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Most people don't want tiny death trap cars. I commend the head of the EPA for scrapping those onerous and unrealistic Obama era CAFE standards. Let the market decide what people want to buy instead of this stupid social engineering. There's a reason why the three best selling vehicles in America are pickup trucks.
Those standards would have been cheaper for the consumer in the long run. You enjoy spending money on gas?
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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The issue is that if gas prices spike Detroit 3 will once again have to start from scratch to develop and / or market small cars for the US market while the East Asian companies will already have a stranglehold on small car reputation.
Taurus is stupid. They did this once before. Lets take the most popular car model name ever, and dump it or call it something else.
What's in a name...
Ford might have sold a lot of them but from what I see at the car auctions and CL resale value is horrible for them. And the ones I see driving around a few years old here in Arizona always have faded paint and exterior trim falling off. Not well made cars IMHO.
They have an awful lot of sedan models and sedans are not selling.
In addition to all the Chevy models, Buick has duplicate models, plus some of their own. They could probably be fine with two models big and little. Maybe none. CUVs seem to have replaced sedans almost entirely.
Ford might have sold a lot of them but from what I see at the car auctions and CL resale value is horrible for them. And the ones I see driving around a few years old here in Arizona always have faded paint and exterior trim falling off. Not well made cars IMHO.
Depends on the year. Some of them are great cars, some are terrible. It also can depend on the trim. Some years the SHOs were great cars while the regular Taurus was terrible. Ford had a big problem with paint failure in the late 1980s and early 1990s. That is probably what you are seeing.
Generalizations do not work.
Right now, GM is the king of paint/coatings technology. All the others are trying to catch up in that regard. It does not take long though, they just steal each others ideas. They buy parts from the same suppliers or even from each other. They buy each others plants, or share them. That is why cars have become so much the same now. However I do not think GM shares any of their coatings technology/plants. At least not yet.
Depends on the year. Some of them are great cars, some are terrible. It also can depend on the trim. Some years the SHOs were great cars while the regular Taurus was terrible. Ford had a big problem with paint failure in the late 1980s and early 1990s. That is probably what you are seeing.
Generalizations do not work.
I am talking about cars at least 5 years to 15 years old. There are hardly any late 80's early 90's Taurus cars still on the road. Those folks who still have them on the road should be buying lottery tickets because they are quite lucky indeed. The Arizona sun is tough on paint jobs. Only the really good ones survive more than a few years looking good or are almost always out of the sun.
And resale value is something pretty easy to determine. Used Taurus are usually near the bottom of similar cars from their year.
I just did a quick CL search in my area for 2005 Taurus and 2005 Accord. The Taurus models are listed between $1,500 and $2,000 for that year, the Accord is $4,000 to $5,000. And I bet its easier to sell a $5,000 Accord than it is a $2,000 Taurus.
My daughter purchased a Sonic Premier a few months ago. We enjoy it. It's a good car, fun to drive. We plan to keep it. I really have to adjust to driving it compared to my SUV. I tell my daughter it's like driving a golf cart compared to an SUV but I like it. The gas mileage is great!
Those standards would have been cheaper for the consumer in the long run. You enjoy spending money on gas?
You can only squeeze so much energy out of a gallon of gas. The easiest way to get better mileage is to reduce the size of vehicles. I'm 6' 2" and I don't want to sit in a cracker box. I like my full-size Chevy pickup and I'll spend the extra money on gas.
I’ll feel really upset if GM cancels the Impala, but i do understand the business side of it. All in all, it is GM and Chevys fault for not promoting and advertising the Impala like they should have as it’s a wonderful car that is perfect in many ways. No wonder nobody are buying them because without great marketing it is hard to get the consumers attention.
After test driving a 17 Malibu LT model and test driving the Impala, hands down the Impala is a better car and that why I bought it over the Malibu.
First of all the Malibu was a great car to drive, it was very quiet, had nice materials and felt more modern than the Impala, but that’s where the differences end.
The Impalas back seat had much more interior room, especially leg room vs the Malibu. The interior materials are also much nicer in the Impala, more soft padding on the door panels and sturdier feeling trim.
The car feels much more substantial and heavy, the doors are heavier and feels like a luxury car upon closing shut. You get that nice “thunk” that you don’t get on the Malibu. The Impala ride is more isolated and quieter, and the body feels tighter than the BU.
So many small details are also better on the Impala that most people probably will never think of, such as the center arm rest in the Impala has metal hinges that feels solid, vs the plastic hinges on the Malibu and most other vehicles. The Impala uses thicker weatherstripping and it’s trunk lid uses huge thick steel hinges with actual springs for tension vs the thin hinges and thin bar type hinges that are in the Malibu and every other midsize sedan. Plus the Impala has one of if not the most trunk space in the entire industry.
Things just feel better put together in the Impala as well and it has a higher build quality, offers a powerful and reliable V6 engine, so it doesn’t makes sense why anyone would purchase a new Malibu when you can easily buy a 1-2 year old Impala (which is a better all around sedan) for less than what it will cost you to buy a new Malibu?
I don’t get some people, and sadly many of them have over looked the Impala for years and probably settled for other lesser midsize sedans when they could have gotten an awesome one that not only looks “sane” and attractive but also powerful and stately for not much money.
The 14-18 Impala has to be one of GMs/Chevy’s best efforts the company has put out in years.
At the same time, GM hasn’t really updated the 10th gen Impala since and it came out in 14 to make it more modern like adding LED lights all around, making a back up camera standard, and possibly adding a new 8 speed or 9 speed tranny to the already great GM’s 3.6 V6.
This is probably why the Impala sales have slowed. Not to mention too much newer fresher models from other brands for potential buyers to choose from.
I think it's really market trends of fewer people buying large sedan models overall. Check out the sales figures for not just the Impala, but also the Avalon, Lacrosse, Taurus, Maxima as well. And even the sales for cars like the Camry and Accord are kinda flat, or not increasing all that much.
Sure, the Impala is a great car. But I think there are fewer and fewer people buying such cars - and more going to CUVs...
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