5200....it was a steal IMO.  I really did think that it was an ugly ass car to begin with....those rear taillights still piss me off when I look at them.  But I started adding stuff to it when I got some extra cash.  First it was a spoiler off an SS, then I redid the stereo....A JVC head unit, Infinity 6.5" components speakers in front and back, and an Infinity 12" sub in back with it all being powered my MTX amps (some of you might care about all that, but I put it all in myself so I like telling people about it).  Then I had Cat back dual exhaust added, (sounds really nice IMO, not loud but a nice tone).  When I added the dual exhaust, I put on new American Racing Rims (to replace the steelies and hub caps) and tires.  Before the next winter I added a car starter and car alarm (since my sisters CD player and CDs got stolen out of her car and mornings up here in Jan. are crazy cold and I was sick of running outside every morning) and finally, last month I added a different grill made by SLP and a K&N filter. 

i'd say i'm a car audio guy too, but i haven't put in an amp yet, 99 monte w/ a pioneer H/U and 5 1/4 polk dbs in front and 6 1/2s in back.

[Timmy O]

yeah im impressed with my Impala...I only bought it becuase I got a hell of a deal....its a 02 base model, I got it the end of 04 with 50000 miles on it and only payed 5200....it was a steal IMO. I really did think that it was an ugly ass car to begin with....those rear taillights still piss me off when I look at them. But I started adding stuff to it when I got some extra cash. First it was a spoiler off an SS, then I redid the stereo....A JVC head unit, Infinity 6.5" components speakers in front and back, and an Infinity 12" sub in back with it all being powered my MTX amps (some of you might care about all that, but I put it all in myself so I like telling people about it). Then I had Cat back dual exhaust added, (sounds really nice IMO, not loud but a nice tone). When I added the dual exhaust, I put on new American Racing Rims (to replace the steelies and hub caps) and tires. Before the next winter I added a car starter and car alarm (since my sisters CD player and CDs got stolen out of her car and mornings up here in Jan. are crazy cold and I was sick of running outside every morning) and finally, last month I added a different grill made by SLP and a K&N filter.

Overall, its a great car. I don't mind the looks so much anymore....I actually love the front end now....I love the headlights and the edgy look it has...and the rear looks a ton better with the spoiler and the dual exhaust. It handles well, but if I end up replacing the shocks im going to add something a little stiffer, as the ride is a little spongy to me at times. But I love the way you sit in it. Its a very cab forward feel, like you looking down the hood, not up over it.

If any of you out there have an Impala and are looking to add anything, I would go for the K&N filter and dual exhaust...I can definately feel it and it sounds great. It has a lot more mid-range torque from what I can tell.

Any tips on how to replace the Impala's head unit? I have a Tape deck right now and am going to find another GM unit or a 3rd party unit but it looks like I have to remove the entire dash just to get at the radio. Any tips or pointers would be great.

Timmy O

[scharmer05]

Any tips on how to replace the Impala's head unit? I have a Tape deck right now and am going to find another GM unit or a 3rd party unit but it looks like I have to remove the entire dash just to get at the radio. Any tips or pointers would be great.

Timmy O

You will have to take apart the whole dash in order to get to the radio, but it isn't too tough to get everything off. The Impala is a PAIN in the ass to put an aftermarket system in as you basically have to redo everything. If you put an aftermarket deck in, then you basically need to put new speakers in at the same time. In Impalas, the radio sends out a low level signal out to an amp that then boosts the signal up to speaker level. So if you take out the factory deck, then the factory amp does not work correctly and needs to be bypassed. So if you don't want to spend a bunch of money on installation or you really know what you are doing when it comes to car audio install, then you really don't have much of a choice except to replace the existing deck with a CD deck from another Impala. Ebay has a ton of them, once you get the dash off, it should be as easy as plugging in the new radio. I would talk to your local GM service department first in order to see if everything matches up between the CD and tape decks.