Renting a 2008 Chevy Impala currently

[JulesMaximus]

The brakes are decent but the steering wheel and the gas pedal are connected to mush, the seats suck ass and I cannot, for the life of me, find a comfortable seating position. Hard plastic abounds in the dash, the door panels, the console, and the steering wheel. There is plood aplenty and it isn't fooling anyone...it just looks like brown wood inspired plastic.

Styling is ho-hum and I personally cannot see any reason why anyone would buy this car except for blind brand loyalty or the bullshit "buy American" argument. Then again, there's always the used rental market and I'm sure you could buy the exact car I'm driving right now from Enterprise for $12k. Bear in mind that the service engine soon light is on and the oil change sticker on the windshield recommends the oil be changed next at 13,9xx miles and it currently has 19,xxx miles on it.

Interior space is not any better than my 2003 Maxima, in fact, I think it's worse. The leg room behind the driver's seat is less than when I'm driving my car and the trunk is probably about equal.

I'm heading out to Palm Springs this weekend so I'll post a follow up after living with this car for a week.

 

[halik]

Heh I made the same argument in the "top 3 things you look for in a car" thread. Some poor soul actually bought one of those...

I never did understand the point of buying a made-for-avis car. If nothing else you're getting bummed by depreciation.

 

[Viperoni]

I drove an 06 Impala SS in LA for a week, put about 550 miles through it, and at least 50 gallons of gas

Wasn't a bad ride, but no way I'd consider it if I could get something like an 04 Maxima or Altima 3.5 for the same price.

The only thing it had going for it was the motor, which seriuosly needed a cam and exhaust

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

There's a reason why GM relegated the Impala to rental car duty. It's clearly the most outdated sedan in their stable. Were you expecting something else?

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: KnightBreed
There's a reason why GM relegated the Impala to rental car duty. It's clearly the most outdated sedan in their stable. Were you expecting something else?

GM would probably benefit if they did what Ford did with the Crown Vic -- make it exclusively a fleet vehicle.

 

[bctbct]

At least your objectivity seems intact.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: Strk

Originally posted by: KnightBreed
There's a reason why GM relegated the Impala to rental car duty. It's clearly the most outdated sedan in their stable. Were you expecting something else?

GM would probably benefit if they did what Ford did with the Crown Vic -- make it exclusively a fleet vehicle.

I don't see a problem with GM selling it through retail channels. If your average joe wants one, they can have it. I mean the Impala is already GM's fleet queen. It has trim packages meant specifically for fleet duty.

 

[evident]

why the fuck do you hate america. be a true blooded american and respect the plastic!

 

[Zenmervolt]

Wait until you're going about, oh, 45 mph and need to stand on it to get up to merging speed. The slushbox will give you 2nd (which seems good until you realise that the car is geared so tall that 1st gear will take you to at least 55 mph) which drops the engine into a dead zone where there's no power at all.

The Impala is an appliance. IMO it's roughly on-par with the Camrys I've rented. A solid car that should be very reliable but is both uncomfortable and mind-numbingly mushy to drive.

The Impala actually could be good; the car is competent in handling but it's numb while doing so and the tires are awful. The engine is solid and strong, but the gears are woefully badly chosen for the car; either give it a 5-speed automatic or make 1st through 3rd shorter but leave a big jump to 4th for highway mileage. Either way the engine doesn't have enough torque to deal with such tall ratios.

About the only saving grace is that the radio is actually pretty good. And the models from Hertz generally have a sunroof.

Ultimately though, I don't think it's any worse than the Camrys I've rented. Just a different take on the soul-less appliance car.

ZV

 

[CurseTheSky]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Wait until you're going about, oh, 45 mph and need to stand on it to get up to merging speed. The slushbox will give you 2nd (which seems good until you realise that the car is geared so tall that 1st gear will take you to at least 55 mph) which drops the engine into a dead zone where there's no power at all.

ZV

The 2003 Malibu I had was in the same boat. First would take you up to 40ish (~45 at redline), and second could go past 80. I didn't expect much out of a 4-speed auto, but I would hit the same dead spot when cruising at 40-50ish and romping on it for some quick acceleration. For a 170 HP family sedan, it was relatively quick... unless you hit that damned dead spot.

On that note, it also had a quirk I could never figure out. In the 40-MPH-2nd-gear-dead-spot, with my foot almost down to the floor, it would SLOWLY craw up to 3k RPM. Once it hit 3-3.5k, it would have a sudden, noticeable jump in power (not a shift), and the engine would literally sound like two extra cylinders started firing. It was something computer controlled I'm sure, but I never did figure out what.

 

[Insomniator]

A bland, mediocre and uninspiring car from GM? No wai...

 

[thescreensavers]

Originally posted by: evident
why the fuck do you hate america. be a true blooded american and respect the plastic!

Yea! Rent a Toyota Camry!

 

[RU482]

I always say, GM should stick to what they do best...making good used cars

/owns an Impala
//Try something with at least an LT3 package (not the rental LS crap)
///meh

 

[DivideBYZero]

I drove a 2005 rental for a week, back in....2005, when I was in Austin on business. Ugh.

- No power. 180 hp from 3.8 liters? And where is the torque?
- Seating. Comfy seating, I have to say. Could do miles in it, if it wasn't for all the other issues.
- Interior. Purely functional. Layout poor/old fashioned. All plastics hard/rough/cheap.
- Stereo. Was actually OK!
- Handling. No front end grip. Not for accelerating, stopping or cornering. That's a problem in a FWD car. Accelerating with the wheel turned just a little gave wheel spin. Epic tyres. Epic-ly shit tyres.
- Stopping. More like sending smoke signals to the wheels asking them nicely if they wouldn't mind scrubbing some speed. Brakes were nothing...nothing...nothing....nothing...LOCKED UP, OMG DEATH.

Yeah, not my first choice. Drove an Avalon in 2007 down WPB in Florida. Was a very nice car. Wallowed like a Hippo, but was well screwed together, nice leather, huge, bit bland on the inside again, very much like the Imp, but overall owned the Impala. 3.5 motor was very nice, plenty of punch when you needed it.

 

[Engineer]

I don't know about today's GM cars but one of the biggest complaints that I personally have with most GM's of the last few years is the use of hard plastics throughout the car especially the entire dash area. Hopefully, that is changing as it sucks.

 

[exar333]

Most rental-level trim (Camry, Impala, Mazda6) are cheap as hell and the seats are uncomfortable.

Have you never rented a car before? Most rental trim is crap, it was made to be inexpensive.

 

[Garou24]

The rental impalas are quite different than many that most people will be taking on the road. Not to say the impala is a perfect car, but I quite enjoy my 2008 Impala SS. Plenty of good power on tap, plus FWD for the NY winters. I got the best of both worlds, fun power when I want it and all season driving. The interior and seating is better in the SS due to the upgrades and leather seating. Having driven this car daily for the past year and on a road trip from New York to Texas I can offer the following:

SS Pros:
Powerful 5.3 V8
FWD (Snowy winters)
Great front row leg room
Huge trunk
Good gas Mileage for V8 (18.5 mpg in city for me, 30 mpg on highway trips)
SS package has nice rims and lowered stance with less molding for a sharper look

SS Cons:
Interior is nicer than base models, but could use an update
back row seating is tight with a tall person like me driving
Mild torque steer
Even with SS package body sway is noticable

just my 2 cents

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: ExarKun333
Most rental-level trim (Camry, Impala, Mazda6) are cheap as hell and the seats are uncomfortable.

Have you never rented a car before? Most rental trim is crap, it was made to be inexpensive.

The rental Fusions I've had were universally great cars. Same with the Mazda 6s. Even the stripped-down Mazda 3 I rented in desperation from Enterprise was a good little car. The Subaru Legacies I've rented were very nice (if underpowered). The Town Car was very nice, though it was rather like driving an aircraft carrier, and I even enjoyed the Grand Marquis.

All of those cars listed above, despite being in "rental trim" were good vehicles that had at least some redeeming "soul" to them, even if that "soul" was just in being so big, cushy, and old-fashioned.

The Impalas and Camrys that I've rented, however, have been appliances. Good, solid cars that will probably last a long time, but boring and dull. That's not the fault of the rental trim; the cars were designed to be dull. That's what they were built for.

ZV

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: ExarKun333
Most rental-level trim (Camry, Impala, Mazda6) are cheap as hell and the seats are uncomfortable.

Have you never rented a car before? Most rental trim is crap, it was made to be inexpensive.

I used to work for a rental car company as a branch manager so I've driven a shit ton of rental vehicles...both as an employee and later, after I got out of that industry, as a customer.

Over the last few years I've rented (not including the Lexus loaners my wife gets when her car is in for maintenance):

Ford Escape-decent vehicle, would rent again.
Buick Lucerne-meh
Chevy HHR-cheap, quirky looking, meh
Chevy Monte Carlo-utter crap
Lotus Elise-most fun you can have with your clothes on.
Ford 500-not a bad car, hated the CVT, meh styling
Nissan Murano-nice ride, loads of interior room
Nissan Sentra-cheap no-frills transportation...totally forgettable
Chrysler 300-horrible blind spots, high belt line, styling is decent but the car drives like a boat
Chevy Impala SS-not as powerful as that 5.3l SS badging would have you believe, sporty pretensions but falls flat on it's face when asked to deliver. Interior is nice, exterior styling is completely meh.

BTW-Rental cars are not trimmed out any different than the cars you can buy from the showroom floor. They typically have just the most basic options package and the base model engine. It's still exactly the same car. Adding a sunroof and leather steering wheel isn't going to change any of the experiences I mentioned.

The car I am driving is the LS model and comes with alloy wheels, power windows, power door locks, keyless entry, power mirrors, power drivers seat, AM/FM/CD Changer w/mp3 jack and it has the 3.5l engine.

 

[zoiks]

I was at the SJ auto show and was astounded by the sheer number of cars (both imported and domestic) with that grey sickly plastic interiors.
About rental cars, most rentals have failed to impress me. The only car/SUV that I like is the Chrysler Pacifica. Not much for power but I thought it was nice in and out and had great handling.

 

[cheesehead]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Yeah, not my first choice. Drove an Avalon in 2007 down WPB in Florida. Was a very nice car. Wallowed like a Hippo, but was well screwed together, nice leather, huge, bit bland on the inside again, very much like the Imp, but overall owned the Impala. 3.5 motor was very nice, plenty of punch when you needed it.

The Avalon had 50% more power - that might have helped a bit. It was also a lot more expensive - and, probably, a lot more reliable.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: Cheesehead

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Yeah, not my first choice. Drove an Avalon in 2007 down WPB in Florida. Was a very nice car. Wallowed like a Hippo, but was well screwed together, nice leather, huge, bit bland on the inside again, very much like the Imp, but overall owned the Impala. 3.5 motor was very nice, plenty of punch when you needed it.

The Avalon had 50% more power - that might have helped a bit. It was also a lot more expensive - and, probably, a lot more reliable.

Yeah, I know. It had ~265hp AFAIK, and it felt like it in a straight line. Not a bad cruiser at all. It really ate up the miles as we were driving all over from Miami up to WPB to Orlando and everywhere between for two weeks.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
The brakes are decent but the steering wheel and the gas pedal are connected to mush, the seats suck ass and I cannot, for the life of me, find a comfortable seating position. Hard plastic abounds in the dash, the door panels, the console, and the steering wheel. There is plood aplenty and it isn't fooling anyone...it just looks like brown wood inspired plastic.

dashboard strokers ftw!

Styling is ho-hum and I personally cannot see any reason why anyone would buy this car except for blind brand loyalty or the bullshit "buy American" argument.

it's dirt cheap, pretty big, and gets decent highway mileage for what it is. the trunk is 3.5 cubic feet bigger than your maxima, which should be noticeable. rear legroom is about an inch and a half bigger with the seat all the way back, though front legroom is shorter, so you've probably got the seat a larger portion of the way back in the impala vs. your maxima. with the seat all the way back in both cars, the back seat of the impala is significantly larger than the maxima.

 

[alphatarget1]

I really didn't think it was too bad. I had one as a rental in 2006 (isn't that when it first came out?). Granted I was comparing to my dad's 96 accord EX v6

I thought it was roomy, decent power, suspension was comfortable and the build quality wasn't that bad. It was most definitely better than the previous generation impala.

What I don't like about the newer generation accords (especially the newest one) is that they made it so big. Accord is supposed to be midsize, no?

 

[BUTCH1]

So it's suspension is not as sporty as a Maxima but maybe the driving dynamic that this car was designed for was not "sporty mid sized". I had a rental Impala LT in 2006 as well and found it's power and comfort totally acceptable. Yea, plastic-a-plenty in the interior but you have to take in consideration the price too, some folks just want a solid comfortable ride and decent MPG along with an affordable price and on these points the Impala delivers..