American Sport Sedans

Road Test
In the '90s, sedans with rock-and-roll in their fuel lines have been resurrected as full-on factory offerings-and we've gathered the three hottest versions for a thorough test. Chevy's Impala SS is a persuasive subset of the Caprice line, with rear-drive, a full frame, and a big-cube American V-8. Pontiac is the purveyor of the higher-tech Bonneville SE, which is front-drive, optionally supercharged, and has enough back-lit-red instruments to make an aircraft pilot feel cozy. The front-drive Taurus SHO is a perennial favorite of the hot-sedan set and comes with a high-tech Yamaha-built DOHC V-6 and optional four-speed auto-shifter. Although the EPA classifies the SHO as a midsize car and the SS and SE as large cars, all are similarly priced and offer comparable performance.

All three cars follow weighty performance legends that they must live up to. For the Impala SS, it's the cars for which it was named, cars like the '67 version that packed a massive 427 cubic-inch big-block V-8 and churned out as much as 435 horsepower. The Pontiac reflects a heritage that includes the '65 Catalina 2+2, which used a Tri-Power carburetion setup atop its 421 cube powerplant, and massive aluminum drum brakes with eight-lug hubs. Meanwhile, the Taurus counts the amazing '65 Galaxie in its family tree-a car that used its 427 cubic inches to terrorize dragstrips and to carry Fred Lorenzen to victory in that year's Daytona 500.

During the '80s, Detroit plastered nearly every car with a "Euro" this or a "Touring" that. But now the Motor City has managed to pull off a really neat trick: It's combined the sophistication those tape-and-stripe jobs only pretended to represent, with real muscle reminiscent of the great V-8s.

The Impala SS nameplate (which debuted in '61) has the longest history of the trio and may be the most recognizable. Parked next to its competition, the Chevy is certainly the biggest of the three. The Impala offers the longest wheelbase, the widest track, the fattest tires, the greatest overall length, more ground clearance, extended cargo capacity, the most interior room, the biggest engine, the most horsepower-the list goes on and on with one exception on the mine-is-bigger-than-yours roster: It boasts the lowest base price and the lowest as-tested price. And despite being the heaviest car in this mix by about 345 pounds, it shows its taillights at the dragstrip, clocking the fastest 0-60-mph and quarter-mile times of the group.

Created for the Corvette and cloned for police service, the LT1 engine powering the civilian Impala SS owes no apologies to anyone. The 5.7-liter OHV V-8 with sophisticated multiport electronic fuel injection contributes classic big-displacement horsepower of 260 at 5000 rpm. With a torque figure of 330 pound-feet at 3200 rpm, the Impala generates the most pleasing twist of the three by far. Such prodigious output translates into spine-compressing launches, rapid acceleration (0-60 in 7.0 seconds), and an overall feeling of road-going authority.