The used Chevy Impala to buy is a 2014-2020 tenth-generation car with the 305-hp 3.6-liter V-6, ideally a 2016 or later model that avoids most of the early recall pile, backed by a history report that tells you whether it spent its first years in a rental or company fleet. It is a roomy, quiet, cheap full-size sedan. Big, cheap sedans like this often pass through rental and company fleets before a private owner ever sees them, so the paperwork matters more than the paint.
Chevy built the last Impala on February 27, 2020. Car and Driver's report says it was a 2020 Premier in Cajun Red Tintcoat, and that this generation started with the 2014 model year. NPR covered the same day as GM converted the Detroit-Hamtramck plant to electric vehicles. Six and a half years later, here in October 2026, the youngest Impalas are just past their original warranties and a lot of the early ones have well over 100,000 miles.
Four-cylinder or V-6
Get the V-6. Car and Driver's 2019 Impala review calls the standard 197-hp 2.5-liter four "lethargic" and the optional 305-hp 3.6-liter V-6 "the one to buy." Both use a six-speed automatic and front-wheel drive only. The mileage gap is smaller than you would guess: C/D's V-6 Premier returned 32 mpg on its 200-mile highway test while a four-cylinder LT managed 28. For 2020, MotorTrend notes Chevy dropped the 2.5 and the LS trim entirely, leaving LT and Premier with the V-6 only, rated 19/28 mpg, and MotorTrend's own test ran 0-60 in 6.3 seconds.
C/D's complaints are worth repeating because you will feel them on a test drive: a slow-shifting automatic and a spongy brake pedal. A soft pedal on a 90,000-mile car could just be the design, or it could be old fluid and worn pads, so get it inspected rather than guessing. The good stuff is real too. The ride is calm, the back seat is huge, and C/D fit 19 carry-on boxes with the rear seat folded.
The ex-fleet and rental angle
A big, cheap, comfortable sedan is exactly the kind of car rental counters and company fleets buy, so expect fleet or rental lines on some Impala reports. Fleet history is not a dealbreaker by itself. Some fleet cars got scheduled maintenance on the dot. Others were driven flat out by strangers for 18 months and then dumped at auction. What you want from the report is the ownership type, the length of each stint, and whether service records continue after the fleet sale. Our explainers on how rental history appears on CARFAX and what fleet use means on a report walk through how to read those lines.
One more decoding trap. NHTSA's vPIC database lists "Impala" and "Impala Limited" as separate Chevrolet models for 2015 (I checked the model list this morning). They are different cars, so run the VIN through our Chevrolet VIN decoder guide or the vPIC decoder before you compare prices.
Recalls: 2014 is the busy year
I pulled the NHTSA recalls API for the 2014 Impala on October 16, 2026, and it returned twelve campaigns. The ones I would ask a seller about first:
- 14V450: 2014 cars built November 5, 2012 to December 20, 2013 can lose power steering assist from a poor ground at the power steering module. Dealers clean the ground stud and update software.
- 14V541, 15V085 and 15V202: the electronic parking brake actuator may not fully retract, leaving pads partly applied. 14V541 also covers some 2015 cars. Fixes are software updates.
- 15V465: 2014-2015 cars with vented-heated front passenger seats; the occupant sensing system may fail to turn off the passenger air bag with a child seat installed.
- 14V489: on some 2014-2015 cars the center console storage may not stay closed in a crash.
The 2016, 2017 and 2020 queries came back with no campaigns. The 2018 and 2019 cars share 18V576, a GM-wide rear caliper piston coating issue fixed with a brake bleed. That is why I lean toward 2016-and-newer cars. Confirm closures with the VIN using our Chevy recall check by VIN steps.
Checking the report without overpaying
As a licensed reseller of official CARFAX and AutoCheck reports (we are not affiliated with CARFAX, AutoCheck, or Experian), our prices have run about $5.50 for a guest CARFAX, $4.50 for members, and around $6.75 for the bundle, versus the $39.99 to $44.99 range when you buy direct. Please confirm at checkout; the numbers change. Skip the "free full report" sites, and do not take a seller's screenshot as proof of anything. Check title brands on NMVTIS too. If you are still deciding between big sedans, our used Toyota Avalon, Chrysler 300 and Chevy Malibu guides cover the obvious alternatives.
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!
Log in to leave a comment.