GTA91

iTrader: (14)

Took the wife's car in today and traded it for another one.

Earlier this year I bought her an '06 Impala SS black/black with about 50k on it. We really liked the car but it was already out of warranty which sucked and I really wanted a '07 for its 5yr/100k warranty. Well, I lucked out and a local dealer got a twin to hers except it was an '07 and had light gray leather and a 6 disc changer. It also only had 37k on it and 3 years left on the warranty. Needless to say we worked a deal and we're on our second LS4 Imp SS.

I never modded the other one except for tint... gonna do the same to this one and maybe a CAI and eventually exhaust.

Just thought I'd drop in here and say hi to the other LS4 guys.

mike690003

iTrader: (2)

Smart move trading for the better warranty. With the higher mileage on you 06, who knows when that tranny was going to chunk itself.

GTA91

iTrader: (14)

Yeah, I extended another 3yr/36k bumper to bumper as well. Are the transmissions any better in the '07s?

Nacho SS

iTrader: (4)

Nice pick-up...post some pics!

nmp0098

I haven't heard as many people complain, but that is probably because the 07's are newer. There weren't any mechanical changes, but the software may have been dialed in better. If you are worried, when the warranty expires you may want to add a shift kit. From reading up on these trannies before I had mine built, there are some weak points in this tranny but a shift kit covers a lot of them for a mostly stock LS4. I've always loved the way a shift kit feels too.

94ss06gxp

iTrader: (5)

what shift kits are available, and which one do most people use?

Neanderthal

Congrats on the new wheels. I hope the car is enjoyable and trouble-free.

BTW, I believe the final drive is 3.29 on the Impala SS.

I'm considering a warranty upgrade, I just bought my 07 GXP with 18K but 3/36 expires at the end of Feb. The 5/100 runs through Feb. 2012.

Both the fi-guys at dealerships said their "other" than GMPP were better warranties with less hassle getting work. That would be Zurich at the Chevy dealer and United Car Care at the B-P-GMC shop.
But everything I read or hear says almost all independent warranties are almost worthless.

steveman0018

good thinking.. You prob save the money in the long run. as for the extended warrenty, i went with another warenty besides GMPP. I know the service dealer pretty well at my dealer and he gave me a 25 % off coupons for extended warrenties. They gave me an extended warrenty from a company called The Warrenty Group. I already have a 5yr 100,000 powertrain but extended my bumper to bumper 48 months / 50,000 mile and after the coupon and downpayment, it came out to 58 a month, 1087 dollars total after downpayment.

nmp0098

I think getting an extended warranty on a used car is really smart if you aren't going to mod the car in a way that will void it, especially if you don't work on the car yourself. You basically pay for one big repair up front, and if things go really bad you come out way ahead. If nothing big happens, you still can get every little thing that goes wrong taken care of right away and you know you'll be in good shape when the warranty expires. If you work on the car yourself, you can usually come out ahead skipping the warranty, but you can also get burned by a couple big breakdowns.

I've got a Transgo because that's what Dave at TEP uses, and they are a good company that's been around for a while. Several other people have the Transgo kit. I also know a few people that have used them in rear drive trannies for years and swear they are great for drivers. ZZPerformance also sells a shift kit, but I don't know who makes it.

The Chevy's come with 3.29s, the Grand Prix's only come with 2.93s but they get bigger stickier tires. According to GM's performance numbers and Car and Driver, stock for stock, the extra gear gives the Chevy's an edge in straight line acceleration.

Neanderthal

So I guess GM might consider a shift kit a warranty-cancelling mod?

Mgpeagle

iTrader: (6)

On the SS models it is a 2.93 final drive just like in the GXP's. A shift kit will not void the warranty unless it caused the failure. They won't even know it's in there.

Here are the specs...

http://www.cars.com/go/crp/research....=&aff=national


-Mike

GTA91

iTrader: (14)

I'm gonna agree that it has 2.93's by its MPH/RPM shift points.

Here is the car. Sapaugh is always good to deal with.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevr...fCarsQ5fTrucks

nmp0098

Hmmm, I see what cars.com says.... Car and Driver lists the Impala SS as having 3.29s:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...a_ss-road_test
http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezfl...b1ae80723d.pdf

and the Grand Prix with 2.93s:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/..._gxp-road_test
http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezfl...f42798e242.pdf

I have just assumed that they were right, and that if the Impala got 3.29s than the Monte would too. You're right that it's easy to tell by when you shift 1-2 at WOT. I went from 54mph stock to 48mph (I left some room because I have tap shift and wanted to save the valvetrain, but it should be 49) after my gear change change. Are you saying that your Impala's WOT 1-2 shift speed is 54mph? I wonder how C&D got that wrong, cause they made a big deal about how the Impala accelerated faster despite the less grippy tires (the 0-60 and 1/4 times came in a tenth faster). I did drive them both and I liked the Grand Prix a lot more, but I don't remember anything about when the Impala shifted.

RickAKATed10

iTrader: (1)

Congrats!

keviiinn

iTrader: (1)

straight from GM

however...
http://archives.media.gm.com/us/chev...a/06index.html



and for the Grand Prix

http://archives.media.gm.com/us/pont...x/06index.html

Neanderthal

I too was going on CandD and other mag or internet test specs I've seen.

MPH/1000 RPM with 3.29s shows about 34, 2.93 about 37 according to CD.

I'm heading to the Chevy dealer tomorrow for an alignment, I'll try to remember to pick the brains at Service.

FasterTheBetter92

My father works at a Pontiac/GMC truck dealer, and the only thing GXP grand prix and Impala SS's come in for is blown transmissions. The torque converter tends to explode, causing catastrophic meltdown. His 80 year old co-worker blew TWO within two months. Unless he is moonlighting as a streetracer, that speaks to the integrity of those trans'. Other than that, it sounds like a steal, good upgrade with the warranty. Good Luck!

nmp0098

Sorry for the thread hijack... the SS is a good pick up other than the weak-link transmission, and some guys haven't had any issues even with mods so you never know. Other than the transmission case, all of the parts are interchangeable with other 4T65s, so if you drive your cars into the grave like I do you'll always have plenty of parts. I know guys always want to compare these cars to F-Bodies and look at 1/4 times, but if you think about a V6 Camry as the competition... ...actually I don't want to think about driving a Camry too much.

I know that all of our trannies come with a 3.29 final drive, and the 2.93 overall drive ratio is achieved with the chain sprockets. The Chevy lit seems to call that out. If someone had shown me the cars.com info or the C&D info, I couldn't refute either one cause I don't have a car. Since they contradict, I'm hoping that someone with a Chevy will chime in because that would put the issue to bed in my head. I suspect that C&D was off in the weeds based on what GM says, but I'd like to know for sure.

SILVER LS4

The Monte, Impala and GXP all have a 3.29 gear in the transaxle. However, they also all have a 2.93 overall gear ratio due to the underdriving chain and sprockets from the enging to transaxle. There are some aftermarket chains and sprockets to easily (relatively) change the overall gear ratio.

Sorry just read the above post fully. More of the same.