Chevrolet Impala - Once Again, a True Flagship

Back in 1958, the Chevrolet Impala debuted. It was the top model of the full-size Bel Air, in coupe or convertible form. The goal? Affordable luxury for regular, working Americans.

Flash forward to 1965. The Impala, in my opinion the most beautiful year ever, sells more than a million units. That's the model--not the Chevrolet brand. It still stands as a record.

The Impala then spawned its own Caprice luxury model above it, but the name lived on. In the 1990s the Impala became less important as midsize sedans, such as the Oldsmobile Cutlass, took over as the mainstream favorites. After a few years in retirement, the name reappeared as a 2000 model, but this car was a large midsize front-wheel-drive sedan. Despite not being especially beautiful or up-to-date, the car sold fairly well, particularly to fleets.

1958 Impala

With the rebirth of GM since bankruptcy, and fewer GM brands to sell, the corporation has now delivered the first car to deserve the historic name of Impala.

The early 2014 Impala is big, and shares a platform with the Buick LaCrosse and Cadillac XTS--fullsize cars. Its sensuous figure wears many evocative lines and forms. The face peers intently forward, an intelligent and energetic expression on its slightly angled eyes and bold chrome grille. The sides wear strong shoulders, the waist tucks in, and the rear fenders carry a curve that goes back to the gorgeous '65--and even to the original 1958.

If there's any surprise for me, its that the taillamps are not the historic three circles but are a single, segmented chunk that looks more like something from a Toyota. But there is no doubt that this car has road presence.

How big is big? The 1958 car was eight inches longer, on a nearly nine-inch-longer wheelbase, and stretched nearly five inches wider. The 1976 Impala was more than a foot longer than the '58 and almost two inches wider! But we don't need cars that big today. The new Impala is full size, generously proportioned throughout, and the rear seating is just like a limo. It stands well above the midsize Malibu, as it should.

Inside, the styling is just as exuberant as outside. The theme, as seen on the Malibu, is another take on the twin cowl dashboard from the original Corvette from the 1950's. It flows aggressively off the doors and forward, around a sharply delineated and graphically satisfying instrument pod, pulling back to provide a well-equipped and lavishly decorated center stack, then looping back in front of the passenger. Materials are various and with one tiny exception, meet in perfect joins.

Driver and passenger are well cossetted, with surprisingly firm and multiply adjustable seats with heating and cooling provided. The seats, leather in my car, had contrasting piping for a jaunty look. There was stitching on the dash and doors, but I discovered that it was cosmetic! It was embedded in pieces of molded plastic. But the visual effect was pleasant.

One surprising detail. The display screen on the center dash rises up and there's a space to hide your iPod behind it--and a USB port.

Drivers will appreciate feeling a bit of the road through the steering wheel (which makes a face!). The dash carries swirls of trim that dance across the surfaces, making it hard to find a place to settle your eyes. Best to look out towards the road.

This new Impala carries over the previous car's fine engine--a 3.6-liter direct-injection V6 with 305-horsepower and 264 lb.-ft. of torque. The only transmission is a six-speed automatic with manual selection through a button on top of the shift knob. Modern automatics are so good that you really don't need to even think about them, but I tried the manual shifter. I learned that it automatically downshifts as you slow down, even down to first gear.

Of course, in the name of fuel efficiency, it tends to upshift at the first opportunity. I found that fourth gear was good in town. As an experiment, I tried shifting into fifth while going about 30 miles per hour and it wouldn't do it--"Shift Denied" appeared on the information screen in the instrument panel. It knows what's good for it.

Speaking of fuel efficiency, the car is rated at 18 City and 28 Highway by the EPA. I averaged just 19 miles per gallon. Maybe I was getting to lead-footed because it was so fun to do it.

I had an opportunity to drive the car on some of my favorite back roads and was amazed that it stuck so well in the corners and delivered a very satisfying performance. Of course getting up to speed was no problem--the car can do zero to 60 in just 6.8 seconds.

If there's anything that is nothing like 1958 it's the high tech features of this car. All the usual stuff is standard, of course, including things like satellite radio, OnStar, and blind spot monitoring. But this one also featured Collision Alert. This means that if you're coming up on another car quickly and haven't touched the brake pedal it flashes a red light in your face. It can be turned off, and I did so, since I found it was reacting to parked cars when I was turning and was sensitive during commuting. It is probably a great idea, however.

I was frustrated that every time I stopped and got out of the car, when I restarted it, it would pull the seat forward and upward. How annoying. Then, I discovered that there is a "Set Exit Position" setting, and turned that feature off--the day before I gave back the tester!

I received periodic alerts from the car, including "Wind Advisory," "Weather Watch--Fire Danger," and "Caution, I880 Accident." For the last one, sure enough, a half mile ahead were two stopped cars and a pile of broken glass.

Not much to pick on here--the fuel economy could be better, the sun shone into my eye off the chrome Chevy logo on the steering wheel, the door handle pinched my finger once and the view to rear from the high backlight showed only the windshield of the car behind me.

Prices start at $27,535 for the LS model. There is a midlevel LT, and the LTZ, like my Silver Ice Metallic tester, came to $36,580. By today's standards, that's a pretty good deal.

It's great to see such a fine car coming from the century-old Chevrolet brand. It's just another reason to celebrate the rebirth of GM - and to feel good about buying American.

Chrysler 300 - A Fitting Flagship

The Chrysler 300 has been good for Chrysler, and, renewed back in 2011, it has helped return some prestige to the brand.

The 300 series goes all the way back to the 1950's, when the potent Hemi V8 engines were part of the explosion of power and fins that defines that age for us today. The 300 name died out in the mid 1960s, but in 2005, it was brought back to define a new kind of car for Chrysler. After the handsome, softly rounded "cab forward" sedans of the 1990s it delivered a chunky, traditional feel, more like a Rolls-Royce than the designs that preceded it.

I remember, at the time, being surprised at the upright windshield and the high window line. Of course, that high window line has become "normal" for cars now--just look at the latest Ford Taurus--one of many vehicles to follow Chrysler's lead. The 300 was based on a Mercedes-Benz E-Class platform, so it was as solid as it looked.

What to do with the new 300? With the company's revival under Fiat leadership, it got the full beauty treatment. The shape remains, but the windshield is a little bit more reclined, and the surfaces, once edgy and brash, are softly shaped and subtly upgraded. The blocky taillamps now have a gentle curve and edge along their lenses and the deep indent in the lower trunk is minimized. Up front, the once jutting grille is more smoothly integrated, using the marque's slightly angled chrome bar theme.

Inside, time and money have been well spent. A dual-pane panoramic sunroof in my Luxury Brown Pearl Coat 300C tester brought light to the elegantly appointed surfaces. My top-of-the-line model had an impressively thick wood and leather steering wheel--heated of course. The 8-inch screen in center dash was easy to see and use, feeling almost like the interface of an iPad, with touch buttons along the bottom for easy access to the multiple facets of the system.

The real wood steering wheel toned in with the wood trim in the car itself, although I think the trim was not from a real tree. The center console, with its roll-top cover (like a fine old desk) was elegant--although I kept it open most of the time to hold coffee mugs, notebooks, and so on.

The dash panel is one area that really got the love in the new model. It's a deco wonderland of chrome and soft blue lighting worthy of Busby Berkeley or your favorite Art Deco building. Considering that you look at the dash for the whole time you're driving, it makes sense to pour on the pleasantness there, doesn't it?

The seats, covered in my tester in light brown, soft leather, were very comfortable--neither too soft nor too firm, although I'd place them on the softer side of medium. The illuminated door handles added another touch of something special.

Chrysler 300s come with a range of engines. My 300C boasted a mighty 5.7-liter Hemi V8, putting out 363 horsepower through a five-speed automatic to the rear wheels. All-wheel drive is available, too. The Hemi hauled the 4,300-pound car nicely and with very little sound. This is the right feel for a car meant to evoke those Eisenhower years. But, you can also equip a 300 with a 3.6-liter, 292-horsepower V6, which, with its first-in-segment eight-speed automatic, is good for 31 miles per gallon Highway per the EPA. My car was rated at 16 City, 25 Highway (19 Average); I achieved 17.9 mpg in my heavily-commute-oriented week.

The EPA's Green Vehicle Guide numbers for the 300 are 6 for Air Pollution and 3 for Greenhouse Gas.

The car, despite its impressive stance, proportions, and poundage, drives remarkably nimbly. There's some road feel through the steering wheel, and the steering is reasonably assisted, not flaccid at all. Despite being accused of looking like a "gangster" by a colleague, I was actually pretty content inside the 300.

Just because the car's a little retro doesn't mean it's not totally with the second decade of the 21st century. My car had Customer Preferred Package 29T, which includes a parking assist system so you don't need to scrape those lovely 20-inch alloy wheels. The headlamps level themselves automatically. Adaptive cruise control keeps the distance between you and the car ahead and warns you if you approach the car ahead too quickly (even when not using cruise control). I had one instance of seeing "BRAKE" flash at me from the instrument panel when someone stopped suddenly in front of me on the freeway.

Blind spot and cross path detection works like a sentinel to keep you informed of when someone is potentially in your way so you can take defensive action.

I heard things in the optional audio system that I had never noticed in tracks off the iPod I had plugged in and stashed in the center console. With 19 speakers and 900 watts of power it was like few I've experienced.

What kind of price would you expect for this kind of a ride? Well, how about $46,300? Sound like a lot? Look at the list of goodies. It does have its work cut out for it in the competitive luxury sedan market, but it could change some minds about buying North American (it's built in Ontario, Canada). Other than one slightly misalligned trim piece, it looked sharp and tight from one end to the other.

You can pick up a 300 for as little as $30,840 if you like the style but are put off by the price.

Chrysler 200 - Imported from Detroit Indeed

During the last Super Bowl, Chrysler got a lot of attention for its bold "Imported from Detroit" ad for the Chrysler 200. It featured stark Detroit photography and images of (and a short statement by) of rapper Eminem, with a gritty narrator telling the tale of a tough, hardworking city. All this for a car that used to be called the Chrysler Sebring -- and which was considered barely mediocre.

As artistically produced as they may be, ads are not facts, so I was eager to see what a 200 was actually like. Now I know. I've spend nearly a week so far with a Blackberry Pearl Coat 200 Touring. I've had to make several freeway trips of an hour or two and they have been very pleasant.

To move the Sebring to a 200, the engineers and designers upgraded the suspension and sound insulation for a smoother and quieter ride. Then, they turned their modest budget to upgrading the interior, long an area of complaint from folks like Consumer Reports and the car buff magazines. Here, they've added padding where formerly there was none, put a pretty clock and some chrome (plastic) on the dash, and tightened up everything. So--smooth, quiet, attractive.

The outside of the car received some attention too, with a new clean chrome look up front (see photo) and a completely revised tail, with much more sophisticated taillamp designs, trunk proportions and more chrome, almost Jaguarlike trim. It makes the formerly awkward design seem much more sure of itself--like Eminem himself.

Under the hood lives the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6, which not only moves the car along with ease, but earns an EPA average of 22 miles per gallon--and I achieved that in my driving. Granted, much of it was on freeways, but this is no gas hog. And well equipped, my tester came in under $25,000.

The all-American 200, built in Sterling Heights, Michigan, is a transitional vehicle, sold until new models come along based on Fiat platforms, but with its multitude of upgrades it now has become a car worth considering.

Photo by Chris Kidwell.