As much as many like to bash the U.S. automobiles, I found it interesting about two items I found today.

In Car & Driver's web site, they had the top five hybrids on the market. Beating them all for #1 honors, was the 2009 Ford Escape.

On the Fox news website, the honors for best fuel economy of any pickup truck, went to the Ford Ranger/Mazda B2300.

C&D made the point that the buying public has a huge difficulty in accepting that the manufacturers that they were blasting a few years ago, are actually beating their favorite makes.

I was pleasantly surprised to get 34 mpg in my Impala this past week on the way to South Nags Head NC. This is with 4 people and a weeks worth of gear. Y'all can keep yer Prius's!!

Yesterday I saw a new Impala and my wife likes them as well. This was burgandy with tan leather interior. I'am with you MM, keep the Prius.

Another Impala success story. People are just stunned when I tell them the fuel economy I have gotten on my Impalas from 2000 to today.

I had a rental '08 Impala as a rental for 9 weeks this winter. I think the new ones are actually very sharp looking. I am not biased against domestics, was really hoping to be impressed, but I gotta say it was a disappointment.

16 K miles on the odo. Torque at step off was nice, a bit of torque steer but not out of line on a front driver. Seats (split bench) a solid 3 on a scale of 1-10, general controls and handling about a 4 on 1-10...I mean my '89 Taurus had better seats. My '82 Honda had better seats. Com'on people why does the General need to reinvent the heater and AC controls? Handling was sort of just there and for all of the exterior size/width, the space on the inside was not impressive. The Blue Light Special was about all I could think about when I got in. Solid fleet vehicle effort.

Honestly was never so glad to get back in my 8 year old Subaru with 106,000 miles.

Best Economy/Value of NEW vehicles is probably the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla/Matrix. Cheap, SURPRISINGLY ROOMY, and freakishly efficient.

SUV wise, Toyota Highlander Hybrid. About a 25mpg mix driving average. Ford Escape is a fine vehicle too!!!

????????????
My 07 Impala with ... 65,000 miles on it is the most comfortable car I've ever driven. I've driven a few cars in my day (I'm a professional mechanic) from Audis to Subarus I even had a few taurus's. My Ipala can seat 6 and you could put six more in the trunk if you wanted to. I'm sorry Skibrain but I don't think we'll ever agree on this.

I don't get your problem with the heater controls, one knob for the fan, one for the temp and on to direct the airflow to the different ducts, what's wrong with that???


BTW starting your post with "I'm not biased against domestics" is akin to starting out with "Now I'm not a racist but..."

It's okay to be biased, just don't try to act like your not!

OK. Sorry, I guess I hit a nerve and should keep my report to myself. I'm glad you have had really good luck with your Impala. They seem like an incredible value and since the rental was covered with an insurance claim, I was eager to spend some time in one to consider if I'd buy one.

'97 Jeep. '96 Caravan. '89 Taurus, are a few of the vehicles I've owned recently and put lots of miles on. If I were shopping for a replacement for my Subaru right now I would very likely buy a new Malibu.

The Impala was white. Does that make me a racist?

Uh-oh brain, doesn't the Malibu have the same A/C control as the Impala?
I will say my wife's 97 Taurus' leather bucket seats were a bit nicer than my 04 (and 00, 01, 03, and 03) Impala's seats. But the interior plastic rattles were unacceptable. As was the 15mpg in the city!
You have a Jeep, a Dodge, and a Ford, you don't know what real cars are, so I forgive you!

But thanks for sharing your review. I have thought that the seats in the latest Impalas are a step back, compared to the seats in the 2000-2005s.

What are their mpg ratings, D-Rod?

Chevy builds Impalas to target a specific market segment. If you're not in that target, you're not gonna like it.

Just like if your an economy car driver, a new Bentley is going to feel "wrong" all the time.

Doesn't mean that it isn't a good car. GM does now and has always built some of the best powertrains in the business. There V6 highway mileage has always been good.

My parents get good mileage with their Buick, and they are a good value, but I would never own a GM car if I can help it. Their ergodynamics are totaly wrong for me.

They're combined city/highway average is around 30mpg. Usually in the 35+range on the highways. Very high 20's for intown driving.

The Civic is rated 25/36. But before the new EPA numbers, it was 30/40. 40 is a bit optimistic on the highway. They're usually closer to 35/36/37. However, the City number of 25 is a bit low. Thanks to the atkinson cycle engine, most real world city numbers are closer to 30mpg than 25mpg. Combined averages are typically right on the 30mpg mark. That's substantially better than the 23mpg or so combined average of an Impala. And before you go off on the "room" a Civic, you better go sit in on. They're not as big as an Impala, but "space engineering" goes a LONG ways. It's not a crackerbox.

And just for the record, 0-60mph times for the Civic and 3.5L Impala are basically the same. So don't start the performance BS...it's false.


With all of that said, and Impala and Civic are a different class of vehicle!! They were not designed to compete with each other. And glad to hear about the 34mpg economy you got! That's fantastic to hear!

As far as economy cars, I think the GM-Volt will dominate. Look out OPEC, this can hurt you.

$40g's put it out of the price range of many....BUT it's a great starting block!!! It's the correct direction!

True, but the other gas savers are increasing in price too. But I'm hearing the Volt will be around low to mid 30's due to fed breaks on the car.

That's good to hear!!

I rented a 2008 Ford Focus for a trip to Cleveland a while back. I was impressed by the car both the performance and the seating/leg room/interior. I got just shy of 40mpg (rated for 35mpg on the highway) round trip from Detroit to Cleveland. On the way there I took the turnpike and the way home I took 2 lane roads through the small towns. Very nice car.

I then followed it with a 2007 Ford Focus rental to Chicago. OMG what a difference in cars. I only got 32mpg on this one and the fit finish and comfort levels were well below the the new 2008 Focus.

Hey!!! Thanks for posting the Ford numbers! I knew the older Focus was terrible in almost all categories. Glad to hear the new ones are competitors!!!!!

The old Focus was on its last legs in many ways, but when I was testing new cars, I was impressed with what they had done. I seriously considered one instead of my Taurus, but it was a case of one need outweighing the other. They are trading my work Dakota in on a GM crew cab. Actually, my truck will go to another department that needs a better road/light duty truck to replace their 3/4 ton. They did not feel good about replacing a 3/4 ton with anything smaller. I would have been real happy to get a Escape hybrid for what we needed. It would have been an ideal solution for campus.

Friend is a service manager at a Ford dealer and he claims they can't keep the new focus in stock. Now if they could only hold any resale compared to a Honda or Toyota

It is not going to hurt Ford any that the Escape is a top pick for safety in the report released today.