Ride Report - '12 Chevrolet Impala LTZ
May 13, 2012, 10:01 pm
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Ride Report - '12 Chevrolet Impala LTZ
A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call from someone at Westminster College in Salt Lake City telling me I've been accepted! Having visited the Florida Institute of Technology in MLB just a few days prior and only having until today (5/14) to give them my decision, I decided I needed to take a second look at SLC before making my mind up. I first visited Westminster in December, when I rented a Corvette (the photo of the Corvette is in the parking lot at the school!). So a little under two weeks after the phone call, I was on my way back to SLC, this time via MSP and with my mother tagging along. I was hoping that if I didn't get upgraded then I'd get a Malibu, since I wanted to give it another shot after a disappointing rental last October; however, when the Carfirmation said CHEVY IMPALA I was intrigued, and I was not let down.
http://www.chevrolet.com/impala-sports-sedan/
Car Description: N/LIMPALA5P3.6N (2012 Impala LTZ w/ N/L and XM)
Class: YF
The LTZ trim is the highest trim level for the Impala; the MSRP is $32,025 with all relevant options selected. We drove off the lot with only 2,309 miles on the odometer, making it the least-driven car I've ever received for a rental. Over a 30 hour period, we drove it 201 miles all over the SLC area and to Antelope Island State Park.
Powertrain: My first two rentals ever were both 2011 Impala LTs, and I liked the power those had. For 2012, all three trims of the Impala came with a 3.6L "LFX" V6, which creates up to 300 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque. I originally thought it had the same engine as my grandfather's '07 CTS, since it sounds just like it; it's actually from the same family -- just two generations newer
With a 6-speed transmission with selectable low gear (pick the maximum gear 1 through 6 using steering wheel-mounted controls), it's smooth and fast. A manual mode (like on the 2012 Malibu LS I rented in PWM) would have been nicer than the low-gear. The EPA says it gets 18 mpg in the city and 30 on the highway; we did quite a bit of both and averaged 24.9 mpg. Keep in mind that it's also E85 FlexFuel capable.
Ride/Handling: The Impala is a very solid car. It shifts smoothly and steering is stiff. The brakes aren't overly-sensitive but are very firm as well. Suspension is also pretty stiff; it didn't sway during fast or tight turns, but at the same time it wasn't so firm that you felt every bump on the road. We did drive down some gravel roads and the Impala did a great job riding it out.
Interior: The 2012 Impala is really nice inside. There's plenty of space for four adults, and it's capable of carrying 5. The "neutral" (tan) leather trim suited us fine, and complemented the (albeit fake) wood grain of the dashboard. It has two cupholders in the front, and the center of the rear bench folds down to serve as an armrest with an additional two cupholders. I found two DC outlets under the radio and climate control cluster and a third in the center storage console. Speaking of that, it's huge, and there is also storage slots at the bottom of the two front doors. The glove compartment is pretty big also, and the trunk is downright monstrous.
The gauges themselves were large and easy to see; the info display within the gauge cluster could display (in no particular order) Trip A/B mileage, odometer, average gas mileage (in MPG), temperature (and possibly direction), and a few other things which I missed. The clock/radio cluster display had the time as well as radio information. Since we didn't venture away from the XM version of a local NYC radio station, I'm not sure if it displays song info but I'm sure it would have, had we switched to a FM station. Climate control was very effective, with individual controls for both the driver and front passenger. Surprisingly, our gas mileage didn't take much of a hit even though we used the AC the majority of the time.
One thing I liked about my grandfather's CTS was how the engine sounds; it produces an almost song-like kind of noise at lower RPMs. Pulling out of the lot and hearing it again got me excited since it's a great engine. At speed it's still very quiet, and road noise is muted pretty well too. At higher RPMs, it growls nicely too! On a similar note, the eight-speaker Bose sound system is great, even if the sub woofer comes off as a bit strong. Similar to my more recent rentals of the Ford Escape and Fusion, all of the light and wiper controls are on one stalk.
I do have one huge complaint though, and it's not the Impala's fault -- rather, it's Hertz's fault: NeverLost. I had brought a portable GPS with me since I hadn't requested N/L, but it was nice to leave it in the bag. However, as I'm sure many of you are familiar with, N/L likes to make buzzing noises due to interference with other electronic devices (i.e., phones). Secondly, due to the way it is mounted, it likes to shake a lot, and the noise can really drive you nuts!!
On the other hand, it's a testament to how quiet the Impala can be. If the car weren't an LTZ (or anything not as nice) I would have returned it for something without N/L.
Exterior/Design: Our Impala was painted "summit white;" being the LTZ trim, it had 18-inch machined-face aluminum wheels and a spoiler on the trunk. I've always liked the design of the Impala; its sharp corners and angles look aggressive and like the Impala means business. One downside of all of this, however, is that the side-view mirrors are awfully small.
Features: Being the LTZ trim of the Impala, this car had nearly all the bells and whistles an Impala could possibly have. Besides XM and NeverLost, the car had: a very nice cruise control setup, leather seats and center console, tilting leather-wrapped steering wheel, leather-wrapped gear shift handle, heated and power-adjusting driver and passenger seats, power sunroof, individual climate control, integrated Bluetooth, steering wheel radio controls, BOSE speaker system, an aux-in jack, remote start, and 3 DC power outlets. I didn't catch if there were fog lights or not, but I think there were.
Value: Using the USAA CDP, I paid $18.69 a day for a FCAR, which is pretty good. For a car like this, it should be criminal. The last time I was in SLC when I upgraded to the 'Vette, I got a good rate on that too (so much so that the agent asked me not to disclose it to anyone!). When I first got the Carfirmation and saw it was an Impala I thought I'd see what else was available in Gold Choice, but the Mustang was $40 a day extra and only other fullsize or higher was a Nissan of some sort (maybe an Altima, maybe a Maxima?) with cloth seats.
Summary
PROS:
CONS: (I'm really trying to think here...)
Final verdict: I don't know how else to put it, but this is the best full-size car I've driven. If this was offered to me as a Premium, I would be inclined to take it (unless a decently-equipped Buick was available). This blows any baseline model out of the water, even if they're classified higher. I've never driven an Altima (or any Nissan for that matter) so perhaps I don't know what I'm missing, but for the rest of you who haven't driven one of these, you don't know what you're missing either! Many people have said that the true American sedan died with the Ford Panther platform (Crown Vic/Town Car/Grand Marquis); if this is what's replacing it, I say good riddance! I'd happily drive this again.
-J.
P.S. When I pulled back into the lot to return the car, I parked right behind (what I'm pretty sure was) the same Crown Vic I rented in PWM! With CA plates, that thing gets around
http://www.chevrolet.com/impala-sports-sedan/
Car Description: N/LIMPALA5P3.6N (2012 Impala LTZ w/ N/L and XM)
Class: YF
The LTZ trim is the highest trim level for the Impala; the MSRP is $32,025 with all relevant options selected. We drove off the lot with only 2,309 miles on the odometer, making it the least-driven car I've ever received for a rental. Over a 30 hour period, we drove it 201 miles all over the SLC area and to Antelope Island State Park.
Powertrain: My first two rentals ever were both 2011 Impala LTs, and I liked the power those had. For 2012, all three trims of the Impala came with a 3.6L "LFX" V6, which creates up to 300 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque. I originally thought it had the same engine as my grandfather's '07 CTS, since it sounds just like it; it's actually from the same family -- just two generations newer
With a 6-speed transmission with selectable low gear (pick the maximum gear 1 through 6 using steering wheel-mounted controls), it's smooth and fast. A manual mode (like on the 2012 Malibu LS I rented in PWM) would have been nicer than the low-gear. The EPA says it gets 18 mpg in the city and 30 on the highway; we did quite a bit of both and averaged 24.9 mpg. Keep in mind that it's also E85 FlexFuel capable.Ride/Handling: The Impala is a very solid car. It shifts smoothly and steering is stiff. The brakes aren't overly-sensitive but are very firm as well. Suspension is also pretty stiff; it didn't sway during fast or tight turns, but at the same time it wasn't so firm that you felt every bump on the road. We did drive down some gravel roads and the Impala did a great job riding it out.
Interior: The 2012 Impala is really nice inside. There's plenty of space for four adults, and it's capable of carrying 5. The "neutral" (tan) leather trim suited us fine, and complemented the (albeit fake) wood grain of the dashboard. It has two cupholders in the front, and the center of the rear bench folds down to serve as an armrest with an additional two cupholders. I found two DC outlets under the radio and climate control cluster and a third in the center storage console. Speaking of that, it's huge, and there is also storage slots at the bottom of the two front doors. The glove compartment is pretty big also, and the trunk is downright monstrous.
The gauges themselves were large and easy to see; the info display within the gauge cluster could display (in no particular order) Trip A/B mileage, odometer, average gas mileage (in MPG), temperature (and possibly direction), and a few other things which I missed. The clock/radio cluster display had the time as well as radio information. Since we didn't venture away from the XM version of a local NYC radio station, I'm not sure if it displays song info but I'm sure it would have, had we switched to a FM station. Climate control was very effective, with individual controls for both the driver and front passenger. Surprisingly, our gas mileage didn't take much of a hit even though we used the AC the majority of the time.
One thing I liked about my grandfather's CTS was how the engine sounds; it produces an almost song-like kind of noise at lower RPMs. Pulling out of the lot and hearing it again got me excited since it's a great engine. At speed it's still very quiet, and road noise is muted pretty well too. At higher RPMs, it growls nicely too! On a similar note, the eight-speaker Bose sound system is great, even if the sub woofer comes off as a bit strong. Similar to my more recent rentals of the Ford Escape and Fusion, all of the light and wiper controls are on one stalk.
I do have one huge complaint though, and it's not the Impala's fault -- rather, it's Hertz's fault: NeverLost. I had brought a portable GPS with me since I hadn't requested N/L, but it was nice to leave it in the bag. However, as I'm sure many of you are familiar with, N/L likes to make buzzing noises due to interference with other electronic devices (i.e., phones). Secondly, due to the way it is mounted, it likes to shake a lot, and the noise can really drive you nuts!!
On the other hand, it's a testament to how quiet the Impala can be. If the car weren't an LTZ (or anything not as nice) I would have returned it for something without N/L.Exterior/Design: Our Impala was painted "summit white;" being the LTZ trim, it had 18-inch machined-face aluminum wheels and a spoiler on the trunk. I've always liked the design of the Impala; its sharp corners and angles look aggressive and like the Impala means business. One downside of all of this, however, is that the side-view mirrors are awfully small.
Features: Being the LTZ trim of the Impala, this car had nearly all the bells and whistles an Impala could possibly have. Besides XM and NeverLost, the car had: a very nice cruise control setup, leather seats and center console, tilting leather-wrapped steering wheel, leather-wrapped gear shift handle, heated and power-adjusting driver and passenger seats, power sunroof, individual climate control, integrated Bluetooth, steering wheel radio controls, BOSE speaker system, an aux-in jack, remote start, and 3 DC power outlets. I didn't catch if there were fog lights or not, but I think there were.
Value: Using the USAA CDP, I paid $18.69 a day for a FCAR, which is pretty good. For a car like this, it should be criminal. The last time I was in SLC when I upgraded to the 'Vette, I got a good rate on that too (so much so that the agent asked me not to disclose it to anyone!). When I first got the Carfirmation and saw it was an Impala I thought I'd see what else was available in Gold Choice, but the Mustang was $40 a day extra and only other fullsize or higher was a Nissan of some sort (maybe an Altima, maybe a Maxima?) with cloth seats.
Summary
- 3.6L V6 engine (300 hp)
- 6-speed automatic
- 18/30 mpg
- LTZ - highest of 3 trim levels
- Equipped with XM and NeverLost
PROS:
- Strong yet smooth powertrain
- Very quiet, but what you can hear sounds great
- Three DC power outlets
- Plenty of space for passengers and all their stuff
- (Maybe this is toward Hertz themselves) It's a TRUE full-size sedan, with more than enough space to prove it
- (Also ^ towards Hertz) Low mileage
CONS: (I'm really trying to think here...)
- Small side-view mirrors
- Poor wiper coverage (at least 3 inches below the top of the windshield)
- No labels next to the gear shift handle
- NeverLost
Final verdict: I don't know how else to put it, but this is the best full-size car I've driven. If this was offered to me as a Premium, I would be inclined to take it (unless a decently-equipped Buick was available). This blows any baseline model out of the water, even if they're classified higher. I've never driven an Altima (or any Nissan for that matter) so perhaps I don't know what I'm missing, but for the rest of you who haven't driven one of these, you don't know what you're missing either! Many people have said that the true American sedan died with the Ford Panther platform (Crown Vic/Town Car/Grand Marquis); if this is what's replacing it, I say good riddance! I'd happily drive this again.
-J.
P.S. When I pulled back into the lot to return the car, I parked right behind (what I'm pretty sure was) the same Crown Vic I rented in PWM! With CA plates, that thing gets around
Last edited by GW McLintock; May 13, 2012 at 10:12 pm
May 13, 2012, 10:42 pm
#3
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May 14, 2012, 6:39 am
#4
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P.S. When I pulled back into the lot to return the car, I parked right behind (what I'm pretty sure was) the same Crown Vic I rented in PWM! With CA plates, that thing gets around
If true, that would be funny indeed. I once thought I saw the same Chevrolet Cobalt I had from the FL driveout at another HLE in a different part of the state a few months later. It made sense, since both the northern suburbs and Long Island get one-ways to and from the NYC airports fairly often, so that's probably how the overlap happened.
The way I recognized the car was by the odd, memorable license plate number: It started with V58, which reminded me of 58 vegetables, and the car was a light spaghetti sauce red color. Of course, I could have been wrong and it was a different car. I drove by pretty quickly, and it seemed that Hertz was buying a lot of light red Cobalts that year.
Another funny coincidence: When I did a cross country one-way later that summer, the AWD SUV I got in CA had GA plates that started with AWE. I wonder who writes these license plate combos.
Perhaps the Crown Vic you saw at SLC was the same color, coincidentally had CA plates, but a different combination. Unless there was something particularly memorable about its sequence. PWM to SLC seems like a relatively rare one-way.
If true, that would be funny indeed. I once thought I saw the same Chevrolet Cobalt I had from the FL driveout at another HLE in a different part of the state a few months later. It made sense, since both the northern suburbs and Long Island get one-ways to and from the NYC airports fairly often, so that's probably how the overlap happened.
The way I recognized the car was by the odd, memorable license plate number: It started with V58, which reminded me of 58 vegetables, and the car was a light spaghetti sauce red color. Of course, I could have been wrong and it was a different car. I drove by pretty quickly, and it seemed that Hertz was buying a lot of light red Cobalts that year.
Another funny coincidence: When I did a cross country one-way later that summer, the AWD SUV I got in CA had GA plates that started with AWE. I wonder who writes these license plate combos.
Perhaps the Crown Vic you saw at SLC was the same color, coincidentally had CA plates, but a different combination. Unless there was something particularly memorable about its sequence. PWM to SLC seems like a relatively rare one-way.
Last edited by Auto Enthusiast; May 14, 2012 at 6:45 am
May 14, 2012, 1:26 pm
#6
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Maybe I really don't know what I'm missing... I think this is the best I was gonna get on this trip though, I couldn't justify anything larger and got lucky with the price -- mom was expecting me to rent a Rio 
-J.
-J.
May 14, 2012, 2:17 pm
#7
Join Date: Jan 2011
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Hey guys, if jzweighaft was happy with the low mileage impala, then that's good news isn't it ?
His Impala was certainly better than some of the crap I have had in the past. and we see enough moans in posts about cars with mileage that resemble an Apollo mission.
so give him a break
His Impala was certainly better than some of the crap I have had in the past. and we see enough moans in posts about cars with mileage that resemble an Apollo mission.
so give him a break
May 14, 2012, 3:34 pm
#8
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I would drive this 100000000x over the base 4 Door Altima w/ 73k and dirty back seats I received at YEG.
Looks like a nice ride ^
For me, it's mainly about how the car looks... Being a young guy, I'd much rather roll in a CTS rather than a DTS or town car. To be honest, I'd rather drive a base mustang(hardtop), than a loaded crown vic. I just can't see myself hopping out of one of those. I think I would look weird
Looks like a nice ride ^
For me, it's mainly about how the car looks... Being a young guy, I'd much rather roll in a CTS rather than a DTS or town car. To be honest, I'd rather drive a base mustang(hardtop), than a loaded crown vic. I just can't see myself hopping out of one of those. I think I would look weird
May 17, 2012, 2:15 pm
#9
Join Date: Apr 2012
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May 17, 2012, 3:02 pm
#10
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I got a Corolla with 35k on it once... certainly check out this thread for more horror stories: What's the highest mileage vehicle Hertz has tried to give you?
-J.
-J.
May 19, 2012, 1:45 am
#11
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May 22, 2012, 11:46 am
#12
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A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call from someone at Westminster College in Salt Lake City telling me I've been accepted! Having visited the Florida Institute of Technology in MLB just a few days prior and only having until today (5/14) to give them my decision, I decided I needed to take a second look at SLC before making my mind up.
(Spent two semesters at FIT Jensen Beach campus... back when it existed. Never got to the FIT Melbourne campus.)
May 22, 2012, 1:33 pm
#13
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I did like FIT a lot, but because of the way the program is set up, I'd be there 3+ years -- something I'd rather not do lol
-J.
May 22, 2012, 3:56 pm
#14
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 246
I rented a 2012 Impala in March and hated. Awful handling, crappy 90s interior with 80s seats. They only thing good about the 2012 Impala is the powertrain nice direct injection v6 with 6 speed tranny. They new model coming is pretty nice though.
As a full size I find the Taurus a much better car overall.
As a full size I find the Taurus a much better car overall.
May 22, 2012, 9:39 pm
#15
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I rented a 2012 Impala in March and hated. Awful handling, crappy 90s interior with 80s seats. They only thing good about the 2012 Impala is the powertrain nice direct injection v6 with 6 speed tranny. They new model coming is pretty nice though.
As a full size I find the Taurus a much better car overall.
As a full size I find the Taurus a much better car overall.
It held 6 people too! Unfortunately one day on the way to school in October (a little over 6 months ago) the tranny gave out and we scrapped it 
I'd love to rent one of the new ones Hertz has, but rumor has it they will follow Avis' steps and classify the Taurus as a PCAR
-J.