I was told by a friend that an Impala would beat my auto AE . Say it aint so! Anyone here ever race one?

 

You mean the Caprice-based Impala? If so, probably in a street race.. they have monster torque. You might catch up on the drag strip, but stoplight to stoplight he'll definitely win. If you mean the newer fwd Impalas, just laugh at the guy...

 

No, he was saying a new fwd impala could outgun the maxima off the line . The maxima would catch up fairly quick, but apparently for 0-30mph, the impala would be in front. I won't be finding out anytime soon as I'm still "trying" to baby my car (almost at 1000km).

 

i thought those impalas were hogs........ guess not
james

 

If anyone wants to know:
In 1/4, the Maxima will kill the 96 Impala (SS) by close to 1/2 a second. 15.1 in the SE versus 15.5 in the SS.
In 0-60 the Maxima wins too a/ a 6.7 versus a 7.1.

 

I saw a nitroused 96 SS on TV, also with exhaust and so forth. It was only running mid-high 13's. A maxima w/ nitrous and those same mods will kill an SS.

 

Yeah... Screw this friggen non immunity! (does that make sense?)

 

* Survivor song plays *

 

He said "auto" not 5-speed...
The auto maxima will be a close race but will probably lose on the streets because the SS will hook up better and has a ****load more torque...this is Stock vs Stock...

The Impala SS is HEAVILY DETUNED from the factory (it has a factory 5.7L 350...Vette Engine...detuned to 260hp)...
Put a simple cat back exhaust and it'll run deep into the 14's because the stock exhaust is a joke...
My father has a 96 Impala SS that's currently running a 13.0 @ 105mph 1/4 mile...naturally aspirated!
It used to be nitrous, then he went supercharged, now he is running N/A...
Be careful...its VERY easy to make those 4300lb land yachts move out nice!

As far as the newer FWD V6 "Impalas"<~~~what a joke...
they suck and are slow as hell....no worries.

 

Those 1996 Impala SS's are baaaaddddd vehicles. Be careful. Actually, I'm about to buy a new ("new") car, and my choices are down to a 1996 Impala SS or a 2001 Maxima, obviously the maxima is a bit more expensive... from the Impala's that I've test driven, they feel like you're driving a boat, but sweet moses do those things move. From a dead stop, just stomping on the gas pedal will nearly throw that whole thing sideways.

I -DID- kick one sideways when I did a U-turn and decided I was going to lay a little rubber and head back the other way... I severely underestimated the amount of torque that thing has Of course if I bought an Impala, it would be a "weekend" car, and I'd keep it garaged for 5/7 days of the week, and I cant justify spending 18 - 20k on a 1996 vehicle with low mileage.. I'd probably hot-rod it out a little too, throw some sweet looking wheels on, maybe an exhaust and a 50-shot of nitrous.

Not to dethrone the maxima or anything (which undoubtedly is a sweet !@#$%^$ car or I wouldnt be posting here but Impalas are excellent rides if you're in to that sort of thing. Nothing beats the sound of that big old V8 cranking up and roaring. (Plus, look at the rear wheels on the 'palas, must be about 12" wide). Spend a little money on one and you're riding in a modern-day version of a 1968 Chevelle SS.

Viva Maximas, though.

(Oh, and yes, the 2000+ V6 FWD Impalas are complete jokes. They're ugly as ****. Chevy never should have killed off the 1996 body-style SS... if they still produced those new from the factory, I'd have already bought one without question)

 

I dunno, I have heard an SS pass by, and it sounded just like a caddy. My best friend has an SS.

 

I've run one from a stoplight, he was stock. I got ahead of him by the end of first and stayed in front until I let off at the top of third. Even though I managed to show him my tail lights, I have to say he wasn't far behind and it would take a really strong auto to take one...

And as everyone else mentioned if it's a new one w/ FWD and V6 it's no contest for the Max.

Good Luck.

 

I have both, a 95 Impala SS and a Y2K auto and as much as I like my Maxima (which is a lot) its no contest in real world acceleration. Particularly in the cut and thrust of around town acceleration. Its not so much the raw speed but that the LT1 engine delivers such effortless torque. They're just very different experiences (both with long lists of strengths) but there's no doubt in my mind which would be at the other end of the block first.

 

Did you fix your TCM? That helps improve your autos performance. I was going by the hard facts. And those facts were for the 5 speed. The 5 spd beats the SS. The auto... well, I think the SS beats it by a little. One thing I would like is for the maxima to pick up from a rolling start the way the SS does.

 

DAMN those things are ugly!

(older version and new- Just my humble opinion, of course.)

 

FRont looks pretty cool. Back, pretty ugly. They should have done more to distinguish it from the Caprice.