Best sedans over the past 20 years

With a tremendous 95-points overall, the 2014 Chevrolet Impala stands as the highest-scoring sedan in Consumer Reports’ current ratings. An impressive feat, especially considering the previous Impala scored a meager 63 points—too low to be recommended. Digging through our archives, we find that this chart-topping accomplishment is truly historic.

Since 1992, Consumer Reports has published car ratings in its annual auto issue. In thumbing through past magazines, we found that no domestic-branded model could claim the title as top sedan for a given year—until now.

As the list below conveys, precious few models could claim this accolade, with almost all being upscale and luxury cars. Once they made the list, they tended to claim the coveted spot for more than a year. For perspective, we included the top domestic sedan for each year.

For a more detailed look at how the Chevrolet Impala performs in our tests, visit its model page for complete Ratings and road test.

—Jeff Bartlett

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