Anything to look out for when buying an Impala SS?

[turbofish38]

I have a Roadmaster wagon and love it. It sure beats a truck or SUV any day. I use it to pull my GN and other cars. If you are just looking for one as transportation and dont plan on doing any bolt ons or modifactions than you might want to consider the 94 or 95 years too. The big difference is the 96 has a floor shifter and OBD 2 where the 94 and 95 are column shift and digital speedo. All years use the same seats and aren't as bad as every one says they are. I've pulled a few 2K road trips and I can say those are better seats than the ones in my Riviera! My RM is a 95 and I have put 220K miles on it with 2 water pumps and it is still on the original opti-spark and transmission.It will probally last another 200K miles. A lot of those stories about bad opti-sparks are because people just dont understand how they work. I've seen OS replaced when they only needed a fresh coil or a plug wire or two. I've noticed the SSs are like the TRs and the prices for them are dropping as they are now 10 year old cars. I actually saw a really clean low mileage one for under 12K the other day.

 

[DonnieShort]

Thanks everybody for the info!! We are heading out the door to test drive it and I'll post later to tell how it went. Again, Thanks!!!

 

[bishir]

Bob, I'm close to you and I'm looking for a nice 4 door car for the wife. Send me pics and what have you done to it engine wise.

 

[GNX Guy]

PDP and carpet, many were replaced under warranty.

Had a 96 DGGM and really liked that car.

Joe

 

[victa1]

Originally posted by green95ss
I have had 2 1995 Green Impala's, and have loved them both. I will politely disagree with Raymond Bunch regarding the transmissions. Behind a stock motor, they may last up to 120K TOPS, unless you're lucky. With a modified motor, expect to rebuild quite often.


Very true. The stock tranny is very marginal in this car. A buddy of mine is a mechanic for the NJ State Police and has told me lots' o stories about tranny failures at 70-90K miles.

The Impalla SS is just a pretty Caprice police car, minus the beefed up frame, but WAY nicer interior.

 

[green95ss]

The Idler arm is another sore spot in these cars. Replace it with the Moog problem solver (I think the part number is K6187, but I could be wrong). Also, when prior to getting a front-end alignment, use the specs from http://www.impalassforum.com. It makes the car have a LOT less wander on the highway.

Hey Paul, how've ya been? Have you gotten the T back yet?

Guhan

 

[bishir]

Bob just sent pictures of his car. WOW Clean machine!

 

[DonnieShort]

Well, we got back from driving the car and I have to say I was very disappointed. The car was badly misrepresented and was a worn out rag. It's amazing what people try to pass on as a good deal. After driving it however, my wife thought that it may be to big of a car to drive everyday considering that she drove a 2000 Subaru 2.5rs for the last 5 years. But I think we have set our sights on something else and a little closer to the heart. A late model Regal GS and more specific the Regal GSX. We saw a few on Cardomain.com and they look killer so I'm going start a new thread about that. Thanks for everybody's help!!!