These Bimmers were driven by myself and my lovely car trading spouse. The only bad thing about having a car nut in a marriage is having two car nuts. The Impala SS mechanically was sound. It was always dependable...still is. I have spent a crap load of money restoring the old girl to my idea of perfection. I just hated the way GM could produce an absolute beast SS with unbolstered seats and squeaking door panels. Want to talk mods...My 96SS has...K & N Cold Air Induction, 54MM TB with TPI Air Foil, Borla Exhaust, Hypertech Programming, and a stump pulling 3.73 (replacing the weak ass 3.08)...and oh...the suspension...I dare any car in or out of it's class too keep up with it on a twisty mountain road...Hotchkis Sway Bars, BBK Springs, Koni Shocks, complete poly bushing rebuild, rear trailing arms (to center the off center rear wheels - thx GM for that cheese). I also put in cross drilled rotors, stainless brake lines, and high performance pads. $6,000 later and you have the car GM SHOULD have built. Complete HVAC rebuild (of course). Many other mods (visual under hood and outer) have also been done. The cheesy rattling door panels are my next project with Dynomat and "creativity." BTW, during this past 12 years I have also had a 2005 Turbo Diesel Bug and a 2004 Dodge Viper Ram (that is what I traded so I could give the wife the 1st CTS.
I never said the Impala was a bad car, but compared to Euro models of the same era, it was crappy. Want to see some real cheese, check out my vintage 77 TA with 43K original. It is immaculate but I cannot imagine that kind of cheap workmanship ever being made again as an acceptable standard - I'm not saying I don't love my Detroit Iron, but they can and MUST do better to compete.
Re: Bubba Came Home to General Motors 
Good to meet you and look forward to reading additional posts. This is a good forum with a lot of good people with an unbelievable amount of information and knowledge on this car.
