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The Chinese experiment | 2017 Buick Envision First Drive

The 2017 Buick Envision is a very good five-passenger crossover. The "but" you should anticipate will come in good time. First it's worth understanding why it exists at all. Out of the ashes of GM's bankruptcy a few flowers blossomed and the carmaker is doing exceptionally well, certainly far better than Chrysler has done in the wake of its free fall into Chapter 11. But of all the surprises at GM's turnaround, Buick surely ranks highest, without question the least likely player to thrive if you only study the North American market. Look farther than our shores, to China, however, and you won't be shocked. Note that the Envision, which has been on sale in China for a year and a half, will reach about 200,000 units this year; the entire Buick portfolio in the US only totaled 223,000 cars in 2015. Not only is China Buick's primary market, but what it makes there, like the Envision, is intended for a different sort of buyer. Here, we'd call it a compact crossover. In China the Envision is a relatively large car, and the buyer there is far more likely to use it as a tall limo, or at the very least, as a big-time status statement. That buyer is also very likely to be in his or her mid-30s – the average Buick buyer in the US is getting younger, but, at 58, is hardly a millennial. Still, Americans who buy the Envision will benefit from all of this China focus. Huge effort went into its development since the target competitor in China is the Audi Q5, according to Rick Spina, Executive Chief Engineer for the Envision. Spina explained that Buick went to the trouble and expense of isolating the entire chassis from engine, suspension, and driveline vibration and sound penetration. "If you look at non-luxury models like Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, nothing's isolated, everything is hard-bolted to the body, and so all that vibration goes into the frame." Spina says that even though you'd guess the China-built Envision shares the general parts bin of the Chevy Cruze and Equinox, it's almost entirely unique. "It's kind of an orphan," he says, because GM couldn't afford to invest in the ride tuning Buick had to have to compete with Audi in China for a volume Chevy product, so nothing from Chevy (for now) is on this platform. And although it would have made sense to have Cadillac or GMC share it, Cadillac's XT5 and GMC's Acadia were already on a different development cycle. Besides, he's pretty proud that the Envision was developed strictly for Buick.

Buick Envision aces IIHS crash tests

If you had any qualms about the safety of a Chinese-built car, set them aside. At least when it comes to the Buick Envision. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has tested the new GM crossover and it passed with flying colors. The Envision is the first Chinese-built Buick sold in the States, and it's also the first Chinese-built car the organization has ever tested. In what is an impressive feat for any new automobile, it earned the IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK+ rating. This means the crossover comes equipped with a forward collision warning system and earned "Good" marks in all types of collisions, including the difficult small overlap crash test. In addition to the forward collision warning system, an automatic emergency braking system is available on the Envision. Eleven other vehicles earned the TOP SAFETY PICK+ rating, including models from Volvo, Lincoln, Acura, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and Infiniti. That's good company, and combined with a pleasant, if not world-beating, driving experience, should make the Envision a car worth consideration. Related Video:

Junkyard Gem: 1997 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight LSS Supercharged

Oldsmobile got terminated by The General in 2005, in part because the marketing suits decided that the first three letters of the marque's name made the cars undesirable to the under-75 set (never mind that 21st-century rappers continue to venerate Oldsmobiles). Not long before the demise of Olds, though, you could buy an Eighty-Eight with the supercharged L67 V6, known as the Luxury Sports Sedan or LSS. These cars are very rare today, but I spotted this '97 in a Denver self-service wrecking yard. These Eaton blowers are now so easy to find in wrecking yards that most of them go unpicked by customers. The going rate for this supercharger is about 50 bucks, because everyone who wants one already has a big hoard of the things. If you have ever wanted to drop a supercharger onto your crapcan race car's engine, now is the time. Performance was respectable for the era, with output of 240 hp and 280 lb-ft. The 3800 was the descendant of the ancient Buick V6, which debuted way back in 1962, so GM had had many decades in which to make it a dependable (though not very smooth-running) powerplant. Yes, you could still buy big ol' sedans with rear drums at the dawn of the 21st century. Did the LSS steal any sales from potential BMW or Mercedes-Benz buyers? Probably not many, though its $27,695 price tag must have looked pretty tempting when compared to that of the much slower $32,960 Lexus ES 300 in 1997. Right now is the best time to make a resolution you'll enjoy sticking with. The reviewers at Popular Mechanics were unable to break the first-year LSS. Related Video: Featured Gallery Junked 1997 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight LSS View 12 Photos Auto News Buick Economy Cars Classics Sedan supercharger