ee Se ees iy OA Tae oe A A et ; ge Uae ee " NEWS photo Neil Lucente The 1994 Chevrolet Impala SS is based on the full-size Caprice sedan. Standard powertrain is a 5.7-litre V8 and four-speed automatic transmission with column shifter. Four whee! disc brakes, ABS, dua! airbags, and 17-inch wheels and tires are all standard. - Thirty-five ye Greg Wilson TEST CRIVE WHY — IN an age of fuel- efficient four-cylinder engines, wind cheating aero- dynamics, and low rolling- resistance tires — is Chevrolet reviving an unabashed symbol of unfet- - tered horsepower, liberal gas consumption, and full-sized excess? Simple really. The attraction with the “muscle-car” lingers like an unfulfilled love affair with baby boomers who were there in the heydays of horsepower, but didn't have enough money to buy a new car. For some, there still ain’t no replacement for displacement, Thus, the Impala SS is reinear- nated, Low, wide, mean. ominous and black all over, the Impala SS looks like a police pursuit cruiser from hell. Just ask some of the matarists | passed whose fear turned to indig- nation when they realized [ wasn't’ a pursuing constable. The Impala’s SS nameplate goes back 35 years. From 1959 to 1967. it was Chevrolet's full-sized drag- on-slayer, The 1959 Chevrolet Impala SS was equipped with Chevrolet's “big block Super Turbo Thrust” 348 cubic inch VS engine with 315 horsepower. Later versions of the impala SS had the famous 409 V8 with 380 horsepower. To put that Into perspective, consider that few engines today have more than 300 horsepower, and most have less than 200. Don’t expect big horsepower numbers from the new Impala SS, though. Yes, it has fat 225/50 series {7-inch radials on alloy wheels, dual exhausts, and ominous, mono- chromatic black paint. but the stan- dard powerplant ts # 5.7-litre (350 cn. in.) pushrod V8 engine that puts oul 250 horsepower — generous by today’s standards, but nothing like original [Impala SS models. And the standard transmission is a four-speed automatic with a col- umn shifter. (Wimp-out!) A manual transmission is not available. In addition, the Impala SS weighs a hefty 1,812 kg (almost 4.000 Ibs.) Straight-line accelera- lion is brisk, but not rocket-lik And if you can believe it, the new Impala SS is reasonably fuel- 66 Despite its take-no-prisoners appearance, the '94 Impala SS is a very civilized car. 99 efficient. Despite its bulk, the Impala SS averages 11.6 litres per 190 km (25 m.p.g.), and gets up to 8.6 litres per 100 kilometres (33 m.p.g.) on the highway, according to figures released by Transport Canada. (The original Impala SS would have been fucky to get half that). Despite its take-no-prisoners appearance, the °94 Impala SS is a very civilized car. It's extremely quiet, except for some road noise from the wide Goodyear pertor- mance radials. And it’s easy to drive. Motoring down the freeway in overdrive listening to the stan- dard CD player, you could easily forget you're in a “muscle-car”. {t's when you head into the twisty bits you realize the enor- mous gripping power of those big radials and the extra stability of the stiffened suspension. The brakes are superb — the lmpala SS comes with standard with four-wheel disc brakes and ABS. There's litle road feel fram the overboosted power steering. but the big Impala SS foes where you point it ina con- trailed fashion. Don’t forget, it has rear-wheel-drive, the optimum dri- vetrain setup for balanced handling. The Impala’s interior in simple. altractive and tastefully laid-out, much Jike the 94 Caprice on which the impala SS is based. (and unlike a lot of other GM curs). The large digital luminescent speedometer dominates the instrument panel which includes four accompanying analogue gauges — but, a bit sur- prisingly. there’s no tachometer. The five-passenger interior offers two Jarge front bucket seats with rather poor Jaterai support. Dual airbags. power windows, and power door locks are standard equipment. The driver and pussen- ger seats are both height-adjustable, and there's plenty of storage space including cuvin holders. One complaint: the rear seat won't fold down, and the big trunk is made less useful by a large tem- porary spare tire positioned awk- ar-old nameplate continues to be associated with quality wardly in the center rear area. For just over $20,000, this is a big car with many big features — a good value. in my opinion. With limited production numbers, the Impala SS is also pretty rare. and is likely to hald its value better than a standard Caprice. Price as tested $31,508 Type four-door, tive-passen- ger full-size sedan Layout longitudinal front engine/rear-wheel-drive Engine 5.7-litre OHV V8. sequential port fuel injection Horsepower 260 @ 5.000 np.m. Torque 330 ft-lbs. @ 3,200 rp.m. Transmission four-speed automatic Tires 255/50 ZR-17 Curb weight 1.812 kg (3,995 lbs.) Wheelbase 2.945 mm (115.0 in.) Length 5,439 mm (14.1 in.) Width 1,956 mm (77.0 in.) Height 1.415 mm (55.7 in.) Trank capacity 577 litres (20.4 cucft.) 3 Fuel consumption City: 14.5 V100 km (19 m.p.g.} Hwy: 8.6 1/100 km (33 m.p.g.)