The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

T he I FP * H al to n H ill s *W H E E L S M ay 0 9 20 13 4 automatic. There is no plan for an all- wheel-drive version. Available fi rst is a 3.6-litre V6 with 303 hp and 264 lb/ft of torque. By sum- mer there will also be a new, 2.5-litre four-cylinder with 195 hp and 187 lb/ft of torque. And by the end of the year, a 2.4-litre four-cylinder with battery eAs- sist will be available. Fuel consumption rating for the V6 is 11.1/6.9/9.2L/100 km (25/41/31 mpg) city/highway/combined and 9.9/6.3/8.3L/100 km (29/45/34 mpg) for the 2.5-litre. Chevrolet will offer the Impala in LS, LT and LTZ trim levels. The 3.6-litre will hit showrooms fi rst with a starting price of $32,945 for the LT and $39,645 for the LTZ. The 2.5- litre is priced at $28,445 for the LS, $31,445 for the LT and $36,445 for the LTZ. Pricing for the 2.4-litre en- gine with eAssist will be announced at a later date. Destination charge on all models is $1,550. Chevrolet notes the starting price of the 2014 LS is only $145 more than the 2013 model. Cargo volume is 532 litres (18.8 cu ft) which is actually larger than the topline Cadillac XTS, which rolls down the same assembly line in Oshawa. Passenger volume is up over the out- going model at 2,973 litres (105 cu ft). To put that into perspective, the wheelbase on the 2014 Impala is 1.2 inches longer but that results in 3.5 inches more front legroom and 2.2 inches more rear legroom. Towing is allowed but only when properly equipped at 454 kg or 1,000 lb. The Impala now comes with stan- dard 18-inch wheels but the big story is the brakes. They use new technol- ogy to extend rotor life, in this case to 120,000 km-- double the life of rotors on the outgoing model. Larger 19- and 20-inch wheels are also available. Starting with "Quiet Tuning" intro- duced on the Buick Verano, GM has upped its noise, vibration and harsh- ness (NVH) game, resulting in some of the quietest cars on the road. On the Impala you will fi nd acoustic windshield and side glass, triple sealed doors with an acoustic perimeter rain defl ector, acoustic baffl ed baffl es be- tween the inner and outer body pan- els, cavities fi lled with foam and sound deadener on the cargo fl oor. Aiding all this is 12 per cent better aerodynamics through a number of things such as wind tunnel tuned side mirrors and wind blockers in front of the tires. The four-cylinder models also gets under body panels and a shuttered radiator grille. Safety begins with 10 standard air- bags plus optional rear cross traffi c alert, front and back collision warn- ing, adaptive cruise control, side blind sport warning, lane department alert, and OnStar which is still the best navi- gation/emergency/connectivity system on the market in my estimation. The reason is live people are there to assist you, it never goes out of date and the turn-by-turn route guidance has never, ever, been wrong when I have used it. Which brings me to MyLink, the lat- est version of Chevrolet's infotainment system. Centred on an eight-inch screen with natural voice recognition (a fi rst for Chevrolet), icons depict various func- tions such as phone, audio, weather, satellite radio, map (navigation), set- tings, OnStar and video. The latter al- lows movies to be playing on the screen when the Impala is not moving. Basically you can control this by touch but the idea is to use voice com- mands wherever possible so both hands on are the wheel and your focus is straight ahead. With my usual driving companion, we were let loose in the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario headed for the town of Haliburton. I suggested going over to the village of Dwight where there is wonderful lit- tle pier with a gazebo epitomizing "cot- tage country". I punched in "Dwight" without a street address or postal code and it took us right to the heart of the hamlet. But when we tried to talk to the system, it would shut down. We learned later that day the Impala LTZ we drove had a glitch in the voice recognition. On the second day we had a LT and the system worked as adver- tised. Impala uses new brake technology The cabin of the 2014 Impala retains the signature twin cockpit seating for the front passengers. Note the eight-inch screen for the MyLink infotainment system on the centre of the dashboard. Continued from pg. 1 See EASY, pg. 6