Used, but like new car, please don't flame.

[Atlas]

Well , some of you guys know me long enough now (almost 4 years WOW ) to know that I am a Ford truck guy through and through and you also know that I have a penchant for nice clean,low mile, original rides. You've may have noticed on my signature that my second or third wheels aren't necessarily blue oval. Well it's been a long time since I've owned one , actually not since I worked at the Oshawa, Ontario GM car assembly plant in the late 70's/early 80's have I owned a GM product. But I came across a real nice ,mint condition 2003 Chev Impala LS Sport , with 28,000 miles on it and the price was right. I have to say I'm impressed with this car , fit and finish is nice and very nice driving car. I thought I'd support our domestic market rather than foreign for a change. Here are some photos.............. If you click again after it enlarges from the thumbnail pic it gets a little bigger yet.

http://profile.imageshack.us/user/atlasex/

[woods]

Nice car. A good product is a good product, no matter what sticker someone slaps on it.

[michael69]

Hey, those are great cars. My mama has the same identical car. It rides and drives great and lots of power from the little V6. Also gets great gas mileage to be as big as it is.

[AlleyCat]

Nice looking car. i've never owned one but they have to be reliable. I've seen lots of them being used for law enforcement work.

[Mancar1]

I have owned a whole bunch of other than Ford. Nothing wrong with it, Enjoy the nice ride

[MrMajestyk]

Nice car. A good product is a good product, no matter what sticker someone slaps on it.

Very well stated

Great find there Atlas on sweet ride

[Kurt Combs]

A good car is a good car. I own a 65 El Camino, 2003 Honda Odyssey, 1998 Ford Ranger, 1996 Buick Le Sebre, 2005 Ford Taurus and a 1972 Ford F-250. I won't list all the cars and trucks I have owned, but I will say the best and the worst were Fords. My 1998 Ranger has been one of the best vehicles I have owned. It has 200,000 miles on it and still looks like it is maybe a few years old. Now the worst, 1995 Ford Windstar, couldn't pass a mechanic's shop without stopping. As usual for Fords, it drove nice, but the 3.8 V-6 was junk. Now in my sixties I have come to realize that things like the sound of the exhaust system and how a vehicle steers are more important than the brand. But I am rambling on..... If you like the style of the vehicle and the way it drives, cool. Do some research to see if there are any design problems such as a tendency to blow head gaskets, and then adopt the ride. Take care of it and enjoy it for many years to come. And the usual disclaimer: You mileage may vary and your satisfaction may not be the same as mine, just my opinions. So enjoy your new ride....

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

might as well replace the intake gaskets already. or at least check that they aren't already leaking... VERY common leak

i've done handfuls of intake gaskets and head replacements on those 3.4l's

i have a 2005 malibu with the 2.2l engine and have only had to do oil changes for the last 145k miles, and a tune up as preventative maintenance

EDIT: just noticed its a 3.8l, much better engine than the 3.4l.

3.8l's do have intake leak problems too, not as common though

[basshound71]

A good car is a good car. I own a 65 El Camino, 2003 Honda Odyssey, 1998 Ford Ranger, 1996 Buick Le Sebre, 2005 Ford Taurus and a 1972 Ford F-250. I won't list all the cars and trucks I have owned, but I will say the best and the worst were Fords. My 1998 Ranger has been one of the best vehicles I have owned. It has 200,000 miles on it and still looks like it is maybe a few years old. Now the worst, 1995 Ford Windstar, couldn't pass a mechanic's shop without stopping. As usual for Fords, it drove nice, but the 3.8 V-6 was junk. Now in my sixties I have come to realize that things like the sound of the exhaust system and how a vehicle steers are more important than the brand. But I am rambling on..... If you like the style of the vehicle and the way it drives, cool. Do some research to see if there are any design problems such as a tendency to blow head gaskets, and then adopt the ride. Take care of it and enjoy it for many years to come. And the usual disclaimer: You mileage may vary and your satisfaction may not be the same as mine, just my opinions. So enjoy your new ride....

I was a sucker and bought a 95 Windstar too. Head gaskets were done 3 times and trans took a dump 4 hours from home at 11 pm in downtown St Louis at a whopping 36,460 miles. Yep less than 500 out of warranty. Thank you! What a piece of crap. Really turned me off on Fords for a long time.

[Atlas]

Hey thanks for the input and compliments guys, I've always felt the same about brands myself. There are good ones and bad ones , I did a whole heap of research and found these cars to be pretty good. I really pay attention to mechanics/owners accounts of the cars I buy, I have to say I've always had pretty good luck with anything I've ever bought. I am pretty picky when it comes to vehicles and this one seemed to fit the checklist. It's definitely one of the nicest, almost 10 year old cars I've come across , when I get in it I still smell the leather and the interior is spotless. It has a full dealer maintenance record and was serviced a few blocks away from me it's whole history. We have a bit of a perfect storm here in Victoria, the winters aren't harsh and except for a couple of times a year the main roads get some salt, and if it does ever snow most folks don't drive, because of that the cars are clean and most are rust free. On top of that there are many seniors living here and most don't drive much so there are many low mile, well maintained cars.
Brutus , do you recommend I switch over the coolant to the regular stuff or is the Dexcool alright? I've heard tell that the dexcool is hard on seals etc. but I don't know enough about it. I have read a couple of negative blurbs about it , but not from the non-bias experts.

Dave

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

Hey thanks for the input and compliments guys, I've always felt the same about brands myself. There are good ones and bad ones , I did a whole heap of research and found these cars to be pretty good. I really pay attention to mechanics/owners accounts of the cars I buy, I have to say I've always had pretty good luck with anything I've ever bought. I am pretty picky when it comes to vehicles and this one seemed to fit the checklist. It's definitely one of the nicest, almost 10 year old cars I've come across , when I get in it I still smell the leather and the interior is spotless. It has a full dealer maintenance record and was serviced a few blocks away from me it's whole history. We have a bit of a perfect storm here in Victoria, the winters aren't harsh and except for a couple of times a year the main roads get some salt, and if it does ever snow most folks don't drive, because of that the cars are clean and most are rust free. On top of that there are many seniors living here and most don't drive much so there are many low mile, well maintained cars.
Brutus , do you recommend I switch over the coolant to the regular stuff or is the Dexcool alright? I've heard tell that the dexcool is hard on seals etc. but I don't know enough about it. I have read a couple of negative blurbs about it , but not from the non-bias experts.

Dave

dex-cool is really BAD when it gets old, it turns into thick gummy stuff.

if you regularly change it every 1-2years and keep the coolant topped off you won't have a problem, when dex-cool mixes with air it gets gummy too so it usually gets gummy in the reservoir no matter what

i flushed mine out until it was clean water then refilled with fresh dexcool cause i like to have the specified fluids in my vehicles, but next time i'm switching to back to green due to the gummy reservoir.

so in summary dexcool is ok if it is maintained, which most cars i've seen are still running their factory fill dexcool after 10years and they are severely clogged

[69timemachine]

+1 on the Windstar engine.... My parents had one with the 3.8 and we loved the ride and roominess, but the engine blew the head gaskets at like 115,000 miles and our local dealership didn't want to fix it under the recall, so my dad just let it go back as-is.

On the Chevy, my fiancee's '98 Lumina is the same basic platform I believe as the Impala, and hers still knocks down 25mpg on mixed driving around town. Not bad considering its size and that it has 165,000 miles! We haven't taken it on an interstate roadtrip, but it might get 28mpg if we did! Good luck with it!

[Atlas]

Hey thanks Brutus , I'll keep an eye on it. If it looks bad , I may just switch it with the green glycol.

69timemachine , ya the mpg ratings are really good on these cars , I've heard tell of close to 30, mine is rated at 28.5 highway , I'm happy with that.