2014 Chevy Impala Receives Rave Reviews

The 2014 Chevy Impala has beaten luxury cars like the Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar to win the top spot in Consumer Reports’s list of best sedans for 2014. The ranking marks the fist time in more than 20 years that an American automaker has outstripped rivals from Europe and Japan to land on the top of the magazine’s coveted list of recommended vehicles in a model year. Since 1992, Japanese sedans have won the top spot a total of 12 times, while cars made in Europe garnered that honor the remaining years. The Chevy Impala’s score of 95 was the highest handed out by Consumer Reports this year, and was magnitudes greater than the 63 out of 100 rating the car earned in 2013.

Rare Accolades

The latest Chevy got high marks from Consumer Reports for its agility on the road, its acceleration, and overall comfort. The car also got an appreciative nod from the magazine for its peppy 3.6-liter V-6 engine, its respectable 22-miles-per-gallon fuel efficiency, spacious trunk and relatively cavernous cabin space. Interestingly, the 2014 Chevy, which starts at around $27,000, also scored well for fit and finish, a category that American cars have not fared particularly well in for numerous years.

Ranked with the Best

According to Consumer Reports, available features on the 2014 Chevrolet Impala make the car comparable with vehicles such as the Lexus LS460L and the Audi A6 that cost at least $20,000 more. Some of the other cars that the Chevy Impala beat on its way to top spot included the Jaguar XF and the Acura RLX. In awarding the highest ranking to the 2014 Impala, Consumer Reports noted that General Motors had managed to pull-off a “phoenix-like” transformation between the previous model and the 2014 version. Even so, the magazine stopped just short of recommending that consumers buy the vehicle because of a lack of data about its reliability.

Positive Recovery of the American Auto Industry

The highly positive 2014 Chevrolet Impala reviews by Consumer Reports is being viewed by some as another indication of the renaissance of American automakers. After being handily trounced by nimbler automakers from Japan and Europe for more than two decades, Detroit’s Big Three automakers have made a slow but steady recovery in recent years. General Motors, the maker of the Impala, is a good example of that recovery. So far this year, the giant automaker has released as many as 18 refreshed or new vehicle models, and generated over $2 billion in profits during the first half of the calendar year. The company’s new models are expected to give General Motors one of the newest line-ups of vehicles in the industry.

Cautious Optimism

The American auto industry’s recovery comes even as consumers have begun spending on new cars once again after a lull of more than three years. According to a recent estimate by the Center for Automotive Research, U.S. consumers will purchase about 15.5 million new cars this year, about 15.8 million in 2014 and just shy of 16 million cars in 2016. The numbers are still well below the record high of 17.3 million cars that Americans purchased in 2001. Even so, they mark a definite upward trend from the auto sales figures of the last three or four years, according to the Automotive Research Center.