February 10th, 2015              

    Although I appreciate the opportunity to test drive new vehicles for a week at a time through the Ambassador Program at work, the winter time is the worst time to get one. When we return the vehicles, they are supposed to be full of gas (no problem) and clean (big problem when the roads are wet). My intention was to clean the car at the quarter wash where I usually wash the cars and then take pictures, only this time the car wash wasn't working. So, today's pictures are of a dirty car that has been down dirt roads and driven through snow and salt as well. At least I remembered to take them!

    On to the car itself... There was no window sticker included with this car, so I am not sure if it is a 2014 or a 2015. I did my best to price it out online, and came up with a price tag between $38-40,000, depending on the exact options included. Tara & I both love the looks of this car, and having one in our possession did little to dissuade us from wanting one. This car came well equipped, with things that you'd expect in a top of the line car - such as heated seats, sunroof, navigation system, keyless start - as well as some unexpected things - cooled seats, heated steering wheel, lane departure warning system. Of course, not everything was worth the money in my opinion. I could live without the lane departure system (I see the benefit, but the beeping when you begin to change lanes before turning on your blinker is annoying) and the warning system that alerted me to a vehicle in front of me (it seemed to take far too long to give me an audible warning - had I fallen asleep I would have certainly crashed - and didn't turn off or adjust the cruise control when it sensed that the car was too close to the vehicle in front).

    There was some nice things about this car, starting with it's size. There was plenty of leg room front and rear, though the headroom in the back was a little tight for my preference. The trunk was great, as we had no problem sliding in Drew's hockey bag AND his sticks! Tara & I also enjoy the styling on this car, much more so than the next option down in the lineup, the Malibu. On the downside, though, was fuel economy. After digging around online, it seems as though the 23mpg I experienced is about what is expected, but not what I was hoping for. My decade old Pontiac Grand Prix (which was likely a slightly smaller car) averaged 28mpg most of the time, so I see no reason this should be getting at least 25mpg. This car was a 4-cylinder, so I don't know if the V6 would have been any better or worse, but it likely would have been peppier without having to mash the gas pedal as hard. I may have gotten slightly better mileage if I didn't make use of the remote start feature, but I never left it running for more than 2 or 3 minutes before climbing in to drive off. Speaking of the remote start - it didn't kick on the seat warmers when used, like every other car I have had does. That or the seats took so long to warm up that this feature wasn't noticeable to me (the lights signifying the seats were on was never lit unless I manually turned the seats on). This one just baffled me.

Chevrolet Impala LTZ
	A close-up look at the headlight detail, including the ring style running lamps and the Chevrolet bowtie near the amber parking light.
	The front three-quarter view of the Impala.
	The front view of the Impala.
	The side view of the Impala.
	The rear three-quarter view.
	The rear view of the Impala.
	The back seats had plenty of leg room available.
	The front passenger compartment was nice and elicited no complaints during our short time with the car.
	The center stack seemed nicely laid out.
	The radio/navigation screen opened up to reveal a storage compartment.
	The instrument panel of the car, showing 23.1mpg over the course of my 490 miles of driving over 6 days.