So, almost two weeks ago, my dad got in an accident in my parents' 2002 Impala LS. He was taking my sister and one of her friends to a birthday party/sleepover when some guy in a 2003 Acura TL pulled out right in front of him. My dad swerved, but the guy made contact at the passenger front wheel and ended up scraping down most of the length of the side of the car. The other guy was cited as at fault. Thankfully, nobody was hurt in either car. The airbags deployed in the Impala, but amazingly, they did not deploy in the Acura.
You can clearly see the body damage to the Impala in the pictures below, most of which is pretty self-explanatory. It appears that the impact to the front wheel broke the lower ball joint at the least, pushing the wheel back and bending the strut and possibly damaging the CV joint on that side. Interestingly, the sunroof popped up as a result of the airbag deployment and is now jammed and won't close. The damage to the Impala really doesn't look that bad, but the car has been totaled by the insurance company. My dad has spent the past week and a half fighting the Acura driver's insurance company to at least get Kelley blue book value for the car since the car was in absolutely excellent condition. The have refused to budge, and my parents finally had to accept their offer for about $1000 less than KBB value for the car since they simply cannot go any longer without a car.
My parents are going to buy a new 2006 Impala LTZ. The pictures below are of the actual car they will be coming to pick up this Saturday. I found this car at another dealer about 40 minutes away from me and had it transferred to my local Chevy dealer for them. I looked at other cars for them, but they can't really afford anything more expensive than about $28k, and they need a car with a very large trunk, leather, heated front seats, and sunroof. There really isn't too much else in that segment of the market equipped the way this car is for that price. I told my parents to strongly consider a new Charger R/T, but my mom hates the front end styling of that car.
The 2006 is definitely a nicer car than their previous bodystyle 2002. While the car is still built on the GM W body, the suspension is firmer and tighter with improved shock valving, the interior is definitely higher quality but still includes a lot of plastic, the interior is tons quieter, the leather is much higher quality, and the exterior styling, while plain, is more modern looking. The new car is a fully loaded car with all available options including 6 disc in-dash CD changer. The car also has a Bose stereo and 17 inch wheels that weren't available in their previous car. The LTZ comes with GM's brand new 3.9 liter V6 with variable valve timing and variable intake manifold that produces 242 hp and 242 lb-ft. This naturally aspirated engine produces 2 hp more than the supercharged 3800 that required 91 octane gas. The new engine has a very nice sound with a pretty nice exhaust note. I drove a new SS, and that thing was damn fast and sounded sweet. My parents considered an SS, but some research on my part showed that alot of people are getting real world mileage of about 12 mpg in mixed driving with 91 octane gas. That wasn't going to fly.
You can clearly see the body damage to the Impala in the pictures below, most of which is pretty self-explanatory. It appears that the impact to the front wheel broke the lower ball joint at the least, pushing the wheel back and bending the strut and possibly damaging the CV joint on that side. Interestingly, the sunroof popped up as a result of the airbag deployment and is now jammed and won't close. The damage to the Impala really doesn't look that bad, but the car has been totaled by the insurance company. My dad has spent the past week and a half fighting the Acura driver's insurance company to at least get Kelley blue book value for the car since the car was in absolutely excellent condition. The have refused to budge, and my parents finally had to accept their offer for about $1000 less than KBB value for the car since they simply cannot go any longer without a car.
My parents are going to buy a new 2006 Impala LTZ. The pictures below are of the actual car they will be coming to pick up this Saturday. I found this car at another dealer about 40 minutes away from me and had it transferred to my local Chevy dealer for them. I looked at other cars for them, but they can't really afford anything more expensive than about $28k, and they need a car with a very large trunk, leather, heated front seats, and sunroof. There really isn't too much else in that segment of the market equipped the way this car is for that price. I told my parents to strongly consider a new Charger R/T, but my mom hates the front end styling of that car.
The 2006 is definitely a nicer car than their previous bodystyle 2002. While the car is still built on the GM W body, the suspension is firmer and tighter with improved shock valving, the interior is definitely higher quality but still includes a lot of plastic, the interior is tons quieter, the leather is much higher quality, and the exterior styling, while plain, is more modern looking. The new car is a fully loaded car with all available options including 6 disc in-dash CD changer. The car also has a Bose stereo and 17 inch wheels that weren't available in their previous car. The LTZ comes with GM's brand new 3.9 liter V6 with variable valve timing and variable intake manifold that produces 242 hp and 242 lb-ft. This naturally aspirated engine produces 2 hp more than the supercharged 3800 that required 91 octane gas. The new engine has a very nice sound with a pretty nice exhaust note. I drove a new SS, and that thing was damn fast and sounded sweet. My parents considered an SS, but some research on my part showed that alot of people are getting real world mileage of about 12 mpg in mixed driving with 91 octane gas. That wasn't going to fly.
