At first glance, the individual seats look flat, like semi-benches, but when you sit in them, they provide good support for your thighs and your back. They feel like bucket seats. But then the front-center passenger has to straddle the split between the seats. A slight hump down the center accommodates the exhaust; but it also hampers legroom for the front center passenger.
It's easy to orient yourself inside the Impala. Controls are logical, work smoothly, and are easy to see. They follow the function of those in the smaller Malibu, but they're bigger. New for 2002 are individual temperature controls for the driver and passenger.
Although Impala boasts more total interior volume than the Dodge Intrepid, the Chevy's rear seat area is shorter on useable legroom. Still, the Impala is better in this respect than the Ford Taurus or the even the full-size Ford Crown Victoria. The Impala's rear seating position is comfortable and relatively high, which makes it easy to get in and out. There are three shoulder belts in the rear, as well as LATCH child-seat tethers. In the LS, the rear seat is split 60/40 and folds down to allow bulky items to protrude from the trunk; that's handy if you're a Home Depot regular.
The headliner is nicely padded. Chevy says this design will pass the federal head injury requirements scheduled to come into effect for all cars in 2003. A seat-mounted side-impact airbag is standard on LS and available as part of several option packages on the base model. Next Page