The first week of May I rented a full size car from Enterprise. Turns out, they didn’t have any of those, so they upgraded me for free to an Impala. I thought that was odd, because the Impala is literally the car they use to show the typical full size car on their car comparison sheet:
Turns out, the Chevy Impala that I drove was a significant upgrade, both to my rental experience and to the Impala name.
The images I post here are from the Chevy website because I didn’t take any myself, but they look like the car I had, which was black, V6, 2017 Impala with black leather(ette?) interior.
The Basics
The car seats five and has a trunk that could probably fit at least two more people/bodies (or many pieces of luggage, I guess). The engine puts out 306 horsepower and the car moves effortlessly. The fit and finish on the interior was really good and while driving at highway speed, the cabin was nice and quiet.
Driving Experience
As for highway speed, I had to periodically check my speedometer because I would find myself approaching 85 on numerous occasions without noticing. Acceleration was effortless and quiet, and it handled itself well on the freeway as well as on the local streets. The engine just wanted to go faster and between the super smooth ride and the powerful (but noise dampened) engine, it felt a bit like trying to walk an overexcited dog, constantly pulling at the leash so it doesn’t get away from you.
Appearance
As for the looks, this car doesn’t quite look like a luxury car but rather like a solid, full size American sedan. I imagine this car would be equally comfortable as a daily driver to your suburban Connecticut office park as it would be serving in an executive car service.
Overall
The Chevrolet Impala is comfortable, feels luxurious, and is priced at about $30,000 with the V6. I imagine this car would comfortably compete with a BMW 5 series or Audi A5. The BMW 530 puts out 248 hp while the BMW 540 puts out 335 hp, so this would slot in between those two and while the 5 series is $20,000 more, even a comparable, but less powerful Audi A5 is over $10,000 more than the Impala. So this car is a fantastic deal for a “near-luxury” sedan as long as you are okay with car wearing a bow-tie instead of German roundels.