Consider that any combination of Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (Bob and Carol, Bob and Ted, Bob and Carol and Alice, etc) now fits under the heading of a nuclear unit, it could be said that any vehicle that carries two people qualifies as a family vehicle.
Notwithstanding that new reality, in most people's minds the term is undoubtedly best suited to the Ward and June and Wally and The Beaver type of family.
Whatever your definition, however, the 2000 Chevrolet Impala 4-door sedan is extremely well suited to giving each of five or six people their own space.
In the real world of family vehicles, of course, that means room for two adults up front and enough space between the offspring in back so you can avoid those "Moommm, he touched me" moments.
You could also put Bob and Ted back there and they would be very comfortable, but there's really no vehicles on the road big enough to allow three adults to share one bench seat for long.
So the roominess thing is covered pretty well for a car with two rows of seats. What this usually means, however, is that you end up with a vehicle that's too big for many drivers to maneuvre comfortably. To get around this problem, Chevrolet moved the wheels to the corners of the car and kept its overall car length in the intermediate car range.
The other thing that's intermediate about Impala is its price. GM of Canada has done an extremely solid job on this front, giving the reasonably well-equipped base car an MSRP of $24,495 and the more powerful, better-equipped LS a sticker of $28,995. These are mid-size car prices and represent a considerable bargain for a car this large and roomy.
More than roomy, Impala's interior is exceedingly comfortable. Through a nice combination of design and execution, Impala delivers all of the toys and amenities you're likely to need or want in a quiet, professional manner and puts them where a wide variety of sizes will be able to reach them.
The primary attractions inside are the result of Impala being designed with the help of people from the Paragon Project, which includes wheelchair users, people with arthritis, vision or hearing impairments, people with knee or hip replacements, and mature drivers age 50 and more.
The result is a sedan that's about as welcoming and easy to use as any vehicle on the market, and the benefits extend to everyone who might use the car, regardless of age or condition. For example, the ignition and emergency flasher controls are on the dash, where they're easy to reach; the control buttons are all large and easy to use; the outside mirrors are larger; the interior door release is big enough to use three fingers on; and the interior chimes can be adjusted through the stereo for volume.
And if you like being kept up to date on your car's condition, Impala has been rigged so that there are telltale lights to let you know if you have a problem with any one of 27 different systems.
Impala is also an exciting place to spend time, since the techno-gnomes at Chevrolet have slipped a considerable amount of driving skill into its mix.
Starting with a stiff but limber chassis, Chevrolet added a bunch of parts that take Impala to a reasonably high level on the cornering counter. The key element there is a 4-wheel independent suspension setup that has been tuned to provide a certain amount of skill under hard driving.
But too much of that would have made Impala harsh on regular roads during normal driving, so they stopped well this side of the line that would make it uncomfortable. Boring driving is therefore at least comfortable and quiet in the base Impala.If you want something with a little more handling attitude, you need to step up to the LS package with its Touring Package and its higher spring rates. The LS also gives a slightly tighter steering ratio, for a more precise feel in aggressive driving.Discs are standard on all corners on both trim levels, which is a nice touch on a car in this category, but an anti-lock system is reserved for the LS trim only.
For oomph, Chevrolet relies on two semi-powerful engines -- the competent 3400 V6 (180 horsepower at 5200 rpm and 205 pound-feet of torque at 4000 rpm) in the base car and the 3800 Series II V6 that's optional in the base Impala and standard in Impala LS. The upscale engine delivers 20 more horses and 20 more pound-feet of torque at exactly the same rev points, and that makes a considerable difference. Sometime next year, by the way, expect to see the welcome return of the Impala SS with the turbocharged version of the 3800.
As for style, the new Impala is fine from the front, kind of hunky from the side, and questionable from the rear. Chevy was after that early-60s appearance with those round rear lights and I guess they caught the style, but it looks like they forget to remove the protective plastic cover.
But that's about the only quibble I can think of to make about a car that does a very nice job of pulling together a bunch of sometimes disparate elements -- room, comfort, attitude and performance -- into one attractive and affordable package.