This is pretty much what I drove when I was on holiday recently (I also went to Vegas). EXCEPT I had the SS model! It was probably considerably quicker than this (5.3 litre V8, 303BHP), it also had leather seats (the front seat headrests have the SS logo sewn onto them, the steering also had the SS logo instead of the Chevy logo or the Impama symbol) which were nice enough, although nothing like the kind of leather seats you get in new Mercs and stuff like that. Instead of fake wood trim it had this kind of grey carbon fibre-like stuff like you get in sporty Audis and such. It also had cruise control where you could press a button and increase and decrease your speed without touching the pedals, I liked that. The air conditioning was absolute GODSEND in Nevada, I don't how I (or anyone for that matter) would have survived without it, the temperature often went as high as 120 degrees fahrenheit which I found to be CRAZY hot, especially when you're from somewhere like England. Whenever I was outside during the day it was like being in an oven, although the funny thing is it wasn't the kind of the heat that makes you sweat easily. Driving-wise the Impala SS had a nice amount of power, nothing scary though. Apparentely it does 0-60 under 6 seconds but it didn't feel quite that that fast, I really wish at point I'd tried to test this claim for himself by flooring it from a standstill (I probably would have burnt away most of the tyres), but I didn't feel like doing this in cities. I was gentle with the throttle when pulling away, a couple times I accidentely pressed a little harder and got a bit of wheelspin. The thing is the SS has front wheel drive so I probably would have gotten some torque-steer if I had floored it, I've never driven anything quite that powerful before, so I'm not used to peeling away really fast. Handling-wise it was alright for a large American car, although something like a BMW would probably have totally shamed it, not that I've ever driven one though. The suspension seemed alright, I once made a pretty sharp left hand turn onto another road at 30-40 mph and it coped alright . Some other American cars I've been in like the 2000 Buick LeSabre were much more wallowy, though maybe the SS has different suspension than the other Impalas. From what I remember it felt like a heavy car, more so than my dad's Vauxhall Omega that I'm driving at the moment, but then it had a pretty big engine. The only thing about the handling was that the car had a big turning circle compared to European cars, but maybe not so much by American standards.

The SS was still part of the full-size class in the rental lineup, I don't think it cost any more than the lower trim Impalas like the LS and the LT, that's what you should have gone for if it had been available to you. The only downside to the SS is that it definetely chomps through more fuel than the LS, I think average mpg was about 20 or so, and whenever I touched the accelerator fuel consumption fell into the lower 10s. But then petrol is so damn cheap in the US, you don't tend to care so much. Overall I was fairly impressed by the Impala SS, though I think any BMW, Merc or Audi sedan with a similar sized engine would have run rings around it.

If you like I could post some photos of the SS I drove, though the only way it looks different to querty's Impala is that mine was white and it has the SS badge on the truck lid and on the front doors. The wheels were also different (nothing flashy though) and the grille was honeycomb instead of the slatted grille on the car above. I also took a picture of the 5.3 litre engine.