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.

Getting a Charge out of the Chevy Volt

The Chevrolet Volt is unique in the world of hybrid and electric vehicles. It is powered by an electric motor all the time, unlike a hybrid, in which the gasoline engine powers the car part of the time. However, an on-board gas engine is called in to service the charge the battery when the car runs out of electricity, which, in my case, was when the 32 miles worth of power was exhausted. The engine itself never powers the wheels directly.

This gas engine is meant to remove "range anxiety," a malady suffered by owners of all-electric cars like the Nissan Leaf. The Leaf can go up to 90 miles on a charge, but when you're out, you're stranded.

The Volt is a compact sedan--not a large one--and will hold four people--not five. The rear seat has a console along the middle to prevent that. I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing today that it limits the weight the car must bear, thereby increasing the range of the electric powertrain.

Chevy showed a concept car of the Volt several years ago and it was much more angular than today's car. However, it was "futuristic" and the production car is, too. Styling is a little bit advanced and different from end to end. Especially notable is the silvery "grille," through which no air can pass (it comes in under the bumper for the engine--a common setup today). The dark strips below the side windows are an iteration of a design concept from the original show car and make the smallish windows look--but not feel--larger.

The interior is where the Volt goes wild. Despite being finished in hard plastics throughout, it is very evocative of modernity and even a little adventurous. The twin cockpit theme--from as far back as the original Corvette, is in evidence, and the shiny plastic door inserts convey the old painted feeling of those cars. But of course this car is built like a fortress and has umpteen airbags to protect you.

The instrument panel has two rectangular screens-one directly behind the steering wheel and one in the center spot on the dash Both convey, in brightly colored graphics, what's happening with the car, and you can make numerous selections to monitor such functions as where the power is coming from, how the battery is being charged, and recent fuel economy. It tells you after every charge how well you did--and what proportion of your mileage was powered by electrons and how much was thanks to hydrocarbons.

I was thrilled to be able to drive my Crystal Red test car the entire 23 miles to work each day on pure electricity. The car feels strong, pulls eagerly away from stops, and sails down the road in blissful silence. My car's stereo was happy to put out the music, although one time, I sat and let it play for about 20 minutes and I could see that it was draining my battery!

Everything you do affects range, and you learn to behave carefully to maximize that. You can monitor your habits to see how efficient you are. And, there's a little gadget you can select for the panel directly in front that shows you visually, using a rising or falling sphere, whether you're rolling along fine or are accelerating or braking too much. The goal, for economy, is to keep the ball in the middle, and it stays there if you are just rolling along. Hard acceleration or braking make the ball stop move off-center. It's a learning tool, much like the ones in Hybrids, but this is especially three-dimensional--as are all the displays in the Volt.

Charging is easy. You just uncoil the thick orange cord and plug it in the wall. Then, pop open the nicely-finished mini door on the left front fender and plug in the flashlight-sized plug. It has a handle and a built-in light to locate the outlet easily. The lights on the charger glow green, the car chirps its horn once, and a small green light goes on on the dash near the windshield. You can check how it's doing by opening the car and looking at the dash display.

I was happy to see, each morning, that I had a full battery. It's displayed like a row of gold bars in the T shape of the actual battery, which is hidden below the central tunnel and back seat. I enjoyed the quality of the car--despite its non-luxurious interior materials, it felt sold, looked fine, and worked perfectly. The seats, with optional leather in my tester, held me comfortably.

Two regrets. One--I wish the car had a longer range, because it feels great to drive under electric power. Two--the price. My car had a $40,000 base price, plus $4,000 worth of options. At $44,000, I could be looking at a Mercedes-Benz. But--only Chevy makes the Volt. I assume that future versions will increase the electric battery range and, with volume sales, the prices should come down. There is a $7,500 tax credit to help ease the pain, as well.

Chevrolet Turns 100

We celebrated the 100th anniversary of Ford Motor Company back in 2003, but now it's that other American icon's turn to hit the century mark. Chevrolet is running fat advertisements in the car magazines (and probably everywhere else) to let us know that the Heartbeat of America is still going strong.

Nowadays, with the enthusiasm for German engineering (BMW, Mercedes, Audi) and respect for quality. economy and reliability (Toyota, Honda) and rise of the Korean brands (Hyundai, Kia) some folks may have never actually driven an American car. This could be when they start, however, with truly worthwhile daily drivers such as the Ford Fusion and Chevy Malibu for starters. The quality and desirability has moved into the the compacts how, with Chevy's new Cruze taking honors for top seller in the segment. The Ford Focus is finally more or less the same as the highly prized European model.

Chevy is definitely selling the historical imagery now, with the iconic 1955-7 models, Corvettes (pretty much any), and the beloved Chevy trucks (Like a Rock, remember?). My family had several Chevys when I was growing up, including a 1960 (first year) Corvair four-door sedan, 1961 Brookwood wagon, 1963 Corvair convertible, 1964 Corvette (Dad, after divorce) and 1968 Malibu (Dad, after remarriage). Of course the metallic blue Corvette was the most exciting, but because it was extremely impractical, it wasn't around very long.

There will be a lot of new cars from Chevy in the near future, including the subcompact Sonic (out now--unrelated to the burger chain) and the even smaller Spark, which will have an electric version. The plug-in hybrid Volt is probably the best representative of "today's Chevy," and although it's a niche vehicle for now, the brand will be pushing in every way to stay relevant to today's and tomorrow's car shoppers.

Cars: Annual Model Change, RIP

When I was growing up, the cars changed every year. Even if it was a new grille and taillights, you could tell one year from the next. This was all part of the marketing scheme known, somewhat cynically, as "planned obsolescence." What this meant was, if your neighbor drove up in the new model, your car would look old and you'd go out and buy a new one. I thought it was great fun to see the new models and to find them in traffic. I still do.

Harley Earl of General Motors is credited with coming up with the annual model change, but it was a successful way of competing with Ford. Henry Ford saw no purpose in change for change's sake, and the Model T sputtered along from 1908 to 1927 essentially the same.

Volkswagen is another example of staying the design course. Ironically, the Beetle may have looked the same, but every year there was some update, including a larger displacement engine, larger windows or new features. The "New Beetle," introduced in 1998, is finally being replaced this fall with a new 2012 model. In its long run, the New Beetle had only one modest mid-cycle update, and looked essentially the same.

The annual model change was in its heyday in the 1950's and 1960's, when post-war prosperity kept the money flowing and aspiration was in the air. Compare the popular 1949 Chevy with the 1959 (see above) and you'll see the result of new models in 1949, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1958, and 1959, with noticeable styling changes on each of the off years.

Two things happened to kill the annual model change. In the 1960's it was still going on, but models proliferated. Where in the 1950's there was one "Chevy" that came in different trim designations and configurations, the 1960's brought about segmentation into large, midsize and compact sedans, for example. There was only so much money to go around. In the 1970's attention turned to meeting U.S. Government smog and crash standards,and there was no money for frivolous changes.

Compare the old Chevys with the 2008 Malibu. This seventh-generation design will run through the 2012s with virtually no change at all, and be replaced with a new 2013 model. That's the way things are done today. But with a range of cars, SUVs, crossovers, minivans, and so on, Chevrolet will have plenty to talk about.

100th Post of the Year!

It just shows that the secret of success is to make a plan and then stick to it. At the end of last year, I decided to write a post a day here starting January 1. Well, here we are on April 8 and this is it. It also demonstrates that time flies when you're having fun.

Now, what about 100? It's the first three-digit number. If you're that old you'll probably get your name in the local newspaper, with you staring, bleary eyed, at the camera ("What's going on?"). Listen to the Moody Blues' I Never Thought I'd Live to be 100."

Chevrolet celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2011. Next year, Arizona and New Mexico will have their centennials. New Mexico has issued a beautiful turquoise commemorative license plate (see above) which won the 2010 "America's Best License Plate" award.

On the negative side, there's the Hundred Years War, which actually lasted 116 years, and kept France on edge from 1337 to 1453.

There's Gabriel Garcia Marquez' 100 Years of Solitude, a great book that I haven't read yet.

Here's to the next 100 posts.