What I bought my daughter

dodge man · Jan 30, 2013

I've posted a couple of times on vehicles I was thinking about buying my daughter. She is 15 and it will be her first car. We at first were looking at Linclon LS's, and then a Jeep Grand Cherokee. We ended up with a Chevy Impala LT, a 2008, a 3.5 V6, 95,000 miles. Its red, has some kind of package that includes leather, sun roof, and a rear spoiler. It has decent tires, and the leather seat on the drivers side shows just very slight wear, and the inside is almost perfect. The outside has a few chips, but no dents or dings.

The bad part. The front speakers were out, which I knew before we bought it, and the rear door lock in back was out, which I didn't know. I bought it as is. I would have let the door lock slide, but the manual button is at the back of the door, so you can't reach it from the front seat. The door lock actuator cost $200 and it took me 2 hours to put it, but it seemed like 8 hours. It was a nightmare to install, but I probably saved $200 doing it myself.

The front speakers is where all the sound for turn signal clickers come from and all the door chimes, so I replaced those for $50.

All and all I'm hoping its a good car for her. We've had it about 2 weeks, and it appears it will get about 20 to 22 mpg the places she will drive.

Dmace · Jan 30, 2013

You know what's funny, both of the Impalas in our fleet (07 & 08) have non-working power door locks and both are the driver side rear door, other doors are fine. Something like that never gets used as these cars are just personal transportation for one person. Both have V6's though and get 25-28 mpg. Good cars!

dodge man · Jan 30, 2013

When we got the car, it was set up to lock and unlock all the doors automatically. I switched it to do just the drivers door. Think about how many times the doors will lock and unlock on a single trip. You unlock the doors to get in the car, the lock when you put it in park, they unlock when you get where you are going, they lock when you walk away and hit the button etc. This ends up being 8 times for a single trip somewhere and coming back home. You can easily see, depending on how the car is used, this being several thousand times a year. Most vehicles thats not a problem, but reading on the Impala forums, this is a common failure. If you lived closer I'd help you fix it, I can probably do one in an hour now.

Btw it was the drivers side rear on my car that had the bad power door lock.

case245 · Jan 30, 2013

they were good car in 1996 on back in my book i had a few in high school i dont know bout the wrong wheel drive cars (FWD)

k0ua · Jan 30, 2013

Dodge Man another thing to look for is the HVAC doors. One went out on our 2006. Fortunately it was the easy one to fix behind the glove box. They are electrically actuated, and the gears strip out of the actuator. Batteries are hard to get in and out of the engine compartment by my way of thinking. Other than that it has been a pretty good car.. will get near 29 MPG on the highway.

James K0UA

stuckmotor · Jan 30, 2013

We've never had a sun roof that didn't eventually leak. I hope your luck is better.

davehowell · Jan 30, 2013

Not answering what is right for your daughter,, but I wish I had a dad like you when I was learning to drive. But being a dad who has asked himself this question every time the next child turned sixteen, I was struck by a series of articles from an editor of a major car magazine who bought his son a mustang/camaro/firebird class car on his sixteenth birthday, and the child was dead in a week.

He (tragically) asked, what is the safest car for your children to drive when they are just learning. His research told him that it was not the car, but the number of seats in a car that mattered. The accident rate was very closely linked to how many kids were in the car. His conclusion: the safest and best car to learn to drive was a small 2wd pickup that would only hold one other kid, and the light rear end would teach a lot of lessons about driving. For what it worth, that is what I always got for my kids. Maybe useful to some......Dave

Diamondpilot · Jan 30, 2013

I rent a lot of them. I get a couple a month. Also get a lot of Malibu's. Noting fancy and getting pretty dated but ride nice and give you a lot at that price point. That 3.5 is bulletproof.

Rear struts seem to be a quick wear item but a easy fix.

Chris

schmism · Jan 30, 2013

95,000 miles in 4 years? wow.... fleet car?

and why do the turn signal and door chime come through the front speakers?

timswi · Jan 30, 2013

schmism said:
95,000 miles in 4 years? wow.... fleet car?

and why do the turn signal and door chime come through the front speakers?

I've been out of the car audio hobby for a while but I'm told that many of the vehicle sound effects come through the audio systems now...That's why you have to be careful with aftermarket replacements....Not sure what you drive but you may notice that the chimes etc don't sound like transistor radios anymore....Honestly I never cared enough to actually put my ear to the speakers to test this.

I can easily put 95k on my pickup in 4 years...Could be fleet or could be someone like me that lives a good distance from work....I end up replacing my trucks every 4 years or so for that reason. I used to run them to 200k..I don't do that anymore.

Dmace · Jan 30, 2013

I like that as it allows options like the volume control of the hazard and turn signals like on our 2012 Mazda 3. Also, if I'm on the phone through the stereo system via Bluetooth, it will not make any sounds that would disrupt my call.

dodge man · Jan 31, 2013

Yeah, I was suprised it came through the speakers, but I guess its not a bad idea, until they stop working.

I heard the long drawn out story of why the car had so many miles on it, but it came down to a lady the traveled alot for her job owned it.

RobertN · Jan 31, 2013

My parents got an Impala when I was a kid. It was a year old when they got it. Ran great!

It was a '63 SS327-4spd though

Good running car though

3930dave · Jan 31, 2013

timswi said:
I've been out of the car audio hobby for a while but I'm told that many of the vehicle sound effects come through the audio systems now...

Including some of the "sports" cars that "reinforce" the engine/exhaust sound thru the speakers.... pretty lame, IMO.

Dodge Man - good choice, that should be a safe car for your daughter to drive - good sized, but still decent on fuel. Seen that drivetrain rack up major miles.

Rgds, D.

Dmace · Jan 31, 2013

3930dave said:
Including some of the "sports" cars that "reinforce" the engine/exhaust sound thru the speakers.... pretty lame, IMO.

Now who would do that, certainly not a great company like BMW... : laughing:
http://jalopnik.com/5843332/new-bmw-m5-fakes-its-engine-noise-for-your-pleasure

Jim in ICT · Feb 1, 2013

Bought our daughter an '06 Impala to drive to college. It was a lease car with 70K miles. She loves it. I drive an '08 Impala LT with the same door lock problem - left rear door. I rarely use that door, but need to get it fixed.

lutt · Feb 1, 2013

dodge man said:
I've posted a couple of times on vehicles I was thinking about buying my daughter. She is 15 and it will be her first car. We at first were looking at Linclon LS's, and then a Jeep Grand Cherokee. We ended up with a Chevy Impala LT, a 2008, a 3.5 V6, 95,000 miles. Its red, has some kind of package that includes leather, sun roof, and a rear spoiler. It has decent tires, and the leather seat on the drivers side shows just very slight wear, and the inside is almost perfect. The outside has a few chips, but no dents or dings.

The bad part. The front speakers were out, which I knew before we bought it, and the rear door lock in back was out, which I didn't know. I bought it as is. I would have let the door lock slide, but the manual button is at the back of the door, so you can't reach it from the front seat. The door lock actuator cost $200 and it took me 2 hours to put it, but it seemed like 8 hours. It was a nightmare to install, but I probably saved $200 doing it myself.

The front speakers is where all the sound for turn signal clickers come from and all the door chimes, so I replaced those for $50.

All and all I'm hoping its a good car for her. We've had it about 2 weeks, and it appears it will get about 20 to 22 mpg the places she will drive.

Congrats for your daughter, I am sure she is excited. I am friends with all of the personal at the local Chevy dealership. Small town where I trade, known most of them my whole life. They all like the Impala cars. Been a good car for Gm. I think you guys done all right. The door actuator is weak on the 08 trucks also. My first one went out before the 36000 mile warrenty was up in my current siverado. I have one out right now, when I get time I need to replace,they are a pain. Are the Impalas like the truck where the window regulator and door lock actuator are one unit? You are going thru something I will before long. I think we are going to give our oldest daughter our Colbalt, I have mixed feelings about that,there is not much around those cars. That is one thing about the Impala,full size car. I may wind up getting here a truck. I hope your daughter enjoys here car as much as you probly enjoyed getting it for her. LUTT

dodge man · Feb 1, 2013

On the Impala, the window regulator is seperate. The widow track does get in the way. Anybody thinking about fixing them its really not that tough of a job, just very akward. I spent almost an hour just getting the new door lock moved about 12 inches from the hole in the bottom of the door to the back of the door where it sits, then getting the outside door handle rod hooked up. Its just really hard to see what you are doing. I'm sure if I have to do another, it would go quicker.