First of all, this article lost me at “Chevrolet” - I’m not buying ANY Government Motors car so long as Uncle owns a single share or has a single board member. However, I did rent one earlier this year, so I’ll comment about it even if I won’t ever buy one.
The 2014 Impala with a 3.6 liter, 305 hp engine will do 0-60 in 6.7 seconds, a quarter mile in 15.0 at nearly 94 mph, and can get 28 mpg on the highway. Combined with an 18.5 gallon tank, that’s a range of 518 miles. Having driven a 2013 (which is essentially the same car), I can verify that it has excellent acceleration - nearly as good as my ‘69 GTO. I also got about 30 mpg on the road at 65, though I admit it fell “a bit” when I was testing its torque curve out.
The only thing new about this car is the CNG option - which is a good one, mind you, if you can actually find any of the stuff. I suspect it’ll become more available over time, but the performance is nothing better than at present with a “mere” gasoline engine.
Oh, and Chevy is supposed to come out with a nearly 200-horse, 4-cylinder later this year that will likely get at least 2-3 mpg better.
Of course, if the assholes would produce a diesel hybrid for a car like this they could get 40 mpg in the city and on the highway, and you’d have a car with lots of leg room and trunk space, plus tons of torque to make it a fun car (especially with the flexibility of a 6-speed transmission).