Consumer Guide® Automotive places each vehicle into one of 17 classes based on size, price, and market position. Large Cars comprise the biggest passenger sedans and wagons. Large, inside and out, they also include the only 6-passenger cars. Large Cars offer lots of metal for the money and are dominated by domestic brands.

Our Best Buys include the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum. Our Recommended picks are the Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego.

Impala and coupe sister Monte Carlo get extensive 2006 makeovers marked by fresh styling, new engines and added features. Chevy previewed the new models this past January ahead of a summer 2005 launch. Impala's new look is surprisingly Ford-like from some angles, but most dimensions see little or no change. Three models return. All come with curtain side airbags, previously unavailable, plus suspension tweaks and stronger structures that Chevy says improve ride and handling. The base Impala, now called LS, also gets standard ABS and traction control like the uplevel LT and sporty SS, and all boast new engines. The LS gets a 210-hp 3.5-liter overhead-valve V6, while the LT comes with a 240-hp 3.9-liter version. The SS becomes the first V8 Impala since 1998 by adopting GM's familiar 5.3-liter engine, rated here at 303 hp. Exclusive to the V8 is Displacement on Demand, the GM cylinder-deactivation system designed to save fuel in gentle driving and highway cruising. A 4-speed automatic will again be the only transmission offered. More details, including prices, should surface soon, so keep checking back with us.

Meantime, prospects for a new full-size V8 Chevy sedan have died amid a general GM sales slump that has drastically cut the company's 2005 profit forecast. This was one of several North American cars slated for 2007-08 on the new rear-wheel-drive Zeta platform developed by GM's Australian branch. Another was a revived Chevy Camaro "ponycar" to battle Ford's new smash-hit Mustang. Now, to save money, GM has cancelled all U.S. Zeta models, at least for the forseeable future.