2004 Chevy Impala LS
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 11:53 pm
My granddad is having to move to a retirement home and is no longer allowed (able) to drive. I pounced and asked to buy it from Dad so that my BF has something to drive.
It's got 93,000 miles on it, which is way lower than what I thought got put on it during its days as a company car. Overall, the interior isn't in bad shape, and the engine *sounds* alright. I don't know if it's got ABS and traction control yet, but I do know it has the 3.8L V6. The power steering ran low for a long time and the pump still whines over some turns, but otherwise feels perfectly normal. The engine is just covered in the slow-seepage dirty oil film, but experiences from the past say this is pretty normal for GMs...or at least for the ones we worked on. Overall, I'd rate the maintenance as "just enough to keep it from keeling over," since I know my dad's company kept up with it even after gdad bought it.
Oh, and it feels like it's got a little miss at idle. I still need to go check for codes, but it sure feels like the cars I've sat in and watched the computer-reader that had misses. There's no check-engine light on, but I think the bulb is burnt-out. I have to see if it lights up on startup tomorrow.
The highlights:
The car is scraped everywhere. Not a surprise; cars were more "work" objects than companions to my granddad.
It was in at least one wreck, and the body shop did a terrible job. Like, "just paint it after we assemble it" bad.
The interior of the car is the second filthiest I have ever been in. I'll be ok with cleaning it, but I was very impressed even with my experience in others' vehicles.
The suspension is disturbingly squishy. I feel like I'm driving a boat with all its body sway, and it fish-flops over speedbumps. Is this normal for impalas and other vehicles in its class? It does not feel safe at all.
Pictures to come later. Hopefully Dad won't change his mind about it. He enthusiastically agreed to $500, then an hour later realized it might actually be worth more than that.
The only thing I'm really complaining about here is that the suspension doesn't feel right at all. I'm very worried that the springs are worn down and that the shocks may also be bad. I will conduct tests at a later time. I'm very worried about it because we desperately need another car, but we are recovering from a bad financial shock. Obviously, I'll be driving his car every couple of days long enough to make sure it's not just sitting and accumulating more maintenance expenses, but I just really hope the suspension is still sound. Everything else is just kinda funny and not a big deal.
It's got 93,000 miles on it, which is way lower than what I thought got put on it during its days as a company car. Overall, the interior isn't in bad shape, and the engine *sounds* alright. I don't know if it's got ABS and traction control yet, but I do know it has the 3.8L V6. The power steering ran low for a long time and the pump still whines over some turns, but otherwise feels perfectly normal. The engine is just covered in the slow-seepage dirty oil film, but experiences from the past say this is pretty normal for GMs...or at least for the ones we worked on. Overall, I'd rate the maintenance as "just enough to keep it from keeling over," since I know my dad's company kept up with it even after gdad bought it.
Oh, and it feels like it's got a little miss at idle. I still need to go check for codes, but it sure feels like the cars I've sat in and watched the computer-reader that had misses. There's no check-engine light on, but I think the bulb is burnt-out. I have to see if it lights up on startup tomorrow.
The highlights:
The car is scraped everywhere. Not a surprise; cars were more "work" objects than companions to my granddad.
It was in at least one wreck, and the body shop did a terrible job. Like, "just paint it after we assemble it" bad.
The interior of the car is the second filthiest I have ever been in. I'll be ok with cleaning it, but I was very impressed even with my experience in others' vehicles.
The suspension is disturbingly squishy. I feel like I'm driving a boat with all its body sway, and it fish-flops over speedbumps. Is this normal for impalas and other vehicles in its class? It does not feel safe at all.
Pictures to come later. Hopefully Dad won't change his mind about it. He enthusiastically agreed to $500, then an hour later realized it might actually be worth more than that.
The only thing I'm really complaining about here is that the suspension doesn't feel right at all. I'm very worried that the springs are worn down and that the shocks may also be bad. I will conduct tests at a later time. I'm very worried about it because we desperately need another car, but we are recovering from a bad financial shock. Obviously, I'll be driving his car every couple of days long enough to make sure it's not just sitting and accumulating more maintenance expenses, but I just really hope the suspension is still sound. Everything else is just kinda funny and not a big deal.
