2017 Chevrolet Impala

Stepping inside the Chevrolet Impala you'll find a brilliant interior. Any automaker can add in good quality materials, but the important thing about what Chevrolet has done with the Impala's interior is that it's managed to combine them with a really good design. The best interior is had in the top of the line Premier; it's a fully loaded car. Seating up front features 8-way power driver and passenger seats with lumbar support and ventilation (if optioned), an easy to see 8-inch color display, a leather-bound steering wheel and leather trimmed shift knob and dual zone automatic climate control.

Beyond the multifunction steering wheel is a good looking gauge cluster with the tachometer on the left and the speedometer on the right with a driver information display located in-between. This screen is easy to read with crisp and bright colors, this makes reading the on-board navigation safer as the driver gets to concentrate on the road instead of having to look to the centre to double check the may and information. That 8-inch screen that heads up the infotainment system is the centrepiece of a very modern and sleek dashboard. It's so progressive that it may scare off more conservative buyers but for them there's the much more plain looking Toyota Avalon. The touch screen display has fantastic color clarity and is very responsive to movements making it nice and easy to use. One really nice feature is that the screen slides up to reveal a USB port and some hidden storage space, quite a futuristic feature. The centre console has space for two average sized water bottles and lots of extra storage space all over the place for all manner of items, like under the armrest between the front seats as well as the door pockets. Passenger space is equally good; the Chevrolet Impala has more space than rivals like the Toyota Avalon and the Honda Azera. The rear seats offer a lot of space; three full size adults will fit with ease when there are only two, the fold down centre has space for two water bottles. The Impala also features a massive size trunk, second only to the Ford Taurus in this segment of the market, measuring in at a mad 18,8 cubic feet. If that's not enough the rear seats are in a 60/40 folding configuration.

Even though the new Chevrolet Impala looks nice and imposing, it doesn't quite have the performance to match the looks, but that's not really a problem because the large sedan was never intended to have and sort of performance to brag about. The purpose of the Chevrolet Impala is to be a comfortable, safe people carrier.

The drive in the Chevrolet Impala is quiet and smooth and offers maximum comfort no matter what road you find yourself on. The overall handling of the Chevrolet Impala is very good. The best part about driving the big car is that it doesn't really feel like you're driving a car with these large dimensions.

The base model Chevrolet Impala, the LS, and the middle version, the LT, make use of a 2.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine that produces 197-hp and 191 lb-ft of torque. This motor is good but is best left to simple commuting duty on the smaller roads out there. Even in a car that weighs just over 3,700 lbs. it returns acceptable fuel economy figures. You're looking at 22 mpg in the city and 31 mpg on the highway. The motor is smooth though, and after pull off the power in the midrange is good.

If you're traversing the highways often, then you'd be much better suited to the 3.6-liter six-cylinder gasoline engine, but this can only be had in the top trim Premium model, so you'd need to pay for that luxury. This bigger engine produces 305 horsepower and 264 lb-ft of torque, which is much better at the task of pulling the fill size sedan around. For the Chevrolet Impala power only goes to the front wheels, but that's okay due to the car's more laid-back character. That power is transmitted through a nice and smooth six-speed automatic transmission that also offers the option of shifting manually to give the driver a sense of more control.This bigger engine is also heavier, and that affects the fuel economy somewhat – the Chevrolet Impala Premium is rated at 18 mpg in the city and 28 mpg on the highway . As an aside, the 3.6-liter sounds pretty good through the dual exit exhausts.

With the Chevrolet Impala being awarded an overall Good rating by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety as well as Superior front crash prevention, you can be assured that the equipment and safety found in the car is some of the best on the market. The car also boasts a five-star overall rating in the US government crash testing. The two lower trim models feature eight airbags and the Premier has an array of ten airbags fitted to help keep occupants safe in the case of an accident. Spread between the various trims we find features like adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, an array of parking sensors, child locks, forward collision alert, rear cross traffic alert, lane departure warning, lane change alert with blind spot warning and a reversing camera with parking assist - pretty much everything that you can get in a new car to keep you alert and safe on the roads.

On the features front the Chevrolet Impala also boast an impressive list of standard and optional features. There's that aforementioned 8-inch color touch-screen display that heads up the infotainment center to control things like the built-in 4G hotspot, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, Bluetooth and navigation. As standard there's a good six-speaker audio system and that can be changed to an optional 11-speaker Bose surround sound audio system. There are great optional packages available too, there's the Enhanced Technology Package ($735) that includes an 110v power outlet, the aforementioned Bose setup and wireless charging. The Enhanced Convenience package ($1035) features memory settings for the driver seat, power dual outside mirrors and the inside rear-view mirror. It also includes a trunk mat, premium floor mats, ventilated driver and front passenger seats, a universal home remote and a heated steering wheel. A separate option is the big dual-pane panoramic sunroof.

If you want a full size sedan from Chevrolet, then you want the Malibu. This large cruiser is for buyers that want a big full size sedan with a lot of value and a lot of good features. As an overall package, the Chevrolet Impala is genuinely rather difficult to find meaningful fault with. That's not to say it's imperfect (the smaller of the two engines does struggle to get the car up to speed, and the rear visibility is compromised even by big sedan standards), but the Chevrolet Impala rarely skips a beat anywhere else. So, whilst we also feel you should also put the Nissan Maxima, Kia Cadenza and Buick LaCrosse on your large sedan shopping list, the Chevrolet Impala is a vehicle we definitely feel anyone looking for a big four-door car that isn't from a premium marque should highly consider.