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Buick adds Sport Touring trim to sedan lineup

Buick has made a few tweaks to its sedan lineup today, announcing that a new Sport Touring trim will be offered on the LaCrosse, Regal, and Verano. It's best to think of the new Sport Touring models as Buick's answer to Chevrolet's limited range of RS models, focusing on very small style changes rather than any added performance. Best to leave that to the Regal GS, we guess. For the ST trim, Buick has fitted its three four-doors with new 18-inch wheels. These relatively sporty hoops get machined faces with black inserts, like those offered on the Encore Sport Touring and the Enclave Tuscan Edition. Also coming to the LaCrosse, Regal, and Verano Sport Touring is a new rear spoiler. Like we said, these are simple styling packs meant to spice up the staid but handsome exteriors of the brand's sedans. "These new ST models underscore the importance of design choices, while complementing the safety, refinement and connectivity technologies that are drawing new customers to Buick dealerships," Buick VP Duncan Aldred said in the attached statement. The new trim level will be available on all three vehicles this fall, with prices to be announced closer to the on-sale date. Scroll on for the official presser from Buick. Related Video: Buick Expands 2016 Sport Touring Lineup Distinctive sedans join Enclave Tuscan Edition, Encore Sport Touring DETROIT – Buick unveiled 2016 LaCrosse, Regal and Verano Sport Touring (ST) models today – sedans with distinctive exterior cues designed to set them apart from the pack. Each features special 18-inch wheels with machined faces and black "pockets," and a rear spoiler. They join the Enclave Tuscan Edition and recently announced Encore Sport Touring as special models expanding Buick's lineup with more design-focused choices. "Buick is reaching an all-new generation of customers by reinventing itself in terms of design, function and capabilities," said Duncan Aldred, vice president of Buick. "These new ST models underscore the importance of design choices, while complementing the safety, refinement and connectivity technologies that are drawing new customers to Buick dealerships." The new Sport Touring sedans – and Encore Sport Touring – go on sale this fall. LaCrosse Sport Touring includes Buick IntelliLink with Apple CarPlay capability, OnStar 4G LTE connectivity with Wi-Fi hotspot, remote start, eight standard air bags (including rear-seat thorax air bags) and leather-trimmed seats – with heated front seats.

Best and Worst GM Cars

Oh yes, because we just love receiving angry letters from devoted Pontiac Grand Am enthusiasts, we have decided to go there. Based on a heated group Slack conversation, the topic came up about the best and worst GM cars. First of all time, and then those currently on sale, and then just mostly a rambling discussion of Oldsmobiles our parents and grandparents owned (or engineered). Eventually, three of us made the video above. Like it? Maybe we can make more. Many awesome GM cars are definitely going unmentioned here, so please let us know your bests and worsts in the comments below. Mostly, it's important to note that this post largely exists as a vehicle for delivering the above video that dives far deeper into GM's greatest hits and biggest flops, specifically those from the 1980s and 1990s. What you'll find below is a collection of our editors identifying a best current and best-of-all-time choice, plus a worst current and worst-of-all-time choice. Comprehensive it is not, but again, comments. -Senior Editor James Riswick Best Current GM Vehicle Chevrolet Corvette We were flying by the seats of our pants a bit in this first outing and my notes were similarly extemporaneous. When it came time to tie it all together on camera, I failed spectacularly. Thank the maker for text, because this gives me the opportunity to perhaps slightly better explain my convoluted reasoning. I chose the C8 Corvette because it's simply overwhelmingly good, and it's merely the baseline from which this generation of Corvette will be expanded.  While the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing (more on that in a minute) is an amazing snapshot of GM's current performance standing and its little sibling so enraptured me that I went out and bought one, their existence is fleeting. Corvette will live on; forced-induction Cadillac sport sedans, not so much. So while all three are amazing machines when viewed in a vacuum, the Corvette stands above them as both a reflection of GM's current performance credentials and a signpost of what is to come. So, given the choice between the C8 and the 5V-Blackwing right now, I'd choose the C8. In 10 years, when the Blackwing is no longer in production and Corvette is in its 9th generation? Well, that might be a different story. Now, just pretend I said something even remotely that coherent when we get to the part of the video where I try to make an argument for the 5-V Blackwing as best GM car I've ever driven. Or just laugh at me while I ramble incoherently.

Opel Cascada close to getting green light for US

For a company with a long tradition of grand touring convertibles, it's almost unseemly that General Motors doesn't offer a properly relaxed four-seat convertible in North America. There's the Chevrolet Camaro, of course, but it's not big on rear-seat space and it doesn't offer that sort of serene demeanor that many open-air buyers crave. We're thinking of something more refined and, dare we say, elegant. Something a bit closer to the Opel Cascada.
The General's front-wheel drive convertible went on sale in Europe this year, and while it seemed like a natural fit for its Buick brand in America, it's never been sold here. That may be about to change, however. Back in June, CEO Dan Akerson hinted he'd like to see the Cascada available in the US, and now there's word from Edmunds that importation "could happen soon." That's according to an unnamed insider at the company.
It's almost unseemly that GM doesn't offer a relaxed four-seat convertible.